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Sea Change
This year's hot spring break destination: a Caribbean cruise
thc215@nyu.edu
While other students at the University of New Hampshire pack for classic spring break hot spots like Fort Lauderdale and Acapulco, senior John DiMatteo is looking forward not to his destination but the journey. This month, DiMatteo and three of his closest friends will spend a week on a Carnival cruise ship. They will fly from Boston to Miami, where they will board a liner that will make stops at St. Maarten, St. Thomas and Nassau, Bahamas.
“More kids are going on cruises,” said DiMatteo, who has noticed college friends going on cruises recently. “There are more options, and they are not that expensive.” DiMatteo knows he’ll find women and alcohol, something available at any spring break Mecca, but what sold him on a cruise was the opportunity to visit three destinations for the price of one trip. Even food is included in the price of a ticket.
According to the Cruise Lines International Association, the trade organization of the industry, the number of cruise passengers has grown by an average 8.5 percent every year since 1980. About 10 million of the 13 million people who travel worldwide on cruises are from the United States. While no one tracks the exact age of cruise passengers, the average age is now in the early forties, significantly lower than in the past, reports the independent trade magazine Cruise Industry News.
“We have noticed, anecdotally, that more young people are opting for cruises than other vacations,” said Brian Major, the director of public relations for the Cruise Lines International Association.
Not all cruise lines are best suited for students. The association classifies lines into three informal categories by: contemporary, premium, and luxury. Premium and luxury lines offer amenities like more port activities and larger rooms — at a comparably high price. Contemporary lines — Carnival, Royal Caribbean International, and Norwegian — tend to attract families and young people. Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor of the website Cruise Critic, has found that Carnival and Royal Caribbean are the favorites among young singles.
On Carnival ships, 30 percent of passengers are now under the age of 35. “Carnival has a reputation. It’s noted as more of a fun ship,” said UNH senior Zander Gallup, who went on a Royal Caribbean cruise last year during spring break. “And cheaper,” he adds.
Even higher-end cruises turn out to be relatively inexpensive. This spring break, Wheaton College senior Ben Jaccarino and his girlfriend will travel on Celebrity Cruise Line, the premium-class division of Carnival. Jaccarino predicts the cruise will cost him and his girlfriend $1,200 each. “We decided to take a cruise because it’s cheaper than the majority of all-inclusive trips,” Jaccarino said.
Like DiMatteo and his buddies, Jaccarino found the options of the cruise to be very attractive. The cruise will last nine days and will hit the Caribbean, the cruise destination most popular among young people. The ship features seven themed bars, pools, and a gym.
Passengers in their twenties have discovered cruises on their own, without any special industry efforts to lure them. “No one person or advertisement told us about it,” Jaccarino said. “We just knew it was an option, and we found out it was cheaper.”
Cruise lines seem to have few reservations about allowing more college students onboard. Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor of the website Cruise Critic, notes that the spring break students traveling now will also be the cruise companies’ customers of the future. Still, the industry has set some firm ground rules for young travelers. “They have age limits that, frankly, are the result of spring break,” said Major. Royal Caribbean and Norwegian require that all individuals under 21 stay with someone over 21, while Carnival requires those under 21 to stay with someone at least 25 years old. But young passengers do have certain freedoms they don’t have on U.S. shores. Most lines allow gambling at 18, and on some permit beer and wine for under-21s who have permission from their parents.
Passengers who break ship rules can expect to be dropped off at the next port stop. Brown says that as far as she’s aware, collegiate passengers have flocked aboard cruises without incident.
But spring break is, after all, spring break. Students don’t go on cruises to meditate. Said Gallup of the Bahamas trip he’s going on this year, “We expect a giant party the entire time.”
Zander Gallup, John DiMatteo, Travis Bragg and Ryan Sibley, joined here by friend Eric Nitschke, set sail this March for a spring break at sea.
Photo by Travis Carter