Spring break for dummies: 2025

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about a driving distance trip where kids could do a spring break camp? Outside of this area they aren’t as expensive and hard to get in. My friend does this during the summer in South Carolina.

Our neighbors do this too. They visit Grandma in OH and enroll the kids in the local camp. Win-win.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spring Break for Dummies 2025…explain this to me like I’m 5.


How do people plan this?
Costco?
Travel agent?
Cruise?
Marriott points? Do they do all inclusive?

We are a family of 5 which makes things tricky (do we need 2 rooms?)

We also have a budget of around $6000 or under.

Just want a nice hotel and to not deal with my kids so a kids club is a must.

Then leave them at home w a grandparent or hire a sitter.

Gosh I wish we had involved family.

I don’t have any family members to leave my kids w either so I get it but I think if you just want to stick your kids in a “kids club” on vacation then maybe it makes more financial sense to hire a sitter for the kids and you and your DH take a trip just the 2 of you.

Kids club is fun for kids. It’s not sticking them in there. There is nothing wrong wit OP’s desire to have activities and things the kids would like too so she can relax a little.

[Anonymous]

Club Med sounds good for you. Kids under 14 free right now.

[Anonymous]

Could you travel…anywhere, and then enroll kids in camp at your destination for the “kids club”? If it’s an area with the same spring break, you should be able to find a camp - maybe AM only or full day depending on what you want. And then that frees up a lot more options. Let’s say you spend $2K on flights at $400 per to somewhere domestic, $1K on camp, that leaves you $3K which should get you a decent AirBnB so you have two or three bedrooms, plus $ for activities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cruise out of Baltimore/Norfolk/Philly/NYC within driving distance of the DMV on Royal Caribbean or Carnival. Book through Costco and book now for next Spring.

I cannot figure out how to book now for next year!

I just priced RCL Radiance of the Seas for you. April 12-19 out of Tampa

Room 1--Oceanview Balcony for (1A/1C)--$2724
Room2 --Interior Rooms for (1A/2C)--$1874

Total for Cruise, Port Fees, and Taxes--$4598.
Does not include alcohol, gratuities, or any excursions.

You could obviously decrease this price by getting 2 interior rooms. My preference is a O/V balcony and the interior room directly across the hall. Connecting rooms are more expensive. Radiance is not the ship you see on the tv commercials. But it has a pool, a spa, and a rock wall. Some of my kids favorite memories were playing board games after dinner in the library. I would have a glass of wine and they would tell me about their day--who they met in kids club and what they did. I'd get another glass of wine and take them back to the room for bed and sit out on the balcony and read.

That leaves you 1500 for airfare. $300 pp to florida might be tight during spring break. Frontier is budget friendly. If you're going on a cruise, you also want to fly in the night before so you would need a hotel room for 1 night. Most hotels will do a free airport to hotel shuttle, but you'll need to pay for transportation from the hotel to the cruise terminal. There isn't an RCL ship out of Baltimore that week. The Odyssey is going out of NJ but I did a quick look at it's about $7K for the 2 rooms.

Carnival Pride is going out of Baltimore April 12-19---older ship.
O/V (1A/1C) $2798
Int (1A/2C) $3089
Total: $5,887

You'd still need extra for terminal parking and gratuities. Pride has Waterworks which is Carnivals waterpark which the Radiance doesn't have. Both ships are about the same in terms of ship amenities.

--I'm not a travel agent. Just a mom who happens to be planning spring break while watching the game.

[Anonymous]

Here's another option for you

Carnival Venezia from Port Canaveral
O/V (1A/1C)--$2485
Int (1A/2C) $2127
Total--$4118

Venezia is a higher ship class than Pride but still not top of the Carnival line. Shows are higher quality on RCL but with small kids you may not be going to too many shows. Of all my suggestions, if I was going to book a cruise, this would be my choice. You could also get the cost down by picking 2 interior rooms. Food on Carnival can be summed up as you won't go hungry but you probably won't be raving about it either. My kids love Guys Burgers and Blue Iguana for burritos and tacos.

[Anonymous]

How old are your kids?
Does everyone have passports?
Do you want international or stay domestic?

Cheapest easiest options out of the country are:

-All inclusive in Jamaica, Mexico or DR
-Cruise (Disney is our family favorite but out of your budget)

Inside the US is much easier. Pick a nice beach town or interesting city you’d like to visit, that has kid friendly activities and lots of food and hotel options.

Make sure the restaurants are near the hotel, walking distance is ideal. We prefer destinations with great public transportation so that no car is required. I’m not an AirBnB person, but rentals could also work for your family as well.

Great hotels For larger families:
Marriott Residence Inns + Springhill Suites (for lower budgets)
Marriott Vacation clubs
Hilton Grand vacation clubs
Hyatt vacation clubs

Fun Spring break trips we’ve done with affordable lodging, great restaurants and good public transport:

Savannah
Charleston
St Augustine
Tampa/Clearwater beach
Boston
NYC

[Anonymous]

Family of 5 here. We usually start to pick our spring break location in the fall when school starts so we can buy airfare way in advance. That way a big chunk of our trip is already paid for ahead of time. It’s hard to get airfare during spring break anywhere for <$500/person so I’d budget $2,500-3,000 for that for all of you.

Then book a hotel. We try to find places with a fifth sleeper or a small suite if we’re in a walkable location. If we need a car and are not quite as in the mix, we rent a house or condo. Let’s say you go away for 5 nights, you can probably budget about 2k. Which is not going to be top of the line resort with kids club.

That leaves about $1500 for food and other activities. We can possibly spend more than that since airfare has already been purchased months earlier.

This is how we keep our spring break costs to 6-7k for a family of 5. I think you need to bump closer to 10k if you want childcare.

Or you can go somewhere driveable like Nemacolin that offers a kid’s club and babysitters. Not paying for airfare will allow you to spend a lot more on the trip itself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cruise out of Baltimore/Norfolk/Philly/NYC within driving distance of the DMV on Royal Caribbean or Carnival. Book through Costco and book now for next Spring.

I cannot figure out how to book now for next year!

I just priced RCL Radiance of the Seas for you. April 12-19 out of Tampa

Room 1--Oceanview Balcony for (1A/1C)--$2724
Room2 --Interior Rooms for (1A/2C)--$1874

Total for Cruise, Port Fees, and Taxes--$4598.
Does not include alcohol, gratuities, or any excursions.

You could obviously decrease this price by getting 2 interior rooms. My preference is a O/V balcony and the interior room directly across the hall. Connecting rooms are more expensive. Radiance is not the ship you see on the tv commercials. But it has a pool, a spa, and a rock wall. Some of my kids favorite memories were playing board games after dinner in the library. I would have a glass of wine and they would tell me about their day--who they met in kids club and what they did. I'd get another glass of wine and take them back to the room for bed and sit out on the balcony and read.

That leaves you 1500 for airfare. $300 pp to florida might be tight during spring break. Frontier is budget friendly. If you're going on a cruise, you also want to fly in the night before so you would need a hotel room for 1 night. Most hotels will do a free airport to hotel shuttle, but you'll need to pay for transportation from the hotel to the cruise terminal. There isn't an RCL ship out of Baltimore that week. The Odyssey is going out of NJ but I did a quick look at it's about $7K for the 2 rooms.

Carnival Pride is going out of Baltimore April 12-19---older ship.
O/V (1A/1C) $2798
Int (1A/2C) $3089
Total: $5,887

You'd still need extra for terminal parking and gratuities. Pride has Waterworks which is Carnivals waterpark which the Radiance doesn't have. Both ships are about the same in terms of ship amenities.

--I'm not a travel agent. Just a mom who happens to be planning spring break while watching the game.

Wow, thank you!
I swear I’ve spent this whole week on the Costco website and it doesn’t give me a lot of availability. Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm confused...have you never planned out, purchased airline tix, book a hotel/condo, rental car, etc before?

What you have done prior to this?

We have next taken a vacation.
We’ve done trips to visit family but not a vacation.

[Anonymous]

Are you absolutely sure about needing a kids club? It really limits your options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cruise out of Baltimore/Norfolk/Philly/NYC within driving distance of the DMV on Royal Caribbean or Carnival. Book through Costco and book now for next Spring.

I cannot figure out how to book now for next year!

I just priced RCL Radiance of the Seas for you. April 12-19 out of Tampa

Room 1--Oceanview Balcony for (1A/1C)--$2724
Room2 --Interior Rooms for (1A/2C)--$1874

Total for Cruise, Port Fees, and Taxes--$4598.
Does not include alcohol, gratuities, or any excursions.

You could obviously decrease this price by getting 2 interior rooms. My preference is a O/V balcony and the interior room directly across the hall. Connecting rooms are more expensive. Radiance is not the ship you see on the tv commercials. But it has a pool, a spa, and a rock wall. Some of my kids favorite memories were playing board games after dinner in the library. I would have a glass of wine and they would tell me about their day--who they met in kids club and what they did. I'd get another glass of wine and take them back to the room for bed and sit out on the balcony and read.

That leaves you 1500 for airfare. $300 pp to florida might be tight during spring break. Frontier is budget friendly. If you're going on a cruise, you also want to fly in the night before so you would need a hotel room for 1 night. Most hotels will do a free airport to hotel shuttle, but you'll need to pay for transportation from the hotel to the cruise terminal. There isn't an RCL ship out of Baltimore that week. The Odyssey is going out of NJ but I did a quick look at it's about $7K for the 2 rooms.

Carnival Pride is going out of Baltimore April 12-19---older ship.
O/V (1A/1C) $2798
Int (1A/2C) $3089
Total: $5,887

You'd still need extra for terminal parking and gratuities. Pride has Waterworks which is Carnivals waterpark which the Radiance doesn't have. Both ships are about the same in terms of ship amenities.

--I'm not a travel agent. Just a mom who happens to be planning spring break while watching the game.

Wow, thank you!
I swear I’ve spent this whole week on the Costco website and it doesn’t give me a lot of availability. Thank you!

These are cruise line direct prices. I don’t have a Costco membership so I don’t know what prices are compared to the cruise lines. I usually book via a travel agency and they give me xxx in in onboard credit.

[Anonymous]

You can price out pretty much any cruise on the cruise line website and then call the Costco travel agent. They will then give you a Costco gift card for purchasing with them. We much prefer that over on board credit.

PP posted the carnival — we did that years ago and I thought guys burgers and blue iguana were both solid. The burgers at guys were better than disney’s club level burgers (which were gross). Litttle known fact is that blue iguana does breakfast so my daily breakfast was eggs in a fresh made tortilla with fresh guac and fresh salsa plus a half grapefruit, coffee and chocolate croissant from the buffet. Pretty much my ideal breakfast. That ship also had a great fish place above the pool — really great fish and chips and ceviche. Don’t know if that’s still there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How old are your kids? Five people flying for $1k pp is already 5k. You need to raise your budget. Get an Airbnb. I do all my travel planning myself.

To go to FL she doesn’t need $1k pp. $400pp would do it.

We just flew to florida last week for spring break for $250pp nonstop to Miami.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes to two rooms. No clue how you can do this for $6000. Maybe rent a condo?

We are a family of 5 and have never booked 2 rooms. We will either do Airbnb or a hotel that has suites with 2 beds and pull out couch.