Yes, holiday cruises on HAL have a much higher proportion of kids than at any other time. My non-holiday HAL cruises have only had a very rare few on board. Or was that, bored.

However, I think cruises are great for kids because they get to meet and interact with so many new kids their own ages, from all over in a nice, safe, supervised environment. Let alone the always wonderful travel experiences and even the old "social graces" experiences they can also get with the relatively formal cruising experience....... on some lines. (Like HAL)

Interesting observation about Carnival. Guess this is a real indication what the aging baby boomer demographics are going to look like - still sailing the fun ships.