dana.carter17

Oooh! We are 45 min south of Baltimore so I’ve had my eye on that one. I’d love to hear how you enjoy your vacation! :)

dana.carter17

, we are scheduled to sail on the Carnival Pride (out of Baltimore) in 11 days. My girls are 15 and 4. We have done two Disney cruises with them. This will be our first family experience for a Carnival ship. With that said, we are not party people, my husband and I like doing both activities as a family and just as a couple. We easily able to do this on Disney line, and are optimistic about the Pride. We liked that this ship was a little smaller. We learned we prefer smaller ships. The water area on this ship looks really fun. Another Carnival ship/cruise I have my eye on is the Carnival Sunshine... it looks really fun for kids and seems to have a lot of dining options. My husband and I are the kinds of people that like to explore the port, but if we are going to pay for an experience, we would rather book a Captain's Table meal/experience vs an island tour or shore excursion.

That IS interesting! Ha. I am always tempted to try Carnival again...I did it once as a girls trip in grad school and we felt a little out of place on the Party Boat. But I have heard so many families rave about their trips. Do you have favorite ships for me to look into? The one that sails most frequently closest to us is the Carnival Pride, and CC describes it as a "louder" ship. Hmm...

Also, you guys sound exactly like us!

We have similar tastes and have found that RC is not our style. Having to reserve meals, reserve show tickets, etc. on a huge ship is just way too much for us. Disney is amazing, but we prefer to travel more often and that cannot happen with Disney prices.

 

Interestingly enough, we love Carnival. I'd look at an itinerary that goes to Grand Turk, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, St. Lucia, St.Thomas, Mahogany Bay, etc. as all have nice beaches. The Carnival kids clubs are AMAZING! My kids beg to go 24/7. We are not party people, hate mega ships, have no interest in scheduling anything besides dinner, love wine too, and enjoy our time either on a balcony or in the adult serenity area when we aren't with our children. We also love that we can do a 7 day cruise, private shore excursions at 4 ports that fit our family, and have amazing childcare for under $5000k/week.

Not to hijack the thread, but I was wondering if you could expand on your experience with Celebrity and smaller kids. We did RCCL Anthem last fall with my kids (2 and 4) and had a good time but felt a little underwhelmed by the ship (huge, beautiful, lots of attractions to be sure, but not quite our “scene”). The kids club was wonderful, though!

quote=NewSalt;56449884]Your DGS will be five and has never cruised before. He will be very happy no matter which line you choose. We’ve taken our DGS (and their parents) on four cruises on Celebrity and RCCL. They’ve loved them all, as they did their two trips to DW. When I priced a Disney cruise roughly equivalent to our RCI cruise, I found DCL to be three times the cost, or approximately the cost of one college semester. No, thank you.

We’ve liked having connecting rooms. DD and her DH can put the boys to bed and go out to a late show while we stay in our cabin with the door propped open and watch a movie or read.

I was looking at a Suite on the Norwegian Pearl just last night. I’m so glad to hear that you found it to be a good family experience!

We just sailed on Norwegian Dawn with baby and 4 year old. The kids pool area at the back of the Dawn is just perfect for that age! We like that it is a smaller ship, and for the price of a low end room on Disney you can get a suite with butler service and a concierge who escorts you past all the lines (really valuable with little kids!) on Dawn.

 

 

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Thanks! This is great!! Our favorite cruise so far (without kids) was Princess, so I am pleased to hear you liked their kids club! I am hoping for a celebrity opinion as well ;)

Many multigenerational family trips take place on Disney. There were a lot of issues about the cousins who never see each other needing to be in the same kids club, so disney finally decided to let all kids age 3-12 go to the same kids club. Since there is such a wide age range, the kids clubs have to be unstructured. Some 3 year olds have a great time but others get overwhelmed and refuse to go back. Given the sticker shock, I’m not sure I’d risk it with younger children.

 

The princess kids clubs are excellent, and they have some smaller, older ships like the coral princess you might like. We were also happy on Hal (although their kids club is closed from 1130-1 and 4-7 on sea days so you’d need to consider that prior to sailing). Ncl can be crowded, and the food in the mdr wasn’t great so you’d need a specialty dining if food is important to you. Ncl kids clubs are excellent. Cunard had very good food and quiet ships. The kids club wasn’t great about helping my 2 year old transition, but once he got settled in he and his 6 year old brother were both happy there and neither wanted to leave.

 

We haven’t sailed celebrity yet but hopefully someone can tell you how they liked that.

Hi!

My niece has two children 5 and 8 and they love the Disney cruises. While the children are taking part in a Disney children’s activities they (the adults) are able to spend quality time alone as a couple. Whenever they return from a Disney Cruise they are just gushing about how good the service was and how it wasn’t overcrowded as compared to their cruise on another line. Her husband is a firefighter and Disney gives First-responders a nice discount.

 

 

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I have been toying with the idea of a Disney cruise but I will admit to some sticker shock. I will look again! :) It's probably worth it to truly enjoy the trip.

We like long walks on the beach and wine....

So, anyway. I'm looking to plan a family vacation (cruise?). At the time of sailing our kids will be 3 and 5. We've done one cruise with them and two without.

Our cruise ship preferences include a good kids club and a ship that's not overly crowded. We aren't big on group activities, so lots of "attractions" (other than pools!!!) aren't a big draw. We basically like to soak up the sun, swim, go to the beach, and eat :)

We sailed with Royal last fall and found the kids' activities to be wonderful, but the ship was extremely crowded and the food was blah.

Help me choose a ship!

But put on your extra thick skin t-shirt before you post. They're still pretty uptight over in the Royal forum.;)

Hahahaha :) Well I certainly don't want to ruin anyone's cruises with a little family t-shirt fun. Maybe I'll just get the babies some cute tuxedo onesies and leave it at that ;)

Yes, thanks for your response. It's Royal Caribbean...It's also one of the Dreamworks ships (more kid oriented, lots of Dreamworks characters and events), if that makes any difference!

Hey Cruisers! I need some feedback on a formal night idea...

We are cruising soon with 2 toddlers, 2 grandparents, my husband, and myself. I thought a cute, tongue-in-cheek idea for a formal night would be to have all of us (including the kiddos) wearing Tuxedo T shirts/"Gown" T shirts. Thoughts? (For your mind's eye - erase all beer cans and drunken smiles - lol!!) We would be put together and cute, but the guys would probably be in jeans or khakis and the gals in skirts. I think having a multi-generational group in these outfits would be cute, but I don't know if others would be offended by my sense of humor. Thoughts, please!

ETA: Cruiseline is Royal Caribbean, and it's one of the Dreamworks Experience ships with Dreamworks characters and events.

Thanks :)