Which cruise line for family with 5 year-old & 2 year-old

I've hit some AP (analysis paralysis) in considering a cruise for my family for December 2019. That's a long way out, but our dates are limited because my wife and I work in education. So we are resigned to going over Christmas or New Year's, and I know those sailings typically only increase in price the closer they get (and also sell out the fastest).

My wife and I are 30/31, our son will be 5, and our daughter will turn 2 on the cruise (Jan. 1). My wife, son, and I went on the Disney Dream before our daughter was born and loved it. We are sailing with the whole family (16 people in total) in March 2019 on the Fantasy, but for our next cruise we want to branch out. We are really torn on what line to try first, though.

Part of the problem is deciding what we want out of the trip. For example, we love the idea of the Solarium on RCCL/Celebrity... but it would be silly to let that factor in much, because in reality we are going to be with our daughter 99% of the time. If the ship has a nursery, we would likely use it, but not much... maybe a couple hours max.

We are looking at the usual suspects (RCCL, NCL, Celebrity, but also MSC) and I've pored over hundreds (maybe thousands) of posts on Cruise Critic trying to make a decision... but I seem to be more overwhelmed than anything.

Specifically, we are looking for:

- A relaxing, family-friendly atmosphere

- Decent sized room (i.e. not 135 sf interior... 200 sf minimum would be nice)... balcony not required.

- Good pool/sun deck area... a kid-friendly splash pad would be great. I understand some ships have such areas where swim diapers are allowed.

- Kids club for our 5 year old son

- Prefer a relaxed dress code (NCL), but can deal with more stringent one (X) if needed.

- Nursery for 1-2 year old daughter would be nice, but not required as we probably wouldn't use it much.

Here's what I'm coming up with for New Year's cruises December 2019:

- RCCL Harmony: Interior (Central Park view), $5,662... OV Balcony, $6,526

- Celebrity Reflection: Balcony, $5,867 (Concierge: +$400)

- Celebrity Equinox: ~$300 more than Reflection

- NCL Breakaway: Balcony, $4,956

- NCL Escape: Balcony, $5,700

- NCL Encore: ~$100 more than Escape

- MSC Seaside: Interior, $2,790 (Fantastica)... Balcony, $4,570 (Aurea)... Yacht Club Deluxe Suite, $6,110

- MSC Meraviglia: ~$100 more than Seaside, but no Yacht Club availability

Each of these options have their own pros and cons... I'd appreciate any help in sifting through what is best for what we want/need.

- If it was just my wife and I sailing, we'd do a Celebrity cruise. Fits us perfectly. With kids, not sure if it does. They don't need non-stop entertainment, though, and our children are well-behaved.

- Love the 'freestyle' NCL concept, as well as more casual dress. However, we would need a balcony room with them, as the interiors/oceanviews look very small. Escape DOES have a nursery; Breakaway does not. On NCL we are concerned about crowds, especially on the pool deck. I'd really like to try them, but everything I read about the crowds on these ships scares me off.

- RCCL seems to have a little of everything, and Harmony has the splash pad and nursery... but it's also quite pricey for an interior room. I don't like how expensive the kids are.

- MSC obviously has the best price, mostly because of the kids' fares. We could stay in a Yacht Club room for $500 more than an interior on Harmony... or we could save a ton of money and just go interior or oceanview. Of course, MSC's reputation is my biggest concern.

As I said at the top... analysis paralysis... So, if you've cruised with a 5-year old and 2-year old, and have experience sailing on these lines/ships, you can probably help me :)

I look forward to any advice you can provide. Thank you!

Ray

We overanalyze everything too and especially with the amount of money you’re spending you sort of have to but here is my take on it . We went on the Escape last year was our four-year-old and nine month old . It was really the perfect vacation for us especially given our budget . The extras like the drinks NCL offers is perfect . We felt we got a lot of bang out of our buck and my 4 year-old loved the kids club and did so many activities and even did a show . Sent my son to the nursery three times for two hours each which gave me enough time to sit by the pool and have a drink or two .

If it wasn’t for my aunt organizing our next cruise I would do it again on NCL .

That being said I have heard great things about Royal Caribbean . Although with the trip that we are doing a lot of the extras like the rock climbing wall or for slightly older kids . At that age you might not get as much bang for your buck on the ship like that .

Good luck!!

I've hit some AP (analysis paralysis) in considering a cruise for my family for December 2019. That's a long way out, but our dates are limited because my wife and I work in education. So we are resigned to going over Christmas or New Year's, and I know those sailings typically only increase in price the closer they get (and also sell out the fastest).

 

My wife and I are 30/31, our son will be 5, and our daughter will turn 2 on the cruise (Jan. 1). My wife, son, and I went on the Disney Dream before our daughter was born and loved it. We are sailing with the whole family (16 people in total) in March 2019 on the Fantasy, but for our next cruise we want to branch out. We are really torn on what line to try first, though.

 

Part of the problem is deciding what we want out of the trip. For example, we love the idea of the Solarium on RCCL/Celebrity... but it would be silly to let that factor in much, because in reality we are going to be with our daughter 99% of the time. If the ship has a nursery, we would likely use it, but not much... maybe a couple hours max.

 

We are looking at the usual suspects (RCCL, NCL, Celebrity, but also MSC) and I've pored over hundreds (maybe thousands) of posts on Cruise Critic trying to make a decision... but I seem to be more overwhelmed than anything.

 

Specifically, we are looking for:

- A relaxing, family-friendly atmosphere

- Decent sized room (i.e. not 135 sf interior... 200 sf minimum would be nice)... balcony not required.

- Good pool/sun deck area... a kid-friendly splash pad would be great. I understand some ships have such areas where swim diapers are allowed.

- Kids club for our 5 year old son

- Prefer a relaxed dress code (NCL), but can deal with more stringent one (X) if needed.

- Nursery for 1-2 year old daughter would be nice, but not required as we probably wouldn't use it much.

 

Here's what I'm coming up with for New Year's cruises December 2019:

- RCCL Harmony: Interior (Central Park view), $5,662... OV Balcony, $6,526

- Celebrity Reflection: Balcony, $5,867 (Concierge: +$400)

- Celebrity Equinox: ~$300 more than Reflection

- NCL Breakaway: Balcony, $4,956

- NCL Escape: Balcony, $5,700

- NCL Encore: ~$100 more than Escape

- MSC Seaside: Interior, $2,790 (Fantastica)... Balcony, $4,570 (Aurea)... Yacht Club Deluxe Suite, $6,110

- MSC Meraviglia: ~$100 more than Seaside, but no Yacht Club availability

 

Each of these options have their own pros and cons... I'd appreciate any help in sifting through what is best for what we want/need.

 

- If it was just my wife and I sailing, we'd do a Celebrity cruise. Fits us perfectly. With kids, not sure if it does. They don't need non-stop entertainment, though, and our children are well-behaved.

- Love the 'freestyle' NCL concept, as well as more casual dress. However, we would need a balcony room with them, as the interiors/oceanviews look very small. Escape DOES have a nursery; Breakaway does not. On NCL we are concerned about crowds, especially on the pool deck. I'd really like to try them, but everything I read about the crowds on these ships scares me off.

- RCCL seems to have a little of everything, and Harmony has the splash pad and nursery... but it's also quite pricey for an interior room. I don't like how expensive the kids are.

- MSC obviously has the best price, mostly because of the kids' fares. We could stay in a Yacht Club room for $500 more than an interior on Harmony... or we could save a ton of money and just go interior or oceanview. Of course, MSC's reputation is my biggest concern.

 

As I said at the top... analysis paralysis... So, if you've cruised with a 5-year old and 2-year old, and have experience sailing on these lines/ships, you can probably help me :)

 

I look forward to any advice you can provide. Thank you!

Ray

We were generally happy with our cruise on NCL. The kids club was great, and the staff was generally excellent. It's very family friendly, and the dress code is relaxed.

There were a couple of issues for our family, which might not be a problem for yours. The food in the main dining room was the weakest of all the lines we've sailed. We needed to use specialty restaurants on NCL, but we are happy with the food in the main dining room on the other lines we've sailed. You can select a package for the first and second guest to have some specialty meals included, but kids pay full price in specialty restaurants now (it was half price 3 years ago, which helped a lot). Kids can eat for free off the kids menu in specialty restaurants, but we try to expose our children to a lot of different food on cruises and don't use kids menus. A lot of people are happy with the food in the main dining rooms on NCL, or you might be happy feeding them in the buffet (the ethnic food is usually good there, plus if you try enough things at the buffet you'll eventually find something good). Or you might be happy using kids menus in specialty restaurants, and then it won't be too expensive.

Our home port is in NYC, but until our children dropped their naps we can't sail NCL from our home port because on sea days the ship's kids club close for 2 hours for lunch and again for 2 hours for dinner, and if your child naps in the afternoon in between those closures that might mean that you can't use the kids club very often (the kids club is closed 12-2, and 5-7 and if your kid naps from 2-4, it doesn't work out very well) . On the NCL Star, sign in/out could take 10-15 minutes due to the two hour closures since everyone is trying to get their kids back at the same time. On Princess ships which only close one hour for lunch and dinner, it was easier to sign in/out since people weren't all trying to get their kids back at the same time. The kids pool areas were very crowded when the kids club was closed.

In general, Princess works better for our family than NCL, but we'd sail with NCL again if we found the right itinerary/price. We generally sailed for itineraries, and not ship amenities so you might find a different line a better fit. In general though, all the mainstream lines seem very family friendly and cruising is a great way to vacation with your family.

We overanalyze everything too and especially with the amount of money you’re spending you sort of have to but here is my take on it . We went on the Escape last year was our four-year-old and nine month old . It was really the perfect vacation for us especially given our budget . The extras like the drinks NCL offers is perfect . We felt we got a lot of bang out of our buck and my 4 year-old loved the kids club and did so many activities and even did a show . Sent my son to the nursery three times for two hours each which gave me enough time to sit by the pool and have a drink or two .

 

If it wasn’t for my aunt organizing our next cruise I would do it again on NCL .

 

That being said I have heard great things about Royal Caribbean . Although with the trip that we are doing a lot of the extras like the rock climbing wall or for slightly older kids . At that age you might not get as much bang for your buck on the ship like that .

 

Good luck!!

Thanks for the validation on the overanalyzing :) Sometimes I think "just pick one"... but when you're spending so much and only have the chance to do this once every year or so (if we're lucky), it's a big decision!

Your NCL comments are very helpful. That sounds like the kind of experience we are shooting for. Questions: it sound like you had no problems with the nursery? And how about the crowds, particularly on the pool/sun decks? I've read that NCL's megaships feel super crowded, especially the pool/sun decks. Did you feel that at all?

RCCL seems like a good fit, too, but as you point out I'm not sure all those extra bells and whistles are needed for our family.

We were generally happy with our cruise on NCL. The kids club was great, and the staff was generally excellent. It's very family friendly, and the dress code is relaxed.

 

There were a couple of issues for our family, which might not be a problem for yours. The food in the main dining room was the weakest of all the lines we've sailed. We needed to use specialty restaurants on NCL, but we are happy with the food in the main dining room on the other lines we've sailed. You can select a package for the first and second guest to have some specialty meals included, but kids pay full price in specialty restaurants now (it was half price 3 years ago, which helped a lot). Kids can eat for free off the kids menu in specialty restaurants, but we try to expose our children to a lot of different food on cruises and don't use kids menus. A lot of people are happy with the food in the main dining rooms on NCL, or you might be happy feeding them in the buffet (the ethnic food is usually good there, plus if you try enough things at the buffet you'll eventually find something good). Or you might be happy using kids menus in specialty restaurants, and then it won't be too expensive.

 

Our home port is in NYC, but until our children dropped their naps we can't sail NCL from our home port because on sea days the ship's kids club close for 2 hours for lunch and again for 2 hours for dinner, and if your child naps in the afternoon in between those closures that might mean that you can't use the kids club very often (the kids club is closed 12-2, and 5-7 and if your kid naps from 2-4, it doesn't work out very well) . On the NCL Star, sign in/out could take 10-15 minutes due to the two hour closures since everyone is trying to get their kids back at the same time. On Princess ships which only close one hour for lunch and dinner, it was easier to sign in/out since people weren't all trying to get their kids back at the same time. The kids pool areas were very crowded when the kids club was closed.

 

In general, Princess works better for our family than NCL, but we'd sail with NCL again if we found the right itinerary/price. We generally sailed for itineraries, and not ship amenities so you might find a different line a better fit. In general though, all the mainstream lines seem very family friendly and cruising is a great way to vacation with your family.

Thanks so much for your reply! The details you provided are very helpful. I was wondering about taking kids to the specialty restaurants. At 5 and 2, I think we would stick with the kids menu for free. We can also work their nap schedules around the ship's schedule (the older still takes naps but probably won't by then, and it's hard to say what the younger's will be). But again, helpful information to know!

Since we haven't cruised much the ship is still the destination, and with the young ones we won't be able to do the excursions we would really like to. If it was just my wife and I we would look harder at the itineraries... I realize now that I didn't even include them in my first post! Someday I hope we get there, but as relatively new cruisers with very young kids, it's not a huge concern.

Finally, thanks for the comments about cruising being a great way to vacation with the family. I'm sure some would say leave the kids at home... while that would be fun, a week is a long time, and the point of traveling now for us is to enjoy the time with our kids. So again, thank you.

The on,y ships with splash areas for diapered kids are DCL and some of RCL, if that’s important to you.

The staff at specialty restaurants on ncl were great with kids. We went as soon as they open, and usually the kids were done eating before the restaurants got crowded. (This was before ncl gave these meals away as a perk - I don’t know how crowded they are now). If you use the kids menu, the cost will be much more reasonable.

In terms of excursions we’ve actually taken our kids on a lot of them starting at 2. You can take these easier and go to a beach, which a lot of families enjoy. We’ve found that with private tours for just my family we’ve been able to tour cities with our kids since we control the itinerary and can stop and feed them whenever they need a break and are starting to get whiny, and stay longer when they are interested. My kids just like exploring things, so they’ve really liked touring cities (Cartagena at 2, St. Petersburg and the rest of the Baltics at 3.5). My oldest wants us to go back on the Baltic cruise again since he wants his little brother to see St. Petersburg and Stockholm. You can post potential itineraries here or on the port pages and people will recommend kid friendly tours. Private tours for just your family are usually less than ship tours in the Caribbean so you’ll have lots of options. We’d tour the cities all day with the kids and put them in the kids club as soon as we boarded so we could rest and then met up again at dinner.

How about a smaller ship than Harmony? Harmony costs more because it is newer/larger. We went on Freedom recently and loved it. It still has the splash area, flow rider, ice skating rink, rock climbing wall, arcade, etc. So, older kids will be entertained as well. Our 7 year old loved the kids club and our 3 year old was ok with it. He prefers to remain with us no matter where we are, but he didn't fuss the two times we dropped him off and he was having a great time when we picked him up. It was much cheaper than Harmony or Oasis, which led us to book this. We are on Adventure next- still slightly smaller, but also has water slides.

Our last cruise- we booked a panoramic ocean view. At the 90 day mark there was a price drop. We were able to transfer into adjoining balcony rooms for $200 more. Book whatever you will be comfortable with, but watch for price drops to see if you can upgrade to a better option.

We have only cruised Royal Caribbean, so I can't give personal experience on the others. We did have an NCL cruise booked, but like you, the reviews worried me. We canceled that and went with Adventure and I haven't had a concern since booking. I'm not sure I would do celebrity with the kids. I have looked into MSC, but not enough to make a firm decision on it.

Thanks so much for the additional replies, it has all been very helpful.

We've had a bit of a change in plans that I think actually helps our decision-making. We switched the 'whole family' cruise next March to the Harmony of the Seas, mostly due to the 'Kids Sail Free' promotion. That brought the pricing way down... it is 40% cheaper than the Disney Fantasy for all balcony rooms (instead of oceanview on Fantasy). So we will get to try Royal through that one.

The following December I will plan on either the NCL Escape or a Disney cruise. I'm waiting to see what Disney prices are... they will certainly be more expensive, but I know it fits our family, and since we aren't getting to go on a Disney cruise in the spring, we will be ready for one come December. However, if it is just too expensive we will go with the Escape and be excited about trying another line, as the comments here indicate that it really is a great option for families.

Kim, I can see us trying a Freedom-class RCCL ship in the future as well, especially if we enjoy Harmony (but want a smaller size).

Thanks again for all the help!