Which cruise to choose?

[bbrme]

We are looking at planning a cruise around christmas 2011 and need some help making a decision. My kids will be 8 & 10 at Christmas.

 

Some background - we went on the Carnival Valor in Dec 2010 and NCL Jewel in Dec 2009. The kids liked both cruises but preferred Carnival because of the kids club and the waterslide. DH and I prefered NCL for the food, the entertainment and all around atmosphere - we really like the freestyle concept. Based on itenarary and price NCL seems to be out of the running for this trip. One of the most important parts of a cruise for DH and I is to get in "date nights". This worked great on both NCL and Carnival except that on the Carnival cruise we felt like there was nothing for us to do between dinner and picking up the) kids by 9:30 (They dont like to stay up very late.)

 

These are the ones we are considering and trying to figure out if any of these would really work for us. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

Holland America - Amsterdam Dec 20 - 27 (Eastern Caribbean)

MSC Poesia - Dec 23 - 30 (Eastern Caribbean)

Princess (Grand Princess or Crown Princess) Dec 17 - 24 (Southern Caribbean)

[cinanina]

Hi,

I've also been considering several options for cruises and I've been reading some bad reviews on MSC (maybe different in Europe, I don't know) so I'd choose one of the other cruiselines. Princess seems to arrive on the 24th, maybe your kids would like to come home for Christmas? Or would you prefer to spend Christmas on board? In that case the first line would be better. Just some thoughts...

[epixx]

The Southern itinerary is the most exotic, so I recommend Princess. We sailed 14 nights on the ms Amsterdam in Alaska with our kids (16, 12) last summer. The food and the cabins were outstanding, but the entertainment was lower in quality and quantity than on other lines (PCL, DCL, RCI, CCL, NCL) that we sailed previously. We enjoyed the entertainment and the food on PCL. Does the MSC have the kids free program, and is it significantly less expensive? If so, I'd give MSC a try. My sister and family sailed 11 nights in Northern Europe with their kids on MSC and loved it. They said the entertainment and the food were great.

[bbrme]

Yes the MSC has a kids sail free promotion and we were really hoping to cruise over Christmas. My biggest concern with MSC is the negative reviews - it seems people either love it or hate it. What was your sister's experience with the kids club and dinner with children - the 7 course dinners sound great but there is no way my children will sit through that.

[epixx]

Yes the MSC has a kids sail free promotion and we were really hoping to cruise over Christmas. My biggest concern with MSC is the negative reviews - it seems people either love it or hate it. What was your sister's experience with the kids club and dinner with children - the 7 course dinners sound great but there is no way my children will sit through that.

 

My sister's experience probably wouldn't help you, since her kids were 17 and 13 at the time of sailing and didn't use the kids club. As teenagers, they didn't mind long dinners because they really enjoyed the food.

[cinanina]

Yes, me too, the reviews I read some are really bad... :( But if it's any consollation to you, we also hated NCL which you seemed to have loved so maybe people have different experiences. I was apawalled to read a review from a girl who had cruised in exact same date/itinerary as we did with Celebrity and gave it the worst review you can dream of, she said the most dreadfull things and we had the time of our lives in the exact same boat/dates... so... but I really hated the NCL crew and their rude attitude is unbearable to me so to think that MSC might be the same type really puts me off. We're considering a trip to Corsica, just staying by a beautifull beach or to Scotland instead. But not decided yet, we do like cruising but I'm not up to being badly treated by crew members. I'm ok with the food being not so good, but waiting for long times in lines or having to put up with rude staff is really not appealling... so I'm having the same trouble deciding. In our case the other options (Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, Princess) go up to 5000/7000 dolars for the same itineraries MSC will do for 2000, so it's not really an option. It's either MSC or not cruising at all... :cool:

[rin1]

Personally, I'd go for Princess, probably the Grand since she's getting a major facelift and was pretty decent before. I also want to do a Southern itinerary myself so I'll live vicariously through you. ;-)

[bbrme]

I just found another one to add to the mix. Holland America also has an 8 day Southern Caribbean Dec 18 - 26 on the Westerdam which goes to Aruba, Curaco, Bonaire and their private Island. Is Princess that much better than HAL? This one seems the best for stops and dates.

[Mack2]

Any time the kids are away from home, at a resort/cruise, they will be deliriously happy.

The question is whether you want them to be deliriously happy, or deliriously happier.

 

 

Have you looked into any of the RCI ships? The super-huge MEGA ships (Oasis-class) are a little expensive... by a lot... but we've experience a great time aboard the Explorer-class and Freedom-class (very big) ships.

 

I felt that the RCI-style of ship really appealed to my family the best (out of Princess, Disney, and Carnival) Princess was a little old... not the ships, the passengers. I have a story about meeting a cranky old person on Princess. Very unpleasant. Disney was great when they were very young. Carnival was great, but I kinda missed the amenities found on the very big RCI ships (Ice skating, rock climbing, Royal Promenade)

 

Regardless of which ship, they still had a great time. Again, it's better than sitting at home in the snow for a week.

[epixx]

We've sailed NCL, CCL, RCI, and Celebrity during the winter holidays. You're going to have a ton of kids on any of these cruises because it's a holiday week. Furthermore, the kids will love any of them. The atmosphere will be festive, and they'll meet lots of new friends and have a ball. The important question is which one is best for the adults. Is the ship, i.e, food and entertainment, the most important, or is the itinerary, or is it the price? You need to think about your priorities.