Kids friendly (or not) cruises

[mayerka1967]

Hi Everyone

 

Trying to plan our first ever cruise to Asia and then later to the Mediterraneans. Would appreciate some advice which cruise lines are not kids friendly (3-year old and 15-year old girls are in the family). Some companies give the impression without actually spelling it out that their target market does not include families with children.

 

Thanks in advance

Andrea

[Keith1010]

Some of the luxury cruise lines are not focused on kids. By that I meant they do not have children's programs nor children's facilities. From time to time you will see chldren on some of these lines though in the summer and during certain holidays. This would include Sea Dream, Seabourn and Silversea. On the Premium end I would add in Oceania and Azamara. I am sure there are a couple of others. I would recommend that if you are considering a particular cruise line I would post it to see if it has chiildren's programs.

 

Keith

[rebeccalouiseagain]

Yes- Oceania, Amazara and Ocean Princess are too small. I did Oceania and it appeals to the 70 and up crowd. There was zero nightlife. It was nice for older people and the food was excellent. There were three kids on the off season cruise we took a few years ago and they made their own fun- so it is possible if you have a very tight knit family that will be your sole source of social interaction but other than ping pong and the pool there were no children areas at all on the ship.

 

In the Med. my suggestion would be Holland America Venice to Istanbul roundtrip. This was the best itinerary and teens in summer were plentiful. They have a great teens only hangout with hammocks and the ships are smaller than say Royal, Celebrity, Carnival and NCL but still have all the things for kids- a nice youth program for the three year old and teens for the 15 year old to hangout with.

 

Off season there will be few children on any line. Peak travel time is summer because of school. Apart from that there might be some kids on Easter cruises but I don't think you should take a 15 year old out of school anyway. Too difficult to make up lost work.

 

In Asia there will maybe be some Asian kids but I doubt many others. You wouldn't want to do Asia in summer anyway because it is soupy hot by then.

[Keith1010]

In terms of kid friendly, I would take a good luck at Princess Cruises. To me they have a wonderful children's programs as well as great Mediterranean itineraries.

 

Keith

[Colorado Kat]

You would probably be fine with the 3 year old if she didn't have many kids her own age. But the 15 year old would definitely want companionship. Look at Princess.

[lmg1230]

We have sailed on Disney, Princess (twice) and Holland America with our kids. As between Princess and Holland America, my teenager prefers Princess although she liked HA as well. Having said that we are going on a Mediterranean cruise this summer on Celebrity because we preferred the itinerary and I fully expect that the kids will be happy on Celebrity as well. We always travel during school holidays so I think as long as there is an organized kids program then they will be able to find other kids to hang out with on sea days and in the evenings and that's all it takes to keep them happy.

 

Lisa

[Scrapchick]

We've done well with HAL, Princess and Celebrity, with Celebrity being our current favorite.

 

I agree on leaving the smaller ships alone... They don't have many facilities for kids and the bigger, mass market ships do. When you go makes a big difference as to how many kids will be on board. Our DD has been one of two kids, and one of several hundred, so you have to consider when you cruise as well as who you cruise with.

[cruisinreunion]

My kids have been on two cruises. both with NCL, once in summer and once during spring vacation and they loved the kids programs. My teen daughter spent all her time in the teen club and is still in contact with the friends she made...they had dinners together, a prom while their, and went to shows as a group, then would hang around in the Blue Lagoon little restuarant until late late, laughing the whole time, but not getting in trouble. My two other kids also enjoyed the 10-12 age on the last cruise. The first cruise they were all younger and hated to leave the kids groups for meals....I would definitely check NCL

[jam82]

I would not choose HAL for a 3 year old, although their teen program did look like everyone had a good time. The age group for HAL is 3-7 and they geared it for the older kids. Many of the activities included advanced arts and crafts and some involved writing. Unless you have a VERY mature 3 year old who can read and write, don't choose HAL. My son was 3 when we sailed on HAL and if he wasn't able to do the activity, then he was made to sit on the line on the floor and watch the older kids. He wasn't the only one sitting on the line, there were usually about 5 kids who were made to just sit and watch. They only offered one hour of 'free play' a day. The rest of the time was structured: do the activity or sit on the line.

 

We've cruised all the other major lines and felt that Princess, Carnival, RCCL and NCL were all good choices for our 3 year old. The age group on Princess was also 3-7, but they were able to help the little ones if they didn't understand how to do something. Sometimes they would separate the younger ones and let them have some free play while the older ones did the activity. With the exception of Carnival who changes diapers, kids must be 100% self sufficient in bathroom skills. They do not help them remember to use the bathroom, wipe, dress them or wash their hands.

[chipmaster]

Main stream lines with mainstream pricing on larger ships must cater to kids. If they don't they lock out too large a demographic.

 

Smaller ships, premium lines, and longer cruise 2 weeks plus on a whole are less likely to "cater" as the demongraphics will say that isn't an area that has large sailings that would attact large interest for "families" and represent wasted money/people/ship space for.

 

Clearly Seabourn or other high end offer amenities that if kids go well they appreciate some very "adult" activities and thus who cares if the "cater" to kids. We'd all be sailing for the value of the cruise, ditto with Disney, Carnival or Princess.

 

I think the gray area is the very small ships of the mainstream lines

 

 

Hi Everyone

 

Trying to plan our first ever cruise to Asia and then later to the Mediterraneans. Would appreciate some advice which cruise lines are not kids friendly (3-year old and 15-year old girls are in the family). Some companies give the impression without actually spelling it out that their target market does not include families with children.

 

Thanks in advance

Andrea

[rebeccalouiseagain]

If you are sailing solely for the three year old- big mistake. I did this on Royal and my son had a ball and I hated it.

 

A cruise to Europe is all about the ports of call. Unless family is going to stay onboard with the 3 year old, then I am sure you are going to take her with you. I certainly wouldn't have felt comfortable leaving my three year old on ship where I couldn't reach him or her quickly in case of an emergency.

 

On a Europe cruise, you will use the youth program mainly at night and it will be fine for short periods of time. We did Holland and my son liked it but no he didn't LOVE it. He likes Celebrity and Princess better. However, he LOVED the cruise itself. He loved the main pool on Holland. He loved eating dinner by the pool every night with delicious food from the buffet (that serves the same food as the MDR) On our cruise we ate in the MDR once and I ate in the specialty restaurant once- Pinnacle Grill is by far the best food at sea. Wonderful!

 

My (then 7 year old) made friends onboard and he swam with them in the pool and played with them when he ran into them on various excursions. He loved the poolside buffet on Holland- fantastic.

 

You will find that the Explorer Lounge at the front of the ship is a great place for the whole family. It is library/ internet cafe/ coffee bar.

 

Holland is a great cruise for teens IMO and you can keep an eye on them because the ship isn't too big.