Children's Program on Crown Princess

[texasdillo]

I have lurked around these boards for a couple of years but only recently began posting. I was hoping to get some specific information regarding the hours of operation for the children's program on Princess. I have tried using the search feature here on CC but cannot find what I am looking for. Nor can I find it on Princess website.

 

As a matter of information, our family of 6 (Grandma and Grandad, Mom, Dad, Grandson who will be 9 and Granddaughter who will be 7) are considering Crown Princess in March 2012 (Spring Break).

 

Can someone give me an idea of the hours of operation for the kids program? I read somewhere that it is open only in the afternoons. I also read that an additional charge of $5.00 per hour per child is made for any hours after 7:00 pm. Is that correct?

 

We have previously cruised on both HAL and Royal Caribbean, but are considering Princess.

 

Thanks in advance for any and all advice.

[ShelbysMom]

From the Princess website - (try typing "children's programs" in their search box) - here are the posted hours.

Recent reports from various Princess ships (and we had this on the Island in April) show that they are extending the sea day hours, opening at 1 pm after lunch and opening at 6 pm for dinner. Not sure if that is an experiment or something they are changing permanently fleetwide.

Hours of Operation

Sea Days:9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.2 p.m. - 5 p.m.7 p.m. - 1 a.m. *Port Days:8 a.m. - 5 p.m. †

* A $5 USD per child/hour group kidsitting charge is applicable from 10 p.m. - 1 a.m. for youth passengers ages 3-12.

† A supervised, complimentary lunch service is available with parent consent.

 

The only charge is for the late night group kidsitting. Every other time is included in the cruise fare.

 

They do ask for notice the day before if you are going to use them on port days, so they can staff appropriately. But there is no charge for port days. And they are generally open in the evening on port days. Not sure why that's not on the hours.

[texasdillo]

Thank you very much for this information!

[Scrapchick]

Yes, I agree with what was posted. We're Elite cruisers with a 10 year old DD and the hours quoted are accurate, and that is our experience. There is no charge until after 10PM. The kids club breaks down the kids by ages and it depends on the ship what age groups they use, but generally you can count on 3-7, 8-12, 13-17.

 

Princess falls above HAL and below Royal Caribbean in terms of kid friendly activities, but we have nothing but positive things to say about their kids clubs and have been on many of their ships.

 

Not sure why you couldn't find this information. It's fairly standard and much discussed on these boards, and not hard to find at Princess either.

[Keith1010]

I have a slightly different view than the previous post.

 

Of course all of this is subjective but from our own experiences we thought that Princess has the best children's programs of any cruise line other than Disney. Sure, they don't have rock climbing but in terms of an organized children's program we always thought they were the best again putting aside Disney.

 

Keith