Thanksgiving Cruises and kids...

[sargenet]

Last year we took a 5 day cruise over Thanksgiving on the Navigator of the Seas. We were told there were over 800 kids on board! My son was 7 and although there were lots of kids he really enjoyed himself.

 

Because of school restraints here in Texas, we are once again going to take a cruise over Thanksgiving. I am currently holding a 5 day on the Jewel of the Seas that goes to Cozumel and Costa Maya. I am pretty comfortable with Adventure Ocean. That being said, I am not happy about the ports as I would love to do the Eastern Carribean. My husband has never been to the ports and we went to Cozumel and Grand Cayman last year.

 

I am honestly considering NCL or possibly Carnival Glory or Valor as I really like their ports and would love to do a 7 day cruise. But I have no experience with their kid's programs! I do remember taking my step-daughters on Royal and Carnival many years ago when they were 12 and 15. It was my recollection they did not enjoy Carnival as much...

 

I have tried to read reviews but it is hard to find one's that are specific to Thanksgiving week and also talk about the Kid's programs! A program that could be good during non-holidays could be horrible during a break with that many kids aboard....

 

My son will be 8. Does anyone have any specific information on cruising during Thanksgiving? Especially as it relates to NCL or Carnival? I can always stick with the safe bet of Jewel of the Seas..

[powelweb]

We just booked on Celebrity's Summit for Thanksgiving week for myself, DH and DD who will be 8. It's a 7 night southern caribbean cruise with ports on all days except thanksgiving.

 

We've done RCL and Disney with DD (this will be her 7th cruise) and she doesn't click with the kids clubs usually, so I just don't plan on her being there much (maybe one night so we can hit Normandie for a romantic dinner).

 

We've sailed X before and I like only having the noon announcements and DD likes trivia games and shuffleboard and bingo, we'll have some quieter fun on the Summit.

 

Check out the member reviews for any cruise line/ ship from last november to see how the lids clubs were rated. And then lurk over to the roll calls for this year's sailing and see if kids are mentioned often or not.

 

Good luck with your decision.

[ourfamilylovescruising]

we do most of our cruises around Thanksgiving because the kids only miss 2 days of school for a 7 day cruise and it is a lot cheaper than summer. I have cruise carnival many times and my kids like it but they like any kids club the last 2 years we have gone on Holland America because the 3rd and 4th person was only 199.pp and they did lots of little things to make it more kid friendly twice the brought cotton candy to the dining tables for the kids we had cookies delivered a couple of times in our rooms, at the end they all received back packs and toys at no charge. and if you do eastern they go to half moon cay which is a nice beach day with the kids. we are going on the epic this year so this will be my first time on NCL so I cant commit on it yet. good luck and shop around.

[Onessa]

We generally cruise over T-giving but not Caribbean. We have cruised NCL over T-giving, and one of the the kid's program counselors indicated that they do extra planning to accommodate extra kids for specific cruises. They have additional counselors that they can/do bring in and reserve some "public" spaces for kids activities that they otherwise would do in the kid's club.

[Julienatul]

Any of the family friendly lines such as Carnival, RCCl, NCL, Disney etc will have TONS of kids over Thanksgiving and Christmas week

[kassimer1]

We went on Valor and my son hated the kids club. he said it was so boring. Unlike the club on royals that we had to tear him out of. He had such a good time we are going on another royal over this thanksgiving - 11 nights out of NJ. ( yes he will miss some school but he is a great student) Also FYI the medical care on Valor was horrible, But that is another story.

[crusinmama06]

Which NCL ship - which ports? :)

[cb at sea]

The older the kids, the less they make use of the kid's clubs! Teens generally want to do things that aren't "organized"...your son (8 years now??) should still be in the age group that does enjoy the organized activities....so either cruiseline should be fun for him!