Looking for Ship recommendations (have a 4 yro)

[ccerts]

Help Wanted :p

 

Our Circumstances :

 

1. Caribbean Cruise

2. My wife and I (35-40ish)

3. Plus 4 year old daughter.

4. I like the casino

5. Wife likes shows/entertainment

6. First time cruisers

 

Our NCL ship options :

(for our possible winter break itineraries)

 

1. Epic

2. Pearl

3. Spirit

4. Sun

5. Star

 

I know everyone asks which ships and the Epic is the newest and biggest. I'm sure they are all nice. Any ship suggestions for our circumstances?

 

Thanks! :)

[russianmom]

Of the ships you listed I have only been on the Spirit. It has been my favorite NCL ship thus far.

 

I have travelled on 3 NCL cruises with my 4 now 5 year old. The only thing we missed on the Spirit was the kid sized buffet.

 

Here is the link to my review

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1369330

[youngestof9]

We sailed on Epic with a 5 year old (which would be the same kids club as it's 2-5). She loved it. She loved the waterslides, the kids club, the food, the pools. She was quite happy. They have Nickelodeon themed things which you can see in the link in my signature.

 

Blue Man group was very entertaining - lots of music all over the ship which I love. Great bars.

 

We sailed the Eastern Caribbean and thought the islands were great to do with kids (Bahamas is only okay in my opinion, but we love St. Thomas and St. Maarten - loved the beach in both places. We're definitely beach people, so going to Magen's Bay and Great Bay respectively. Kids loved them both (and so did we!)

 

Not casino people, but it was always hopping!

 

Food choices were plentiful and again thought the kids club was excellent.

 

It was the first cruise for the kids and they're dying to go again. We booked Epic again - originally Western Caribbean, but NCL changed their itineraries to do only Eastern. But we loved the ship so much we're basically doing the same exact cruise again and can't wait.

 

Enjoy!

[ccerts]

Fantastic advice. Score one for the Spirit. Thank you!

 

Did you leave your child at Charlie's Child Care center? Did you feel comfortable with that? Did your child like it?

 

Not we would want to ditch our daughter, but the onboard day care could give Mommy & Daddy a nice break ;)

[russianmom]

Fantastic advice. Score one for the Spirit. Thank you!

 

Did you leave your child at Charlie's Child Care center? Did you feel comfortable with that? Did your child like it?

 

Not we would want to ditch our daughter, but the onboard day care could give Mommy & Daddy a nice break ;)

 

 

My son can't get enough of the kid's club. He would much rather be playing with kids his age than hanging out with mom and dad!!

[youngestof9]

Fantastic advice. Score one for the Spirit. Thank you!

 

Did you leave your child at Charlie's Child Care center? Did you feel comfortable with that? Did your child like it?

 

Not we would want to ditch our daughter, but the onboard day care could give Mommy & Daddy a nice break ;)

 

okay, I wasn't on Spirit, but we were so happy with the kids club on Epic. You have to sign them in/out and they wear a bracelet while there. I felt very safe leaving her. She loved going. She did face painting and games and all sorts of stuff. She asked to go many times. She did go to preschool so she was used to hanging out with other kids so it wasn't new to her to leave me. But she really enjoyed it. Staff was excellent (and not in the general tipping pool FYI - gave them $$ at the end).

[ccerts]

I love your all your nice comments. Somewhere in the back of my mind I was trying to figure out if my 4 year old daughter would be better back home with Grandma, but with the great recommendations of the NCL kids clubs, I'm thinking she'd love it! Very nice!:)