Best Cruise Line for families?

[mommypenguin29]

My dh and I have taken 3 cruises on Royal Carribean and have loved each of them...next year we want to take the kids (ages 6 and 4) with us...any cruise line recommendations or ships recommendations for families?

 

Here is some info about us:

~Would like to go to the western carribean (possible do eastern if there are ports we haven't visited)...

~would like to do a 7 night cruise

~there is me, dh, ds (6), dd(4)...we are an acive family and would like lots of activities to keep us busy - decent pool

~decent food

 

Other questions when you recommend a cruise line or ship...

Do we need to get a suite to be comfortable or are there rooms big enough for a family of 4?

How are the kids programs? Would my kids be able to go into the same group?

 

Thanks for the help everyone!

[TheCalicoCat]

Disney, then Carnival, then RCCI in order of most family friendly. (With that said, I have only been on the latter two & my 2 year old has only been on Carnival - he LOVED it.)

[mommypenguin29]

Thanks... To note...I have looked into Disney and find them quite expensive... so for now I think we are leaning away from them...plus we went to Disney this past May with the kids and are planning on going back in 2-3 years:)

[chipmaster]

The best cruise is the one that meets your budget :D

 

Budget aside based on experience and or preception

 

1) Disney: Pricey Pricey, but the mouse has and gets the premium

2) RCCL: You already familar with their style,

3) Princess: I really like their balance and style

4) Carnival: The "fun" attitude I find tiring, but my kids enjoyed it. Many things I could do without, but you can't argue with the value.

 

As to 4 in a room, with 2 small kids I'd think okay. I've done 3 and 4 even on inside, but others would say never, very personal decision about how much personal cabin space versus money here.

 

My dh and I have taken 3 cruises on Royal Carribean and have loved each of them...next year we want to take the kids (ages 6 and 4) with us...any cruise line recommendations or ships recommendations for families?

 

Here is some info about us:

~Would like to go to the western carribean (possible do eastern if there are ports we haven't visited)...

~would like to do a 7 night cruise

~there is me, dh, ds (6), dd(4)...we are an acive family and would like lots of activities to keep us busy - decent pool

~decent food

 

Other questions when you recommend a cruise line or ship...

Do we need to get a suite to be comfortable or are there rooms big enough for a family of 4?

How are the kids programs? Would my kids be able to go into the same group?

 

Thanks for the help everyone!

[Warm Breezes]

At 4 and 6 my vote would be Disney. A little on the pricey side but you get the Disney experience, better food, better service, better entertainment, and Castaway Cay. I am very glad we spent the money for it when my kids were that age. It was worth the money to see everything through their eyes. I would do it while they are young enough to still be amazed by it. My kids have moved past that stage now....but I'm hoping in about 10 years I experience it again with Grandkids:D.

[Babyberger]

I am very biased, and have only sailed on Carnival once a long time ago and have not sailed on Disney. We live in South Florida and go to Disney so much that we have decided that when we cruise we would like to do it Disney free ;)

 

With that said, we absolutely LOVE Royal Caribbean for our family! When we sailed on Freedom in 2009 my younger two were 4 and 5 (just shy of 6), last year on Oasis they were 5 and 7, I also have an older DS but he was in the teens program. The adventure ocean programs are absolutely phenomenal and broken up into age groups, 3-5, 6-8, 9-11, and 12-14. This way the activities are age appropriate. I have heard that Disney does not segregate the age groups, but I am not 100% positive on that. The adventure ocean staff is absolutely amazing and really keep the kids engaged and having a great time! When we passed them outside of the AO area they always said hi to my kids by name (and we have sailed at peak times with A LOT of kids on board).

 

We have not been able to do everything on each of the ships, as we run out of time. We usually spend the day by the pools, ice skating, playing mini golf, etc or we head to the beach while in port. Then at night the kids go to camp and DH and I are able to enjoy a specialty restaurant or an evening strolling the ship or enjoying the bars. It is the perfect vacation for all of us, since we get to spend time as a family and also have some grown up time! We have used the in-stateroom babysitting as well for late at night and it worked out perfect for us.

 

We have done the eastern itinerary twice now, and are making the switch to western for our next two cruises. My kids are not the take an excursion touring the islands kind of kids and just want to take their shovels and pails and hit the beach :) So that is our plan for Labadee and Cozumel (we will stay on the ship in Jamaica).

 

The other thing that Royal has now is the Dreamworks experience. We have not been on a ship with it yet, but my kids are looking forward to the character breakfasts and seeing all the characters around the ship.

 

We have sat and really looked at the other lines, ships, etc, to try to do something different but have decided to stick with Royal for now.

 

That of course is just my two cents, I hope it helps.

 

 

Thought of more ;)

 

In response to fitting a family of 4 into a cabin, it shouldn't be a problem. There are plenty of cabins with sofabeds and pullmans if you need it. It wont be the most spacious, but it can be done!

 

Also if you want to get a glimpse of the kids activities I have the Cruise Compasses including the Adventure Ocean planners from our Oasis cruise at my flickr page.

 

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjtKRycq

[navychica]

In my opinion, all the mass market lines do pretty well with kids. As a teenager, I was on HAL's Zuiderdam (twice) and the Caribbean Princess. Even though they have reputations for having older crowds, they had tons of other kids on board. My siblings and I ranged in ages from 5 to 18, and we all had fun and made friends. Have fun wherever you go!

[WAHMto5]

We have only sailed Carnival (up till this weekend) and the entire family has ALWAYS enjoyed it! We are sailing Disney this coming weekend and cannot wait as we go to WDW every year but have never been on a Disney cruise;)

[Ggdean]

Love the NCL boat dawn for kids. Kids size buffet and great kids pool. Cabins not so good. Carnival pride and it's sister ships have great quad cabins. Twin/king combo and a sofa/daybed with an upper over it so you don't have kids sleeping over your heads. 4&6 are in separate "camp" groups on carnival and NCL. 2(or 3)-5 and 6-8. Unless you can come up with a really good reason they will be split.

[Colorado Kat]

I'd choose a Carnival ship that has either "Waterworks" or the fun waterslides.

[Keith1010]

I would recommend either RCI which you are familiar with or Princess. Princess has one of the best children's programs of any line other than Disney.

 

Keith

[gelo7]

Our kids have always cruised with us, and they loved them all.

[carostad]

Before we had kids, my husband and I cruised on RCI a few times. Then we had kids, and took a break from cruising until they were both old enough to be interested (which for my kids was when my youngest was 4). Since then, we've done several cruises. At first we stuck to Carnival, because everyone said Carnival was better for young kids. we had a great time, but honestly though that the cruising experience just "wasn't what it used to be". This spring, we cruised on Celebrity and I can assure you, cruising CAN be as nice as it was 10 years ago. Carnival is nice, a good (relatively) inexpensive go-to cruiseline, but Celebrity was hands down nicer. Our kids had just as much fun as on Carnival. For them, the most important thing is other kids, and we've never been short on other kids on the cruises we've taken. We're taking a RCI cruise in about a month, and I'm so happy to be giving them a try again.

 

One thing I did notice, on Carnival, the upscale restaurants were amazing and the difference between the quality of the food in the restaurant and the dining room well justified the added cost. It felt so much more special. On Celebrity, the food in the dining room was so conistently good, the upscale restaurant didn't seem as necessary. We did do a specialty dinner, but while it was spectacular, it wasn't as markedly different as it had been on Carnival. And, that was the only thing bad I could say about our Celebrity cruise. :)

[Mom2B&Z]

My dh and I have taken 3 cruises on Royal Carribean and have loved each of them...next year we want to take the kids (ages 6 and 4) with us...any cruise line recommendations or ships recommendations for families?

 

Here is some info about us:

~Would like to go to the western carribean (possible do eastern if there are ports we haven't visited)...

~would like to do a 7 night cruise

~there is me, dh, ds (6), dd(4)...we are an acive family and would like lots of activities to keep us busy - decent pool

~decent food

 

Other questions when you recommend a cruise line or ship...

Do we need to get a suite to be comfortable or are there rooms big enough for a family of 4?

How are the kids programs? Would my kids be able to go into the same group?

 

Thanks for the help everyone!

Our boys will be 6 and 4 when we go on the NCL Star out of Tampa to W. Caribbean. It's a 7 night cruise, we have a mini-suite and like a combination of hanging out at the pool as well as doing things on shore. I can let you know how it goes when we get back :)

From cruising the NCL Sun, I can tell you 4 in a balcony was fine. There wasn't a lot of room, as the boys slept on a pull out couch, but it worked. We have a mini-suite this time, so no one is sleeping in an upper berth. DS1 loved the kids club on the Sun, and I find the NCL kids clubs tend to be consistently well-reviewed.

However, we're a fairly easy to amuse family. We eat what's in front of us, make do with whatever hand we're dealt and don't need a lot of entertainment to have a good time. A Disney ship would drive us crazy.