Comparison of kids clubs?

[cruisn~]

I have a 3 year old and looking for a comparison of the kids club. disney is obvious choice, but because of price wnat to consider rccl. thoughts? does rccl keep the kids busy? which is the best? rccl? disney? ncl?

[rebeccalouiseagain]

Ok- of the cruise lines I've tried in recent years, here is how I would rate the kids programs....

 

Cunard- wonderful ships. Kids Club is ok- staff is very caring but not much in the way of activities for kids in the kids club. The ship is a huge playground for kids though and we sailed Queen Mary 2 three times and it still amazes me.

 

Holland America- has cool itineraries and you'll have a fun cruise but the kids club is just ok- nothing special. Watch out for the Indonesian staff with young girls. Saw some inappropriate behavior with staff and tweens.

 

Princess- they do a pretty good job and overall the ships are fun and interesting for kids. Love the Movies Under the Stars and lots of hot tubs and great pools. Kids Club is fun for the kids.

 

Royal Caribbean- as one would expect they have a great kids program and my son enjoyed it a lot. Outside pool was freezing and no one used it. I've heard this from other cruisers. I've sailed Royal three times and it just isn't for me. Not a fan.

 

Celebrity- the crew bends over backwards for the kids. There are fewer kids onboard and they get more attention from the crew and the staff in the Fun Factory. I would rate Celebrity the second best next to...

 

Disney- of course the kids feel like they died and went to heaven. I am not a big Disney fan so for me I wouldn't do Disney again but my son loved it.

[boulders]

I wouldn't necessarily recommend Disney to a 3 year old unless they are both quite independent and in love with Disney. The Disney kids clubs are a big free for all while the other kids clubs (we've experienced Princess, RCCL and Carnival so far) are more organized with individual attention paid to the kids. DS was 4 on our DCL cruise. He was happy to be left alone to play video games with the other kids. If he was more shy and nervous - he would not have liked it.

[lrowe70]

Agree with the above Disney comment.

A friend took her 1 and 6 year olds and they HATED the kid club. She said it was mainly showing movies and playing video games. Her comment was that Disney takes for granted that they are Disney and doesn't do much else except to have Disney stuff all over the place.

 

We recently went on Carnival and checked out Camp Carnival. We liked it a lot, in fact it is the #1 reason we may actually sail Carnival again(other than that, we would not consider the line at all) Very nice and attentive staff and wonderful age-appropriate toys and activities.

 

We're going on Celebrity in about a month and are told that the kids program is also outstanding, mainly due to the fact that there are so few kids. I'll post a review of it when we return.

[nicki_momof3]

Kids were 3,4,5 when we went on a 7 night disney cruise. It was the best week of their lives. They still talk about it. The kids clubs are amazing. They have a ton of cool activites. My kids loved the pumba and tamone PJ party, making flubber in the lab, making cookies in the lab, the princess dance party (daughter loved it).

 

On castaway cay they loved digging up the dino bones they also enjoyed going to the meal on the island with the kids (no parents just CM took the).

 

I love disney cruises - I would highly recommend them to anyone. The shows are great, I love the fireworks and pirate party, the sailaway party is super fun, characher meal.

 

It is all magical.

 

Have a nice trip - I would pick disney hands down over any other ship.

[boulders]

Kids were 3,4,5 when we went on a 7 night disney cruise. It was the best week of their lives. They still talk about it. The kids clubs are amazing. They have a ton of cool activites. My kids loved the pumba and tamone PJ party, making flubber in the lab, making cookies in the lab, the princess dance party (daughter loved it).

 

On castaway cay they loved digging up the dino bones they also enjoyed going to the meal on the island with the kids (no parents just CM took the).

 

I love disney cruises - I would highly recommend them to anyone. The shows are great, I love the fireworks and pirate party, the sailaway party is super fun, characher meal.

 

It is all magical.

 

Have a nice trip - I would pick disney hands down over any other ship.

 

When did you go on your Disney cruise? They changed the format of the kids club 2 1/2 years ago and then again about a year ago, and not for the better.

[sandvinsd]

Everyone says that Holland America is not for the younger ones, but our kids have loved the club-HAL programs on our cruses we have taken with them. They keep the kids entertained with activities and my kids actually begged to go to the club on sea days.

[rebeccalouiseagain]

Every cruise line has something to offer. The only cruise line I haven't done in years is Norwegian. I did have fun but for some reason haven't wanted to sail them since they have been packing people onboard. Epic for example- holds 4000 people. That's way too many people.

 

One thing to consider is... the more people... the more illness. The more kids in a small confined area.. the more illness. There is nothing that ruins a trip more than a sick kid.

[nicki_momof3]

Kids were 3,4,5 when we went on a 7 night disney cruise. It was the best week of their lives. They still talk about it. The kids clubs are amazing. They have a ton of cool activites. My kids loved the pumba and tamone PJ party, making flubber in the lab, making cookies in the lab, the princess dance party (daughter loved it).

 

On castaway cay they loved digging up the dino bones they also enjoyed going to the meal on the island with the kids (no parents just CM took the).

 

I love disney cruises - I would highly recommend them to anyone. The shows are great, I love the fireworks and pirate party, the sailaway party is super fun, characher meal.

 

It is all magical.

 

Have a nice trip - I would pick disney hands down over any other ship.

 

 

2010 August

[gatzsd]

We have done 2 Disney cruises and our daughter was 3 both times. She had an AMAZING time. I would say at 3 years old however some kids could get overwhelmed, depending on how busy the club is. Our first cruise it wasn't crowded with kids because we were doing the Med in September and our daughter got lots of attention. The second one was a "kids sail free" offer and the clubs were packed, so didn't feel she got nearly the attention she did the first time. Overall we would leave her in the clubs for 1 or 2 hours at a time before she wanted us to pick her up. I think now that she is almost 5 she would do much better in the clubs and would want to stay all day. Everything about the ship is magical and all of the activities - I would agree with the statement that she felt like she had "died and gone to heaven"

[nicki_momof3]

We have done 2 Disney cruises and our daughter was 3 both times. She had an AMAZING time. I would say at 3 years old however some kids could get overwhelmed, depending on how busy the club is. Our first cruise it wasn't crowded with kids because we were doing the Med in September and our daughter got lots of attention. The second one was a "kids sail free" offer and the clubs were packed, so didn't feel she got nearly the attention she did the first time. Overall we would leave her in the clubs for 1 or 2 hours at a time before she wanted us to pick her up. I think now that she is almost 5 she would do much better in the clubs and would want to stay all day. Everything about the ship is magical and all of the activities - I would agree with the statement that she felt like she had "died and gone to heaven"

 

 

Have you ever done RCCL. If so can you compair the two.

[emelvee]

Our daughter enjoyed the program on our RCI cruise the best. Carnival has been great. NCL was weak, but it was an older ship probably not built with a dedicated kids club; it appeared to just be a few cabins converted to the club.

 

But as she has gotten older, she hasn't spent as much time as when she was younger. Since we haven't cruised in two years, we'll see how she likes Adventure Ocean on RCI next month.

[MommaOf3Princesses]

My kids have only cruise one time so have nothing to compare it to, but we did Disney when my two oldest daughters were 3 and 6. My 3 yo did not like it at all! My 6 yo old did seem to enjoy herself on serveral occassions. IMO it was too overwhelming for my 3 yo...losts of kids and a big open space of chaos.

[TheCalicoCat]

I have a 3 year old and looking for a comparison of the kids club. disney is obvious choice, but because of price wnat to consider rccl. thoughts? does rccl keep the kids busy? which is the best? rccl? disney? ncl?

 

Not that they are on your list but my son at 2, 3, & 3.5 has loved Carnival & HAL's clubs. (I think personality plays into it more than we realize & an only child with a SAHM mom would probably not like it as much as a child from a big family that goes to day care.)

[MommaOf3Princesses]

Not that they are on your list but my son at 2, 3, & 3.5 has loved Carnival & HAL's clubs. (I think personality plays into it more than we realize & an only child with a SAHM mom would probably not like it as much as a child from a big family that goes to day care.)

 

Im so glad to hear that...we are crusing with Carnival in July and it will be my kids first time on CCL. Im a bit nervous on whether they will like camp carnival or not (given the first kids club experience). We typically do not do the kids club thing on vacation....but it would be nice to have one hour here or there alone!

[cruisn~]

so we did a disney cruise and i was less then impressed. I have to agree with the comment about not having any structure and comment about playing computer games.

 

looking to try rccl or ncl now.

[1of4]

My kids were 7 and 10 when they went to Club Hal last summer and they loved it so much they wanted to be there every minute it was open, sea day or not. The counsellors gave individual attention and I felt the kids were supervised at all times. Activities were varied and there was a schedule with times so well planned out. They even got to make pancakes from scratch in the culinary arts centre one morning.

 

When only DH and I were on the Golden Princess there were lots of kids screaming around the ship acting very inappropriately so we were left to concluse that either the kids program was not very good or the kids didn't want to go. For this reason we refuse to bring our kids on Princess.

[Warmer Climes]

I can compare RCI and NCL. Both have excellent kids programs but my daughter (who started cruising when she was seven) preferred NCL because she says the staff seems to be having more fun and the activities were more lively. Now she is 14 and loves NCL's teen club.

 

She was the deciding factor on us switching our brand loyalty to NCL.

 

Barb

[queenL]

We are doing Disney in Sept just for DD. She is 5. She has been bugging me about going on Disney for awhile now. I finally got a decent price for Disney. This will be her 10th cruise. I have sailed with her on Carnival, NCL, HAL, MSC, RCL, Celebrity. Her favorite so far was Carnival. Even though we prefer other lines, the kids club was exceptional. Then I would say RCL, NCL,Celebrity, HAL, MSC in that order. I'm imagining Disney will be near the top.

 

RCL is great with them too. I will add that the Oasis Class had far more activities for the kids then some of the older vessels. I would imagine the same would be true for the Freedom Class and Voyager class. Also consider where your child is with potty training. Some are more strict than others about the use of pull ups.