Christmas cruise for families

[deon]

Hi

 

We are planning on doing the 14 day cruise over Christmas from Sydney to Auckland on the celebrity solstice.

 

I've heard that the demographic on board may not be suited to young kids (mine are aged 3 and 5)?

 

Can anybody recommend me a great cruise to do over Christmas on any ship over the same time departing from Sydney which is suitable for families.

 

Still happy to book my original cruise , but thought I'd just ask the cruising community out there to be sure.

 

Many Thanks

Deon

 

 

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[rkmw]

Hi

 

We are planning on doing the 14 day cruise over Christmas from Sydney to Auckland on the celebrity solstice.

 

I've heard that the demographic on board may not be suited to young kids (mine are aged 3 and 5)?

 

Can anybody recommend me a great cruise to do over Christmas on any ship over the same time departing from Sydney which is suitable for families.

 

Still happy to book my original cruise , but thought I'd just ask the cruising community out there to be sure.

 

Many Thanks

Deon

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

we have done a few christmas cruises but only with princess and p&o and they cater for all ages from babies up to senior people, they do get very busy and you will have a good time....even santa comes onboard from a tender

[The_Big_M]

On Celebrity over Christmas here, you'll usually find upwards of 500 children.

 

They have a great Children's program. They're not the fun park focus of some cruise lines, but I wouldn't say they're a bad choice.

 

Other popular choices for children here are P&O, and Royal Caribbean.

[aussielozzie18]

We were on the Rhapsody last Christmas. Loved the Rhapsody. If you go to Rhapsody reviews, you will see my two reviews for the cruise (sorry, I dont know how to post the link).

[The_Big_M]

We were on the Rhapsody last Christmas. Loved the Rhapsody. If you go to Rhapsody reviews, you will see my two reviews for the cruise (sorry, I dont know how to post the link).

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=246986

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=246837

 

:-)

[deon]

Thanks!! This is all very useful info!

 

 

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[Brossy]

We just did a 3 night sampler on Solstice with our kids. There were over 200 kids onboard and their kids was amazing! My kids have travelled on P&O, Royal and now Celebrity and liked celebrity's kids club the best. They liked it so much I have booked another cruise for Jan next year.

[joybook]

Just something to keep in mind. January last year we took the kids and grandkids on a cruise on Rhapsody of the Seas. Had a marvelous time and would do it all again if time and money allows. Our youngest grandkids were 6 and 3. What we learned was that the swimming pool on Rhapsody was just great for kids this age as one end of the pool was gently sloping into the water much like you would have at the beach. They were able to spend most of their days just wading around in this end of the pool - and it was great (and easy) for their parents.

 

Wife and I were on Sea Princess over Christmas last year and we remarked to each other how lucky we were to have chosen Rhapsody over Sea Princess for the kids cruise as the pool on Sea Princess was certainly not satisfactory for kids that age - it was a normal adult pool. We had not previously given any thought to the suitablility of the pool for kids.

 

Please note that this is not a critisism of Sea Princess, but just something maybe you could keep in mind - if the pool for the kids is important to you maybe you could enquire of the shipping line just what the swimming pools are like.

 

Have a great time.:)

[deon]

Very good point joybook!

A pool suitable for our kids is very important to us as they love the water and we don't really envisage being constantly in the pool with them.

 

I'll def check this out

 

 

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[2011CruisingFamilyof4]

We were on the Carnival Spirit for Christmas in 2012 with a 4yo and 7yo. Great atmosphere and loved the Christmas spirit. Would do it again in a heartbeat if we had the money!

[3littlepigs]

We were on Radiance just before Christmas and had about 400 kids onboard, I thought that was quite a lot and was impressed at how they behaved. Staff told us that over the Christmas school holidays they often have over a thousand kids onboard.

[goodycruising]

We were on Radiance just before Christmas and had about 400 kids onboard, I thought that was quite a lot and was impressed at how they behaved. Staff told us that over the Christmas school holidays they often have over a thousand kids onboard.

 

Our recent trip on Radiance from 19th January to 27th January had about 770 kids, and apparently about 400 were teenagers. It was a bit overwhelming for some passengers, and the staff seemed to be giving up the battle towards the end of the week. The lifts were grubby (food and wrappers and spill marks and smears), and some kids took to having permanent sit downs in them, as well as the hot tubs. The kids on the whole were great, it is just that staff seemed to be putting out spot fires and sometimes, well, they looked worn out!

 

It might be thought that some of the adult passengers could help, but I can tell you I saw some trying to ask kids to stop running, and to wait for outgoing people before charging into lifts. Kids have little respect at times. One kid was asked why he didn't take the stairs for one floor up. He said he was on holidays!

Edited February 7, 2014 by kjsmith63

[aussielozzie18]

Our recent trip on Radiance from 19th January to 27th January had about 770 kids, and apparently about 400 were teenagers. It was a bit overwhelming for some passengers, and the staff seemed to be giving up the battle towards the end of the week. The lifts were grubby (food and wrappers and spill marks and smears), and some kids took to having permanent sit downs in them, as well as the hot tubs. The kids on the whole were great, it is just that staff seemed to be putting out spot fires and sometimes, well, they looked worn out!

 

It might be thought that some of the adult passengers could help, but I can tell you I saw some trying to ask kids to stop running, and to wait for outgoing people before charging into lifts. Kids have little respect at times. One kid was asked why he didn't take the stairs for one floor up. He said he was on holidays!

 

We must have struck it lucky. We had no issues at all with kids on our Rhapsody Christmas Cruise. Lifts were clean. I must admit the spas on the main pool were full of little kids but that didnt bother me as I spent most the time in the solarium. Our wait staff did say to us that there were hardly any teens on board but they were expecting alot more for NYE cruise.

[The_Big_M]

Our wait staff did say to us that there were hardly any teens on board but they were expecting alot more for NYE cruise.

 

There weren't that many as it turned out. Only about a hundred teens.

[Gaznjo]

Also consider the voyager as she has lots for the kids.... Great pool for littlies out the back.... Mini golf ... Inline skating, ice skating... Well for the little bit older ones..... Also they have the dreamworks characters, shrek, happy feet penguins ... Animals from Madagascar.... The parade they do is fabulous.... And the ice skating show is good too

 

 

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