Celebrity & Children

[Colorado Buffalo]

We will be on the April 6th sailing of the Silhouette-

 

my 5 year old daughter will be with us (got a child sails free deal)

 

 

I'm a bit nervous that she is on a cruise line that isn't meant for children.

Sure Celebrity isn't Disney and I don't expect it to be but I need some past passengers to re-assure me that we will be fine. I have to think that April 6th in itself should allow for more children aboard than other times of the year.

I'd love to know about their on-board children's programs too.

 

Thanks-

[rebeccalouiseagain]

Relax- Celebrity is fantastic for kids! The Fun Factory is lots of fun and I couldn't get my son out of there at that age.

[dkjretired]

Relax- Celebrity is fantastic for kids! The Fun Factory is lots of fun and I couldn't get my son out of there at that age.

 

My kids grew up on Celebrity and loved it, great programs, seem to have more personal attention to the kids.

[rdler]

I love Celebrity. My 11 year old son was put off by it. The activities for his age group really existed only in theory, and he was put off by all the places that wouldn't let him enter or sit with me. All that said, he did recognize that the Reflection was a very fine ship.

[turning46]

We'll be on that sailing, too! We were on a late August sailing last year, and the kids in your kid's age group seemed to be having a BLAST. From the glimpses we'd catch of the kids around the ship, they seemed to be doing fun, active, creative things. I'm sure you'll love it, and who doesn't adore seeing the little ones dressed up for formal night? (I'm sure some don't, but I do). I think your family will love it.

[FrancescaH]

My son is in an older age group at age 9. We just got off the Silhouette last weekend. He enjoyed the Fun Factory a great deal... So much so we felt like we barely saw him. He actually skipped dessert every night in the dining room to ensure he didn't miss a thing. My husband ran him up between entrees and desserts.

 

There was a family bingo, a family disco, and a family scavenger hunt in which parents could participate plus a talent show with family as the audience. There was some crafting type activities plus a lot of table tennis, etc. for his age group. The younger kids seemed to be having just as much fun when we saw them.

[Dawg74]

Hi there,

 

We had our three kids age 7, 10 and 13 on the Eclipse at New Years and they loved it. Certainly they enjoy the ships with water parks and climbing walls etc... But the pools, hot tubs and splash pad, the kids program, some of the entertainment and the ports are just a few of the things that kept them having fun. One of the things they really enjoyed was a ship building contest, you sign up and look for stuff on shore and around the ship to make your own ship out of, then on the last sea day it goes to the pool deck for a float in the pool and judging. I know your daughter is a little younger than our youngest but I bet she will have a blast with you on board!! :)

[Chrisv94]

My son is in an older age group at age 9. We just got off the Silhouette last weekend. He enjoyed the Fun Factory a great deal... So much so we felt like we barely saw him. He actually skipped dessert every night in the dining room to ensure he didn't miss a thing. My husband ran him up between entrees and desserts.

 

There was a family bingo, a family disco, and a family scavenger hunt in which parents could participate plus a talent show with family as the audience. There was some crafting type activities plus a lot of table tennis, etc. for his age group. The younger kids seemed to be having just as much fun when we saw them.

 

We were on that sailing with you last week :D My daughter is 10 and son 8 had a BLAST onboard as they always do in the Fun Factory.

 

I remember talking to a parent two years ago while on the Eclipse and she said she preferred Celebrity's children's programs to Disney's because it was much more interactive between the staff and kids and they always felt incredibly secure leaving their kids there. When I was on the Reflection last January one of the staff from the Eclipse the year before remembered my daughter because when I brought her in she called her out by name...THAT was impressive!!

 

And trust me, its not just the Fun Factory staff that are great with the kids. Our waiter would cut my sons food up for him each night when he served it on our last trip and so many of the staff would say hi to our kids, ask them questions, and entertain them (the one staff in the buffet and my son had a week long joke about who could make funnier animal noises!)

[DixieGirl_11]

I heard it explained once like this - people that are a good fit for the Celebrity experience will likely have kids that are a good fit for the Celebrity kids programs.

 

We went on the Millenium to Alaska in July 2013, and my kids - ages 6 and 10 at the time, absolutely loved the Fun Factory. I will quantify this by saying that we had been on a Disney cruise in December 2012, and my 10 year old son said he liked Celebrity way better than Disney. The reasons he gave were that he felt the staff were really involved with them and the activities were mature and more democratic. So if there was a planned activity that really didn't appeal to the group at hand, the counselors would scrap it and take them to go play dodge ball on the sports court instead. He also liked the scavenger hunts and other activities that gave them a bit more freedom.

I didn't get as much detail out of my daughter, but she's just not one to elaborate anyways. I do know that she begged to go to the Fun Factory every time there was a lull in the action, and several times that I went to pick her up, she'd appear and beg & plead to stay just a little longer.

(It's a dark day in parent world when you try to get your kids at 10pm after a day of hiking and whale watching and YOU are exhausted, but they are having too much fun and don't want to leave. So you pay the per hour after-hours fee and wander around the ship trying to find something to do while your kids party. Sigh. )

I think they get more personal attention too - our cruise was in the middle of the summer, and a family-friendly itinerary and the FF lady told me there were about 150 kids on board. Compare that to a Disney ship (or RCCL or any other) that is likely to have upwards of 1000 kids on a sailing to try and entertain.

[rebeccalouiseagain]

I have to laugh at the previous post because I know my son has more fun on cruises than I do! I of course love them but he would be out partying while Mom was exhausted.

[Cruise a holic]

We will be on the April 6th sailing of the Silhouette-

 

my 5 year old daughter will be with us (got a child sails free deal)

 

 

I'm a bit nervous that she is on a cruise line that isn't meant for children.

Sure Celebrity isn't Disney and I don't expect it to be but I need some past passengers to re-assure me that we will be fine. I have to think that April 6th in itself should allow for more children aboard than other times of the year.

I'd love to know about their on-board children's programs too.

 

Thanks-

 

Because you are sailing at a time when Kids are free special was offered, I believe she will have many children to play with. The camp looks like fun, especially for the younger children.

 

You will be very happy as will she!!

[satdan]

We were on Feb 8 silhouette with a 13 and 15 year old. Biggest problem was this... 2900 passengers with 62 under 18. With so few most of the kids club events didn't happen because of too few kids (karaoke for 2 isn't much fun). They had fun, but really couldn't use the club other than for hanging out.

 

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Forums mobile app

[georgiaguy]

I used to work in the kids program on Celebrity and every cruise there is a kids program whether there are 5 or 500. In April the kids count should be a bit higher because of spring breaks and that should mean that the kids program will be in full swing. When there are few kids they condense the programs but that can also be better because it allows the kids to have a little more freedom if they do no like a certain activity, it can be changed and is much more flexible. The best thing is for them to get involved and they are almost guaranteed to have a blast.

[phoenix_dream]

We have sailed with my now 27 year old son since he was three, most often on Celebrity. He absolutely loved it then and he loves it still. There will not be tons of kids, but there is a nice kids program and there are just about always some kids onboard (with the possible exception of long repositioning cruises). Even kids need to wind down sometimes, and spending some time with just family can really help you reconnect in ways that just aren't practical these days with everyone so busy. You will be fine:)

[pandj24]

Hey Longmont! Castle Rock here :)

 

Have sailed on Celebrity with our kiddos... and will soon be going again with our 3 and 6 year olds. As the other posters have said, you should have no worries. Celebrity is GREAT with kids! Have a wonderful cruise!!!