We are booked on Celebrity Summit for my daughter's 7th birthday but should we switch

[billjessmaddie]

Someone please reassure me there won't be a ton of kids on the June 1 sailing to Bermuda. I just retired last June after 40 plus years of teaching and our previous cruises were all during school vacations. No offense, but we are hoping for a relatively kid free cruise if we went in early June.

 

June 1 is one of the dates where kids sail free. I don't know how that will affect your cruise though.

[DPurcell58]

Sail Aug 24th with us!!! We always sail the end of Aug, and have only once been rerouted and once sailed straight into Hurricane Irene in 2011. Didn't really bother us. Summit is a beautiful ship.

[Gaynors]

June 1 is one of the dates where kids sail free. I don't know how that will affect your cruise though.

 

We taking our kids on the June 1st sailing and LOVING the 3/4 sail free (they don't have to be kids :eek:) plus the drink package :D:D. It doesn't seem like we have anyone else with kids on our roll call though..:)

 

Since schools in the NE aren't out yet it might just be us southerners..:D

[ladeeesquire]

We have just returned from 7night on Reflection. Our son is 8. While he did love the kid's club we may think twice about Celebrity for a future sailing. There were about 20 kids in his age group.

My issue was with the other passengers. They seemed to be very well traveled, mature and enjoy a ship with adults their age. We received many raised eyebrows on elevators, etc., when they saw our son. I totally understand their concern, however; this made me feel a bit uncomfortable.

We did have a great time on Reflection, but I think we will stick with the family lines for a while. We vacation as a family. I would NEVER think of taking a 7night cruise without our son.

 

Interesting. My dd is 6 and we've been cruising with her since she was 2, three trips on celebrity and I've never noticed a raised eyebrow. Maybe I'm obtuse? I've actually found the opposite to be true. When we're on a ship with only 30 other kids, she is like a celebrity! All the older people just adore her and pay her tons of attention... almost too much.

 

My concern with celebrity, and its not stopping me because we have another X cruise planned for august, is that they shows tend to not be very kid friendly. My dd loves to go to the shows.

 

For families, I think Disney is overall the best. I was a bit concerned before we went because I thought it might be overrun with poorly behaving kids. Even though I have 3 kids, like most people, I do not care to be bothered by other people's children. I was pleasantly surprised. Of course, there were tons of kids but, with very few exceptions, they all seemed to be well behaved and having fun. The advantage Disney has for families is that everything including dining, shows, pool, etc is geared to families. You won't find that on X.

[purpletequila]

Yes. Absolutely switch to RCL. I was on the Summit last year and while I loved it, I distinctly remember thinking that I was glad I didn't bring my 7 year old niece because there was nothing for kids to do. Royal is a far more appropriate line for kids and I think it does a great job offering activities for adults, kids, and both together. Seriously. Very little for the kids on the Summit.

[Purplsmurf]

Yes. Absolutely switch to RCL. I was on the Summit last year and while I loved it, I distinctly remember thinking that I was glad I didn't bring my 7 year old niece because there was nothing for kids to do. Royal is a far more appropriate line for kids and I think it does a great job offering activities for adults, kids, and both together. Seriously. Very little for the kids on the Summit.

 

 

What time of the year did you sail? There is a big difference in the amount of kids sailing during Spring Break and during the summer. There was a lot for them to do and all of the kids there were having a great time. As I posted earlier, my kids have been on a decent amount of cruises and enjoy Celebrity the most.

 

 

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[purpletequila]

Fair enough. I did not sail in the summer so maybe that played a part. However, having been on the lines she's debating, RCL and Celebrity, I would still recommend to her and any family or friends, that RCL is a better line for kids. I'm glad your kids had a great time, but it is hard to argue that Celebrity is the line that is friendlier towards kids. There are far more kids, activities, pools, shows, characters/parades etc on RCL.

[sjh422]

We took our daughter, sil and grandchildren on a 5 day caribbean cruise on the Millennium. They enjoyed the cruise but did not always find enough to do. Then we took them all on the Oasis of the Seas. Our group spanned 3 generations, and we all loved every aspect of the cruise. Our kids never stopped running as they loved the zip line, the flow rider, the rock climbing wall, the mini golf, the ice skating and the dream works parades. They also enjoyed the diving and ice skating shows along with the family comedy show. The adults found so many entertainment options as well.

[SUSIEK]

Interesting. My dd is 6 and we've been cruising with her since she was 2, three trips on celebrity and I've never noticed a raised eyebrow. Maybe I'm obtuse? I've actually found the opposite to be true. When we're on a ship with only 30 other kids, she is like a celebrity! All the older people just adore her and pay her tons of attention... almost too much.

 

My concern with celebrity, and its not stopping me because we have another X cruise planned for august, is that they shows tend to not be very kid friendly. My dd loves to go to the shows.

 

For families, I think Disney is overall the best. I was a bit concerned before we went because I thought it might be overrun with poorly behaving kids. Even though I have 3 kids, like most people, I do not care to be bothered by other people's children. I was pleasantly surprised. Of course, there were tons of kids but, with very few exceptions, they all seemed to be well behaved and having fun. The advantage Disney has for families is that everything including dining, shows, pool, etc is geared to families. You won't find that on X.

 

 

Maybe it was just that particular sailing on Reflection. My son has been on 11 cruises and this was the 1st time I felt this way. Even on our 10 night Princess cruise the passengers were so nice and friendly with him.

 

He did have a great time in the Fun Factory on Celebrity. The youth staff were terrific.

[countingbackwards]

We have never cruised Celebrity before. Our other cruises have been on Carnival and Disney. My husband will no longer cruise on Carnival because the food was awful on our last cruise in 2012. And our last 5 vacations have been Disney World so we don't want to do a Disney cruise.

 

We heard that the food on Celebrity was great and we really liked the free drink package perk among other incentives we received with our booking.

 

However, we are having second thoughts about going on Celebrity with our 2 young children. My daughter is 6 and turning 7 on the cruise and my son will be 3. Upon reading reviews and then watching a youtube video of the Summit, we realized that our children might not enjoy themselves as much as we hoped they would. And we are worried that we will feel out of place for bringing the kids.

 

Not to mention my daughter did watch the video as well as complained that the ship looked boring and that she does not want to go on it.

 

So should we switch to NCL or RCL? It's a summer trip during the 4th of July.

 

I was asking myself the exact same question - we booked the Summit out of NJ, then started to wonder if we should have gone with the Breakaway since it has more kid-friendly activities.

 

At the end of the day, I figure that the high-quality kids' club, nice pool and availability of fun food & drink that they aren't usually allowed to eat, means that the kids should have a great time regardless of the fact that Celebrity isn't really a kid line. It's still a mass-market line that does market to families and has specific "family veranda" rooms, so it's not like kids aren't expected to be on this ship.

 

Further to that - when if at some point they don't want to go to the kids' club (which would surprise me with my kids), or the kids' club is closed, and it's not pool time - I'm hoping to have some time to just "chill" with the kids - play a board game, play shuffleboard, go to the bar with them (they'll have a juice!), etc. I'd worry that they wouldn't be able to focus on small pleasures like that on a cruise ship that's full of waterslides and other distractions that they'd constantly be bugging us to go to.

 

There are pros and cons to all of your choices…but I'd go with the Summit or NCL before RCI on this route since RCI only does 5 day cruises to Bermuda from NYC.

[parallax]

My daughter loves Celebrity. She went on the Summit last year when she was on spring break when she was 5. She loved the Kid's Club. While it is true that there may be less kids, I think that is a good thing from a safety standpoint. It was funny when my daughter went to the Club, she would never tell us what she did other than how much she loved it. One day we walking through the photo gallery and we saw a picture of kids from here group with the Captain. They all had their faces painted and had the biggest s____-eating grins. When they we shilling the cruise video, we say her group participating in a dance contest. I believe the second to last night they do a talent contest.

 

Our family has no interest in going on a ship that is part amusement/water park. If we want to go to an amusement park, we will go to an amusement park on land that is substantially better than what is on a ship. Plus, my daughter's summer camp has a water slide, climbing wall and zip lines so these things do not really interest her when she is on a ship. We look for a balance that meets everybody's needs.

 

In June, we will be doing a cruise of the Adriatic of the Silhouette and our daughter is very excited. She will be turning 7 during the cruise.

[Onessa]

I find that for the average kid, the kids' programs on most lines seem to be comparable. We've travelled extesively with our kid since she was an infant (now 18YO) and with our families with kids aged all over the spectrum. If you encourage them to go to the first program and a few thereafter, they will likely make some friends and have a great time no matter what the activities are.

 

Some kids are the exception. Even though my DD and some of my nieces are very introverted, they have never had a problem making friends. We have heard of some painfully shy kids having some problems joining in, sometimes there are kids who are particularly aggressive or very active that may have difficulties with some activities. But most ships' kids crews are particularly adept at handling these kids.

 

Then there are the kids who have convinced themselves that are simply not going to have a good time -- I had a girl like that in my Girl Scout troop one year, if she did not suggest an activity it was "stupid" and she was bound-and-determined not to enjoy herself no matter what :eek:. My DH's cousin's DD is 9YO going on 21, and if it does not involve makeup or one of the current male tween stars, it will not interest her. If your kid is thinking something is going to be boring or babyish or whatever, you do need to know your kid and how to deal with their ideosynchasies :D

 

As kids get older, the general activities in the kids programs lose some of their luster. While my DD was generally happy if she had some kids her age to "hang" with, I know some kids really want/need some of those whiz bang activities - zip lines, wave rider, ice skating, etc. If your kids are the kind who like that stuff, a ship with those types of amenities may make for a more enjoyable trip.

[Gaynors]

Yes, every kid is different and no one ship would meet everyone's needs. As a parent it would be up to you to determine what best meets your childs needs.

 

We've been sailing with our kids since they were 1 1/2 and now my 13 year old has been on 16 cruises and they have enjoyed each one. But, if you asked them there favorite cruise line they would say Celebrity and we've only been on their older ships.

 

This being said we are going on the Summit to Bermuda this summer then on the Independence of the Seas (eastern carib)over Thanksgiving. Very different ships and very different itineraries. Both kids said they are looking forward to going on the Summit more (and maybe part of that is because it is sooner ;)) and we've been on the Independence before too, but they really love Bermuda and can't wait to go back but they also have had a great time on the Summit before.

 

Going to the caribbean where we've visited many times I know the kids will love all the "fun stuff" on the big RCI ship. We may not even get off the ship at a few ports just to have fun on the ship.

 

Sorry for the rant, but it still comes down to the parents decision what works best for their family. Our kids don't need all the "fun stuff" to have a great time but when it's there we definitely make the most of it :).

 

BTW we celebrated DD's 6th birthday on the Mercury and it is still one of our favorite cruises. We took a special excursion to the Baths on Virgin Gorda and it made the day really special. We all still talk about what a great day that was.

 

What ever decision you make I hope you have a great cruise!

[capecruzer]

Our kids never stopped running as they loved the zip line, the flow rider, the rock climbing wall, the mini golf, the ice skating and the dream works parades. They also enjoyed the diving and ice skating shows along with the family comedy show. .

:):)

 

For these reasons alone I would pick RCCL when with children that age. Its on my bucket list too! But, we really, really, really loved Disney Wonder and I can't wait to take grandchildren on whatever the newest Disney ship is at that time!

 

 

I'm sure Celebrity does a fine job with their kids' program but as others have said, there are far fewer children in general so how can they offer as many options? Maybe they can, I'm just doubtful. One January I took my daughter out of school for a cruise and found that because school was in session throughout the states there were much fewer kids and Carnival couldn't fill spots in several scheduled activities so they were cancelled :( Kinda hard to play kickball with four kids? Or have a ping pong tournament with only a handful...they often combined the age groups and this did not work for us at all. I did not want my preteen daughter with teenagers and she didn't want to be with the elementary school children.

[ARRA]

My kids have been fortunate enough to have very young and retired grandparents that LOVE to travel. With that being said, every time there is a vacation deal whether it's a cruise or an all inclusive, or kids travel and eat free, my parents are begging me to let them take them on vacation.

 

Both my 4 and 6 yr olds have been on NCL, RCCL, X and Princess, lucky them. We don't foresee ourselves doing a Disney cruise since we have relatives that live in Orlando and visit Disney World almost every year. There is only so much Disney this parent can handle.

 

I can honestly say that my kids love the Celebrity Fun Factory every time. I'm not sure what it was with the other cruise lines, maybe too many kids or the play areas were too overwhelming for them? The Fun Factory is a little smaller than RCCL, but I prefer a little more intimate. The counselors are enthusiastic and very welcoming. I think the my kids like it because they feel they get more personal attention. As soon as they stepped into the Fun Factory they wanted to stay and asked to go back each day. Whereas, with some other cruise lines, we walk in to the open house tour of the kids place and they sometime want to run out or hide.

 

We have a "ship routine" have breakfast together, drop them off at the Fun Factory, grampa picks up for lunch and ice cream and a quick nap with grampa to avoid peak sun, and back at the Fun Factory until dinner time, family dinner, late show, bedtime for kids and grandparents, and mom and dad drink and dance at night.

 

We are booked for another Celebrity Summit trip for June and my 6 yr old keeps telling my 4 yr old how much fun the Fun Factory is and the big Chocolate Party. Kids are so excited.

 

Good luck on your trip!

[JandKMom]

I am going to be on the same cruise! I also have two kids - a bit older (10 and 13) and I had the same concerns. We were deciding between three cruises - Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and the Summit. Royal Caribbean was only 5 days and we really wanted 7. We had been leaning towards the Norwegian, but my travel agent told me that the ship was really huge and the water slides were always really crowded and had a wait. We are also travelling with my elderly mother and I thought it was more important to have a nice relaxed experience for her. It is also more our style (my husband and mine that is). I figured my kids would be excited just to go on cruise. They have never been on one before, so I thought they wouldn't know the difference if I didn't book one that had rock climbing walls and water slides. Well, wouldn't you know - the first thing my 13 year old said was "Does it have rock climbing walls and water slides?" No joke. They had seen the commercials for Norwegian. We explained that we really wanted a quieter relaxed vacation and the big ships with all the bells and whistles would not be our style and they would have fun anyway. They are really excited to go and so are we!

[Redtravel]

I often sail on Celebrity with/without my kids/grandkids. Everyone likes the Summit. My 7 year old grandson loves the Fun Factory. The Summit Staff is wonderful with kids. In the summer on the Bermuda cruise, there will lots of kids. Have a great time.

[GOLDENBONNY]

We have never cruised Celebrity before. Our other cruises have been on Carnival and Disney. My husband will no longer cruise on Carnival because the food was awful on our last cruise in 2012. And our last 5 vacations have been Disney World so we don't want to do a Disney cruise.

 

We heard that the food on Celebrity was great and we really liked the free drink package perk among other incentives we received with our booking.

 

However, we are having second thoughts about going on Celebrity with our 2 young children. My daughter is 6 and turning 7 on the cruise and my son will be 3. Upon reading reviews and then watching a youtube video of the Summit, we realized that our children might not enjoy themselves as much as we hoped they would. And we are worried that we will feel out of place for bringing the kids.

 

Not to mention my daughter did watch the video as well as complained that the ship looked boring and that she does not want to go on it.

 

So should we switch to NCL or RCL? It's a summer trip during the 4th of July.

 

 

Why would you fill out of place with kids if X has kids club and it's family cruise line? X is mass market crusie line.

[JandKMom]

Hi to the OP - followup to my last post. I didn't realize this was an old thread and I just read through the whole thing and see you switched to August. We are going on that July 4th week cruise you were originally on - can't do August because of my son's high school sports commitments. Enjoy your cruise!