Family Friendly beside Disney

[Ponderosa1]

We have been on 2 Disney ships and enjoyed that they were family friendly. Our kids are now 12 and 9 so wondering if we could cruise a different cruise line that is just as friendly to kids. Love the idea of surfing, water slides, rock climbing etc and love the Caribbean. Any suggestions on cruise lines/ships?:)

[c-cruise]

Well, NCL, Carnival and Royal Caribbean would all fit what you are describing. Do you have a departure port or timeframe in mind? That would help narrow down the ship choices.

[Lerin]

We have been on 2 Disney ships and enjoyed that they were family friendly. Our kids are now 12 and 9 so wondering if we could cruise a different cruise line that is just as friendly to kids. Love the idea of surfing, water slides, rock climbing etc and love the Caribbean. Any suggestions on cruise lines/ships?:)

Any of the mass market lines, but probably RC with the bolded criteria above. Enjoy!

[Elann]

We went on NCL and my 6 year old loved it. I asked her what was better - or cruise or Disney and she couldn't decide!

[mjkacmom]

RCCL, NCL, and Carnival - the newer the ship, the more there is to do. We were recently on the Breakaway, and the kids loves the slides, rock climbing wall, ropes course, and trampoline.

[rebeccalouiseagain]

The only cruise line that my son doesn't like is holland and it is a bit dull. I think kids will enjoy all the cruise lines though. Do the one you like.

[cruisinqt]

Carnivals new ships have Dr. Seuss themes now.:) They offer character breakfasts, crafts, and other activities with the Dr. Seuss characters. They even have a free Dr. Seuss library. The Dream class has large waterparks with several slides including one that's toilet bowl flush styled, and there's water jets and other stuff to play with. Our kids loved that. :) There's also a large game room area called the warehouse and an 18 hole mini golf course. The Dream class would be the Dream, the Breeze, and the Magic. Of course Royal has the surfing, ice skating, and rock climbing. Either of these two lines have a younger age group and caters to families.

[mitsugirly]

I agree with the previous posters...Carnival, RCL or NCL.

 

We cruise mainly with NCL and their newer ships (Breakaway, Getaway or Epic) all have amazing things to do. Water parks and slides, Nick theme with characters and meet and greets plus activities. The kids clubs is always a blast too for my child. They have tons of activities for them to do daily. Some of their other ships have the Nick theme too, just not the huge water park. The 2 newest ships also have the sports deck with the ropes course, rock climbing, putt putt, bowling and zip lining.

 

RCL has a lot of interesting things too (although I have not sailed with them for many years) but if you look at their ships and activities, there's tons to do with rock climbing, zip lining and they have a surfboarding area that's neat too.

 

Carnival has some nice water park areas on some of the bigger and newer ships and some of them have the ropes course and sports park. Check out the Dream, Magic, Breeze and some of their other ships have upgraded their water parks.

:)

[jelliot4]

Your kids are approaching the age where Disney is less enchanting. We did two cruises on the Magic the last 10 years ago, and switched to Royal Caribbean when they got older. They really liked Disney when small, and the RC features like rock walls etc as teens. Pluses and minuses with both, but Disney is a bit higher quality at a higher price too. RC makes the shore excursions pricey for groups of four, whilst Disney was less costly there

 

 

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[cb at sea]

All are "family friendly"....really, there are NO cruiselines that won't take families! The "mass-market" lines (Carnival, NCL, RCI, HAL, Celebrity, Princess, Disney) all have PLENTY for all ages. You really can't go wrong on any of them.

[sjb.illinois]

Our kids loved Carnival- the slides, the food, shows, Camp Carnival (kids club), ropes course, movies on the Lido at night, and even the pull down Pullman bunks in our inside cabin. We were on the Breeze, and the kids were 10 & 7 at the time. Could not imagine a more perfect vacation for our family (ok, maybe longer?). My review is linked in my signature.

We are booked again this December on Conquest, and older and smaller ship (my DH wanted smaller), and it'll be interesting to see the differences. I'm pretty sure you cant go wrong with any of the choices others have mentioned- we just found Carnival to be so family friendly, and could not beat the price. Have fun!

 

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[akcruz]

We did Carnival until my kids were about 14 & 9. We then did Royal and while they very much enjoyed their previous cruises, they were then 100% hooked. They both preferred the activities on Royal. Have never been on Disney so cannot compare there.

 

As others have said most mainstream cruise lines will be good for the kids, figure out what you are looking for and try that out. The kids will be fine.

[CGYCruisingFamily]

NCL, RC and Carnival.

 

Our sons like Holland America but that is their personality (they dont like large crowds of kids - and for that matter the 650 kids on our NCL xmas cruise was way too many). We have found the kids programing on HAL to be good for our children but if you are looking for all those other activities - rock climbing, water slides etc, I would say NCL or RC most of all.