Carnival Vista vs Royal Harmony of The Seas with 5 Year Old Boy

[ThandiChai]

Hi Need help in deciding between these 2 cruises. I am traveling with a 5 Year Old Boy so the kids activity is the most important decision criteria

 

Carnival Vista - 6 Days Caribbean Cruise v/s Harmony of Seas 7 Days Caribbean Cruise

 

Both the price is exactly the same and the dates are in March... We did had one cruise 3 years ago on Disney Dream.

 

Decided on these two as these are the newest ships with lots of kids activity... others i thought of were Celebrity Reflection and HAL Koningsdam and Disney Magic from San Juan in April..

Edited January 22, 2017 by ThandiChai

[tallnthensome]

Hi Need help in deciding between these 2 cruises. I am traveling with a 5 Year Old Boy so the kids activity is the most important decision criteria

 

Carnival Vista - 6 Days Caribbean Cruise v/s Harmony of Seas 7 Days Caribbean Cruise

 

Both the price is exactly the same and the dates are in March... We did had one cruise 3 years ago on Disney Dream.

 

Decided on these two as these are the newest ships with lots of kids activity... others i thought of Celebrity Reflection and HAL Koningsdam and Disney Magic from San Juan in April..

You're five year old wont know the difference. I'm sure they both have great kids programs. They both have nice water parks as well as plenty of other activities. It's a coin flip. I would NOT consider HAL or Celebrity if your kids entertainment. They are not kid orientated ships and they wont have the amount of kids for yours to play with. Also they basically have adult pools but no water park for kids. I've been on HAL twice but would not take my 7 and 9 year old girls on one. You should check into the NCL Escape. My young daughters loved it. Edited January 22, 2017 by tallnthensome

[ThandiChai]

Thanks for your insights... as rightly said I am only considering these 2 cruises now royal and carnival

[AdGuyMG]

How does this thread differ from this one?

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2447160

[jerseycandyman]

I would have to say please do royal especialy if they are the same price we just got off vista and we did have a great family cruise we all felt that carnival missed the mark on this ship. pleas look at reviews for vista. Just my opinion but I think royal might be a better fit for you

[C & L]

Hi Need help in deciding between these 2 cruises. I am traveling with a 5 Year Old Boy so the kids activity is the most important decision criteria

 

Carnival Vista - 6 Days Caribbean Cruise v/s Harmony of Seas 7 Days Caribbean Cruise

 

Both the price is exactly the same and the dates are in March... We did had one cruise 3 years ago on Disney Dream.

 

Decided on these two as these are the newest ships with lots of kids activity... others i thought of were Celebrity Reflection and HAL Koningsdam and Disney Magic from San Juan in April..

 

Definitely, Harmony of the Seas. Was on the ship during Thanksgiving and all the children seemed busy and happy.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

How does this thread differ from this one?

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2447160

 

Only difference I see is the one asks about Allure and one is Harmony. Both basically the same ship except the Allure has no water slides.

 

Bill

Edited January 22, 2017 by S.S.Oceanlover

[queenL]

I vote for Harmony too. I just returned from the Vista and I have sailed the Oasis. RCL is definitely the better cruise experience of the two.

[kassimer1]

i would do harmony, you get a lot of dreamwork character interactions, aa dreamworks parade and special dreamwork ice and aqua theater shows. he can see kungfu panda, shrek the madagascar bunch, and the how to train your dragon people and some dragons

[JinxyB]

I just went on the Vista with my newly turned 6 y/o and he loved it! We have been on Oasis and Allure when he was 3 and 4 and they were great, too. I am waiting to book Harmony for two reasons-the price $$$ and the fact my son is not tall enough yet to go on the slides. My son spent hours at the water park on the Vista, so that is a very big selling point for our family. He would be very upset to not be able to enjoy the water slides on Harmony and the stuff for smaller kids he would think too babyish. He really doesn't care about the Dreamworks stuff on Royal, but he loves Adventure Ocean and also Camp Ocean.

[ThandiChai]

Hi jinxyb so do you recommend vista

[jsfromsc]

My grandsons were 4 and 6 when we cruised on the Ecstasy in June. That's a much smaller, older ship than either of the ones you're considering and they had a great time in Camp Carnival (or Camp Ocean or whatever they're calling it now. :) Anyway, I think a young child that's not afraid to be left in the kids' program alone will have a ball. But I would opt for the cruise with the extra day, especially since you say they're comparable in price. Longer is always better in my book. I'm not opposed to trying other lines, but always weigh the number of days, type of room and price as well as the destinations. So while I"m sure your grandson would enjoy himself on the Vista, this seems like a good time to give Royal a try for the good price and the extra day and the chance to see the different amenities, food choices, entertainment, etc.

[Tapi]

You're five year old wont know the difference

 

 

Oooooh yes they will. I show my son 5 and 7 year old kids YouTube videos of kids activities and facilities on different cruise ships and they flat out tell me which one they think is the coolest.

 

With that said, another vote for the Harmony. We sailed on the Allure and it was beyond fantastic for our son. Between the enormous Adventure Ocean facilites, the kids water park, the carrousel, and the entire Dream Works Experience, the entire experience leaves anything on Carnival in the dust.

 

 

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[jimbo5544]

LOL, what a shock! Stop the presses, Tapi picked a RCCL ship, you have sailed the Vista to know where the "dust" is right?

 

 

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[JinxyB]

We enjoyed the Vista very much! Sailing her again in July! Breeze is still my favorite Carnival ship, though! I re-read your post and if price is the same for a 6-day on Vista vs a 7-day on Harmony, then I would always pick the longer cruise, but that's just me! I tend to shy away from Royal due to a few not so pleasant experiences, plus their drink prices are exorbitant.

[Tapi]

LOL, what a shock! Stop the presses, Tapi picked a RCCL ship, you have sailed the Vista to know where the "dust" is right?

 

 

Hi Jimbo. The beauty of modern technology and the internet is that today you can learn much more from reviews, videos and images than you could in the past. [emoji6] I agree that I haven't been on the Vista, but based on everything that I've seen and read about its kids program, there's no dramatic departure from what I've experienced on my past Carnival cruises.

 

I know that you think that I'm a Royal Loyal, but I'm not (look at my signature. I have more Carnival cruises under my belt and I have zero Royal cruises in my near future). But in my humble opinion, what we experienced on Allure (Harmony's sister) in regards to the children's program blew us away. It was beyond fantastic. So until we experience something better on another cruise line (whether Carnival or some other Line), I will continue recommending Royal to families with small children. [emoji3]

 

 

 

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[jimbo5544]

Hi Jimbo. The beauty of modern technology and the internet is that today you can learn much more from reviews, videos and images than you could in the past. [emoji6] I agree that I haven't been on the Vista, but based on everything that I've seen and read about its kids program, there's no dramatic departure from what I've experienced on my past Carnival cruises.

 

I know that you think that I'm a Royal Loyal, but I'm not (look at my signature. I have more Carnival cruises under my belt and I have zero Royal cruises in my near future). But in my humble opinion, what we experienced on Allure (Harmony's sister) in regards to the children's program blew us away. It was beyond fantastic. So until we experience something better on another cruise line (whether Carnival or some other Line), I will continue recommending Royal to families with small children. [emoji3]

 

 

 

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I respect your thoughts but not surprised. Check out what the Vista has... I am sure it won't sway you but not sure what ships you have been on.

 

 

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Edited January 24, 2017 by jimbo5544

[S.S.Oceanlover]

I respect your thoughts but not surprised. Check out what the Vista has... I am sure it won't sway you but not sure what ships you have been on.

 

 

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I have always found Tapi to be very unbiased. I still remember the days when Tapi only cruised CCL. :)

 

After all the reviews I've read it seems like the TA and Europe sailings on Vista were pretty good. Maybe that was attirbuted to the ship not sailing at full capacity.

 

Now that it is sailing the Caribbean it's probably sailing at full capacity the reviews have gone the other way. Sounds too crowded for me which is why I chose the Magic instead of the Vista for my next CCL cruise.

 

As to the skyride that was alluded too earlier I remember people saying that if they wanted things like that they would go to an amusement park but in that instance they were referring to the RCI ships.

 

Bill

 

Bill

[ryano]

Being that price is equal and the RCCL cruise is longer on a larger ship, as bad as I hate to, I would have to choose Harmony OTS and just miss all the good included food options on Carnival.:o

[ThandiChai]

Thanks everyone I called to book harmony the offer for CA residents is not there any more and the prices have gone up $800 :( went ahead and made reservation on Vista I hope it will be a good experience

 

 

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[jimbo5544]

I have always found Tapi to be very unbiased. I still remember the days when Tapi only cruised CCL. :)

 

 

 

After all the reviews I've read it seems like the TA and Europe sailings on Vista were pretty good. Maybe that was attirbuted to the ship not sailing at full capacity.

 

 

 

Now that it is sailing the Caribbean it's probably sailing at full capacity the reviews have gone the other way. Sounds too crowded for me which is why I chose the Magic instead of the Vista for my next CCL cruise.

 

 

 

As to the skyride that was alluded too earlier I remember people saying that if they wanted things like that they would go to an amusement park but in that instance they were referring to the RCI ships.

 

 

 

Bill

 

 

 

Bill

 

 

Touché I did not say I liked it (did not even ride it). I said it was a feature (and it is) my point was Tapi routinely dismissed the Vista (and he did). Have you found some features to be be different and enhanced in new builds? Hence my comments. While it is true one can infer some things from others reviews, I cannot recall one assessing Vista from a kids perspective. To say he does not have bias (or me from the other side) is short sided. Still would like to sail with him and you ......

 

 

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[ThandiChai]

Thanks everyone I called to book harmony the offer for CA residents is not there any more and the prices have gone up $800 :( went ahead and made reservation on Vista I hope it will be a good experience

 

 

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[jimbo5544]

Thanks everyone I called to book harmony the offer for CA residents is not there any more and the prices have gone up $800 :( went ahead and made reservation on Vista I hope it will be a good experience

 

 

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Hopefully it will be. Come back and let us know your thoughts when you return.

 

 

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[Liljo22]

Oooooh yes they will. I show my son 5 and 7 year old kids YouTube videos of kids activities and facilities on different cruise ships and they flat out tell me which one they think is the coolest.

 

With that said, another vote for the Harmony. We sailed on the Allure and it was beyond fantastic for our son. Between the enormous Adventure Ocean facilites, the kids water park, the carrousel, and the entire Dream Works Experience, the entire experience leaves anything on Carnival in the dust.

 

 

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Videos are one thing but you never know how a kid will like it until they are on board. We did a Disney cruise and after the first day my kids were bored. They did not want to go to the kids club the rest of the cruise. We booked a cruise on the Norwegian Dawn and I was worried they would be bored again. The ship does not have a water park other than a kiddie pool with small slides and not anything close to the the kids activities on the Disney cruise. We could not get them out of the kids club. We even ended up having to pay for late night activities because they asked if they can stay. I will always remember the tears running down both their faces as we were going down the escalator as we left the ship.

 

Saying that, I would choose the Harmony if the price is the same especially with the extra day. It seems like that its no longer the same. When we were deciding on a cruise this for this summer, I looked at both the Harmony and Vista. It was about a $1k difference in price. I chose the Vista because of the price difference and because of the Family Harbor area which will work well with my late rising family and also my two toddler nieces.

[Tapi]

Videos are one thing but you never know how a kid will like it until they are on board.

 

 

I agree with you. You never know how kids will react until they are actually there. Even though I'll sit down with my kids at home to watch videos of places that we are planning to visit, and they'll tell me what they think looks cool and what doesn't, once we actually get there their reactions have been at times different.

 

Our last cruise was on the MSC Divina and several people had reviewed that the kids program was mediocre, that the facilities paled in comparison to other cruise lines, etc. Long story short, my kids loved it so much that they wanted to be there every time it was open. They participated in every activity, including the talent show. They walked off the ship clutching DoReMi plush dolls (MSC's mascot) begging to go on another MSC cruise, and they kept singing their theme song weeks after we came home. It's true that the facilities were not that great, but the staff was friendly and attentive, and while more traditional, the list of activities truly appealed to the kids. There was less emphasis on electronics or flashy gadgets and more emphasis on hands on activities.

 

We are finally pulling the trigger and taking a Disney cruise over Thanksgiving. We are not Disney fans but I believe in trying as many cruise lines as possible and I think that, with kids 7 and 5, the time to take a Disney cruise is now. This cruise will be, by A LOT, the most expensive cruise that I've taken so I hope that they live up to the hype. The kids will be the judge on that cruise!

 

 

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