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Haven't cruised in a while, looking for a good fit!


Mintycake
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My husband and I used to cruise once or twice a year but we haven't been on a cruise since 2014.  Our daughter is now 9, and while we cruised Princess when she was a toddler, I'm not sure it's the right fit anymore given her age.  She's very social and while not super active, would need some stimulation.  We looked at Disney but I think it's pricey.  We're planning a cruise for late January 2020.  What are your favorite cruise lines with kids at that age?  She'll just have turned 10.  We also want something where we can relax as adults too and the other priority for us is good food :) . Thanks!

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1 hour ago, Mintycake said:

My husband and I used to cruise once or twice a year but we haven't been on a cruise since 2014.  Our daughter is now 9, and while we cruised Princess when she was a toddler, I'm not sure it's the right fit anymore given her age.  She's very social and while not super active, would need some stimulation.  We looked at Disney but I think it's pricey.  We're planning a cruise for late January 2020.  What are your favorite cruise lines with kids at that age?  She'll just have turned 10.  We also want something where we can relax as adults too and the other priority for us is good food :) . Thanks!

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Carnival, NCL or RCI would all be excellent cruise options. As far as adults only, RCI does it best with its indoor Solarium. As far as kids clubs, Carnival does it better. As far as stimulation, NCL has the most recreational activities available. 

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Royal Caribbean all the way, especially, their megaships, followed by NCL's newest ships. We haven't tried Carnival, so I can't recommend.

Our kid doesn't do kid's club, so it's important for us to have family activities or kid activities that he is qualifies for (size wise).

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1 hour ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

Royal Caribbean all the way, especially, their megaships, followed by NCL's newest ships. We haven't tried Carnival, so I can't recommend.

Our kid doesn't do kid's club, so it's important for us to have family activities or kid activities that he is qualifies for (size wise).

You should try Carnival. Carnival not only has excellent value but they, second to Disney, appeal towards families the most, with their DIVIDED Kids' clubs. Nothing is worse than a 17-year-old paired with a 13-year-old! Lol!

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5 minutes ago, jbethel11 said:

You should try Carnival. Carnival not only has excellent value but they, second to Disney, appeal towards families the most, with their DIVIDED Kids' clubs. Nothing is worse than a 17-year-old paired with a 13-year-old! Lol!

Thanks, but my DH refuses to sail on Carnival, and our kid doesn't do the kid's club. Carnival prices were not lower, and sometimes much higher than RCI or Princess for the same sail time. I keep checking, but so far I haven't found anything on Carnival that would tempt me to take the plunge.

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5 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

DH refuses to sail on Carnival

Wow, refuses eh? As the DW you should force him lol. But in all seriousness, I feel the opposite is true, as I find Carnival's prices are cheaper for the Caribbean, but nowhere else, lol!

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I would LOVE to do a Disney cruise but I'm worried about the overwhelm factor as I think the kids are all together (all age groups?) . Also is the price justified?  It's so much more than other lines.

 

As seasoned Princess cruisers, my DH of course wants to sail Princess.  I love Princess too, but with a 10 year old, if the kids club is a bust there will be nothing for her to do!

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We use Royal Caribbean.  We have actually found better prices with them on the ships we would want, compared to Carnival.  The kids club is divided into age groups.  Our oldest sailed at ages 7 & 8 and loved it.  We still haven’t made it to one of the mega ships, but we have never been lacking for activities on board.  For age 9 we are going on Ovation.  I am hoping to book one of the Oasis class next.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
On 4/24/2019 at 2:47 PM, Mintycake said:

I would LOVE to do a Disney cruise but I'm worried about the overwhelm factor as I think the kids are all together (all age groups?) . Also is the price justified?  It's so much more than other lines.

 

As seasoned Princess cruisers, my DH of course wants to sail Princess.  I love Princess too, but with a 10 year old, if the kids club is a bust there will be nothing for her to do!

Where/when are you thinking of sailing? You might find that many of the cruise lines will have lots of kids on board and more bopping kids clubs if you’re sailing during school breaks to popular family destinations like Alaska, the Caribbean, or the Mediterranean. We’ve never sailed on Disney because of the price but all our friends that have tell us that no other cruise line does a better job of entertaining their kids. We’ve only sailed on Celebrity and HAL which are definitely not known for their kids’ programs and my son who generally loves kids’ clubs on any kind of vacation on land or sea had a ball playing there and making new friends. I’m looking at Princess for next year but am not very familiar with it; in your prior experiences with them were there not many kids on board? 

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  • 2 months later...

My goodness I haven't been on this board for a while so I apologize!  We ended up booking Royal Carribean.  

On 5/19/2019 at 5:36 PM, suzannecruisecritic said:

I’m looking at Princess for next year but am not very familiar with it; in your prior experiences with them were there not many kids on board? 

We loved Princess when my daughter was little (3 and 4) and the kids club was nice for her.  We sailed off peak and she was a bit shy so the fact that there were only a few kids worked well (staff was pretty much 1 to 1 because so few kids).  Now she will be 10 and is a huge extrovert so we hope that RC will work for us!

 

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On 5/19/2019 at 5:36 PM, suzannecruisecritic said:

Where/when are you thinking of sailing? You might find that many of the cruise lines will have lots of kids on board and more bopping kids clubs if you’re sailing during school breaks to popular family destinations like Alaska, the Caribbean, or the Mediterranean. We’ve never sailed on Disney because of the price but all our friends that have tell us that no other cruise line does a better job of entertaining their kids. We’ve only sailed on Celebrity and HAL which are definitely not known for their kids’ programs and my son who generally loves kids’ clubs on any kind of vacation on land or sea had a ball playing there and making new friends. I’m looking at Princess for next year but am not very familiar with it; in your prior experiences with them were there not many kids on board? 

The numbers depend on the sailing.  We went with a 2 year old who could only visit the kids club with parental supervision.  They had plenty of time to take care of him in the kids club since there were only nine children on board (Panama canal cruise leaving January 8).  Previous sailing over New Years had 150 kids on board.  Our Princess cruise to Alaska in the summer also had a ton of kids.  The kids club has great hours (only closed an hour for lunch and dinner each, which is a lifesaver when your kids still nap but might not matter with older ones).  The kids club staff was great, but my son was only 2 so hopefully someone else can give you a better sense of how the clubs are for older kids.  

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A 9 year old will love ANY cruise line's kid's club!  No worries. There will be plenty of "stimulation" on any ship, any cruise line.  Your child is lucky to be able to cruise!

 

Disney is the least structured...and most kids enjoy structure...no worries!

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We sail Carnival for the value and we all love it.  The ships (most of them) have a lot to do:  Waterworks, miniature gold, sports court, arcade, game room, dive in movies, and the games in the Red Frog Pub (shuffleboard and Foosball and ring toss games).  And all that doesn't even touch what happens in the kids club.  My son loves the kids club.  He's an only child so gets tired of just mom and dad and hey...it's his vacation too.  I will say that the adults only area is sometimes lacking on Carnival.  A few the ships have pools on the Serenity Deck, but not many.  There's still plenty of adult things to do though!  We were skeptical because we had only sailed on Royal and left our son home with grandma, but took the plunge with Carnival and love it.  We'd be willing to try Royal again, but can't even come close to Carnival on the price...we've always booked a balcony and always will and expect an ocean view....not a boardwalk view!

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