Transatlantic on Sky with toddlers?

[Albinroo]

Hoping expereinced Princess cruisers can give me some advice if the upcoming transatlantic from Ft Lauderdale to Copenhagen in April 2020 could be a good idea or not for my family. 

We love cruising, but have been having trouble finding the right cruise line for us. We're in our mid-thirties, and we now have 3 young kids aged 1, 3 and 6. What we want from a cruise

- Excellent food. Last cruise we did was on NCL where the food was OK but not much more. 

- Relaxed athmosphere. We are not party people or big drinkers, so no need for late night entertainment.

- Kid friendly. And by that I don't mean the ship has to have water slides or climbing walls or even a splash zone but we have to feel that (well-behaved) kids are tolerated.

- Not too crowded/loud. We purposely try to travel on longer itineraries because our chi

 

We have never tried Princess before, but from what I've read about their food and their kids club they could be perfect for us? We have done NCL twice, Disney transatalantic once, Celebrity once and RCCL once. Disney would probably be our best fit but their transatlantics are on the wrong dates and just insanely pricey. What sounds nice about the Princess kids club is that they have fairly good opening hours, the parents can join in and they have an outside area. But on the other hand there are a LOT of sea days on this 14-day cruise, so my main worry is that we won't feel welcome in public areas other than the kids club? Don't get me wrong, screaming, running and out of order behaviour should of course not be tolerated, but what about mostly happy, chatty and laughing kids?

 

[LDVinNC]

I personally would not do it - would you be 5 people in a single cabin?  Only you know your tolerance for such tight quarters.   But I would say, having done transatlantics in the spring - do not count on the kids being able to use the outside space.  Mighty chilly and windy on the North Atlantic in April!

[Albinroo]

Thanks for the reply. Princess doesn't offer 5 people cabins, so we'd be in two connecting deluxe Balcony rooms. Having said that, we did a 5 person oceanview cabin on NCL and that was OK, we're used to living on top of eachother I guess! And, being from northern Europe, I'm hoping at least the first few days out of Florida will be nice enough weather but you are right that April is a tricky time of year to go. Last transatlantic we did was about a week later in April and that was pretty warm weather for the whole trip but from reading this forum it seems to differ wildly from year to year!

[skynight]

You may not be able to book a cabin for five passengers. I would check that, before you investigate any further.

On a transatlantic you will not find many other youth. In North America schools are in session. Long cruises attract older passengers, ones that don't work any more. The passenger demographic will be older, I guess average 55 & up.

Weather will be cool to cold crossing the Atlantic. Indoor activities for sure. Popular daytime activities will include trivia, bingo, Zumba, silly games like ring toss, and others. Evening activities include dancing, parties, shows. I would say not many of these activities will interest young children. If you join any activity other passengers will welcome you.

DR food will be good quality, excellent? that will be your determination. But, it may be difficult for those young children to sit through a 90 minute to two hour meal. The extensive buffet might be a better choice.

I don't believe there is any babysitting provided. Your 1 year old will be with one of you all the time.

 

[phred119s]

I personally would be ok with it. We have sailed on 3 lines and Princess is our preferred. Our daughter’s first Princess Cruise was when she was 5. Her 4th is from Copenhagen this summer. (She was 1 when she began cruising. This will be her 9th cruise.) We’ve had looks from people that I’m assuming wonder why we have her with us, but we’ve received far more compliments from people on her behavior. 

[AF-1]

Princess offers a relaxed calm cruising environment.  There are no water slides, rock walls, ice skating.  They do offer kids clubs and have pools and hot tubs.  The food is good, and the crew has always been polite and friendly.  I have no problem recommending them for your transatlantic vacation. Which ship are you looking to sail and maybe someone can give you more info on that ship.  I have only cruised with Princess twice and both times were awesome.  

[fredflint]

TAs in general tend to have very few children so they might have a lot of attention or some things may be cut.   we did our first and last spring TA in 2019, was cold and we did not sit outside much.

 

Well behaved kids are always welcome in my experience, if you have done TAs with the kids before I would say go for it, I don't really feel that the same cruise experience happens twice or even once.

 

What I mean is that you can read reviews of the same cruise and they will be all over the place, great food, bland food, cold food, great cruise director terrible ,  it is all very subjective.  Likewise too I have cruised the same line and had different experiences.

 

Having done 5 TAs I would say in general good crowd, few children, better weather in fall and southern route.

 

Slow getting off the boat in the US if it is your first US port.

[EDDY0827]

Inquire about a "family suite". It's a balcony or mini-suite with an included interior cabin you can put your kiddos in.

It comes with all of the suite perks including priority boarding, laundry, full main dining room room service menu, minibar (trade out for kids drinks) and daily semi-private breakfast for suite holders only. All of these perks will help you enjoy your cruise with your kids on the many sea days.

 

Check with your TA or call Princess direct. These cabins, like the accessible cabins, must be arranged through your TA or Princess.

Good luck!

[Albinroo]

14 hours ago, phred119s said:

I personally would be ok with it. We have sailed on 3 lines and Princess is our preferred. Our daughter’s first Princess Cruise was when she was 5. Her 4th is from Copenhagen this summer. (She was 1 when she began cruising. This will be her 9th cruise.) We’ve had looks from people that I’m assuming wonder why we have her with us, but we’ve received far more compliments from people on her behavior. 

 Very true that while a few people give those looks, more give compliments! So glad to hear you prefer Princess, I hope we will like it too. 

[Albinroo]

13 hours ago, fredflint said:

TAs in general tend to have very few children so they might have a lot of attention or some things may be cut.   we did our first and last spring TA in 2019, was cold and we did not sit outside much.

 

Well behaved kids are always welcome in my experience, if you have done TAs with the kids before I would say go for it, I don't really feel that the same cruise experience happens twice or even once.

 

What I mean is that you can read reviews of the same cruise and they will be all over the place, great food, bland food, cold food, great cruise director terrible ,  it is all very subjective.  Likewise too I have cruised the same line and had different experiences.

 

Having done 5 TAs I would say in general good crowd, few children, better weather in fall and 

This is very true, we've never had the same cruise experience twice. But so far we've always loved our cruises so O guess that's a good thing  and we'll probably love this one too. Thanks to all the positive replies I think we'll book it!

[ALWAYS CRUZIN]

On 1/21/2020 at 8:04 AM, Albinroo said:

Hoping expereinced Princess cruisers can give me some advice if the upcoming transatlantic from Ft Lauderdale to Copenhagen in April 2020 could be a good idea or not for my family. 

We love cruising, but have been having trouble finding the right cruise line for us. We're in our mid-thirties, and we now have 3 young kids aged 1, 3 and 6. What we want from a cruise

- Excellent food. Last cruise we did was on NCL where the food was OK but not much more. 

- Relaxed athmosphere. We are not party people or big drinkers, so no need for late night entertainment.

- Kid friendly. And by that I don't mean the ship has to have water slides or climbing walls or even a splash zone but we have to feel that (well-behaved) kids are tolerated.

- Not too crowded/loud. We purposely try to travel on longer itineraries because our chi

 

We have never tried Princess before, but from what I've read about their food and their kids club they could be perfect for us? We have done NCL twice, Disney transatalantic once, Celebrity once and RCCL once. Disney would probably be our best fit but their transatlantics are on the wrong dates and just insanely pricey. What sounds nice about the Princess kids club is that they have fairly good opening hours, the parents can join in and they have an outside area. But on the other hand there are a LOT of sea days on this 14-day cruise, so my main worry is that we won't feel welcome in public areas other than the kids club? Don't get me wrong, screaming, running and out of order behaviour should of course not be tolerated, but what about mostly happy, chatty and laughing kids?

 

Just returned from a Sky Princess cruise. Toddlers were few and far between. Those that we saw were well behaved children. We never experienced any problems with any.