Celebrity with Kids? Or stick to RC

[sakigemcam]

My kids aren't kids anymore but when they were 18 and 21 we took them on RC's Oasis and they had a blast. They're social and active. We now cruise Celebrity and often comment they would have been bored out of their minds on X. Even if they were younger, RC would have been way better for them for sure. 

[graphicguy]

I think some are confused as to which cruise lines would offer children more fun.  It’s not that Celebrity doesn’t have things for young ones to do.  It’s that Royal has more, much more, and is more in tune with providing a better experience for children than Celebrity does.  Celebrity is much more adult focused than Royal.

[chemmo]

You know it really all comes down to what your son enjoys!

 

If he likes to be ‘constantly doing’ the RC water play areas and a wider range of organised activities and games then RC will be a better fit for him. 
 

However, if he will be happy with some exciting and active excursions in port and then some time in the kids club, followed by swimming with you in the pool and then playing with toys, activity books, iPad etc then Celebrity is a good fit too.

 

[davekathy]

If we had kids I wouldn't be booking a cruise based on their likes or dislikes. 

[Loracpin2]

On 11/23/2021 at 1:26 PM, Manda917 said:

We usually do a spring break cruise with the whole family, including my 6 y/o son.  Since he is the only child in the group I like to make sure he has plenty that he will enjoy.  Usually we book on Royal as that seems to fit well, but we are considering booking Celebrity.  When we travel just us (no kid) we love Celebrity, but I am afraid is won't have a lot to appeal to him.  He does like hanging out with his family and the BIG waterslides aren't really his thing yet.  My husband wants me to book the cruise YESTERDAY...so I welcome any opinions or suggestions. 

My husband and I are loyal Celebrity cruisers and are more than halfway on to Zenith. Having said this,  we chose not to book Celebrity for three milestone Family (8 adults and 8 grandchildren) celebration cruises.  For our 45th Anniversary Family cruise with 8 grandkids ages 4, 6, 7, 10 & 12, we booked Royal. For our 50th Anniversary cruise with grandkids the 9 to 17, we booked Royal, for our upcoming 55th Anniversary cruise next June......we booked Royal!!!!! 

[TrulyBlonde]

1 hour ago, davekathy said:

If we had kids I wouldn't be booking a cruise based on their likes or dislikes. 

Me either.....except when it comes to my Grandchild 😉.  I only do it for him and get such pleasure seeing his excitement. However, DH/Grandpa came once and that was it LOL! He had seen enough of the Mouse and the Duck.

Let me add that I do the 3 day out of San Diego on Disney. It is all I can handle too.

Edited November 24, 2021 by TrulyBlonde

[KKB]

We did Celebrity spring break 5 day cruise with our kids as teenagers. They enjoyed it, but they agree Royal has been their fav cruises. 

We did the Edge this summer & there were a few kids on our sailing--but they were families sailing together. 

If a child had siblings, cousins or friends along, and cruise is fun. 

But since he would be the only child, I wouldn't recommend Celebrity.

[bruzin_for_a_cruizin]

'Cuz you asked, 😉 here's my take: 

 

Celebrity vessels have Kid's Clubs/Teen areas. The dining rooms offer kid's menus. Those facts alone suggest you aren't stepping out of line bringing children and/or teens on an X ship. However... there's a ton more family-friendly programming on RCL ships, particularly the Oasis- and Freedom-classes. As such, there are a ton more kids on RCL ships. Given the demographic of X, your 6-year-old might very well be the only 6-year-old on-board. There's a place for them to go and play, but with so few other children on-board, will they enjoy themselves? Will you?                     

 

The bottom line is X is marketed to millennials, middle-aged and senior folks. RCL is marketing to mass market and families. Personally, I wouldn't take my kids on X. We cruised exclusively on RCL with them, and just did our first cruise with Celebrity without our (now-adult) offspring. They loved every second of every cruise and made dozens of friends, some of whom they are still in contact with.

[docsneeze]

We have a 4 year old and we tried RCL but realized that the activity choices were really limited for toddlers when we last cruised 2 years ago.  Additionally, the food quality was poor relative to what we experienced with Celebrity in the past.  We will avoid RCL for this reason.  Even HAL with the senior demographic had suitable activities and food for kids.  

 

What really discourages family vacations is the relative higher prices for kids on Celebrity versus other cruise lines.  This seems to be a form of prejudicial pricing as certainly cheeseburgers or pizza is not a large part of the passenger food costs incurred by a third adult in a stateroom.  They also tend to take up less space in the stateroom although I admit the inevitable small messes may take more time to clean.  I don't understand why Celebrity charges so much for kids, particularly under 6 years old.  We will pay the extra costs to have a higher quality cruise experience but feel this is unfair and seems almost discriminatory in its pricing structure.  Just curious if anyone has felt the same way.

[upwarduk]

I assume your son will be fully vaccinated?
Maybe this should be the starting point in your decision making.

Check the requirements of each cruise line.

Celebrity states fully vaccinated over 12’s, but even that may have changed in recent weeks, as USA are now vaccinating over 5’s.

[chemmo]

14 hours ago, davekathy said:

If we had kids I wouldn't be booking a cruise based on their likes or dislikes. 

We have always booked and planned holidays based on the interests of all family members! The wishes and needs of children need to be respected as much as the views of adults.

 

I think the OP has shown themselves to be a caring parent by starting this thread.

[Manda917]

On 11/23/2021 at 3:07 PM, parallax said:

Celebrity is a great option for your child and for you as well. My daughter, between the ages of 5 and 8, did 3 cruises on Celebrity and loved them.   She cried when we had to get of the ship on the last cruise. The kid's club is fabulous and is not overrun.  The staff is very attentive and got to know our daughter very well.     On one we cruise, when we stopped in Rome and were in front of the Colisuem, we heard someone yelling out our daughter's name.  We turned around and discovered  it was one of the counselors from the kid's club.

 

There is a group on this board who thinks that children have no place on Celebrity.  Ignore them.  When on Celebrity, I have discovered the more repugnant behavior comes froms the adults than the children.   

Thanks.  I think you have convinced me!!  

[davekathy]

9 hours ago, chemmo said:

We have always booked and planned holidays based on the interests of all family members! The wishes and needs of children need to be respected as much as the views of adults.

 

I think the OP has shown themselves to be a caring parent by starting this thread.

Good for you. Clearly I was only speaking for my wife and I and making a statement and not advising the OP. If we had kids there are plenty of other type of vacations that are more kid oriented that they would be more involved with during the planning process.

 

[TrulyBlonde]

2 hours ago, Manda917 said:

Thanks.  I think you have convinced me!!  

Have a wonderful time and hurry and book it so your DH does not get stressed 😉

[Jthans24]

Celebrity is amazing with kids. Our sons are 10 and 13 and have been on 7 and 8 cruises respectively. During the longer cruises we have taken 11-14 days during the school year, there have been very few kids on board under the age of 18. They loved it. There were always a couple other kids for them to hang out with. The kids club staff does the same activities whether there are 4 kids or 40 . The smaller groups get more attention and don’t have to share the xboxes, etc. When my oldest mentioned doing Star Wars day at sea on Disney, I told him there would be 100s of other kids on board. He said that sounded awful and has never asked since.

 

It is definitely dependent on what your kids like. Our sons are great friends and when they aren’t at kids club and teen club they will hang out at the pool together. Our next cruise will be the first one we let them do it by themselves. We have very high expectations for their behavior and that is why Celebrity works for our family.

Personally, I would disregard anyone who says Celebrity isn’t for kids without giving their experience with their kids. The kids club is a very small part of the ship. If you don’t know it’s there and have never used it, you have no clue about the kids program and how amazing Celebrity is with kids.

 

Best of luck wherever you go!

 

[dkjretired]

3 hours ago, Jthans24 said:

Celebrity is amazing with kids. Our sons are 10 and 13 and have been on 7 and 8 cruises respectively. During the longer cruises we have taken 11-14 days during the school year, there have been very few kids on board under the age of 18. They loved it. There were always a couple other kids for them to hang out with. The kids club staff does the same activities whether there are 4 kids or 40 . The smaller groups get more attention and don’t have to share the xboxes, etc. When my oldest mentioned doing Star Wars day at sea on Disney, I told him there would be 100s of other kids on board. He said that sounded awful and has never asked since.

 

It is definitely dependent on what your kids like. Our sons are great friends and when they aren’t at kids club and teen club they will hang out at the pool together. Our next cruise will be the first one we let them do it by themselves. We have very high expectations for their behavior and that is why Celebrity works for our family.

Personally, I would disregard anyone who says Celebrity isn’t for kids without giving their experience with their kids. The kids club is a very small part of the ship. If you don’t know it’s there and have never used it, you have no clue about the kids program and how amazing Celebrity is with kids.

 

Best of luck wherever you go!

 

Save those sea cards, when the kids turn 18 they can get credit for all cruises taken. I say this because computer systems change and I know from experience that info can be lost. 

[GeriatricNurse]

On 11/23/2021 at 1:26 PM, Manda917 said:

We usually do a spring break cruise with the whole family, including my 6 y/o son.  Since he is the only child in the group I like to make sure he has plenty that he will enjoy.  Usually we book on Royal as that seems to fit well, but we are considering booking Celebrity.  When we travel just us (no kid) we love Celebrity, but I am afraid is won't have a lot to appeal to him.  He does like hanging out with his family and the BIG waterslides aren't really his thing yet.  My husband wants me to book the cruise YESTERDAY...so I welcome any opinions or suggestions. 

Have you considered 'Norwegian Cruise Line'?

[Lagranger36]

I have brought my 5 and 3 year olds on Celebrity in the past month.  I’d say it’s completely fine and they’ll have a good time, but RCL will have way more to keep them entertained.  If you think of the waking hours between 7 am and 10 pm, it’s hard to fill it all up when the only real kids activities are the Kids camp and pool.  I think you’ll have more fun if your kids are more engaged/busy.  

[mommysoncruiser]

I'm taking my 5 year old on a transpacific cruise next year and I know he will have a blast. As long as there is a kids club he will be fine. I have never been in celebrity so it will be a first for all of us. My son likes Royal, Princess, carnival, and MSC. I'm sure it all cones down to what your child will or won't like. 

[Guppy99]

My daughter went on multiple Celebrity cruises, but they only worked during school breaks. Not enough children otherwise and the programs get watered down.

I don't much care for RC. However, my kids really enjoyed Princess, when they were young. 

[mommysoncruiser]

14 hours ago, Guppy99 said:

My daughter went on multiple Celebrity cruises, but they only worked during school breaks. Not enough children otherwise and the programs get watered down.

I don't much care for RC. However, my kids really enjoyed Princess, when they were young. 

My kids also love princess. We are doing 28 day South Pacific next year on princess. They are super excited! We have both celebrity transpacific and princess South Pacific next year.

[cyntil8ing]

I think Celebrity excels with the pre-school to elementary age bunch. My kids have been on 20+ cruises since they were 5 and 2. They're now 18 and 15. At least half of them have been with Celebrity. My kids are somewhat on the introverted side, and the crowded kids clubs on Carnival and RCCL were just too much for them. Celebrity fit them perfectly, fun but not too overwhelming.

 

We were on Edge for Christmas two years ago, and both said it was their favorite cruise ever. I think that was more because we had good ports where we did fun excursions, but they loved the beautiful ship and enjoyed the shows and even playing trivia. They never visited the teen club.

 

On the other hand, now that they're older, they enjoy the bells and whistles on the newer Carnival and RCCL ships. We will be on Anthem of the Seas for Christmas, but that's more because I am not ready to fly yet, so we looked for something within driving distance.

 

One final thing, don't judge the cruisers on Celebrity based on some responses in this thread. Ten years ago, I was somewhat concerned my kids would feel unwelcome on their first Celebrity cruise -- a summer cruise to Bermuda. That has never been the case. 

[cdn_tbird]

1 hour ago, cyntil8ing said:

One final thing, don't judge the cruisers on Celebrity based on some responses in this thread. Ten years ago, I was somewhat concerned my kids would feel unwelcome on their first Celebrity cruise -- a summer cruise to Bermuda. That has never been the case. 

Our kid's first cruise was on RCL, since DW & I figured it there would be more for them to do. We couldn't have been more wrong. They had no interest in the kid's club, flow-rider, or skating rink and spent most of the sea days in the pool. On X, my son discovered the half court at the front of the ship, and both of them absolutely loved being able to shoot hoops at sea. The thumping of ball was like a siren's call and kids seemed to appear out of nowhere. What started as some 2:1 between my kids & myself quickly turned into day long series of 3 on 3 with other kids. My advise to the OP is that only they know what their kids will find enjoyable and plan according, not according to what a bunch of internet strangers think is best.

[Guppy99]

On 11/24/2021 at 2:34 PM, davekathy said:

If we had kids I wouldn't be booking a cruise based on their likes or dislikes. 

So you would prefer to have children along that are bored and have long faces? If you have children, you would know how much personal pleasure you get from your children's joy. You're absolutely right...probably best you don't have children that you have to take on vacation. 

[Kiran]

Pack some family board games, maybe puzzles. Usually not time in the day but there is on a cruise ship!