Multi-generation family cruise including Greece — which cruise line ?

[keloh]

My husband and I have taken approx 10 cruises total over the years, with RCCL, Princess, Holland and Celebrity.  The last one was probably over 15 years ago when we decided to concentrate on land based vacations. We would love to take our daughter, her husband and their two kids on a cruise in the next 18 months or so, and have it include Greece, which they’ve always expressed an interest in visiting, and where we have never been either.   My daughter cruised with us a couple times in her teens but hasn’t been since, her husband and kids have never cruised.  The kids are currently 13 (female) and 10 (male).  
 

I would like to rule out Carnival and Disney, but still looking for something that the kids (teen and tween) would enjoy.  Not sure how the cruising world works these days, but really don’t want to pack 2 evening gowns, tuxes etc.  Plus there’s no way my son in law would even wear a sports coat (his idea of getting dressed up is a pair of khaki pants and a collared shirt, with dirty cowboy boots!! 😁).   My granddaughter may want to dress up once, but we’d prefer to be much more casual overall. 
 

Any suggestions on what may be a good starting point for me to research a particular cruise, etc that may fit our criteria?  I’d rather not do a mega ship with 4000 passengers but could sacrifice since the trip is really for them….

 

I appreciate your ideas and information,  thanks !

[Essiesmom]

You seem to be somewhat destination oriented - Greece…. So I would start with cruises that either start, end, or visit Greece.  Go to www.cruisetimetables.com and choose Athens (Piraeus) as your ‘cruise from’.  Or choose the same port from the ‘cruise to’ list.  Then you choose the time you want to cruise.  It will tell you who sails from/to there, and their itineraries.  Note that most of the cruises are port intensive, few sea days, so the amenities on the ship may not be that important.  Also pay attention to the times in port.  Some lines have shorter times in port than others.  
    Suggest you get a copy of Rick Steves’ Mediterranean Cruise Ports and read up on the potential ports and what they offer.  He will tell you what there is to do in the time you have, and how to DIY it.  Consider that beaches in Europe are not gleaming white sand like the Caribbean.  Don’t go to Europe expecting beach days.  
Happy planning.  EM

[kitkat343]

Personally, I really love Santorini, so I'd try to choose an itinerary with that on it.

 

You know your grandchildren - are they the kind of kids who would love Europe?  If they'd love the destinations, then maybe the choice of ship/line is less important than the itinerary.

 

Newer ships will have more for kids than older ones.  Pre-covid, Princess was a my first choice for an intergenerational vacation with younger kids because their food and kids clubs are very strong.  Older kids might be happier on a newer RC or NCL ship, but I've only sailed older Princess ships so I'm not certain.  HAL would not be a top choice for me for an intergenerational cruise; their kids club hours aren't great, and there's not as much for kids to do (plus we found the passengers on HAL to be the least welcoming to children, which made things a bit more stressful).  

 

 

[jbrinkm]

Celebrity used to be a Greek-owned company and may still have some legacy Greek captains. Not sure if that is an advantage in any way, but Celebrity is also a nice cruise line! Especially for the mature cruisers in your group. My second choice would be Royal Caribbean for the teen/tweens if that is a priority, as well as a more relaxed atmosphere. My teens love Royal.

[woostergirl]

We went on a Celebrity cruise in December and my kids (11 and 7) loved the kids club program and the food/service is very nice. They do have a teens club/hang out area. Teens have their own programming generally more geared to scavenger hunts and sports activities. There were lots of inter-generational families on our cruise and it's a nice festive but not crazy atmosphere.

 

The one nice thing about Princess (from a mom perspective) is that they have the Medallions. The Medallions are like a GPS token and you can see where everyone is on the ship on your app or on the large screens around the ship. For tweens/teens like your grandkids, that might be a benefit. They can be independent around the ship and you still can keep track of them. Princess also has good food and has lots of inter-generational families on board. On our Princess cruise, the teens even have teen dance nights early-ish in the night.

 

Although my kids are younger, the thing I would say about the ships with lots of extras like go carts and roller coasters is that those are more destination cruise ships and not great for port intensive cruises like Med cruises. You don't really have the chance to use/enjoy those amenities when every day is a port day.

 

Celebrity and Princess both sail to Greece. Those would be my top suggestions. Good luck and happy cruising!!