Rare cruisin73 Posted July 20, 2006 #1 Share Posted July 20, 2006 does Princess OR RCCL have a better kids program? I have a 6 year old son. I called Princess last night and was told if there is less than 20 kids per age group they will not have a program for that cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamandamn14 Posted July 21, 2006 #2 Share Posted July 21, 2006 rccl yer thats right if there are not enough kids the programmes will not run Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisaland15 Posted July 21, 2006 #3 Share Posted July 21, 2006 When and where is the cruise? If it's in the summer to the Caribbean, there should be plenty of kids. Probably more than you'd want. If it's a 17-day Panama Canal crossing in Feb., you may have something to worry about. We got off Carnival Spirit to Alaska a few weeks ago. There weren't a lot of kids, but enough so our 11-yr. old had a few kids to pal around with, and some for our 2-yr. old to interact with. Several of our Caribbean cruises (both Carnival and RCCL) have been in Dec.--one of the weeks in between Thangiving and Xmas. More kids than our Alaska cruise, but not overrun like you hear in the Caribbean, summer cruises. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cruisin73 Posted July 24, 2006 Author #4 Share Posted July 24, 2006 we are going january 07 to the southern carribean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CassCruise Posted July 26, 2006 #5 Share Posted July 26, 2006 Cruisin 73 my understanding is that only applies to the Tahitian and Pacific Princess http://www.princess.com/onboard/activities/youthandteens/fun_zone.html we only have 22 and 12 children in our upcoming b2b on the Diamond and then next year we are going on the Sun Princess and our TA double checked with Princess and were advised as long as there is one child a full program will be run.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruisin' Chick Posted July 26, 2006 #6 Share Posted July 26, 2006 When we were on the Star Princess in 2/03, my girl was one of only three 5-yr=olds. I don't remember how many kids altogether but there was still a kids' program. It was pared down...they closed one of the rooms and kept the two younger groups together. There wasn't any of the science activities, which she was looking forward to. As mentioned above, a couple of the smaller ships may not always have the kids' program if there's not enough kids. So if that's important, plan your cruises for during school breaks. Of course, sometimes when you call the 800 number, you don't always get the correct info. Many of the customer service reps have never been around a ship, much less on a cruise. (and Santa Clarita is only about 55 miles away from San Pedro.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arubalisa Posted July 26, 2006 #7 Share Posted July 26, 2006 You may also want to view this thread http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=363826 Many schools are changing their schedules so more and more children will be found cruising year 'round. This also does not take into consideration the good many children who are now home schooled. For mainstream cruiselines, unless it is a long sailing, say a 2 weeks transatlantic, there are going to be children present aboard the ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helenb Posted August 2, 2006 #8 Share Posted August 2, 2006 I actually prefer Princess for kids. The kids' activities are not as scheduled (i.e. there is a lot more free-play and port days it's basically a 'daycare' type setup) but I have found that the staff really try to get to know the kids and play with them and do what they think the kids enjoy most. On RCCL I found that the staff were somewhat disinterested in the kids as individuals (although as a group they tried to keep them happy) and would sometimes blindly follow rules without taking into account a child's individual needs/feelings. However the Adventure Ocean on RCCL had many great structured activities on port days and the port days were drop-in (you did not have to sign up in advance as you do on Princess). RCCL has an advantage for younger kids in that they run parent/child activities every day for kids 6-17 months and 18-35 months. There are no scheduled activities for kids under 3 on Princess. On either line a parent can bring their child to the 3-5 Y.O. area and play with them there. RCCL is annoying in that their indoor pool is for adults only. So if your kids want to swim it has to be outdoors. If it is super hot and you are worried about sunburn or if it is super cold (as it was on our RCCL cruise to Alaska) then you are SOL on swimming with kids. The large Princess ships have nice indoor pools open to EVERYONE. Princess runs kids programs on ALL of their ships except Pacific and Tahitian. These are small sister ships that were previously owned by Renaissance (adults-only line) that do not have official kids' facilities. However I was on the new Pacific Princess a couple of years ago when they had 30 kids onboard and so they ran a Kids' Program. Essentially they took over the Sabbatini's and Sterling's restaurants during the daytime and from what I could tell the kids still had a lot of fun. You can call up Princess and ask them how many kids ages 3-17 are booked on the cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calicruisefamily Posted August 8, 2006 #9 Share Posted August 8, 2006 We took our daughter last year for her first cruise it was with RC- Voyager of the Seas. Our daughter 8 liked Adventure Ocean so much we are going back on her again this year:) Voyager Western Caribbean 12/16/06 "Our First AFT" Voyager Eastern Caribbean 11/26/06 S.S. Azure Seas Baja 11/90 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noonan5 Posted August 20, 2006 #10 Share Posted August 20, 2006 Our Kids loved RCCL program on the Mariner. Could not get them away. Thaey also had a good rewards program for the kids emcouraging them to participate. Disney was just to crowded and scared them off. HAL only had a dozen or so 5-12, so it was like a private club. They like to stay with us, so seeing them participate on the Mariner was great. The counselors even had us parents sharing in some of the activitys. Will comment on Princess after cruise in Sept., but do not anticipate lots of kids on ship so close to start of school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terpnut Posted August 20, 2006 #11 Share Posted August 20, 2006 RCCL is annoying in that their indoor pool is for adults only. So if your kids want to swim it has to be outdoors. If it is super hot and you are worried about sunburn or if it is super cold (as it was on our RCCL cruise to Alaska) then you are SOL on swimming with kids. The large Princess ships have nice indoor pools open to EVERYONE. As using the outdoor pools on Alaska cruises is not possible, RCI ships open the indoor pools at select times for family use on Alaska itineraries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helenb Posted August 21, 2006 #12 Share Posted August 21, 2006 As using the outdoor pools on Alaska cruises is not possible, RCI ships open the indoor pools at select times for family use on Alaska itineraries. This is true but the 'select' times are very inconvenient if you are making use of the kids program. They are also extremely limited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terpnut Posted August 22, 2006 #13 Share Posted August 22, 2006 This is true but the 'select' times are very inconvenient if you are making use of the kids program. They are also extremely limited.Given the much cooler weather, the vast number of excursions and the constant scenic viewing that one does during an Alaskan cruise, having ready and frequent access to the pool was not a priority for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onessa Posted August 22, 2006 #14 Share Posted August 22, 2006 I actually prefer Princess for kids. The kids' activities are not as scheduled (i.e. there is a lot more free-play and port days it's basically a 'daycare' type setup) but I have found that the staff really try to get to know the kids and play with them and do what they think the kids enjoy most. On RCCL I found that the staff were somewhat disinterested in the kids as individuals (although as a group they tried to keep them happy) and would sometimes blindly follow rules without taking into account a child's individual needs/feelings. . . Just goes to show you, our experience was just the opposite - on the one Princess Cruise we took (with our then 9YO DD), I found that the staff was really just punching in and pretty much ignoring the kids altogther. RCCI counselors seem to be very high energy (four RCCI cruises in the past five years) and really tuned into my rather sensitive daughter (having her be the "line judge" in a game she REALLY didn't want to play, noticing that she had changed her mind an DID want to participate in the Talent Show, etc.). I also saw them make accommodations for a special needs younger brother of one of my DD's aquaintance. Our last cruise was on NCLA's POAm this Thanksgiving. My daughter really liked their program as well and had a great time. We've cruised both RCCI and Princess to AK. We've not run into any problems with the times that the Solarium Pool is open to families, but I do understand the concern. DD also seemed to have no problem using the water slide on Radiance in rather cold and VERY windy conditions. BTW - our RCCI cruise to AK was the first week in June about three seasons ago. We didn't know it but it was a "prize" cruise for Pampered Chef sales reps (which seems to be a very 'family friendly' company!) . The following week was also Pampered Chef. AO staff indicated that the week we were on was a record number of kids sailing and the following week was supposed to be even higher number of kids. AO program was very full but RCCI had brought on extra AO staff and really rose to the occassion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare CariBear Posted September 4, 2006 #15 Share Posted September 4, 2006 I think it really depends on the child. My 4 year old loved the Princess Pelicans on the Carribean Princess, but would not go to the kids club aboard the Disney Wonder. Much more personalized service in the kid's program on Princess due to smaller number of kids. My little girl was also the smallest/youngest one in the program, so I think the counselors gave her a little more attention. She has tons of artwork from her Princess cruise and she always talks about the Princess ship.....never mentions our Disney cruise which was taken 5 months later. I think RCCL will have a larger number of kids in their clubs than Princess. On our Princess cruise they did combine the 2 smaller age groups together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RArnold7769 Posted September 7, 2006 #16 Share Posted September 7, 2006 We just returned from our family cruise on 9.2 on RC NOS and my daughter had a fantastic time. It was hard to get her out of there, she never wanted to leave the kids program. They had a full schedule everyday, they even had a talent show as well as a parade with the kids down the promenade and it was the most precious thing to see. We've only cruised with CC before and I must say I was more pleased with the service on RC than on CC. CC did have very late care if you wanted it, until I believe 3 a.m. but RC care was until 1 a.m. Overall the kids program was great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noonan5 Posted September 12, 2006 #17 Share Posted September 12, 2006 Our young ones were scared in the disney kids clubs, They were so crowded, and between activitys when they traveled in their private hallways, those tubes made the entire group look like trapped hamsters in their habitrails. Same expierience on all the disney cruises, which is why we avoid them know. RCCL was definitely geat. Hard to judge HAL. They tried, but only 6 kids seemed to show up. (only 19 total on ship under 18 and three were ours) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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