deemk Posted January 10, 2007 #1 Share Posted January 10, 2007 it seems common with people who cruise often, that they are loyal to one line. this will be our first cruise at the end of the month, and i had difficulty choosing what would be best with the kids. i ended up choosing carnival because of price. i am curious to hear experience from families that have cruised more than one line, and what their favorite is. i hear that royal caribbean is "sports" oriented with kid activities. and i hear princess leans towards "edutainment". anyone vouch for that? and is it true that carnival tends to be the cheapest? and how do the cabins compare from line to line? thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sm76 Posted January 10, 2007 #2 Share Posted January 10, 2007 we also had our first cruise on carnival and I was a bit worried because of it being a party ship. my kids had the best time. they wanted to stay in the child care all day. the ages are 9 and 3. It was our best vacation ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julia’s Journey’s Posted January 10, 2007 #3 Share Posted January 10, 2007 We have cruised Carnival and DCL with our kids and Princess without them but they are booked on there first Princess for later this year. DCL and Princess both have fresh water pools where Carnival has salt water so they tended to not swim as much. DCL also has a wonderful size cabin with split bathroom which is great for families and the camp on DCL is wonderful and doesn't close for meals where on Carnival it does so I found we were much more time consious and tied down on Carnival. The kids loved both camps and I'm sure they will enjoy Princess although DD will be in the teens now. Hope this helps a little - enjoy your cruise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimswims Posted January 11, 2007 #4 Share Posted January 11, 2007 We have been on Carnival, RCCL, Cunard, and NCL although some not for several years. We really have enjoyed taking our kids (now 12 and 8) on NCL. The newer ships are fantastic and we love the freestyle dining with 10 restaurant choices, the Kid Crew programs and the shows. I m sure we will go back to RCCL or try Celebrity or Princess someday. However, after freestyle dining, the idea of eating at the same table at the same time every night is not so appealing anymore. Have fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimswims Posted January 11, 2007 #5 Share Posted January 11, 2007 sorry...double post! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deemk Posted January 11, 2007 Author #6 Share Posted January 11, 2007 itdjbw: did you find that the benefits of the Disney cruise was worth the extra money? when i was doing searches, i found that Disney was almost triple what the carnival cost was, sometimes more! jimswims: what is this freestyle dining? since we've never cruised before, i guess i'm not really clear on what that is. we've only been told how it will be on the carnival victory when we go at the end of the month... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marlissa Posted January 11, 2007 #7 Share Posted January 11, 2007 [snip] jimswims: what is this freestyle dining? since we've never cruised before, i guess i'm not really clear on what that is. we've only been told how it will be on the carnival victory when we go at the end of the month... Here is NCL's page that describes Freestyle Cruising http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/cruiser/staticPages.html?pageId=freestyle_family_fun Basically, Freestyle means: 1) Resort Casual attire. No need to wear formal/semi formal attire if you don't want too. 2) Eat When and Where you want. There are no set dining times or assigned tables. When you are hungry, you decide where you want to eat. There are no-additional cost dining rooms, buffets and specialty restaurants. If you would like, there are restaurants with a cover charge (usually $10-15 pp). The number and type of restaurants vary by ship. Also, if you asked, you can be seated with strangers at a large table. 3) Freestyle Disembarkation. You are free to stay in your cabin until time to leave. (Most other lines require you to wait in the public rooms). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julia’s Journey’s Posted January 11, 2007 #8 Share Posted January 11, 2007 itdjbw: did you find that the benefits of the Disney cruise was worth the extra money? when i was doing searches, i found that Disney was almost triple what the carnival cost was, sometimes more! jimswims: what is this freestyle dining? since we've never cruised before, i guess i'm not really clear on what that is. we've only been told how it will be on the carnival victory when we go at the end of the month... It is a lot more expensive but you need to compare the DCL cabins are like having a mini suite on most of the other - size wize. Disney does not have a casino so I don't deposit funds there like I do on the other lines, the fresh water pools sure are worth it, the service is great, my most dissapointing thing on our last Carnival cruise was the amount of loud obnoxious behaviour at the pool from adults who had been drinking too much - not what I or my kids want to be around DCL and Princess are now our lines of preference Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julia’s Journey’s Posted January 11, 2007 #9 Share Posted January 11, 2007 Here is NCL's page that describes Freestyle Cruising http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/cruiser/staticPages.html?pageId=freestyle_family_fun Basically, Freestyle means: 1) Resort Casual attire. No need to wear formal/semi formal attire if you don't want too. 2) Eat When and Where you want. There are no set dining times or assigned tables. When you are hungry, you decide where you want to eat. There are no-additional cost dining rooms, buffets and specialty restaurants. If you would like, there are restaurants with a cover charge (usually $10-15 pp). The number and type of restaurants vary by ship. Also, if you asked, you can be seated with strangers at a large table. 3) Freestyle Disembarkation. You are free to stay in your cabin until time to leave. (Most other lines require you to wait in the public rooms). Princess offers both traditional and anytime dining which is the same as freestyle on NCL :D We love the anytime on Princess Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisingwith6 Posted January 12, 2007 #10 Share Posted January 12, 2007 We have sailed Celebrity, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Princess and Disney. With our kids we have only tried Royal Caribbean and Disney. Our kids started cruising when our youngest was 3 and are now 7, 10, 12 and 15. We have loved every cruise we have taken so all of these opinions are more like "nit picking" as the overall experience was awesome each time. The Disney's kids program is much better than the Royal Caribbean in our opinion. The counselors are excited to see the kids and they engage them in fun activities. Royal Caribbean's was adequate but more like babysitting with an occasional fun activity. ..not a whole lot of smiles for the most part. On Disney we did not find much to do in the evening. There was not as much "night life". We now definitely book a balcony cabin on Disney so that while the kids are in the kids club until midnight (no extra charge for this a bif plus!) we can be out on the balcony enjoying the ocean. Royal Caribbean seems to caters toward adults a little better as well as kids but the kids club is not the reason to cruise with them. On the Voyager Class ships there are so many other things to occupy the kids outside the kids club that the mediocre kids club is an ok thing though. The kids can plan mini golf, inline skate, ice skate, rock climb....we did it all! The kids club after 10 pm is an extra charge and of course our younger three wanted to be there from 10 - midnight as they played a type of crazy free for all dodgeball game called "gaga ball" and we have competitive sports loving kids so that added up with the hourly charge. We limited them to every other night! Because of this (especially when we are cruising with our parents) the overall experience was better for us on Royal Caribbean because everyone had lots of activities to choose from...not just the kids. Now I wish we could talk ourselves into a Carnival Cruise with the kids because of the price but I think they are spoiled rotten from the awesome kids club on Disney and the plethora of activities on the Voyager Class ships...not sure they can compare? Another thing we noticed was the amount of drinking on the Royal Caribbean Cruise vs the Disney Cruises (I never really paid attention to this until the kids were with us!) We did witness a lot of underage drinking and drunk guests (especially leaving Cozumel St Pat's day last year) having to be helped back onto the ship and one experience with a young group of late teens drunk and cursing on the elevator, but for the kids it was more of a watch and learn what not do do experience. Our 15 year old was also approached by a few of the kids in the kids program to go back to their cabin and sneak some of their parents rum to put in their coke so after that experience he stayed completely out of the club. We tried to talk him into giving it another chance but he did not want to. The feeling in the teen club was a more "cool" crowd on that particular cruise with kids pairing up. He has never had that experience on Disney and makes lots of friends in the club. It could have been an unlucky week. We have also looked into the night time activities on Carnival vs Royal Caribbean or Disney On Disney and Royal Caribbean the kids can go to the shows without too much concern about the appropriateness. On Carnival we remember the dancers in G strings. Maybe that has changed as we haven't cruised Carnival in a while. Princess was fun but very laid back. We kept thinking there was no way our kids would find enough stuff to keep their busy selves occupied on our Grand Princess cruise. It was also the only cruise that we really thought that the food and entertainment was subpar....and we are NOT picky eaters. Loved food on Disney, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Carnival. So far us with our kids the our favorite lines are Disney and the Voyager Class Ships (would love to try Freedom Class too). That being said we are back on the Wonder for a 4 night sailing this March and then on to maybe the Adventure or Mariner again in July. Hope that helps someone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deemk Posted January 12, 2007 Author #11 Share Posted January 12, 2007 wow, cruisingwith6, THANKS so much! there are so many things that i hadn't even thought of, especially the night time shows. our kids are VERY sports oriented also, so that's why when i heard a rumor of the royal caribbean's activities i was definitely curious. and i definitely appreciate you noting the behavior that was inappropriate. i know it's so personal to every family, and some parents don't mind. but we tend to be very strict, so it's nice to know ahead of time how they compare on that. i remember that when we were looking to book, we were given advice to just get the cheapest cabin possible because we wouldn't be spending much time in it. and now i'm thinking that might have been a mistake because if the occasion arises to avoid inappropriate behavior, we'll probably wish we had a more comfortable place to "hide". oh well. it will be a learning experience and we'll just do better next time. :) thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusinmama06 Posted January 16, 2007 #12 Share Posted January 16, 2007 wow, cruisingwith6, THANKS so much! there are so many things that i hadn't even thought of, especially the night time shows. our kids are VERY sports oriented also, so that's why when i heard a rumor of the royal caribbean's activities i was definitely curious. and i definitely appreciate you noting the behavior that was inappropriate. i know it's so personal to every family, and some parents don't mind. but we tend to be very strict, so it's nice to know ahead of time how they compare on that. i remember that when we were looking to book, we were given advice to just get the cheapest cabin possible because we wouldn't be spending much time in it. and now i'm thinking that might have been a mistake because if the occasion arises to avoid inappropriate behavior, we'll probably wish we had a more comfortable place to "hide". oh well. it will be a learning experience and we'll just do better next time. :) thanks again! People who tell you to book the cheapest cabins don't have young children. ;) I always book the best cabin possible for us since we put the kids to bed and head out on the balcony for some quiet time for ourselves. We just had a great time on Carnival in November and we are heading on RCCL Freedom in April. I agree with the other poster, Disney CRUISE is not worth the price. We always do a Disney Deluxe Resort at Disney World a week before the cruise, then head out on to cruise on a different cruise line. Disney was just too dead for me at night. I found myself wanting to go to bed at 9pm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHXscuba Posted January 16, 2007 #13 Share Posted January 16, 2007 A question for "cruising with 6": We will also be cruising with 6, as we have four kids. What kind of cabins have you booked on Disney and RCI? Adjoining cabins seems cheaper, but do you book the suites for the size/balcony/etc.? Would love to hear your experiences, since I hope to take the whole family on a cruise in the next couple years. PHXscuba "You can't have everything -- besides, where would you put it all?":D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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