Pride of Hawaii with small children?

[MnAsMom]

has anyone cruised this ship with kids? We have a 2 year old and a 6 year old! How is the kids club... did your children like enjoy it? Any suggestions on what kind of cabin would work best for a family of 4? Is early September a nice time for hawaii cruises in general?

 

Thanks

 

~Tondi

[cococruise]

hi,

we cruised on the Pride of Hawaii in July. It was great. I have two kids ages 4 & 9 at the time of travel. The 4 year old loved the kids program. My 9 year old doesn't go for them but that's him. The programs were pretty full with kids. You will have a fabulous time. We stayed in an AB penthouse suite on the 11th floor. I loved it. The space was very good. Also close to the self service laundry mat, a real plus. Hawaii is breathtaking.

 

 

Have a great trip.

[seasonedtraveler]

Hello! Just got off the 3/19 cruise on POH, just myself (Mom) and our 5-yr old son, our annual "Mommy-Son" adventure. My boy LOVED Kid's Crew---even asked to stay on the ship on a couple of port days to play with his friends and Kid's Club crew. I really liked WHERE the KC is located on this ship, mid-ship on Deck 12, right next to the elevators and across from The Aloha Nui Buffet - made is easy to feed him before Club at the Kid's Buffet in Aloha Nui. On the last night, I decided to place him in Late Night Groupsitting since it would be his last night with his friends --- he went in at 7pm, then I cam back 9:30pm and took him to the buffet for a snack, and then he went back to KC for another 2 hours! Each day has a THEME, like Pirates, Blue Clues, Pajama Party, Princess/Prince, etc. On Saturday night, they did a Kid's Dinner at 6pm, which was nice. Here is the schedule of FREE Kid's Club hours:

 

MON, 7-10P

TUE, 9A-12N, 7-10P

WED, 9A-12N, 7-10P

THU, 9A-12N, 7-10P

FRI, 9A-12N, 7-10P

SAT, 7-10P ONLY

SUN, 9A-12N, 7-10P

 

Then they offered the following PAID Groupsitting:

 

MON, 10P-1A

TUE, 12N-5P, 10P-1A

WED, 12N-5P, 10P-1A

THU, 12N-5P, 10P-1A

FRI, 12N-5P, 10P-1A

SAT, 9A-5P, 10P-1A

SUN, 7-10P ONLY

 

Costs for Groupsitting: $5/hr 1st child, $3/hr for each addl child.

 

For 4x people, 2 adults and 2 kids, I would go with an OCEANVIEW at the very least, as the INSIDE cabin is VERY VERY SMALL - we had an Inside which was just about right for 2 of us..I can't imagine tryign to function with anymore than that in an Inside. The BATHROOM however was very SPACIOUS compared to othe NCL ships taht we've sailed on - I would venture on LUXURIOUS. If you can afford it, get a MiniSuite or a Penthouse, lots of space for 4x, and you'll have a window or better yet a Balcony from which to see the beautiful views! On a side note --- we had trouble waking up because of no sunlight --- kinda disorienting after a while.

 

LATE SEPTEMBER is wonderful here in Hawaii - we live on Maui, and we always tell our friends to visit in May or LATE September/October because AIRFARES are lower and the weather is nice, not rainy and not too HOT like the summer months. Also, I think you can get better PRICES on the cruise itself if you wait til LATE SEPTEMBER.

 

Oh, before I forget - I HIGHLY recommend getting a CABIN on Deck 10 or 11, MID-SHIP, near to the elevators/stairs that are right below Kid's Club. Since you will be going there quite a bit, it makes it very HANDY to just have to go up and down a couple flight of stairs instead of waiting for elevators. And it's GOOD EXERCISE too! If you go to the NCL site, and pick the POH, look at the deck layouts for 10 and 11 to see what cabins are near the same elevators/stairs on Deck 12. I did this and got a GREAT PRICE on a GREAT ROOM and saved lots of time taking my son to/from Kid's Club. This is also the perfect part of the ship to be in - very little movement from rough seas (we didn't have too much), and you can go straight down to deck 6 to get the ALIZAR (one of the 2 main dining rooms, and to Deck 7, where many of the other restaurants, clubs, etc. are located. VERY VERY convenient!

 

If you have any other questions, fire away!

[GeekyMom]

Thanks for the post.

 

I am dreaming of our next family cruise and Hawaii comes to mind. :)