Considering Princess, need information

[hova]

First a little background. This January we are considering cruising on the Caribbean Princess, as we like the ports, and the timing of the cruise works well with our vacation time.

We have never cruised with Princess before and have some questions.

We have two kids 12 & 17. We have taken them on two previous cruises, once with Holland America and once with NCL. Even though both cruises were great, we preferred the NCL cruise, as their were more activities for the kids, as well more kids their ages on board.

We also liked the freestyle dining on NCL as opposed to set dining times.

 

My questions are:

Are there generally lots of kids on Princess? How do the activities compare to other cruise lines?

 

I understand that Princess has a form of freestyle dining. How does this work? Can you utilize the free style dining option along with the set times, or, is it one or the other for the entire cruise.

 

Thank you for any information, I appreciate it.

 

hova

[Rauld]

There are usually a lot of kids during regular school holidays and I know they have children's activities on board.

 

As far as anytime dining (free style) vs. traditional (fixed time) you will have to choose one or the other. I have done both and there are pros and con for each (do a search under anytime dinning or traditional dinning and you will see this subject discussed extensively).

 

I know you will enjoy your cruise and so will your children.

[sept10dsm]

First a little background. This January we are considering cruising on the Caribbean Princess, as we like the ports, and the timing of the cruise works well with our vacation time.

We have never cruised with Princess before and have some questions.

We have two kids 12 & 17. We have taken them on two previous cruises, once with Holland America and once with NCL. Even though both cruises were great, we preferred the NCL cruise, as their were more activities for the kids, as well more kids their ages on board.

We also liked the freestyle dining on NCL as opposed to set dining times.

 

My questions are:

Are there generally lots of kids on Princess? How do the activities compare to other cruise lines?

 

I understand that Princess has a form of freestyle dining. How does this work? Can you utilize the free style dining option along with the set times, or, is it one or the other for the entire cruise.

 

Thank you for any information, I appreciate it.

 

hova

In January there many not be as many kids. I would think school will be in session.

 

As far as Anytime Dining - Princess offers this in addition to Traditional seatings. You can basically eat at any time during the evening. You can just go to the dining room or make a reservation for a specific time. When we did Anytime, we never really made any reservations and had no wait for dinner. You will hear good and bad on the board about Anytime, but we like it since we really don't like the late seating and the early one is sometimes too early on port days. One thing, the dress code is the same for Anytime as traditional.

[cruz guy]

Depends...In January after the typical school break there may not be many kids. If its the first week of January, many schools are still out on break and you'll likely see quite a few kids....and kid activities.

 

Never been on a cruise in Jan. but have cruised 2x's in Dec....once on Princess and once in Dec with RCCL (Explorer of the Seas). Both times were before the winter/Christmas holidays and both cruises had very few children. The amount of children is very dependant on when the school holidays are.

 

We have cruised with Princess in August and there were quite a lot of kids...but then again it was summer break.

 

Dining...you have to choose either traditional or anytime. 2 dining rooms are set aside for anytime dining. Basically you go to the dining room when you want to between certain set hours. With traditional, there is 1 dining room and you are given a set dining time and a set table to dine at.

[sunluva7]

Our kids came with us on the Caribbean Princess 2 years ago and loved it. They were 17 and 13 at the time. However, it was during August when school was out and there were a ton of other kids on the ship. The majority of schools are in session in January, so I don't know how many kids they'll meet or how active the kid clubs will be. My youngest attempted the teen club last summer, but there were not many teens who took part - and that was mid-summer. As for dining, anytime was the way to go for us. When the kids didn't feel like joining us for dinner, they would grab pizza and eat it in their cabin or out on deck while watching a movie.

[YoPhilly]

I took my son with me on Sea Princess to Alaska when he was 15 and on Caribbean Princess last January for his 20th birthday. He had a blast on both cruises. This past January, we sailed the first week, so there were still quite a few kids his age on break. In any case, there are tons of activities for them. They'll love it.

[hova]

Sorry, should have been more clear. The week I have scheduled to cruise is January 27th to Feb 3rd, 2008.

Not hoping for alot of kids on board, but a few to keep them company.

 

hova

[cruz guy]

I don't think you'll get many school age kids that week. I think if you readjusted you dates to closer to the time school districts celebrate President's day or what ever they call it in their area in Feb...you might have more kids. Some people will try to chose weeks in which there are at least 1 or 2 days of a school holiday or maybe more so the kids won't be out a whole week.

[Cruisin' Chick]

You probably won't have too many kids...maybe some homeschooled ones. My first cruise was the last week of January/first week of February, but that was back in 1994 before all that LNKB nonsense, which makes it hard for families to go on a cruise while school is in session. We did take our girl out of school (during her kinder year) and she was one of only three five-year-olds on a Valentine's Week cruise.

[YoPhilly]

but that was back in 1994 before all that LNKB nonsense' date=' which makes it hard for families to go on a cruise while school is in session. [/quote']

 

What is LNKB?

[smoothdancer]

My question too... Guessing... Leave No Kid Behind!...LOL

[Cruisin' Chick]

My question too... Guessing... Leave No Kid Behind!...LOL

 

Yep. If I got a dollar for everytime I was in a classroom (volunteering, etc.) the last few years and heard a teacher say, "this is how they want you to answer this on the state tests....", I would have enough money to book an excursion. Okay, I'm exaggerating, but I have heard this plenty of times and now schools are under pressure to have kids learn how to score well on these tests. Unfortunately, kids are starting to feel this pressure too.

[lssg]

Took our son on a princess cruise at the end of September...There were still plenty of kids to meet ...he meet most of them in the kids area . We didn't see many teens or kids till we got to the teen and kids area, where the video games were. Then my son saw them alot at the pool....

[medotmom58]

YoPhilly

 

Maybe you can reassure me about the Car Princess since I am torn between Mariner and the CP. We have always traveled on RCCL but the pricing, even with our discounts is still higher than Princess.

 

We are a family of 4, husband, myself, 20 yr old son and his girlfriend. I read that you took your 20 yr last Jan, we are sailing 6 Jan 08.

 

Are there lots of things to keep them occupied? I have read that they cannot gamble but that is not an issue as neither have much money anyway. I know that on RCCL, son enjoyed the nightclub in the evening, what about on CP?

 

Any tips you can provide will be great. Thanks. Jill in NH.

[1bigsexy]

We did the crown princess end of Jan 1st week of Feb this year with our girls. At times it seemed as if they were the only kids on the ship, but you have to remember that this is a massive vessel. The one comment our girls had was that Princess could not compare to Royal caribbean (we did that 8 months before) when it came to activities.

 

- rock climbing

- good mini putt (CP's one is a bit shabby)

- ice skating

- good video arcade

 

But they didn't try the organized activities (clubs) so they couldn't say if they were good or not.

 

They did love -

- MUTS

- Formal dinner (much better food)

- and the fact that the pools had fresh water.

 

My wife and eldest daughter just came back from another RCL cruise and they commented that they missed Princess :D

[cynbar]

YoPhilly

 

Maybe you can reassure me about the Car Princess since I am torn between Mariner and the CP. We have always traveled on RCCL but the pricing, even with our discounts is still higher than Princess.

 

We are a family of 4, husband, myself, 20 yr old son and his girlfriend. I read that you took your 20 yr last Jan, we are sailing 6 Jan 08.

 

Are there lots of things to keep them occupied? I have read that they cannot gamble but that is not an issue as neither have much money anyway. I know that on RCCL, son enjoyed the nightclub in the evening, what about on CP?

 

Any tips you can provide will be great. Thanks. Jill in NH.

Ages 18 and over can go into the Skywalkers nightclub, although they can't drink, so that will be fine. Club Fusion also has evening activities, like Princess Pop Star, that they can attend. Beyond that, I think there will be plenty for them to do: MUTS, pools, hot tubs, 24 hr food,Island Night, organized activities like dance classes if they are into that. CP is so big that you usually get a good cross section of all ages.

[sept10dsm]

YoPhilly

 

Maybe you can reassure me about the Car Princess since I am torn between Mariner and the CP. We have always traveled on RCCL but the pricing, even with our discounts is still higher than Princess.

 

We are a family of 4, husband, myself, 20 yr old son and his girlfriend. I read that you took your 20 yr last Jan, we are sailing 6 Jan 08.

 

Are there lots of things to keep them occupied? I have read that they cannot gamble but that is not an issue as neither have much money anyway. I know that on RCCL, son enjoyed the nightclub in the evening, what about on CP?

 

Any tips you can provide will be great. Thanks. Jill in NH.

Yes, especially this year and the cruises out of the NY area. The Explorer and even GOS are much higher than the Crown Princess. I watched both since the beginning of the year. We ended up booking the Crown Princess for 499 PP for the 7 day Canada/New England for an Ocean View. RCCL didn't come near that even on a per day basis. Their 9 day are all around 1000 for the ov. Last year we were lucky enough to book GOS OV out of Baltimore for 599 pp to the Western Caribbean. You have to watch the prices and often.

[YoPhilly]

YoPhilly

 

Maybe you can reassure me about the Car Princess since I am torn between Mariner and the CP. We have always traveled on RCCL but the pricing, even with our discounts is still higher than Princess.

 

We are a family of 4, husband, myself, 20 yr old son and his girlfriend. I read that you took your 20 yr last Jan, we are sailing 6 Jan 08.

 

Are there lots of things to keep them occupied? I have read that they cannot gamble but that is not an issue as neither have much money anyway. I know that on RCCL, son enjoyed the nightclub in the evening, what about on CP?

 

Any tips you can provide will be great. Thanks. Jill in NH.

 

Jill, they can go to Skywalker's nightclub, but no alcohol will be served to minors (they do check). They have basketball, MUTS, mini-golf, golf simulator, plenty of freshwater pools, hot tubs, beautiful gym, etc. There's usually a couple of comedy shows throughout the week, of course karaoke, etc.

[medotmom58]

Just wanted to confirm if there is a video arcarde. Jill

[Tatka]

Here is the great site about CB

 

http://www.cruisingthecaribbeanprincess.com/

 

Tons of info!!!

 

One of our favorite cruises was on her and we cruise a lot.

[YoPhilly]

Just wanted to confirm if there is a video arcarde. Jill

 

I don't know about a video arcade. Did you check the deck plan?