Dawn Princess - Kids vs. Carnival Pride & Spirit

[CRUZBUDS]

My brother and his family had a great time on Disney Cruises with their 4 1/2 year old twins (girls) a few weeks ago. They want to go on a west coast cruise for Spring Break 2008 and are considering the Dawn Princess, Carnival Spirit, or Carnival Pride.

 

What information can you share about the kid program specifically on either or both lines? All help would be appreciated especially if you have done both cruise lines with kids near their ages.

 

Thanks!

[Julia’s Journey’s]

My kids are a little older now, my youngest is 9.

They have done DCL, Carnival and Princess and prefer Princess over Carnival.

The kids clubs on Carnival and Princess close for lunch and dinner unlike Disney so when they were younger I founf I was constantly clock watching and not as relaxed as on Disney. Now they can check themselves in and out so it is not as bad.

Both have camp until 10pm at night and you can arrange/pay for later if you need to.

Hope this helps.

[Cruisin' Chick]

On Princess, when you first get to your cabin, there will be a special kids' Patters listing the day-to-day activities for your kid's (kids') group. Plus info on the registration meeting that night. If your kid is over a certain age (it was 8 a couple of years ago on our last cruise), you can designate whether they can sign themselves in and out. We didn't allow our girl (then 8 yrs old) to sign herself in and out, but many of parents of older kids did so.

 

When there's a certain number of kids onboard, there are science activities that are coordinated with the itinerary and are designed by the California Science Center. The favorite one, according to our girl, seems to be the squid dissection.

[4realrod]

The Carnival Spirit and Pride will have better kids programs due to the size of their facilities. I was on the Carnival Miracle which is a sister ship to the Spirit and Pride. Also, The Dawn is a much smaller ship and caters to an older crowd.

[DrivesLikeMario]

My brother and his family had a great time on Disney Cruises with their 4 1/2 year old twins (girls) a few weeks ago. They want to go on a west coast cruise for Spring Break 2008 and are considering the Dawn Princess, Carnival Spirit, or Carnival Pride.

 

What information can you share about the kid program specifically on either or both lines? All help would be appreciated especially if you have done both cruise lines with kids near their ages.

 

Thanks!

 

My kids much prefer Princess' kids' program to Carnival's, but they've only had about 9 cruises between the two cruise lines to compare them.

 

Also, your friends might consider the Oosterdam during Spring Break out of San Diego. The ship caters to extended families and has some wonderful activities for both kids and their families together, like the daily movies with fresh-popped popcorn, boat races and more.

[AZAaronBoy]

This may not help.... if they can wait until the summer Disney is coming back to the West coast for 7 Night Mexico Sailings. Starting May 25th 2008.

 

They may be sold out but worth checking into.

[willysgrandma]

If you want to do Princess, I'd suggest a ship larger than the Dawn Princess. There is much more to do for the kids on the larger ships.

 

Princess has a great kids program, but I don't know that there is enough to do on the ship for the kids to really enjoy it. The Carnival ships have more to offer for kids.

 

Are you only condsidering going out of San Diego? The Golden Princess goes out of LA and there is more for the kids to do on that ship. The Dawn itinerary out of San Diego gets more of us older folks.