LOVE Celebrity...but with kids?

[TeacherSus]

We're planning a 70th Birthday cruise for my dad in February. While we've cruised many times before, it will be our first time with kids. We'll be traveling with my parents (very active, fun people), my 2 brothers and their families, and our two little girls. The kid breakdown is: 2 three-year-olds, 2 five-year-olds, 2 six-year-olds and a seven-year-old. My husband and I were on the Century in February, the same cruise I'm considering for the fam next Feb.

 

Here are some questions:

 

1) I'd love specifics on the kids program if you've done it...What are the ages of the different groups in the kids center? I know that most lines won't bump up kids into an older age group, but will they allow a slightly older child to go down a group so the cousins can be together?

 

2) Cabin type - While I used to be a pre-kid balcony cruiser, my post-kid vacation budget has shrunk. I've come to realize that I spend very little time in the room and while I love a balcony, I'd rather be able to cruise more often in an inside room! While I want the cruise to be economical, I also want the four of us in a room (five for my Florida brother) to be comfortable. What room types do you choose when cruising with your kids? What are the best set-up options?

 

3) Is there an option for an "adults-only" dinner while the kids are in the kid zone? What about days in port?

 

4) Any idea for VERY kid friendly excursions in Grand Cayman or Ocho Rios? Remember, we're talking ages 3-7 here, so by VERY kid friendly I don't mean Stingray City or Dunns River Falls!

 

Thanks so much for your help! I know this is a long post but you cruise critics are so helpful and I know there are answers out there!

 

Thanks again,

TeacherSus

[Verity]

We went to the Cayman Island on a Royal Caribbean ship. Our daughter, SIL and son went scuba diving and Grandma and Grandpa took our young grandson to the beach. We took a local taxi and a fun time was had by all. The only one that didn't get sunburned was our 2 1/2 year old red headed blue eyed grandson who had on the pink bottle suntan lotion for kids. The crew on the ship recommended a public beach to us. There was hardly anyone on it but they had a hot dog stand and sold ice cream and cold drinks. They also had shaded picnic tables. They had an excursion that went to a country club but all our grandson wanted to do was play in the water.

[cpgrneyes]

We're just off an Alaska cruise on Celebrity with an 11 y.o. and a 17 y.o. When we boarded, we went to the kids club to see what they had for the 11 year old girl, and the team running the club said to make sure my 17 year old son joined the 10 pm intro meeting. While I didn't think he'd be interested, he went, and that was almost the last we saw of him! There were about 15 older teens who became close friends and our 11 year old granddaughter was hysterical at the end of the trip because she'd be away from her new friends.

 

I was extremely impressed by Celebrity's kids club, as I didn't think it was a child-oriented line, but was I wrong.

 

If I recall, there was a fee ($100??) for the duration of the trip for the younger kids club which included some dinners to allow for adults-only time.

 

While it may rest on the particular ship's team, the Millie's in Alaska was a great place for kids AND adults.

[agathasmum]

I don't have specific answers to your questions but my kids first cruised Celebrity at ages 4 and 6 (they are 14 and 16 now!) and have always had a great time at kids club no matter which age group they are in. We have cruised 8 times with them and we all always have a great time.

 

Susan

[nothriver]

I'm interested in the responses, we'll be taking a family cruise for my parents 50th in June of '09 and our girls will be 4 and 5. There really isn't enough information on the website about the kids programs and I'm looking forward to hearing about others experiences.

 

My understanding is that kids of any age have to be potty trained to use the kids clubs so you'll want to make sure your 3 yr olds are reliable trained before you leave home.

 

My understaning is also that while there are more "groups" of kids over holidays and in the summer, the kids will be grouped into fewer groups containing larger ages of kids in the at other times when there are fewer kids cruising. So I'm guessing in February it would be more likely that more of the kids would be together, anyway.

 

From reading the website, it looks like you have to pay to use the kids club when the ship is in port, we are looking at an Alaska cruise that is in port almost every day, so we'd pretty much always have to pay to use the kids clubs, is that right? I'm going to call Celebrity and get confirmation on that before we book.

[Verity]

One of the other things I recall about the Cayman Islands was that all the hotels on the islands had special rates for people not staying in the hotels who wanted to use their outdoor facilities. They had all sorts of catamarans, etc. I bet you could look up on line exactly what they had to offer and what the fee would be.

[PhightingPhillies]

I worked on the Galaxy in the Carrib in February a few years ago and what I can tell you is that there either will be a bunch of kids and lots for them to do or there will be very few kids and there will be lots of youth counslers to take care of your kids alone... I remeber talking to the counslers and them mentioning one specific week where they had three kids under age of 17 and 7 counslers.... eitherway they still will have fun and be well taken care of.

[urkidn]

We were on one of the last Zenith cruises where I believe there were only 7 kids registered. Sometimes my DS (9 at the time) would be the only one there but he was fine with just hanging out with the counselors, they were fun! Because the group(s) were small, all age groups spent a lot of time together. He had a great time on Century as well. In comparison, we did an NCL to Hawaii over spring break last year and he didn't care for the kids program at all. The main coordinator was elderly and very militant and took the fun out of many of the activities. I remember on formal evenings on Celebrity, the kids had the option to dine in the kids club giving the parents a night out. They also extended the pick-up time from 10pm to 1pm, calling it a pajama party. If you prefer to have adult dining, book the late dinner seating. This will give you lots of time to feed the children and bring them to Kids Club when it reopens at 7:00pm. We had early seating and most every evening, my son would skip dessert and take off to kids club. I don't know anything about the $100 fee as mentioned above, when we sailed you had to sign up your kids for port days and there was a fee for this. We took our son (7 at the time) to both Sting Ray City and Dunn's River Falls. What about the turtle farm on Grand Caymen? In Ocho Rios, there is a Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville at the end of the pier. We dropped in after Dunn's River Falls and wasted away a few hours in true Caribbean style. They have a little pool with a slide that the kids frolicked in until it was time to leave for the short walk to the boat.

[cruisebunny32]

The kids in your group would be mostly in the same group. They break it down by ages 3-6 (must be potty trained and 3 on the first day of sail) 7-9, 10-12 and teens. Depending on when you sail and the amount of kids on board they may combine the two smaller groups.

 

The smaller age has to be signed in and out each day. You give them info as to where you might be. They also make you give a password that you and your kid will know until they get to know you and you can give privileges to other adults in your group to pick the kids up.

 

They have programs from 9-12, 2-5 and 7-10 every day. They are organized and the kids get their own daily. They can go to as little and as much as they want. The lunch and dinner times they are open but they charge a $6/hour per kid fee when in port. They will take them to the buffet and feed them. This could be used for your "adults only" dinner one night. Depending on when you have seating you can send the kids to the program and they can feed them...or if you have late seating you can feed them early at the buffet yourself and take them at 7pm and then pick them up after dinner. They usually do the slumber party (after 10) on the formal nights for free.

 

I would suggest getting a balcony cabin if you have 3 or more in a cabin. You need to go somewhere to scream. Even in a Concieres cabin at bedtime there is not much room when the beds are all out. If you are on a Millie class ship they have great FV cabins. We did one last cruise (my kids were 2 and 7 at the time) and it was the best cabin ever. It was expensive...but we had an incredible balcony and we spent a lot of time in the cabin because it was so nice.

 

The only excursions we do with the kids are beach excursions.

 

Have a good cruise...the kids will have a blast and you will barely see them! I am so excited that my little one will be old enough to go this coming year:D

 

Alisia

[riggins]

Thanks for asking the question and all the responses. We just booked our 1st Celebrity cruise - going to Alaska next summer on Infinity. This is our first time on Celebrity and the first time the kids (5 and 7) will be sailing anyone other than Disney. So, I'm really interested/concerned with the kids activites and programming. We snagged a FV cabin and I'm really excited about it.

[cruisebunny32]

You will LOVE the cabin. It is really nice.

 

 

If you have any more questions about the kids club...I would be happy to answer them!

[Ma Bell]

We have taken 6 of our grandchildren twice, the last time in June to Alaska. They are ages 6 to 9 now and the first time were 4 to 7. They loved the kids program so much we had a difficult time getting them to come out to spend some time with the adults.

[MLAW]

I have cruised with my girls since they were toddlers. When financially possible, we all love balcony cabins. For Alaska we were even able to book a mini suite which was incredible. Two years ago, however, when booking a cruise in Europe, the price for a balcony cabin was out of our price range. I worried how we would manage in one inside cabin with two adults and two preteen girls. You know what? It was fine. We all agreed at the end of the two weeks that is was much better than we had expected. Would we have loved to be in a balcony cabin? Absolutely, but the inside was better than no cruise at all. This December we are heading to New Zealand/Australia and will once again be together in an inside cabin and I know we will have a great time. So my advice is to book a balcony cabin if financially reasonable but a cruise in an inside cabin is better than no cruise at all!!!

[jerseygirl3]

We did a "family reunion" cruise last Easter with my family. We ranged in age from 6-16 (kids), parents (40-50 years of age) and parents (late 70's). We all had a great time. We booked 5 Sky Suites and it was wonderful. I would highly recommend Century for a family cruise.

[Cruise Arizona]

There are a few cabins on the Mercury, and I'm thinking on the other Century class ships maybe also, that are:

 

Inside

Sleep 5.

 

They are near the old cabins that used to be call FOV (Now SV? on some ships) and have the layout to accommodate 5, one queen, one upper, and two "day" type beds. They might work for the family of 5. But there are only a few on the ship, and many people don't realize that they will sleep 5. Sometimes even the booking agents from Celebrity. If you are captains club member it might be best to contact them for your booking as they seem to be longer term employees and better informed.

 

Your best bet is to book early and have the best cabin selection.

 

We have cruised with our kids on Celebrity since 2005 when they were 7 & 9. They loved the kids program.

 

Three Year Olds must be potty trained and my adivice is to go to the kids program every hour or so to take them to the restroom. I know when my kids were that young, 3, if they were having too much fun, and they will be in the kids club, they don't want to stop the fun to use the restroom. They won't let them back into the program if they have more than one accident.

 

Celebrity's counselors, waiters, staff.... everyone is great with kids. Lot of attention and they make them feel special.

[gennadi]

I took my boys (10 & 11) on a 14-night Med cruise in Nov. with Galaxy. As expected, there weren't many children. Also, we're from Greece and they speak very little English so I doubted that the activities for children would be for us. I was wrong!

 

They used the fun factory daily. There were about 10-15 children from all over the globe and a variety of age groups. All the children played together in the fun factory regardless of age, with excellent supervision from the staff. It was nice to see 10 yr. olds showing 5 yr. olds how to play various games, etc.

By the end of the cruise, my sons learned a little English and Spanish and taught a little Greek!

 

We are going on Century to the Med in Nov again and they are looking forward to meeting new friends and playing in the fun factory.