Princess and kids

[hlv71]

Hi all,

 

We are thinking of cruising on the Emerald in November with friends. We have a 7yr old and was wondering how kid friendly Princess is. Last year we went on RCI and had a blast. I'm a little apprehensive to try something new!

[rnff2]

I understand how you feel , I felt the same way when we booked our first Princess Cruise. When we cruised last Sept on Princess with our 3 1/2 yr old we had a great time and everyone was so wonderful with our son. The staff always took the time to talk with him and were always walking past giving him "5". Throughout the cruise when we were on the Lido deck there were a couple staff members that always asked if he could have a soda. I agreed and they either took him over to the bar and got him one, or brought him one back to where he was playing. Another staff member left toy spiders on his arm or hand as he walked by. We had anytime dining, it took us 3 nights and we found the most wonderful wait staff who were great with our son and our friends 8yr old boy. Both boys were spoiled at dinner each night with as many chocolate chip cookies as the parents would allow, we were even given cookies to go. We didn't use the kids club for our son, not wanting to cause him anxiety leaving him in a strange place alone at his age, but it did look very nice when we toured it the first day. And I think the very best thing was the fresh water pool. The boys had a blast each and every day we spent at the pool.

 

In fact we had booked a Carnival cruise for this fall and after talking with our friends about what a great time we had on Princess decided cancel Carnival and return to Princess.

Hope this helps.

Kerri

[crittermom]

We are just home from the Crown with our 9 and 11 year old son and daughter. They both told us they would never go to the kids club before we got on the ship. Once there, they couldn't wait until the kid's club opened each day! They had a great time and are already emailing the friends they met.

 

Our room steward made them towel animals each night and our wait staff was wonderful with them. I think they had more fun than we did!

[Cruisin' Chick]

My girl was 5, 7, and 8 on her Princess cruises (her first three were on Carnival) and she loves this kind of vacation. She couldn't wait to get to the kids' area each day.

 

There's a variety of activities from arts and crafts to science oriented ones based on your itinerary (a partnership with the California Science Center). The kids' favorite thing to do seems to be the squid dissection.

 

There will be a day-to-day listing of the kids' schedule when you first get to your cabin. Go to the mandatory registration meeting with your kids the first night. There's also some "grown up" activities such as trivia and classes that kids can take part in.

[mjmalino]

We've taken 2 cruises, both on Princess, and the first being when my 2 DS were 8 and 9. My 9YO was a bit apprehensive about going to the camp, but we asked him to go the first morning in order to meet the other kids. My kids wanted to spend as much time there as possible. If it were up to them, they would have even stayed in the camp during port. On our cruise last year, we booked 2 cabins, 1 inside and 1 balcony, and the kids slept in the inside. Our steward was great with them. Out of the 3 booked rooms that we had (including my in-laws) the kids inside was the only one to get towel animals. Princess is not known for towel animals. We had anytime dining both cruises, but on our first cruise we ended up at the same table for 3 nights in a row and our wait staff was amazing with them. Personally, I like the camp. I feel that they try to have a mix of educational and more recreational activities. We haven't told the kids yet, but we are scheduled for the Ruby in July.

[lovespositano]

Nov a year ago we did Greek Isles on the Star with our children and grandchildren (aged 1-1/2 and 2-1/2 at that time) and they have an absolute blast!! They were too young to be left alone at the kid's center, but they begged for us to take them there all the time. Each and every one of the staff, everywhere, just loved and spoiled those kids. We took them on our shore excursions - we waited until the last bus for each tour, which means a semi-empty bus, and we spread out in the back of the bus, the kids played, and we had a magnificent time. Of course, with the Greek Isles ports, who WOULDN'T?? The other thing I would mention is that the price for each kid was almost full fare for our category cabin, so we just went ahead and paid full fare for them and therefore got an inside cabin. It worked out great. No one slept in that cabin, but we used it to store all our extra gear (strollers and carseats). For those travelling with kids under 3, you do NOT have to buy shore excursion tickets for the children. Princess won't tell you this, but it's true, as we found out after we had bought children's tickets for the first few days.