Cruising with a 3 yr old. Which Line? Cruise

[jgwolf]

I am looking at my first cruise(although I have travelled to many of the islands) with my 3 yr old. Not really interested in Disney right now so can I get some recommendations for which have the best kids programs. I am thinking RCL or Carnival and my son is very active. i just don't want him to be bored. Any expereinces wou7ld be appreciated. Thinking of going in on Radiance in April as there are only 3 stops and 3 days at sea. Thanks

[litig8rij]

...so'll i'll have definitive info in a couple of weeks; nevertheless, my research on these boards resulted in me booking carnival because of the wonderful reviews of its kids' program. my baby boy is 3 and VERY active but needs structure. that made camp carnival very appealing. i'll post again when i get back ;)

[jgwolf]

Please update me when you return as it seems oour little ones may be very similar. You can email me at julwolf@comcast.net with any info. Thanks

 

Julie

[nybumpkin]

Our 4 year old loved Camp Carnival - even now, if he sees that I'm on the Carnival Website, he asks me to go to the 360-degree view of the playroom so he can "see his toys." The activities generally are organized into 1/2-hour segments and provide a variety of things to do - art projects, free play, singing, etc. The sample activities listed on the Carnival Website are fairly representative. There also are nights when they have dinner for the kids in the buffet dining room, so you can have dinner without kids in tow. (We generally alternated nights, so the kids at with us 3 nights and Camp Carnival 2 nights. Our waiter missed them when they went to Camp for dinner!) The dining room does have a kids' menu available.

[Sun and Fun]

We are traveling on the Radiance 1/2/05 with our 4-year-old son and 19 month old daughter. Our friends are coming along with their 4-year-old son. It will be our first time on RCCL.

 

When our son was 2-1/2 we went on Carnival. Camp Carnival was great (we were on the Legend). He only went 1 afternoon because we had more fun playing with him, but we were very happy with the program.

 

I am sure the boys will want to spend time at Adventure Ocean this time around - I'll post when we get back.

[Karen_B]

we're about to go on the princess dawn with our 3 year old. fyi: he had to be potty trained to participate in their kids' program.

[cruisinqt]

My youngest was just 3 when she and her older sister went on their first cruise. They are now 6 and 8 years old. They are also addicted to cruising, just like their parents are.:D

 

Both of our kids loved the kids program on RCI. They also loved the kids program on Carnival. One thing I liked about RCI was that they had Cartoon Network running 24-7 on our TV. So turning on the cartoons for my little ones was great for when I needed to shower, pick out clothes, do my makeup, or just take a nap.;) On Carnival, they just have a movie channel that plays the same movie over and over all day long. The movie changes each day and they are first run kid friendly movies. But little ones don't really watch movies, but they will watch most cartoons quite avidly. That's why I like the Cartoon Network on the RCI ships.

 

But Carnival on the other hand has great kid friendly foods that kids love. The snack bars on RCI have frozen pizza and other snacks that aren't that good. So when my kids get fussy because they picked at dinner and are hungry, the snack bars on RCI just didn't stack up. But the snack bars on Carnival were fabulous!:) The pizza at the snack bar was made fresh to order. And the burgers and hot dogs at the snack bar were also made fresh and delicious. Plus they have 24 hour ice cream bars that kids love. And these snack bars are open all of the time.

 

Anyways, those are just a couple of differences between the two lines that have stood out to me. Overall, my kids loved both cruise lines and had a blast. I don't think you could go wrong with either of them.

[Quincella]

We just came home from the NCL Spirit today, and the Kids Club was FANTASTIC! We have 2-and 8-year-old daughters, and they both loved it. Incidentally my 8-year old is ADD, so keeping her from being "bored" is a normal challenge in our lives. The programs were "tons of fun" (per the 8-year-old), and the 2-year old never wanted to leave when it was time to pick her up! Best of all, the cruise was very, very reasonable in price, and the "grown-ups" had a great time, too.

 

I don't think you can really go too wrong with any Carnival or RCL, either, but I can definitely say that this ship had an amazing kids program and the best facilities (outside Disney, of course) that I've seen for kids on any ship or line.

 

Good luck!

[synewton]

I wouldn't discount Princess. Princess isn't typically mentioned when folks think of kid's clubs but theres is quite good. I like Princess because they limit the number of children on a sailing so that they can keep the right kid:counselor ratio in the kid's club. But the down side to that is that if you are not on the Grand Princess or one of the bigger shipsand sailing during the school season, the number of children on board might be really tiny. Our last cruise on the Dawn Princess in january 2004 only had 10 children. As it turned out they all used the center, all became great friends and had almost individualized attention. But something to keep in mind.

[merela]

Many kids' programs on board a cruiselline begins at age 3 and must be potty-trained (no accidents allowed). Only Norwegian cruiseline starts at 2 (they'll beep you if your child needs a diaper change).

 

I've heard great things about Carnival and Royal Caribbean's kids' programs, but RCCL do not allow parents inside the kids' areas once you sign your child in. This creates a lot of problems for some 3YOs and even the younger children. Only Princess allows parents to stay in the kids' club with your child, even if they are younger than 3. This worked out for us because I have a 2.5YO DS and he wanted to do crafts and stuff with his sister. So even though he wasn't old enough to be in the kids' program on Princess, but I got to stay in the kids' zone with him and we painted T-shirts and did crafts together.

 

When my now 5YO DD started cruising, she was 2 months shy of 4. She has never been in preschool, so it was hard for her to stay at the kids' club by herself, but I stayed with her to do playdoh and played board games which she enjoyed! Princess opened up new Playdoh canisters and board games for each new sailing.

 

Personally, I would pick a cruiseline and itinerary that you know you'll enjoy because most of the major cruiselines offer great children's programs.

 

It's hard for us to stay away from Princess because us adults have enjoyed the food they serve on board. My kids have memorized Princess' kids' menu already! Their favorite is the Alphabet soup!

 

I've written more about Princess' kids' program on this thread, check it out:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=101788

 

HTH.

 

Jennifer

[CariBear]

Hi

 

I am new here, but have the same question. Our daughter will be 3 next August and we are planning a cruise for late November 2005. We are trying to choose between Disney and RCCL. The price difference for a balcony cabin is only $400 for the sailings we are considering. My little one loves Disney, but I have heard that the pools and kid's clubs are packed. Whenever my husband and I have sailed RCCL the kiddie pool was almost empty....plus the kid's programs are not as crowded. Not sure what to do either!

[jgwolf]

disney seems alot more expensive than the others at the time I am looking. I am really split between Carnival and RCL either the Radiance or the Valor as I like those 2 itineraries. Im just trying to find which has the better kids program for my 3 yr old. Im waiting for the cruiser who has the same age to give me there experiences.

[born2crooz]

My son was 3 on his first cruise. I can't say enough about the Carnival children's programs. He absolutely LOVED it. They separate the children by age and have age appropriate activities for them.

 

I highly recommend the group babysitting service at night. It's a great way to get some adult time without feeling guilty. You will have to DRAG them out of there, lol. My children begged to go every night, but at $10 an hour for 2 kids, it got quite expensive, but worth every penny!

 

I've heard Disney's program didn't live up to it's name. I've heard great things about Royal Caribbean. Norwegian's programs have mixed reviews and vary from ship to ship.

[surat108]

We took our 3 yr old daughter on a 7 day mexico cruise on the Star Princess and SHE LOVED IT!:p She loved it so much she's been begging to go again so now we're going to the caribbean with Princess in April. She is now 6 yrs old. The last cruise she didn't even want to get off the ship. We went whalewatching as an excursion and she had a good time but once that was done she insisted on going back to the kids center.:rolleyes: The dining options on princess are great for kids and there are lots of activities for them to do. Because Princess limits the number of kids on each ship it allows for a better child to caregiver ratio yet there are still plenty of children onboard to play with.

 

Hope you have a great time with whatever cruiseline you choose!

[inkspress yourself]

I didn't realize parents weren't allowed to step foot in Adventure Ocean. I thought I would be able to participate some with my dd. The person working the door was very unfriendly when I tried to walk in. I told her I would need to stay with my dd for a few minutes before she would be happy. My dh didn't like anything about it, so we all left.

 

From what little I've read, I think I would enjoy Disney, because it seems like the parents can be more involved in the kids club. I would like to be on a cruise that encouraged the entire family to laugh, play and be silly. Not one that wants you to drop of the kids at the door.

 

Maybe my dd is odd though. I have heard of other parents who liked the program.

 

I'm glad to see Princess lets parents be involved. I'll look into that too.

 

Dawn

[mjwelch]

Bummer! I'm thinking of taking my 4yo on an RCCL trip in the fall but would have thought that the parents would be allowed at least for a bit. The RCCL program sounds really nice - Princess (which was great on our Mex Riv cruise last fall) sounds like it has OK kids programs - and Carnival sounds like they're getting rave reviews. What's a dad who loves to play with his kid (and get some personal time) to do?!?!? :)

[I&MsMom]

On Carnival, parents were only permitted in the playroom from 8:30 to 9:00 am the first morning.

 

I was told by one of our neighbors that this was relaxed for pick-up after the "slumber party": if your child had fallen asleep, they let you in to pick them up yourself, rather than having a counselor bring them to you at the gate.

 

It's sad, but I understand and respect why they need to have this policy. We found we were able to spend lots of time with our kids (port days, meals, etc.) and they still got to enjoy the camp for a couple of hours most days.