Princess with kids

[molly82400]

Cruising with a 9 year old this December, and still have not booked. We are still undecided. We have done RCCL,Disney,NCL, and Carnival. We are leaning towards pricncess this time, but all we hear is that it is for an older crowd (50+.) Has anyone with kids been on Princess, and how was your experience???

[jenonacruise]

My son was 8 in 2008 and we went on the coral princess for 20 days. He was one of ten kids on the whole ship but wouldn't you know it he found the one boy that was about his age the first day. He loved every minute. Had a great time in the kids zone and got special treatment everywhere he went. He even attended a afternoon tea with my mother and all the older women kept trying to feed him tea cakes.

We have now booked on the Ruby princess for March 2010 for 10 days. My son was could choose Disney or a Princess cruise. He is a cruise boy all the way.

I like the princess line because I know there are less children and my son will be looked after very well. I don't think he would handle it very well if there were a ton of children.

[jenonacruise]

I forgot to mention that even though the age might be older the people are very active. my husband and I are mid 30's and we made a lot of good friends who were a lot older to hang out with.

[cb at sea]

In December, if you're cruising during a school break, there will be plenty of kids. If you're cruising while school's in session, there will be alot fewer kids....Any of the mainstream lines will be fine for both you and your child.

Over all, cruisers do tend to be a bit older, especially on the longer trips, but there's always a decent mix of ages--on ALL of the lines!

[Paumavista]

We were on the Sapphire Princess in May in Alaska......totally a non-kid cruise by definition (i.e. major "school final" time period, Alaska is not known as a kid destination, and Princess is not a major kid line) But my boys (9 & 10) LOVED it!

 

Actually my boys REALLY prefer as few kids as possible for the exact reason another cruiser mentioned....they tend to make friends more easily in a small group environment, the kids room isn't very crowded and the couselors really get to know the kids and can quickly tune the activities to the group.

 

If given our choice (when not traveling with extended family or trying to meet college schedules) we always choose school time over holidays to cruise.

 

Unless you plan an very unusual cruise....maybe an extended far east cruise...you will always have SOME kids on the ship...with year round school and parents like me...willing to pull our kids.

 

Have a great trip....Princess (which has a great indoor pool for Alaska) was wonderful.

 

Judy

[chipmaster]

Cruising with a 9 year old this December, and still have not booked. We are still undecided. We have done RCCL,Disney,NCL, and Carnival. We are leaning towards pricncess this time, but all we hear is that it is for an older crowd (50+.) Has anyone with kids been on Princess, and how was your experience???

 

We found a ship full of kids this past summer on Princess, lots of trendy middle aged folks too. I think time and itinerary make big difference. Clearly Disney and RCCL market unique angles that look to attract the young or young of heart, but we didn't find Princess to be full of only old foggies 50+ :D.

 

As the other poster said if you are going during holiday break or summer I think you'll find the demographics not terribly different on the mainstream lines.

[Tggrtoes]

We were on Princess in December with our 1 1/2 year old DS. He loved it - crew really doted on him. There were lots of other kids - probably not as many as on carnival, but still quite a few even in your son's age group.

[rnff2]

We were on the Sapphire last fall and our ds was 3 1/2 at the time. The staff loved him. The went out of their way to talk to him, "play" with him and a couple of afternoons a waiter asked if he could get him a soda. He didn't use the kids program, he stressed out at the idea, so we let it go. But we did tour the kids area and the met the staff the first day and it seemed nice. We had anytime dinning and on day 4 we met the best waiter and assistant waiter and stuck with them the rest of the cruise. They were wonderful with our son. Also the pools on Princess are fresh water, so much better for kids. We had a great Princess cruise, and I will be the 1st to admit I was very worried up until the day I set foot on the ship...but no worries now, we are cruising Princess again this fall.

[hubofhockey]

Cruising with a 9 year old this December, and still have not booked. We are still undecided. We have done RCCL,Disney,NCL, and Carnival. We are leaning towards pricncess this time, but all we hear is that it is for an older crowd (50+.) Has anyone with kids been on Princess, and how was your experience???

 

We took ours on Crown Princess this April. They were 11 & 9. Both had a great time. My younger one prefers Carnival. We cruised Carnival and RCCL the past couple of years because of the kids clubs. This time around, we had the same questions as you have and were comfortable going Princess. But when we're ready to go back with the kids, they'll be 14 & 12 and probably ready for the RCCL flowrider and more active activities.

[Keith1010]

Princess actually offers one of the best children's programs at sea. I think it would be great for a family.

 

We took our children on Princess when they were younger and they enjoyed it quite a bit.

 

Keith

[mjmalino]

We have cruised twice thus far (both times with our kids) on Princess and my kids love Princess! The first time, they were 8 and 9. We have done both Alaska and the Caribbean and my 2DS enjoyed both cruises--Alaska had much less kids then the Caribbean. In fact, we are leaving for our Med cruise on Wednesday on Princess as well and my now 11 year old can't stop talking about it! I like the fact that many times the kids camp does activities that port of itinerary specific. For instance, in Alaska, after a day in Ketchikan the kids painted totem poles. While in Glacier Bay one of the rangers who boarded the ship went down to the kids camp and did a Jr. Ranger program with them. My kids have also returned from their cruises with e-mail addresses of other kids in the camps whom they keep in touch with.

 

Just as an FYI, my DH and I are in our late 30s and we have found a nice mix of ages on Princess.