Reflection over Thanksgiving - Family/Child question

I've just read the thread from a poster who'd like to take her kids on a Celebrity cruise in January. We are considering the Reflection over Thanksgiving for a few main reasons, mostly because cost is less than RCI or Carnival (on their newer ships), and the free drink package. We are late to the game and just started looking yesterday.

We have two children, 4 and 5, and my 74 y.o. mom will travel with us (she is healthier than most people 20 years younger). We've been on the Summit as a couple one February, and there were virtually no children.

I'm also afraid of Disney/RCI/Carnival over a holiday because they kids clubs will be TOO crowded and that's not fun either.

So what is a ship like Reflection generally like over Thanksgiving? Lots of multi-generational families?

There are always more children on cruises during holidays and Thanksgiving is no exception. Our experience on Celebrity at Thanksgiving is that it's not over run with children, but certainly quite a few of all ages onboard.

Thanksgiving and Christmas are the best time of the sailing season to take your kids. Our first Thanksgiving on ship was in 1998 on the Century.

We sailed the Reflection in 2013 the week before, and it is our favorite ship to date.

Thanksgiving and Christmas are the best time of the sailing season to take your kids. Our first Thanksgiving on ship was in 1998 on the Century.

We sailed the Reflection in 2013 the week before, and it is our favorite ship to date.

Definitely a family time to cruise.....

I'd like opinions on whether or not a 4 and 5 year old are likely to be bored? We have 2 boys (rambunctious at times, though we try to keep that in check) and they go all day. On past cruises they've loved the kids club, and they'll be in the same group, so my guess is they'd enjoy it (we've only sailed RCI with them, and only once on a ship with a slide, they don't like splash areas).

I think they'd enjoy the lawn games if X is still putting those out, the video game sessions and probably the game room. They love hot tubs and jumping in the pool. My guess is they'll like any time where our attention is focused 100% on them, water slides or not.

WE actually did this Reflection cruise in 2013 with our daughter's family. Yes there are lots of kids, but we felt the kids were well behaved. Mostly

Americans. Our worst experiences were when we traveled on holiday cruises with lots of foreign families. South America in particular We would do a turkey day cruise again.

I'd like opinions on whether or not a 4 and 5 year old are likely to be bored? We have 2 boys (rambunctious at times, though we try to keep that in check) and they go all day. On past cruises they've loved the kids club, and they'll be in the same group, so my guess is they'd enjoy it (we've only sailed RCI with them, and only once on a ship with a slide, they don't like splash areas).

 

I think they'd enjoy the lawn games if X is still putting those out, the video game sessions and probably the game room. They love hot tubs and jumping in the pool. My guess is they'll like any time where our attention is focused 100% on them, water slides or not.

Ok, you will have 3-5 port stops, so most of your day time will be spent off ship. The kids programs are not in session on port days if I remember right.

Only 2 sea days with limited Kids Club activities. There are no kids lawn games on the S-Class ships. Kids are not allowed into the pool or hot tub without a parent. Nothing at all like the things you have on RCCL. Your attention will have to be 100% focused on them.

We took our DD at 8 and our Son at 12 on their 1st cruise, 5 diff lines later, Celebrity is still their favorite, mainly because there were no 'babysitting' service to hand them off to, so we had to be involved.

Come on over to the roll call here on Cruise Critic. We have quite a few people on the Nov. 21, Reflection cruise. So far we have only one family on there with a 3 year old but that doesn't mean there won't be more children on the ship this week. Not everyone posts here though we like to think they do. That said this will not be like a Royal Caribbean's thanksgiving cruise. I think Celebrity does a good job with the kids as they are seldom seen so they must be having a good time with the staff.

Pat

We are on board the Reflection this Thanksgiving with our DD, SIL, and 6-year old triplet grandkids. All of us sailed Princess last Thanksgiving and Alaska this past July. We took our nephew on Celebrity a few years ago. The triplets love cruising and we are sure that they will love this upcoming cruise.

Minnie Wonka Girl - please update me on your experience this Thanksgiving. We are novice cruisers- Princess in Alaska last May. Loved it and Princess. We have three cruises booked with Celebrity with the third one a family vacation with children and grandchildren (2, 4, 6, and 9). Would love to know experiences of Celebrity with children.

The Fun Factory on Reflection is open every day of the cruise, including port days, at least in our experience. I had posted the Fun Factory Daily schedules after our February cruise. If you put in the search above "Fun Factory Dailies Reflection" the thread will come up. It could give you an idea of the types of activities they offer.

Our first cruise was over Thanksgiving on the Eclipse and we loved it (did not have our kids but there were plenty on the cruise as it was the American Girl cruise-LOL) It was great though and the number of kids was no issue.

Have fun whatever you decide. We love the Relection:)

My son and I have cruised on this same Reflection Thanksgiving Cruise in 2013 and 2014. On November 21, we will be doing 3 years in a row.

I confess that my son likes the cruise less than RCCL and Carnival which we generally do at other times of the year. On the other hand, he recognizes that the ship is more elegant and the food is far better (or used to be) and truly likes the specialty restaurants. He also recognizes that I like it far more.

There are plenty of kids on board and my son has never appeared to be bored. But he recognizes it as a different experience and while elegant, less fun.

Minnie Wonka Girl - please update me on your experience this Thanksgiving. We are novice cruisers- Princess in Alaska last May. Loved it and Princess. We have three cruises booked with Celebrity with the third one a family vacation with children and grandchildren (2, 4, 6, and 9). Would love to know experiences of Celebrity with children.

I just got off this cruise and if you are considering a future Thanksgiving cruise with the kids, go for it. A staff member told me there were 400 kids onboard and I fully believe him. In fact, I wonder what the definition of kid is according to Celebrity because there seemed like a lot more than that. I had a great cruise because by the 2nd day, I simply avoided the areas they invaded. lol But I will never, ever, NEVER go during a vaca week again. Just too many of them for me. Most were ok behavior wise but there were those who screamed, ran the hallways at night, sat in elevators and just rode them for hours, pushed all the elevator floor buttons and ran off and of course, they commandeered the main pool and jacuzzis every day making it a challenge to get from the oceanview to the solarium dry as they splashed like nuts. Also, there was really no enforcement of "rules." I saw really really really like 3 year old kids in the jacuzzi with their parents and I always thought Murano was 12+ but again, 5 year olds etc. Also, things like Liquid which was an alleged nightclub in the Solarium at 10:15pm, had tons of kids show up, again, very very young kids with their parents and others around 11, or 12 on their own. I would also say most of them had the bracelets on meaning they were part of the Fun Factory which also seemed to run pretty late into the evening from what I saw.

Bottom line is YES, there are tons of kids on Celebrity during Thanksgiving and I can only assume other major holidays so parents, fear not. Bring your kids. To the adults who are wondering, just know kids will be kids. If you can deal with that and their presence throughout your cruise, no worries. If not, don't go on a holiday week.

Heartfelttraveler, the 6-year old triplets enjoyed the cruise. We ate in the MDR for breakfast, and they did the buffet for lunch and dinner. We did eat Thanksgiving dinner together in the MDR. Breakfast service there was inconsistent. The kids met friends in the Fun Factory whom they enjoyed seeing around the ship. Comparing to Princess, the Fun Factory does not give parents a beeper. Since the seas were a rough on certain days, we were reluctant to leave the kids there in case they got sick, as we would not be notified. Otherwise, the Fun Factory seems to be well managed.