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Carnival or Royal - food/kids club questions


KalamityJane
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I have 3 really active kids, 5, almost 7 and 9.5. We did a 15 night TA on Disney last year and were not impressed with the food or kids clubs.

 

I’m now trying to decide between Carnival or Royal for our next cruise with the kids.

 

1 of the kids is GF, 1 is highly sensitive to sugar and they all cannot do food dyes - which makes food a bit annoying but they are used to eating simply and clean. Fresh fruit/veggies/smoothies/ cold cuts/eggs/burgers etc

 

Which line is better for kid’s food?

 

Which club is more interactive with the kids?(DCL seemed to leave them to their own devices)

 

I think I’ve narrowed it down to Oasis class for RCCL and Breeze/Magic or Vista class on Carnival.

 

Also, if a ship is less crowded feeling, that would be a big plus for hubby :)

 

 

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The Disney kids clubs have chosen to have a very large age range to prevent arguments over trying to age up or down in the kids clubs. Lots of family reunions happen on Disney, and they don’t want to deal with whining all the time about families that need all the cousins to go to the same kids club. So everyone goes in the same room together, and therefore the clubs need to be very unstructured. This is a complaint we see frequently here on the forums about Disney, and I’ve not seen it as an issue on the 4 lines we’ve sailed with kids or on the forums about any other line so any of the other family lines will probably solve this issue, since they all separate the kids by age so they can have more structure.

 

The food issue I’m not sure about. If you don’t get a response here, you might want to post on the rc and carnival forums. You can also check the room service menu for burgers, plus there’s usually a burger station near a pool somewhere on the ship. I’d suggest also contacting the special needs department to get a sense of what your options might be. I’ve never sailed Disney, but they do have a very strong reputation for helping with food allergies. I’m so sorry that wasn’t your experience.

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Our family had been cruising royal Caribbean for the past 10 years for reunion cruises, because we have such a wide range of kids - my oldest was 8 his first cruise and will be 18 on our next one. Our kids have always loved the kids club - half the time we have to practically beg them to hang with us! Also, i have several family members (adults and kids) with food allergies/intolerances and they have never had a problem getting appropriate food options. We have only cruised carnival as adult groups so I can’t speak to the kid programs there

 

 

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All cruise lines have a "special needs" dept. You should contact them in advance and tell them of your child's allergies. Both lines do allergies well.

 

I would go with an RCI ship, simply because they have better "flow" than Carnival ships. The food will be similar, as are the kid's clubs. Both are more "structured" than Disney. Really, tho, I think you'll be fine on whatever you choose!

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My kids preferred camp carnival to adventure ocean. I think they were allowed more free play on camp carnival which included computer and video game time which my son really liked.

Although this coming cruise, he’ll be in the 9-11 group so I am not sure what activities they do in that age group.

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Thanks!! I think we may be doing Royal because of the Kids Sail Free promo.

 

I'm debating between the Oasis class or one of the refurbished smaller ones, like Adventure or Independence. I've heard the bigger ships actually don't feel as crowded as the smaller ones... More to research!

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We went on Liberty last year and really liked it. We were also driving distance from the port so that influenced our decision as well. This year we decided to splurge on the Oasis class ships and are going on the Allure.

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Thanks!! I think we may be doing Royal because of the Kids Sail Free promo.

 

I'm debating between the Oasis class or one of the refurbished smaller ones, like Adventure or Independence. I've heard the bigger ships actually don't feel as crowded as the smaller ones... More to research!

 

 

 

We have been on smaller ships (the Vision class) we have been on the Freedom and the Oasis. We and our children LOVED the freedom and Oasis. We still enjoy the smaller ship, but the bigger ones have a LOT to offer and I highly recommend them

 

 

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Thanks!! I think we may be doing Royal because of the Kids Sail Free promo.

 

I'm debating between the Oasis class or one of the refurbished smaller ones, like Adventure or Independence. I've heard the bigger ships actually don't feel as crowded as the smaller ones... More to research!

 

 

 

We have been on a wide range of ships, including Oasis-class (Harmony), Freedom-class (Freedom), and Voyager-class (Navigator). Oasis definitely has the most to offer, but we enjoyed Freedom and Navigator more. They felt less crowded, and still had a lot to offer. I would definitely consider either refurbished Indy or Adventure - Adventure already has water slides, and I think Indy is getting them too. I think that only Harmony and Symphony have water slides.

 

 

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I’ve never cruised Disney but I think I can weigh in on your options between royal and carnival! I sailed carnival magic when my triplets were 4 & my oldest was 6. My kids loved the kids club! When we sailed royal Caribbean liberty of the seas last year they were 7 & 9 and only two loved the clubs my oldest and my middle triplet (boys). Three of my kids are somewhat easy to please and one is picky but they really like the Carnival pizza! My kids eat a variety of items from the kids and adult menus. I have one (the middle triplet) that only eats chicken tenders and fries...every night! 🤦*♀️ Overall as a family we prefer Carnival’s food! If your ship has the guys burgers they are one of the best I’ve ever had! I felt like the kids club was more interactive and my oldest begged to stay for the late night party which costs money but we let him stay anyway! For Royal on the liberty the first night of the sailing the kids club were a mess of confusion and lines! They don’t offer a pager or phone like Carnival did (first come first serve). I wasn’t ok with allowing my son to check himself out but I felt like I had to go back often to see if he had enough. We sail again in just a few weeks so we shall see if they still want to enjoy the kids club. I think the most important thing to consider are the activities, if I were planning between two ships and the kids club was the deciding factor I would recommend looking at the kid daily activities which I’m sure someone on here has, I would then review this with the kids along with YouTube videos of the ships amenities. We sailed NCL twice and the kids loved them too! You should have an amazing time either way! Enjoy.

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