Celebrity with kids???

We are experienced cruisers and are thinking of trying Celebrity. Is this a good line to try with children ages 11 and 18? Thank you.

Generally there are not many children on Celebrity. Obviously this varies with more kids on shorter cruises, in the summer or holidays.

 

Celebrity ships do not have some of the things that other lines have to attract families with kids, no water slides, flow riders, mini golf, ice ink, etc. I wouldn’t take our grandchildren ages 10-18 on Celebrity as think they would be bored.

If you go for a week long cruise in the summer, you'll see a fair amount of kids. Celebrity has great programming for them. The difference between Celebrity and a super "family friendly" line is that there will not be 1,000 kids on board but mine liked it better that way. There may not be much for your 18 year old to do although I think they've added some activities for that group. Your 11 year old will have a great time.

 

If it's a longer cruise or during the school year, there are far fewer kids.

It would help to know more about the family. Do the kids like to meet new friends or are they shy? What do they like to do on a cruise? Hunker down with an iPad, swim, watch movies in the stateroom, play bingo (the older one), read, shoot baskets, play video games?

 

What itinerary? How long of a cruise are you looking at? What time of year? it's really hard to give advice without knowing more.......

My kids love Celebrity Cruises. They have always made friends and they still talk to a good amount of kids. We started taking them when the older one was 8. We have been on other cruise lines with them but their favorite is Celebrity.

I can't answer your question directly because we haven't sailed Celebrity, yet, but we are booked on the Summit in December and our 11-year old son will be with us. I'm pretty confident he'll enjoy it. The Summit has a basketball court and my son could shoot baskets for hours. He loves to swim or even just chill in a stateroom and watch a movie. On our port days, I found plenty of excursions and activities that he will enjoy. He'll also eat anything, so I'm not concerned about restaurant menus, etc. Our last cruise was on DCL and, while he's enjoyed those in the past, he spent only about 2 hours in the kids' club and then wanted to leave. He is more interested in a quieter, more chill atmosphere, so I think Celebrity may be a good fit for him.

 

Edited to add: my son has also sailed on Paul Gauguin where he was one of about 4 children on the whole ship and he loved it, so, I do think it just really depends on the child and their interests.

Edited September 20, 2018 by MarLieb
More thoughts!

As others have commented, a lot depends on the time of year. There should be a fair number of kids for winter break, spring break or summer break.

 

My son disliked Disney Cruise Line. There were a LOT of programmed activities, but he's more comfortable with the unstructured video games, basketball games, dodgeball, or listening to loud obnoxious music in the kids club that he experienced on another cruise line. A lot depends on personality. Some luck is also involved.

 

One suggestion would be to see if you can be seated with another family (or families) with kid(s) the same age. Even for kids, it can be difficult to make friends quickly. We were seated with another family who had a kid the same age. The kids were a little timid on the first night, but the second night they wanted to sit next to each other and by mid-cruise they were inseparable.

Sailed X a few times, but my first cruise on X with my kids (ages 3.5 and 7) is in a couple of months.

 

We've taken them on Norwegian and Disney- honestly a lot of the activities I'm not sure they were old enough to fully enjoy. I am hoping Celebrity is a good match for us; the kids clubs on Disney were totally overwhelming when she was 5. Norwegian was OK but it was a little bit of pandemonium. Maybe a quieter atmosphere is fine for us, but older kids who seek a lot of activities could be bored.

OP, I wondered the same as we were on the Summit last month. To alleviate the boredom, we'll bring some games and our au pair is fantastic at improvisation! The ship does have a kids area although we didn't explore it as we didn't have them with us on that trip. We were too interested in breaking the bank with the premium beverage package.

Sailed X a few times, but my first cruise on X with my kids (ages 3.5 and 7) is in a couple of months.

 

We've taken them on Norwegian and Disney- honestly a lot of the activities I'm not sure they were old enough to fully enjoy. I am hoping Celebrity is a good match for us; the kids clubs on Disney were totally overwhelming when she was 5. Norwegian was OK but it was a little bit of pandemonium. Maybe a quieter atmosphere is fine for us, but older kids who seek a lot of activities could be bored.

 

The fun factory is great for kids that age - my 6 and 8 year olds love it. The kids get way more personalized attention and activities than on Disney. They will have a great time!

 

Mike

We are experienced cruisers and are thinking of trying Celebrity. Is this a good line to try with children ages 11 and 18? Thank you.

Our children prefer Celebrity over RCCL. We always give them a choice and it's always Celebrity. They are (now) 12 & 8, but our daughter has loved Celebrity since she was 3. We used to cruise RCCL a lot, so our daughter is Diamond/Elite on her own, but she always exclaims Celebrity when they're offered the choice.

 

Our son enjoys Celebrity because they have video game systems in the Kid's Club, as well as better food. [emoji14]

 

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Celebrity has always been my kids' favorite cruise line.

My children were 9 & 10 when we first cruised Celebrity and they absolutely LOVED it! There are not as many kids and visual things for the kids to do on this ship but the staff makes up for it tenfold! They have scavenger hunts and plays and activities galore that they personalize for the kids. We had the kids eat with us for dinner but they begged to stay at the kids club. They would dress for dinner and ask to go back as soon as they were done for movie night and pillow fights and more. I had heard it wasn't the best line for kids and was worried but mine are dying to cruise again soon!

My boys are 10,10,9 and have been on 14 cruises (NCL, Celebrity, Carnival, RC, MSC) and i can confidently say to this date Celebrity is their favorite choice! They love the kids club on celebrity!

It depends on the kids and the time of year. As one who went on Celebrity in the summer when I was around 13 with a brother who was 16 we had a great time. He did all the teen program stuff and while I had that option I tended to do more solo relaxation. If the kids are independent or don't require too much oversight to have a good time then they will be just fine. Also, as others have said, if you go during peak family times there will be plenty of other kids for them to get into trouble with.

Can someone tell me how the teen club works in port vs at sea... last time we cruised DD was 11 and part of the kids club... They wouldn't let them out of the kids club when we were in port for security reasons... now she's 13, and has aged into the teen version... if she doesn't want to do an excursion with us, will she be safe on board in the club? Any info will be helpful :) Thanks!!

Not sure about the 18 year old it depends on their likes. I personally have been sailing Celebrity since HS and there were always other teens on our cruises. My 11 year old loves Celebrity as does my 9 year old. We have been on two Celebrity cruises this year, but they have been on 7 Celebrity cruises. There were 500 kids on our April Equinox and 250 on our July British Isles cruise. They do scavenger hunts, various challenges (STEM related) like scavenger hunt for supplies then group egg drops, silent disco, pool olympics, karaoke, s’mores and games night, movies, a talent show, family bingo, x box, Gaga ball (and other games on the basketball courts), free arcade time, sushi demonstration, are just some of the activities they do with the 10-13 age group. All the cruises, except our British Isle cruise, have had 400-500 teen and younger kids on board. My kids always make a lot of friends and even meet up for activities outside the camp at sea (like dance classes on deck 3). They still keep in touch with many of the kids they met. My kids are not kids who just sit around. They have never been bored. They do spend time with us (they eat all three meals with us) and go on excursions and pool time. Then they supplement the above with the camp at sea activities. Expect they will want to go every evening after dinner for the main activities. The 2-5 block usually has some fun activities as well. They eat dinner with us in the MDR then when they finish they walk themselves up to the club and sign themselves in.

 

 

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Celebrity Silhouette was wonderful for this 18-moth-old.

 

Trying to distract people during the safety lecture.

 

My son went on the Celebrity Silhouette when he was an 18 year old college student. The sailing was early Jan right after the NYE cruise. There were not many other young adults his age onboard and overall, I did not see may young kids walking around.

 

There really isn’t much for an 18 year old to do on any ship. Most have little interest in organized activities, don’t want to hang around parents all day and are too young to enjoy a cocktail at a lounge or bar. IMO, 18 to 20 yrs old is an awkward age for cursing. My son was taking a winter class so he was content with doing his classwork and being on the ship.

 

Honestly, I think a Celebrity cruise is for relaxing. I have been on more than one Celebrity cruise and find entertainment and night time activity to be lacking. I would definitely cruise with Celebrity again when I want to do nothing more than relax. If I want any real stimulus, entertainment or night time activity during a cruise I will stick with Royal Caribbean.