Is princess good for families?

Hey everyone! We have cruised many times but never with princess. We are a family of five, 3 school-age children. I’ve read a couple of reviews and it seems like princess might be popular among the 40+ crowd. Nothing wrong with that, I just rather sale with mor than a handful of other families. I’ve read a couple of reviews and it seems like princess might be popular among the 40+ crowd. Their reviews I read were during the school year though. We will be cruising over the summer, so I’m wondering if there might be more families. Or would we be better off considering a different line?

if it matters, we are looking at booking the royal princess Western Caribbean end of July.

Absolutely! We have cruised with my daughter since she was 5. Awesome kids program and it runs in and out of school time. She’s always treated like the princess she is. Read up on their programs on the website.

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In the summer months there will be LOTS of families with school aged children on Princess. :)

Hey everyone! We have cruised many times but never with princess. We are a family of five, 3 school-age children. I’ve read a couple of reviews and it seems like princess might be popular among the 40+ crowd. Nothing wrong with that, I just rather sale with mor than a handful of other families. I’ve read a couple of reviews and it seems like princess might be popular among the 40+ crowd. Their reviews I read were during the school year though. We will be cruising over the summer, so I’m wondering if there might be more families. Or would we be better off considering a different line?

 

if it matters, we are looking at booking the royal princess Western Caribbean end of July.

The Royal Princess is not scheduled to cruise in the Caribbean in July of this year or 2019. It will be in Europe during the summer of 2018 and in Alaska the summer of 2019.

Princess was the first "family" vacation cruise our family did back in 2005 with grandma and our twin sons who were ten years old at the time. We put nana and the boys in an interior cabin across from our balcony on the Diamond to Mexico. We had been researching Hawaii for our vacation at the time, but after seeing what airfare for us all just to get us there and back, we saw cruising was much more affordable and no airports involved right out of our backyard in Long Beach, Calif. Everyone had a great time, we gave our boys a set of walkie talkies and they either ran amuck on their own or were in the kids program. We felt they were safe, everyone could do what they wanted, meals were together. We've been cruising ever since and highly recommend it as a great affordable way to vacation as a family. Unpack once and all ages can do their own thing.

With a family of 5 you will need 2 cabins since none* of the ships have cabins sleeping more than 4 passengers.

*Some, but not all, do have a couple of multi-room family suites. You need to contact Princess for fare information. https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/ships/products/staterooms/family-suite.html

We are over 40, but we have a 7 yo kiddo. He doesn't like the kid's program (not because the program is bad - it's actually wonderful), so he tags along to everything we do (happy hour, bingo, culinary presentations, etc.).

If you want more child friendly activities - Royal Caribbean has a ton of stuff to do (skating rinks, rock climbing wall, water parks, etc. Princess ships in general do not have much for kids. If your kids are fine with staying in the kid's club all day, like our friends' kids who absolutely love it, then you'll be fine with Princess. If you want more family activities, perhaps, Carnival or RCCL would be better.

Food is better on Princess, especially Royal and Regal. :) I know it's subjective.

Oh, the free on demand movie selection on Royal and Regal is fantastic and incomparable. My boys just love it.

P.S. We always go during school breaks (but not summer) and there are soooo many families cruising, that in April 2016 we couldn't go with our friends because Princess didn't accept any more kids in the 4-8 yo category.

School is out in the US , lots of families cruising Princess wherever .

Royal Princess is not in the Caribbean in July 2018 . You are probably looking

for the Caribbean Princess Western Caribbean ?

However no Princess ship is like those RCI giant Amusement

Park style ships that cruise the Caribbean year round if that is important with kids?

However no Princess ship is like those RCI giant Amusement

Park style ships that cruise the Caribbean year round if that is important with kids?

 

if it matters, we are looking at booking the royal princess Western Caribbean end of July.

As stated only the Caribbean Princess will be in the Caribbean in July 2018 and July 2019. After the July 20, 2019 she heads north for a Canada, New England, Greenland season. All other Princess ships are elsewhere.

We were on the Caribbean Princess in January. It is a nice ship for youth with a nice youth center and lots of no charge food venues. There are also 5 pools. The Two lido deck pools and the Pirate's View family pool, hot tub and splash pool on deck 17 aft. All children must be toilet trained to use any pool. No swim diapers. Unlike some other cruise lines The buffet is open continuously from 6am until late evening. It never closes during that time. I never experienced a wait more than a few minutes at any of these venues. The buffet has a selection of youth friendly items. The grill, pizza & soft ice cream locations by the main pool are open 11am to late evening every day. The International Cafe is open 24/7. There is no charge for food at these locations.* Youth can go any time.

*The Enersto Burger, large & tall, has a $5 charge. Other burgers are no charge. There is a charge for milkshakes and malts at Coffee & Cones.

With 5 people you will have to book two cabins. Some cabins have an interior connecting door. You can see these cabins by going on the Princess web site, select deck plans and then check the box for connecting cabins. The only other option is the family suite, if available, with full suite benefits.

We were on the Caribbean Princess in January. It is a nice ship for youth with a nice youth center

We've been sailing Princess since our kids were little and they love Princess. Granted, they have only cruised Princess and Disney and as parents I don't want to pay Disney prices so they are exclusive Princess kids now. The kids clubs do a fabulous job with the kids. Summer and holiday cruises have more kids on them because that's when kids are out of school. I have not done a summer Caribbean cruise, but suspect there will be many families.

Have a fun cruise!

We were on the Regal over spring break this year, with our daughter and granddaughter ( 10 years old). We have always sailed during January with Princess, so we were use to older crowds. Over spring break there were 700 children on board. Our granddaughter had a blast....went to the kids club and met kids her age and they would spend the afternoon swimming on the ship and just hanging out together,if they weren't at the kids club. There was never any problems with children on the ship, at the pools or any areas. She loved it and met others from all over the US, Canada, and England. We had a great cruise also!! Enjoy your cruise!!

Yes - my son and I have been cruising for about 5 years. He's 12 now. He loves the kids clubs on Princess, Movies under the Stars and the cookies. We've been on a few Royal Caribbean too and he likes their kids clubs slightly more as they do more sports activities, but prefers Princess (I think it's the cookies and chocolate on the pillow actually!)

So yes, I am sure your family will enjoy it.

With a family of 5 you will need 2 cabins since none* of the ships have cabins sleeping more than 4 passengers.

 

*Some, but not all, do have a couple of multi-room family suites. You need to contact Princess for fare information. https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/ships/products/staterooms/family-suite.html

There are also some adjacent rooms with a doorway in between. Usually a mini with a balcony room. I have seen them on the deck layouts, but could not tell you where they are nor which ships.

As for the program, our son loved it. As an option, when you sign up the children, you can let them to sign in/out themselves. When our son was young, we did both. As he got older, we would let him sign himself in, but not out. Later on, we gave him the opportunity to sign himself out with conditions of checking in with the room and leaving a note.

Programs are age appropriate. They are also flexible in you can place a child just under an age limit with an older sibling most times.

When searching deck plans, check the box for connecting rooms. This lets you see all the connected rooms on each deck. It can be found just above the categories list on the individual deck layout page.

People worry about how many kids are on board, but in reality your kid can't play with 700 kids at once. Sure, there are some group activities where the optimal number may be 20, but most of the time your child can only interact with a few others at any given time.

Princess programs are a lot more calm and organized than Disney. Disney has a huge, very attractive space for various ages, and they do have scheduled activities. BUT if your child is playing on the computers, no one will ask him or her if they want to do a particular activity. No one will make suggestions as to what they might want to do. If they aren't a bit self motivated, they can be left out. Princess, on the other hand, will track them not only when they enter the area, but throughout the time they are there, actively engaging them in the fun. And that may well be a function of whether there are 200 kids or 20 kids in the space at a given time.

If you are cruising during a traditional school vacation time, you'll have plenty of kids.

People worry about how many kids are on board' date=' but in reality your kid can't play with 700 kids at once. Sure, there are some group activities where the optimal number may be 20, but most of the time your child can only interact with a few others at any given time.

 

Princess programs are a lot more calm and organized than Disney. Disney has a huge, very attractive space for various ages, and they do have scheduled activities. BUT if your child is playing on the computers, no one will ask him or her if they want to do a particular activity. No one will make suggestions as to what they might want to do. If they aren't a bit self motivated, they can be left out. Princess, on the other hand, will track them not only when they enter the area, but throughout the time they are there, actively engaging them in the fun. And that may well be a function of whether there are 200 kids or 20 kids in the space at a given time.

 

If you are cruising during a traditional school vacation time, you'll have plenty of kids.[/quote']

You may find there are children on almost every cruise. In 2009 on a 30 night Sidney to LA during the school year (October/November) there were at least 5 kids on board. On a Panama Canal cruise in November our son had several kids he was playing with.

 

As an option, when you sign up the children, you can let them to sign in/out themselves.

Not the youngest group which includes up to age 7.

In 2002 on the Star Princess there were hundreds of kids on board during spring break. My daughter was one of them. She loved the Children’s Club. 7 day cruise to Mexico.

Spring and summer are definitely full of families with children . Now that ours are grown, my husband and I can sail off season so we don’t always see as many kids. Also depends on the itinerary.

Hey everyone! We have cruised many times but never with princess. We are a family of five, 3 school-age children. I’ve read a couple of reviews and it seems like princess might be popular among the 40+ crowd. Nothing wrong with that, I just rather sale with mor than a handful of other families. I’ve read a couple of reviews and it seems like princess might be popular among the 40+ crowd. Their reviews I read were during the school year though. We will be cruising over the summer, so I’m wondering if there might be more families. Or would we be better off considering a different line?

 

if it matters, we are looking at booking the royal princess Western Caribbean end of July.

Not the youngest group which includes up to age 7.

I thought that was obvious, but yes, younger groups can not sign in or out. OP indicated they had 3 at school age so some might be old enough to be trusted.