Southern Caribbean

[lowfamily]

:p We're thinking of taking a Southern Caribbean cruise in March 2010. Our kids will be 10 and 12 and they love to cruise! It seems as if the Southern Caribbean itinerary tend to be the smaller ships which perhaps have less activities for the kids. Does anyone have any good recommendations for a Southern itinerary with kids?

[sunquest76]

We're going on NCL Dawn in January 2010 on a Southern Carribean route. The ship is plenty big. Check it out.

[cb at sea]

Even the so-called "smaller" ships are huge...there's plenty to do, and they'll most likely spend most of their time at the pool, arcade or sports deck.

[2112]

There are plenty of big ships doing the Southern Caribbean, including RCCL's Adventure of the Seas, Carnival Victory and RCCL Serenade of the Seas. But really, the Southern Caribbean cruises are more port intensive, so you will have less time on the ship anyway. That and just about any of the Southern Islands will have something that your children will enjoy. I would pick a cruise based on what islands you are interested in and what your budget is. If you are really concerned about the size of the ship, then you can always go with the Adventure of the Seas.

[lowfamily]

Thanks for the information, it really does help. I like HAL's southern itinerary the best. However, the ship doesn't look as exiting as the RCCL Adventure of the Seas. I'm concerned that Holland also draws more of an older crowd than the RCCL. Would this be true? I'm thinking the RCCL Adventure would maybe be a better choice for the kids. We've been on the RCCL Freedom and the kids loved the kids club, the mini golf and the skating. The Adventure is missing the H20 zone unfortunately. The quote I got for the Princess southern cruise came in quite a bit higher than HAL or RCCL which is too bad because I liked the look of both the ports and the ship.

 

For the parents, it's all about the ports.......for the kids it's all about the ship. They prefer to stay not to spend much time on the islands.

[epixx]

We sailed Southern Caribbean twice, once on AOS and once on Carnival Victory. I would recommend either one. Our kids were 13 and 9 on AOS and 14 and 10 on Victory. In contrast to yours, our kids love being in port, and we preferred the Victory itinerary because we were in port every day. Favorite port stops were Dominica (river tubing/Emerald Falls with Antours), St. Lucia (island tour/snorkeling near Pitons with Cosol), and St. Maarten (zip lining). If you kids would rather stay on the ship, I recommend AOS, due to greater number of ship facilities.

[patseacruiser]

I did AOS to the southern caribbean and absolutely loved it. At first I thought maybe something like 9 ports in 11 days is a bit much and that I'd need a vacation from my vacation but absolutely loved the southern caribbean.

[sandytoes03]

We did Adventure of the Seas in the Southern Caribbean and it isn't a small ship at all! Other than Alaska, this was still our favorite cruise. The ports were beautiful and I would do it again in a heartbeat! Have fun planning the cruise!