what ship with 11 yr old twins?

[nxtdoor]

We are a family of 4 with 11 yr old twins.

looking at end of June 1st wk in July

a great kids program is important

hope to leave out of Florida?

 

please point me in the right direction for a ship to start researching.

 

we do not want a party ship don't know how long we want to cruise maybe 4 nights? thanks

[boulders]

All of the ships that have great kids programs will have some elements of "party" to them, ie adult programs. The 4 night cruise is more likely to have a party atmosphere than a 7 night cruise on any line. Where do you want to cruise to? What amenities on the ship are you looking for? Consider your budget. The cruise lines that I would recommend with kids are (in no particular order) Disney, Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Princess.

 

Although there are a lot of ships with great kids programs, I wouldn't base your decision on finding the "best" one. You can find threads about the "best" experience people had on each cruise line with the kids club. You can also find threads about the "worst" experience people had on each line with the kids club.

[A&Jfamily]

I would start with Carnival and RCI (though I am not a fan of RCI and personally don't think the food or the service is as good - and you can't usually can't beat Carnival's prices). My friends that went on a Disney cruise said it was great for younger kids, but nothing for adults or older kids. All the shows are Disney and the streets roll up by 8 or 9 pm

[ocdcruisenut]

I've sailed Carnival, Disney and Royal Caribbean. My vote for kids your age is Royal Caribbean for several reasons. The first being the age of your kids and the amenities on board a Voyager Class ship or higher. These include Rock Wall, mini-golf, ice and inline skating. Adventure Ocean is popular and has flexible activities for 9-11 yr olds. It is mid-priced. Disney is like no other cruise I've been on (amazing) but it is VERY expensive but the cabins are bigger and the food a little better. Carnival is much cheaper but I was not impressed with embarkation, the ship, cabin or the food. Just MHO. Although, the spiral waterslide was very popular with kids in your age group. Other things to consider are the itinerary and the class of ship. If you want to site see or are into excursions, that may impact your decision. The newer ships on RCC and Carnival have more activities ( I still think RCC is better) but will cost you more. Whatever you choose, you will still have fun. :D

[CanadianTwosome]

Cruiselines have more in common than not, and all of them now include facilities and programs geared towards family and kids. Our personal preference is NCL. Our daughter loves their kids' programs and facilities, and we love the freedom to choose when, where and with whom we eat.

 

That being said, I really think your best bet is to compare the all the itineraries and pricing out of Florida ports and see which one fits your needs/desires the best. I always do my preliminary research using an online site that shows all of the cruises available out of a certain port or ports during a specific set of dates that works for us. For every itinerary, I then do a separate search for the individual ships, including coming here and reading reviews.

 

Keep in mind that the opinions of others are valuable, but none of us are you. Spend a little time seeing what's out there in terms of ports, ship amenities and activities, and pricing, and then when you read opinions, you'll know more about what you really want to know about. Besides, the research is fun! I love finding some really cool amenity - like the rappelling feature on the Epic - and showing it to my daughter. Have fun and make a family activity out of the decision. :)