Looking for advice for a good family friendly cruise ship

[BCV23]

We have done the Disney Magic 7 day Eastern and Disney Wonder 4 day cruise. We love Disney Cruise Line and are thinking about booking the Dream for this next Feb-March. I just would really love to do a 5-7 day cruise so I am also looking at Royal Caribbean. Any thoughts or suggestions? The new ship with Royal Caribbean looks great but is very expensive when I did a quote. Thanks for any advice.

[boulders]

Have a look at RCCL's Freedom/Liberty/Independence of the Seas. They were the previous generation of megaships before Oasis. Even the generation before those - Voyager, Navigator, Mariner, Adventure of the Seas would have plenty of things to do. (I'm sure I've forgotten one ship in the Voyager series).

[seriously_subdued]

I have been on both RCI Independence of the Seas and on the Carnival Dream. It would help me if you give the ages of your kids.

[BCV23]

My girls are ages 5 and 9. Thanks for any advice.

[crusinmama06]

My girls are ages 5 and 9. Thanks for any advice.

 

You don't have to do the newest ship out. Check out the Freedom of the Seas or the Liberty of the Seas (Royal Caribbean) -- we were just discussing it (with pictures) here...

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1176678

 

My kids are the same age as yours. :)

[BCV23]

Thanks everyone! I am also looking at the Carival Dream. It looks great too and the same price as the Freedom Class.

[crusinmama06]

I think we said we would pay $500 more for Freedom, if the prices were the same -- there is no doubt what the choice would be. :D

 

This was just posted on the Carnival board last night about Dream.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1179574

[jmom5]

If the Carnival Dream and any of the Freedom class are even close in price, I wouldn't even think twice about choosing the Freedom class.

IMO even if it wasn't close in price, I wouldn't think twice about it, but like I said, this is my opinion after sailing Carnival in September.

[BCV23]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I have been spending my morning trying to read reviews etc. We will also have a 16 year old boy and a 10 year old boy with us in another cabin with their parents. The kids all LOVE waterslides. I do see one on the Carnival Cruise but not on the Royal ship. Actually since we cruise in February, my kids spend a lot of their time swimming. They did not like the Disney clubs at all so the pool area is very important.

 

A few other questions:

 

Is soda and ice cream free on both cruise lines? Loved having this at Disney. My girls could get whatever they wanted without a charge?

 

Also.....dining rotation. Do either of a more relaxed dining plan? Something where you can dine when you want instead of a planned time. This is one thing about cruising that I am not fond of. Last Feb on the Wonder we went to dinner on one night because we were so busy doing other things.

 

Private islands. Does either cruiseline have a private island like Castaway Cay. We absolutely LOVE that place!

 

We loved our Disney Cruises. We are Disney Vacation Club Members. We are always treated so well and I will pay for better service. Carnival just does not seem to have that great of a reputation.

 

Anyway...thanks again for everything. I will let you all know what we decide!

[cb at sea]

Soda isn't include on either Carnival or RCI, but you can purchase a soda card, for unlimited fountain soda, or you can bring your own...or, buy it by the can...your choice. There is lemonade, tea and water that is included. Icecream is on the dessert menu, and RCI has soft-serve somewhere on the ship.

Both lines now have some form of "anytime" dining,: on RCI, you have to pre-pay your tips when you book that option.

Both lines have private islands....depending on the itinerary will determine if you go there!

I have to say, Disney really KNOWS how to entertain, but you won't have a bad vacation on either Carnival or RCI!

[crusinmama06]

As CB said, neither RCI or Carnival have free soda available but both have free drinks like lemonade, iced tea, milk, fruit punch and juices available. Or you can just get the soda card.

 

Free soft serve ice cream is available on both Carnival and Royal Caribbean.

 

Royal Caribbean has the pay option available (Ben & Jerrys). But yes, the free soft serve is also available.

 

Carnival has the water slides. Royal Caribbean has the FlowRider which is the SURF Simulator.

 

Either way, the kids won't be bored.

[imsulin]

Soda is not included on either Carnival or RCI, but "regular' (not specialty) ice cream is. No dining rotation as on Disney. You are assigned to the same table in the Main Dining Room each night. Carnival will definitely be cheaper! Childrens' programs seem to be comparable. All Carnival ships have water slides. RCI (depending on the class of ship) has the ice skating and wave-runner, but I think all classes have the rock-climbing wall. I think it really depends on what everyone wants to do. When my kids were older teens/young adults, they spent every sea day on those slides on our Carnival cruise. (I stood in line behind them). On our RCI Jewel cruise years later (which we LOVED), none of us were into ice skating or rock-climbing, but we were not kids, either. Both lines offer great "fun" things. Do a lot of research, and have fun planning!

[ljtee]

Hi there,

You might want to check out NCL. They have waterslides/rockclimbing/bowling and flexible dining and we find they have good itineraries. We like the size of the mini-suite cabin (we have 2 boys 4 and 7 years) and the restaurant choices (something different each night).

 

We'd like to try RCI sometime too and hear its great... just have found the price/itinerary available at NCL to be too good to pass up.

[UKBayern]

You are assigned to the same table in the Main Dining Room each night.

 

No you are not! On RCCL you can opt for My Time Dining. Other cruiselines call it Any Time, At Leisure, Freestyle, Your Time or whatever, but almost everybody offers it now.

[BCV23]

Hi there,

You might want to check out NCL. They have waterslides/rockclimbing/bowling and flexible dining and we find they have good itineraries. We like the size of the mini-suite cabin (we have 2 boys 4 and 7 years) and the restaurant choices (something different each night).

 

We'd like to try RCI sometime too and hear its great... just have found the price/itinerary available at NCL to be too good to pass up.

 

 

Thanks for the info. I have been looking at the new Epic also! This is a very hard decision.