Best Line for Babies

[Clt9488]

My family is considering doing a cruise that would include my sisters two children who would be 27mos and 14mos at time of sailing. I am an experienced cruiser but have never tried any lines other than Carnival and do not have any children.

 

I am trying to figure out which lines are best for small children in terms of cost. I do not think my sister will take advantage of any of the children's programs so I am not concerned about that.

 

I looked into Carnival and it appears that regardless of age the cost is still the same for 3rd and 4th passengers. I believe other lines might discount cost based on age but might be more expensive overall. I am looking for the best deal for everyone involved!

 

Any help or insight would be great! :D

[schmeed]

The new Royal Caribbean ships (Oasis & Allure) have baby nurseries now. It's the Babies & Tots Nursery.

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/experience/html.do;jsessionid=0000bY5Q7HvLqliakX4vGmHuKWm:13hldil87?exCode=614

 

They are also adding them to their Freedom line of ships, starting with the Freedom of the Seas in March 2011.

 

You might want to ask about the quality of the Babies & Tots Nursery on Oasis over at the Oasis forum:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=554

[schmeed]

Sorry, I just realized your question was about cost of the children. I do believe Carnival has the lowest costs (typically) for 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc. person.

 

I believe most cruise lines do NOT discount the fare for young children. They are still taking up a spot on the ship and consuming food.

 

Also, the cost for additional people is definitely less on the shorter cruises.

[kitty9]

NCL usually has a policy that those under age 2 only pay port taxes for the cruise. You might want to check into that line.

[AJI2596]

I checked them out (I did not check NCL because we would not sail with them) and Carnival was the cheapest. I was quoted $450 for the 3rd & 4th Guest. It doesn't matter if the 3rd person, etc is 1 week or 100.

[6rugrats]

You will have to look around. On some HAL sailings, the third and fourth passengers are $99 + tax.

[iamaqt2]

I would definitely take a look at Holland America. We just sailed on them to Alaska. They were running a special 3rd and 4th free, just paid the port taxes and fees.

 

I've noticed that they have many many sailings they are offering this special on.

[guk]

RCI do offers where kids sail for £199 on specific cruises we've just booked with them on the independence fro next march. just over £2000 for the 4 of us on an 11 night cruise, thats with a 4 year old and a 6 mth old

[jtm22372]

when we did ccl they gave us discounted rate for dd because she was under to think we paid like 99 dollars for her

[borg1of2]

I didn't see a mention toward Disney. Whil a more expensive cruise they do have diiferent rates for different age kids. They also have infant care as mentioned above on RCCL Oasis. To me that's more important to have available. IMHO

 

Scott