depart ny with 6 and 2 yo

[annabug]

hey all!! this is my first post, and i a pretty darn excited to be planning a cruise for my family of 4. (me, DH, DD6, DS2)

my DH and i have cruised on RCCL and celebrity

i have read quite a few posts, and i feel like i am trying to put a puzzle together while i am trying to meet all of my criteria!!

i am hoping your advice/experiencewill help me out!

here is what i am thinking/looking for....

 

(aside from the fact that i am a little apprehensive about cruising with a very active 2 yo boy....still, i think it will be fun!)

 

depart NY/NJ (would love to avoid a flight)

family friendly ship, with baby pool for the non-trained little boy! great kids club, although not sure how much will use it..

good food

nice spa

would like bahamas, florida, bermuda (dont want to navigate a lot of ports)

late June departure (probably not the best time to go, but school is dictating the date)

5 nights

i would like to consider RCCL, Norwegian, Celebrity

what do you think?? opinions??

thanks so much in advance for your replies!!

annabug:)

[Colorado Kat]

Look into Carnival - I know they cruise out of NY area. That would be a big savings right there.

 

Most lines will not let a non-toilet trained child in the pools, but there are a few that have "baby splash zone" areas for kids not trained yet.

[jerin]

Ditto, given your criteria, Carnival is probably going to come a lot closer to your criteria than certainly RCCL or Celebrity. Norwegian and Carnival are the only lines that I know of that have kids programs (other than playtime with parents present for an hours or so) for a 2 year old.

 

The only ships that I know for sure have pools for diapered children are Disney and Royal Caribbean's Freedom and Oasis classes, neither class sails out of NY/NJ on a regular basis (no sailings of those classes are scheduled anywhere near your timeframe). The Oasis class is strictly out of Florida, as is Freedom, and the other Freedom class ships will be in Europe next summer. Celebrity has the 3 year old minimum for their children's programs as well, and no health department-approved pool for diapered children. I have heard rumors of Norwegian Epic having a filtered kids' pool, but it's in Spain this summer as well. I had also heard of Carnival retrofitting some of their kid pool filters, but no confirmation of actual completion or what ships. They do tend to have more sailings out of New York, though, so it would be worth looking into.