is NCL Star or Carnival Spirit better for a 4 y.o?

[Alaskabound2011]

I am trying to decide between an Alaska cruise on NCL's Star or Carnival's Spirit. Which one has a better kids programs and family activities?

I think it would be nice to take my (by the time of sailing) 4 year old to the kids club a few evenings when my husband and I want to go out to the bars or dancing, so a program with evening hours would be great. Also, if we just wanted to stop for a drink in the bar would my son be allowed inside? Which ship has more family-friendly activities onboard? Thanks for any information you can give to help us make our decision!

[cb at sea]

At 4 years old, either ship will have facilities for the child...so it's up to what YOU want, as adults! You can take your child into almost any bar on any cruiseline.....although, in most, kids will be bored, if you plan on staying for any length of time!

[barthop]

We did receive better attention and service on the NCL than Carnival...but they not always match our budget ;)

[cinanina]

Hi,

 

I know some people don't like others to give opinions but nonetheless, here is my opinion: we hated NCL on all aspects, only thing I liked was the itinerary and the balcony/cabin. However, service, food, pool area and kids club was totally unbareble, I wouldn't go again. Too crowded, staff unattentive, queues for everything, total chaos in all ports (and we had been in eg in Rome with another cruiseline and none of this happenned). I totally hatted the "happy happy, washy washy" greeting all the time, it was dreadfull. It is clean and unexpensive, but I wouldn't choose NCL again. My son never wanted to go to kids club, kids food was bad, and waiting in lines at ports with small children at the sun (or imagine at the cold, wind, rain, whatever) is disrespectfull. Other cruiselines are a lot more attentive to details, perhaps also more expensive... but just my experience.

[Mom2B&Z]

this year on the Sun in the Carribean. The main pool area was often crowded (the ship was over 100% capacity) but the kids pool was always quiet. The kids club was simple, but my 5yo begged to go...the staff were wonderful. Mind you, there were only 29 kids on the cruise in his age group. We never waited in line (ok, once at the main dining room at 7pm, we deserved that one), the kids didn't eat off the kids menu because they ordered off the main menu (eating salmon, chilled strawberry soup and the likes lol!) and personally I appreciated the effort they made making hand washing easily accessible and fun. Most of the crew knew our two boys (5 and 3 yrs) by name after a few days, which I really appreciated. We liked NCL so much we're booked on the Star for next January.

This being said, we're from a small town outside a larger urban centre, so my kids are used to quiet. For that reason, the Sun fit the bill perfectly.

 

 

Hi,

 

I know some people don't like others to give opinions but nonetheless, here is my opinion: we hated NCL on all aspects, only thing I liked was the itinerary and the balcony/cabin. However, service, food, pool area and kids club was totally unbareble, I wouldn't go again. Too crowded, staff unattentive, queues for everything, total chaos in all ports (and we had been in eg in Rome with another cruiseline and none of this happenned). I totally hatted the "happy happy, washy washy" greeting all the time, it was dreadfull. It is clean and unexpensive, but I wouldn't choose NCL again. My son never wanted to go to kids club, kids food was bad, and waiting in lines at ports with small children at the sun (or imagine at the cold, wind, rain, whatever) is disrespectfull. Other cruiselines are a lot more attentive to details, perhaps also more expensive... but just my experience.

[newmexicoNita]

Everyone has his/her own opinion but to hear someone mention how bad the kids program is or was is a total shock as NCL gets outstanding reviews for the kids program if nothing else. I have no idea what type of a child cininima has or what activities he likes, but this is not typical. As for which is better, Carnival or NCL? Probable a toss up. NCL has kids hours until 10:30pm, then there is an extra charge. Yes, you can usually take kids to a bar, how do you keep them happy? that is something for you to decide, but most ships do not have retrictions on children in the bar. The casino is a different story. NCL is very strict about that.

 

i would add only one thing, NCL has been doing Alaska a little longer than Carnival so they have it down a little better. I do not think of Carnival when I think Alaska. The positive thing about Carnival: the cabins are larger. If I were making a decision, I would probably say, NCL.

 

Nita

[cinanina]

Well, we took a med cruise so maybe it's different from american cruises - the itinerary was fabulous but other than that it was horrendous.

Buffet: no tables, took nearly 15/20 minutes with the kids, walking around and around and around every meal, because we could never find a table. Then to get a drink or a desert you would have to go back an enormous distance to be waiting in line again because trays are not allowed in these ships. There was a kids buffet which seemed a nice idea but the food was extra bad there with nothing but hotdogs and sometimes not even one desert or juice, so we would have to pick the food from the other end of the buffet with people crowding by on the way with their foods piled up... everyone doing trips back and forth two or three times in each meal because of the no tays thing - just creates a sense of chaos and stress all the time during meal time :( Tried a couple of times to go to the restaurants but usually they wouldn't have space, so we would have to wait in line for like 45 minutes (reservations not allowd) which isn't pleasant in any case but with children it was dreadfull. Plus the staff at the entrance of the restaurants was ultra-rude, trying to push people back to the buffets. Inside the "luxury" lobster restaurants waiters will serve you on t-shirts, trying to hurry you up and really unprepared to serve at table (like leaning on you to serve the other person on the other side of the table passing the dish on top of your head just because they are lazy to go arround the table).

 

Now, about the kids club, my son actually loves all types of activies and generally begs to go to any place with children around... we went with celebrity cruises once and sometimes it was even a bit annoying because it seemed like he preferred to be in the kids club and was all the time asking to go there, rather then stay a bit with us, I almost had to insist with him so he would give us a bit of attention ;)

 

Anyway, in NCL he wouldn't want to go, there were lots and lots and lots of kids around, activities were never really interesting to him, the staff seemed soooooooooooo bored to be there and kind of looking at parents with a blaming eye (kind of "oh you're leaving your kid here again? ok"). We gave a try sometimes but he really wouldn't want to stay and when we arrived he was usually just drawing with other kids or sitting looking a bit bored. In Celebrity cruises he had a blast, wanted to do everything from karaoke to sports, they had all kinds of different activities and he was really really enjoying it sooo much.

I think the biggest difference in terms of kids club is really the lack of interest the staff showed on NCL, acting bored and kind of annoyed to be there while the staff at Celebrity cruises allways looked happy to see us and were allways engaged in some "really exciting" adventure. I truly desliked NCL.

 

And another thing: I'm also really really ok with washing my hands all the time, perfect! But what's the idea with greeting people with "happy happy" "washy washy" allllllllllllllllllllllllll the time from breakfast to port in and out - it's totally annoying: why do they do such an irritating greeting?

Well: "happy happy washy washy" to you to (just remembering about this trip irritates me)

 

[On the other hand, waking up arriving at Malta must have been one of the most magic beautifull poetic moments of my entire life, totally outsanding]

[cinanina]

And another one: the crew members from the cabin areas would just enter our cabin without knocking and even though I persistently asked him not to do that he just totally ignored my demand and just came in whenever he felt like without even knocking the door. Gladly we were always dressed and he never really bothered us that much but when I asked him to and he later came back he even kind of laughed at me kind of like "I'll do what I want, you don't boss me and I have the key I can come in your cabin whenever I want to". We were on holidays and I didn't bother to complain, because as I said we were usually just looking after the baby at nap time or reading by the balcony... He never said a word, not even I'm sorry just opened up the door on our last day and said "get out" or something of the type. Again, we were just annoyed but didn't really give him any particular attention. And I did pay gratuities at the end of the trip all the same. It wasn't like I had a problem with him, it's just that they are rude and probably don't even speak english so don't even understand you or reply.

 

This is just one minour example of how dreadfull it can be, just try any other cruiseline. Plus, the ships are nice and confortable but there isn't really much public spaces except for shops, casinos, art galleries or bars where you have to pay so definitly you have to get a balcony because otherwise there's no place to be (almost no open decks, and all crowded of course).

[azlefty]

In our experience Carnival does a better job w/kids club than NCL, especially if you want to stay out late. We went on the star when our daughter was 3 1/2 and we would go to a late evening show and pick her up and she was often the only kid still there. On Carnival (when she was 2) there were still lots of kids there. That said, she seemed to like both of them just fine and would be happy to go on the Star again. Also the late night entertainment for you will be better on Carnival, with the one exception that NCL has Second City.

 

Late night babysitting, entertainment for the grownups, and your room all within stumbling distance of one another is the BEST thing about cruising in my opinion. You can have a night out every day of the week if you want to.