Family Cruising...which is best?

[TwoWeebles]

For those of you who have cruised more than one line, which one had the BEST kids program. And which has the best kids pool / water fun area? My son will be 8 when we take our next cruise and I am trying to research. Thanks!

[boulders]

We've cruised Disney, RCCL and Carnival. I've got kids aged 5, 12 and 15.

 

The 5 and 12 year olds loved the Disney Med cruise last year for the kids club. They also had a nice splash area which the kids didn't use.

 

They also loved the RCCL Alaskan cruise for the pools (indoor pool). The kids club on RCCL is great too.

 

On Carnival, ds3 loved the kids club as did dd10. DS13 hated the Carnival video game room. The pool was not so great either.

[Kerry's Girls]

We've done Princess, Carnival and NCL. My girls loved the NCL ship the best for the water slide and kid program, but they have the time of their lives on any cruise we go on, so I choose based on what I want ;), plus cost and ports.

 

Best,

Mia

[Kerry's Girls]

 

The 5 and 12 year olds loved the Disney Med cruise last year for the kids club. They also had a nice splash area which the kids didn't use.

 

.

 

My girls are begging BEGGING for a Disney cruise. Did yours have time to enjoy the ship during the Med cruise? I hate to spend the extra money for Disney and then we're too tired from sightseeing to use all the facilities.

 

Thank you!

 

Best,

Mia

[cantw8togo]

We have been on five different cruiselines with our kids and our requirements have changed as our 2 DS's have gotten older. They are now 7 & 10 and have never been that interested in the Kids Clubs although when asked, they say their favourite was on HAL's Volendam. It wasn't fancy, but they said that the staff was really attentive. The heated pool was covered over when we were in Alaska and the kids enjoyed swimming daily.

 

RCI's Indy of the Seas had a nice pool area, but the water was uncomfortably cold. Our eldest enjoyed the rock climbing wall, flow rider and the skating rink and our youngest liked the sports deck and the ping pong. The kids were disappointed the couple of times that they did go to the kid's club because they didn't run the activity that was listed in the daily guide, and as well, they combined the age groups due to the number of kids on board and our eldest wasn't too happy having to hang out with kids that were 5yrs younger. The interior of the AO was the most uninspiring too.

 

Our kids were much younger when we went on Celebrity's Millenium. Our eldest was 4 at the time and he went to the kids club a couple of times. Visually, the space was the most appealing and engaging. One time we peered in to see if our son was happy and getting along and we found him, 3 other kids and the counselor up to their necks in the ball pit reading a story.

 

We were most recently on NCL's Epic. The water slides are a blast and our one son went on them daily. The rock climbing wall isn't as challenging as the one on RCI, but the other activities such as the epic bounce trampoline, the spider web climbing frame and rapelling wall made up for it. The kids signed up for the kids club but didn't end up going for more than 45 minutes. They did enjoy doing the family wii games on the 2 story screen, but it is only offered a couple of times. While the Epic scores highly for the active amenities, it wasn't our favourite ship due to the fact that there are few areas where you can see the ocean from a lower deck. There is a disconnect from the sea.

 

Hope this helps.