Lines with fewest children?

[Mom2B&Z]

This might seem like an odd question, but which lines have the fewest children with at least some bare-minimum children's services?

The background is that we live in a very small town and our kids are not used to large groups of children. So even though we enjoyed NCL in Jan/11 and are going again in Jan/12, we're technically travelling at an off-peak time, as most kids are back in school. Unfortunately this quirk in our school schedule is over as of next year. I really don't want to have 400-600 kids on the ship with us, as our boys will simply be overwhelmed with the crowds in the kids areas. Although they do enjoy the kids club, they are not there much. They don't need rock climbing walls, kids spash pads etc, our cruises are much more focused on spending time together as a family.

Pulling the kids out to cruise at a non-vacation time is not an option, as DH is a teacher. We're stuck with Christmas/New Years and March Break. My gut is telling me to switch our main vacation to the summer, and take everyone on an Alaskan cruise in 2014. Do the Alaskan cruises have as many children as other summertime cruises?

My main concern is that if we go on a less family-friendly line, people are going to sneer when we show up with our kids. If it makes a difference, they will be 8 and 5 or 9 and 6 when we cruise next.

This is going to determine if we buy a cruise credit on our next cruise ;)

TIA

[rebeccalouiseagain]

Christmas, Spring break and Summer are always going to draw the most children but to answer the question- the lines that I would choose from are Holland America, Celebrity, Princess or Cunard. Holland America would be my first choice because the ships are small compared to the megaships at sea. Cunard's QM2 is a large ship but has a small feel. The kids would love that ship. My favorite is Celebrity and the kids would not feel overwhelmed on that fleet. I think they have the best youth counselors at sea and it is a very nurturing environment. Princess is good but I've had some bad experiences with them and don't know if I'll sail them again- my son was hit and bitten by another child and they wanted us to be patient and understand. No- this does not happen on most ships and kids are forbidden from remaining in the youth program if they behave this way.

 

Also the itinerary is going to greatly impact the number of children. For example- my last three cruises were in Europe and because of the expense- there were fewer families with children. Alaskan cruises and New England cruises are going to attrack fewer families. Longer and more expensive cruises are also going to attract fewer families with children.

 

 

Carnival, Royal Caribbean, NCL and Disney are lines that I would probably steer clear of because they attract families with children.

[kabukijuul]

My kids were not wild about the Disney kids clubs because they didn't like being dropped off into a room of 100+ kids. They actually loved Holland America where they were one of 15 kids. My oldest (5 yrs old) viewed the counselor as his "girlfriend".

[alj1208]

We took our 4.5 year old DS on Celebrity's Eclipse. We chose Celebrity, in part, because our child doesn't do well in wild, crowded situations with too much stimulaton. There were enough kids so that he met a few little friends. But, the pools were not overcrowded (in fact the ship never felt crowded anywhere), and the kids club was excellent-- with lots of individual attention and a low counselor-to-child ratio.

 

The only negative is that the ship really is designed for grown-ups, and there were times when we felt like we were missing out on adult amenities such as trendy bars and specialty restaurants. We didn't want to put our son in the kids club late into the night, so that meant being back in the cabin early. Still, we had a wonderful time. Did we get any stares? Maybe a few, but most people were generally welcoming, and we did our best to make sure our son was behaved and not in situations where he would disturb anyone.

[klauer]

I think that it is pretty hard to predict what cruising will be like for you in 2014 -- your kids may enjoy being in big groups more, cruise lines may change ownership or go out of business, new ships may be built, your expectations may change, etc. I think advance planning is good, but three years down the road may be a little too much.

[Colorado Kat]

The Alaskan cruises should have fewer kids than a Caribbean cruise. I wouldn't worry about other people's opinions, as long as your kids are relatively well behaved.

 

The more expensive lines will tend to have fewer kids present.

[ladeeesquire]

we just sailed on celebrity millenium, it was a 10 day caribbean over spring break. There were only 40 kids on the whole ship and only 10 under the age of 5. We were told that the number was actually high due to the holiday. Our dd is 3 but we don't really use the kids club --she just isn't ready to be separated from us-- but we did visit for one activity on a sea day for a few hours and it was a nice environment. The counselors were super nice, the kids seemed to be having a good time and they had tons of things for them to do.

 

As far as other passengers and sneers, we experienced absolutely none of that. In fact, our dd was like a rock star on the ship. Everyone just adored her --almost too much sometimes lol! She is, for the most part, a very well behaved 3 yr old though. Let's face it, no one really likes hanging out with kids who don't behave.

[NJsharon]

We have travelled with Holland America Line in the past & they have very few kids on the ships. Especially if you go in off season.

[am2]

I completely understand why you asked this question. We went on a Disney cruise when our kids were 5 and 7 and they were completely overwhelmed by the kids club. They are very outgoing kids, but the sheer number of the kids in the club made them very uncomfortable. We loved the cruise, we did just fine keeping the kids with us, but we're considering taking an Alaskan cruise next summer and will choose a ship with less kids (looking at HAL, Celebrity, Princess).

[Scrapchick]

Definitely avoid RCL, Disney and Carnival and to a lesser extent Princess. All of them have larger numbers of kids than other lines. Part of it depends when you go... We just went on a Spring Break cruise on Celebrity and there were 40 kids on board. I think I was on the same cruise as the earlier poster. A lot of it is in the timing. I've been on cruises where there were 2 kids on board.

 

I do think the more upscale lines attract less families and those families who choose those lines do so for the same reasons as you. We want kids on board as playmates for our 9 year old, but I don't want 500 of them! Celebrity is a great alternative.

 

However, I do also agree with the earlier poster who said it is far too early to be concerned about this now. A lot can change in two years both in your life and in the cruising world..... I think you're looking too far ahead and wouldn't even be thinking about this until 2013.

[Mom2B&Z]

Looks like we'll be looking at Celebrity, HAL and Princess for our next cruise.

I do realize we have a lot of time to make up our minds, but will need at least a good hunch of what we plan on doing when on our next cruise so we're not tempted to buy more cruise credits than we can use ;) Plus when we can only take one big vacation a year, it's nice to dream a little!

[molly2kit]

On my very first cruise (Holland America Alaska) I remember being in the buffet and seeing the kids club come through - they looked so happy - it was early September - about 8 kids from 5 to 12 I guess - there was 1 leader then the kids trailing one at a time behind and another leader at the end - they all walked quietly through and then a short while later walked even more quietly back each of them with a custom ice cream cone!

 

Other than that I don't think I even noticed the kids on the ship.

 

In contrast, I took my 6 yr old grandaughter on a Norwegian cruise in the summer and it was total kid pandemonium - will not do that again.

 

Have a great time!

[rebeccalouiseagain]

I noticed on NCL and Royal that the vibe onboard is energetic and the kids really are hyper. The video arcade is a big draw and the music is very Caribbean, which is fine if you like a high energy cruise. I don't. I like a relaxing cruise. I don't want to be go-go-go. So this is important. If you are easily bored and need constant activities- bingo, trivia, pool games than you want NCL, Royal, Disney and Carnival. If you want a trip that is for the whole family- Holland, Celebrity and Princess are better.

[jac1976]

We did a transatlantic crossing on Cunard (Queen Mary 2) one week before DS' 2nd birthday. He was one of about 10 kids on board the ship. He loved going to see the nannies, and people (both people working on the ship as well as other passengers) doted on him and treated him like a prince. The ship was amazing. The one thing to note about Cunard though is that the atmosphere is much more formal in the evenings, but we like that, so it wasn't a problem for us.

[Mom2B&Z]

I noticed on NCL and Royal that the vibe onboard is energetic and the kids really are hyper. The video arcade is a big draw and the music is very Caribbean, which is fine if you like a high energy cruise. I don't. I like a relaxing cruise. I don't want to be go-go-go. So this is important. If you are easily bored and need constant activities- bingo, trivia, pool games than you want NCL, Royal, Disney and Carnival. If you want a trip that is for the whole family- Holland, Celebrity and Princess are better.

We definitely are a low-key kind of family. We ended up with NCL because the freestyle concept really appealed to us with a 3yo in tow. That being said, now that he's getting older it's less important to us and I can see us jumping lines. We never go to the activities, DS1 hates all the loud music by the pool and DS2 finds the hyper kids annoying ;)

Now to learn how to use the HAL, Celebrity and Princess websites lol!

[NYteacher]

We've been on several family cruises on both Carnival and NCL.

 

This February we took our son on HAL for the first time. Both DH and I have been on HAL before.

 

We had a great time. During President's week there were about 150 or so kids, if I remember correctly. There were enough to play with, and make friends, but not as many as could be overwhelming.

 

We loved it so much that we have TWO upcoming HAL cruises booked.

[LuckyandMurphy]

We just got off the Carnival Splendor. 3600 guests...1200 of them were 18 and under. OMG! To be fair, we should have been aware that it was spring break for LA unified, but can a cruise ship really accomodate 1200 kids and still make it a decent experience for everyone? The staff did a wonderful job with the hand they were dealt. But, Miami....come on! Even the adults only deck was constantly being rained on by stray golf balls from the mini golf course above the adults only deck. Here's the great part, they call it Serenity deck. There is obvious irony here. Thank God our cabin was near the end of the ship so that kids weren't running up and down the hall late at night. Great staff, great crew, not good demographics. We were on our 10th Carnival Cruise. Considering a more adult line. Any suggestions out there?

[Onessa]

look at itineraries on smaller ships - the RCCI Spendour for example. Has a kids club, has the rock climbing wall, has a sports court and very little else. The RCCI megaships with the big top attractions are going to be teeming with kids all the time. Low key atmosphere with the smaller ships.

[lucigo]

Our happy medium is Carnival during off-times. We went on the HAL Eurodam leaving on Halloween and my kids were so bored, even my son with autism got his point across that next time he wanted to go back on a carnival ship! Most of the time when I would take him to their camp it was just him and maybe one other child. My young teen was so disappointed when she would go and there would be no one there.

 

On the other end, we went on the Triumph in August, and there were so many kids that it was miserable.

[TheCalicoCat]

My gut is telling me to switch our main vacation to the summer' date=' and take everyone on an Alaskan cruise in 2014. Do the Alaskan cruises have as many children as other summertime cruises?

My main concern is that if we go on a less family-friendly line, people are going to sneer when we show up with our kids. If it makes a difference, they will be 8 and 5 or 9 and 6 when we cruise next.

[/quote']

 

Choose Alaska for the Destination & where the ship goes, not for the brand. (Choose to go to Glacier Bay if possible.)

 

I think that any line that allows you to book a child will be child friendly enough.

 

Alaska seems to be multi-generational, so grandparents down to kids are found on All of the ships. (& summer is a relatively easy vacation time for most travellers.)

 

Without worrying about the number of kids/kids club, we chose HAL Volendam for our crusie with our 3.5 year old, because it sails round trip out of Vancouver to the east of the island, goes to Tracy Arm & Glacier Bay, & is a relatively small ship. (Wednesday departure was a bonus!)