Best young family cruise? Med Summer 2012

[Famous5]

Hi All, I am new here and new to cruising. Just got this idea into my head about taking our family of 5 including three kids of 6, 5, and 2 on a med cruise May, June or July 2012 maybe on something like Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas. Granny might also come with us making a family group of 6. We live near to Southampton but Fly cruising is ok with us.

 

Before I go ahead is there any alternatives I should look at?

 

We want stuff for the kids to do, so swimming pools, entertainment, kids clubs etc will be important. Do many ships have covered pool areas for days when weather is not so good and does Liberty of the seas have water slides and tubes etc?

 

Thanks in advance for any help.

[boulders]

Hi All, I am new here and new to cruising. Just got this idea into my head about taking our family of 5 including three kids of 6, 5, and 2 on a med cruise May, June or July 2012 maybe on something like Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas. Granny might also come with us making a family group of 6. We live near to Southampton but Fly cruising is ok with us.

 

Before I go ahead is there any alternatives I should look at?

 

We want stuff for the kids to do, so swimming pools, entertainment, kids clubs etc will be important. Do many ships have covered pool areas for days when weather is not so good and does Liberty of the seas have water slides and tubes etc?

 

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

My first inclination would be to recommend Independence of the Seas which sails out of Southampton on 14 night cruises to the Med. It's the same class as Liberty. However, the pricing for Independence in July is insane. Liberty is about 50% of the cost, but for 50% of the length. With Independence, you save on airfare. But Liberty has the nursery for your 1 year old.

 

There are no major waterslides on Royal Caribbean ships. There are lots of other things to do to keep the whole family busy though.

 

Any of the mainstream cruise ships will have clubs for your older children. We sailed recently on Princess and I would recommend their kids club over RCCL's clubs.

 

If you do decide on an RCCL ship, see if you can get one of the "family" rooms - either family interior, family oceanview or family oceanview with balcony. These cabins sleep 6 and are my cabin of choice with little kids.

[koalagurl]

We did the Epic last year with similarly aged children.

 

We loved the ship! There were a few watersides (with a minimum height, can't remember but my tall 4 year old and 6 year old were tall enough.)

 

There was a Nickelodeon show for the kids and a special character breakfast with Dora, Diego and others.

 

Freestyle dining was nice for the flexibility in what time we needed to eat.

[Famous5]

Thanks Koalagurl / boulders,

 

I might be leaning towards NCL Epic now - I keep changing my mind. Freestyle dining would suit us, and those height restrictions should be ok for us.

 

Koalagiurl - did you find it expensive onboard Epic? Just thinking about getting a few drinks in for the kids througout the day and a couple of beers / a bottle of wine for the adults?

[ansmom]

DH and I did the NCL epic Med cruise this past Sept and I would definitely say its a great family ship although we left our DDs at home there were tons of kids and a lot of family friendly events going on. We didn't find the drink prices too bad and they always had water, tea and I believe lemonade available at the buffet

[MSH from Norway]

The best family cruiseline is COSTA :)

The ships is not as big as f ex Epic, its more relaxed, and it is perfect for children.

 

We went with Romantica this summer.

My child went to the childrens club after breakfast, could stay in the club til 11.30 in the evening.....

 

There were sow much to do for the children betwenn 4 and 10 that I had trouble geting my child with to get of the ship for doing something in f ex Mykonos, Rhodes, Messina.......

 

Every day Costa Line has a special program.

One day they had soda-party, one day pizza-party. Every night they were at the adult-disco a cople of hours before they opened for adults and had party-party.

 

Every day they had a special dinner for children only when they took the children to the lunch-bufet and turned that one in to a chidrens eat as much you can. And the adults were perfect ;)

 

For us is was much, much better than the epic, and better than rccl.