Cruise ships/Cruise lines with similar daily activity offerings similar to Disney?

[luv2sleep]

I have 2 Disney cruises scheduled and chose DCL primarily because of the multitude of family and parent child activities available on board ship which includes age appropriate movies, entertainment and various other things to do during the day. The kids clubs are of minimal importance because I want to spend the bulk of my time with my child during the day. He will go to the clubs probably once a day during the day to get in some kid only playtime and to interact with other kids but he won't be in there for hours on end. I am posting here to see if there are other cruise ships/cruise lines that offer the abundance of child centered activities during the day outside of the kids clubs that Disney does? My son is 4 and will be 5 next month. As he gets older I can definitely see how he would get a lot out of what it seems the other lines offer but when I research other lines I can't seem to find a ship or a cruise line with similar daily activity offerings for kids in his age group. Any thoughts on this? Thanks so much! :)

[TheCalicoCat]

Good question...

 

The official answer is "I don't know."

 

I do know that on other crusie lines (we've been on a few different ones), the kids clubs are open during specific blocks of time. My 2 & then 3 year old son went to the club about once a day for a couple hours - maybe twice a day here & there. The rest of the time we spent as a family - but we did not have directed activities... We ate 90-95% of our meals together. My husband did not want to go to the MDR, so the two of them went to lido while I ate in the MDR - then my son decided that he wanted to eat in the MDR all the time, so my husband joined us instead of eating in the Lido alone.

 

I never felt like I needed someone planning something for us to do & we did not cruise in the summer/pool time period...

 

We did not choose (& probably will not choose) DCL because we are not into the characters & all of the products marketed around them.

[kitty9]

The child centered activities are mostly in the clubs and not around the entire ship. There are some lines that will have one or two family activities during the day like a scavenger hunt or family bingo, but that's about it. Of course there's the pool, but that's about it as far as outside the club activities go.

[luv2sleep]

Good question...

 

The official answer is "I don't know."

 

I do know that on other crusie lines (we've been on a few different ones), the kids clubs are open during specific blocks of time. My 2 & then 3 year old son went to the club about once a day for a couple hours - maybe twice a day here & there. The rest of the time we spent as a family - but we did not have directed activities... We ate 90-95% of our meals together. My husband did not want to go to the MDR, so the two of them went to lido while I ate in the MDR - then my son decided that he wanted to eat in the MDR all the time, so my husband joined us instead of eating in the Lido alone.

 

I never felt like I needed someone planning something for us to do & we did not cruise in the summer/pool time period...

 

We did not choose (& probably will not choose) DCL because we are not into the characters & all of the products marketed around them.

 

Thanks for responding! I imagine at those ages sleeping, eating and going to the clubs took up the bulk of your day and you didn't need to have other things to do though. My son doesn't nap anymore and I actually am excited about all of the things there are for us to do together on our upcoming cruise. He's not into characters but I am a huge Disney fan so it's perfect for us. The thing is there probably will not be many west coast offerings starting 2013 through Disney so I am trying to check out other cruise lines that sail on this side of the US.

 

Thanks again! :)

[luv2sleep]

The child centered activities are mostly in the clubs and not around the entire ship. There are some lines that will have one or two family activities during the day like a scavenger hunt or family bingo, but that's about it. Of course there's the pool, but that's about it as far as outside the club activities go.

 

Ok, that's what I thought. Just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed something. Looks like I will try to stick with DCL while he is young and venture out to other lines as he gets older. For now Disney seems like the best fit. Thank you for your helpful response! :)

[Onessa]

Most lines will have a few non-Kid's clubs "organized" activities each day. A line such as RCCI with ships with lots of activities will not necessarily have more organized kids' activities, but will have lots of stuff your 4YO and you can do together -- shuffle board, ice skating, mini-golf, pools (kid centric water areas), merry-go-round, etc. Check out the amenities on a ship-by-ship basis and find those that you like.

[luv2sleep]

Most lines will have a few non-Kid's clubs "organized" activities each day. A line such as RCCI with ships with lots of activities will not necessarily have more organized kids' activities, but will have lots of stuff your 4YO and you can do together -- shuffle board, ice skating, mini-golf, pools (kid centric water areas), merry-go-round, etc. Check out the amenities on a ship-by-ship basis and find those that you like.

 

Thank you! Good to know that Royal Caribbean has lots of things to do on board.

 

Does anyone know if Carnival, Princess or NCL offer lots of non-planned activities outside of the kids clubs that are good for young children?

[Mom2B&Z]

Thank you! Good to know that Royal Caribbean has lots of things to do on board.

 

Does anyone know if Carnival, Princess or NCL offer lots of non-planned activities outside of the kids clubs that are good for young children?

Our first NCL cruise had about 1 family (aka parent expected to attend with their child) event per day. Our boys were 3 and 5 at the time and had a blast at the group events. Outside kids club events, we spent quite a bit of time at the kids pool, which was well set up for both children and adults.

Like you, we cruise to spend time with our children, not to have them spend hours on end at the kids club. This being said, we seem to be able to amuse ourselves quite easily without a lot of pre-planned or crew-led activities. This isn't to be critical of DCL, rather a comment that the amenities of the actual ship may lead you to develop your own routine. Plus many of the itineraries are port-intensive, making the ship's amenities less important.

I commented at my staff Christmas lunch that I'd rather shoot myself than go on a Disney cruise, so that gives you an idea of how much I like Disney ;)