Kids on Princess

[NJCONVCRS]

Hi. I've never sailed with Princess, but I have with RCCL, Celebrity & CCL. I am planning to cruise this coming November & was going to return to CCL because I know that there will be a significant number of families with kids onboard. I have a 10 year who will easily make friends, but I would like to know if there will be any friends to be made. When we went on Celebrity, there were hardly any kids (less than 50 for all ages) and the Childrens Programs were terrible. I am more interested in the itinerary than the cruise line, so any responses would be appreciated.

[cruzbabe]

If kids are out of school the week you sail, there will be plenty on Princess. I have a 10 year old as well. We did Caribbean the week of Thanksgiving last year and there were 90+ kids on Caribbean Princess just in his age group of 8-10!

 

We also did a cruise in March during Sprink Break and again there were plenty of kids.

 

Princecss has a great kids program.

[NJCONVCRS]

cruzbabe thanks for the response. The problem is schools are not closed - except in New Jersey for the teachers convention (hence my username). When we did Carnival cruise, there were a ton of kids - many from NJ. On the Celebrity cruise, there were none. That's my concern. I know the quality of the cruise will be better, as I have family that are repeat (15) Princess cruisers, but they are also in their 60's.

[cruzbabe]

I hope that there will be a lot of NJ kids on board when you sail.

[MNfamilycruiser]

cruzbabe thanks for the response. The problem is schools are not closed - except in New Jersey for the teachers convention (hence my username). When we did Carnival cruise, there were a ton of kids - many from NJ. On the Celebrity cruise, there were none. That's my concern. I know the quality of the cruise will be better, as I have family that are repeat (15) Princess cruisers, but they are also in their 60's.

 

- relative to school anyway! First because my kids were pre-school age, and now because I homeschool. I believe the Princess kid program is rated as good as the RCCL so no worries there - I looked at the information here on this site concerning kids programs on the different lines. I think if you are choosing a line - like Princess - that has a good program there will always be kids to play with. Because people are coming from different countries and different parts of the US there is always SOMEBODY off school. We had friends in NC that did year-round school and then had breaks spread throughout the year. They didn't have breaks at all the traditional times.

[craftsrdkc]

Try calling Princess at the 1-800 number. We did. We wanted to know approximately how many kids would be on board the Star this past Easter. We were told over 400. We were delighted to see that they did not let the groups get too bit by separating the age groups into 4 instead of the regular 3 groups. My 7 and 8 year old ended up being together instead of separating them if they had kept the original 3 groups. If they know how many passengers they, they should be able to tell you how many kids will be on your ship.

 

 

Dolores

[Cat-Nik]

If you e-mail Princess they will tell you exactly how many kids are on your cruise. We did, they said 127, which is in the UK in school time.

 

Good luck.

 

Nick

[Laurin612]

My husband, 7 year old daughter, 3 year old son and I just got back from a 10 day cruise on the Dawn Princess yesterday and had a wonderful time!

 

Even though there were only 20 children on board they each had friends their own age to play with. The program was great also--there were activities scheduled for all the times the center was open (9-12, 2-5pm, and 7-10pm) and my kids wanted to be in the Fun Zone every moment it was open!!! And the youth instructors (Rachel, Karena, Emily and Fiona) on the Dawn were awesome!!! We gave them all a nice tip at the end of our cruise--we received the best service of our cruise from them.

[NJCONVCRS]

Thanks to all for the great responses. I will call them first thing tomorrow.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Two years ago we were on the Star during Valentine's Week (we had a great deal courtesy of a Princess employee). My girl was 5 at the time and there were two others her age. She still had at least a few kids to play with in her age group and really enjoyed herself, but if we had waited until spring break, of course, then there would have been more kids. I guess you're talking about early November rather than closer to Thanksgiving when some parents would let their kids miss a couple of days of school.

 

In California, the school districts are really clamping down on parents taking their kids out of school for vacations -- money, money, money!

 

On the Sapphire:

[whale-watcher]

And the youth instructors (Rachel, Karena, Emily and Fiona) on the Dawn were awesome!!! We gave them all a nice tip at the end of our cruise--we received the best service of our cruise from them.

We had a similar experience on the Dawn in January -- even though there were just a few kids on board, my three had a wonderful time on the cruise, and really looked forward to their time in the kids center. Also had a very positive experience in Alaska last May on the Coral Princess, again with only a few other kids on board. In both cases, the programs were so well run that it didn't really matter how few other children were sailing -- they all seemed to have a great time. Also, on the Coral Princess, my 14yo DD became friends with some other girls her age from overseas, and she is still in e-mail contact with them.

[justmarie]

When in October is the NJ school conv? We have sailed at the end of Oct for the past few years and have noticed allot of kids during that time, most from NJ!

[NJCONVCRS]

justmarie - the convention is in November, not October. Usually the 1st week. This year it is the second week.

[gambit57]

Last time I went, the teen stuff sucked. Unless things have improved a lot since the 90s, your kids are gonna have to find fun by making friends, not the activities and facilities the cruise has for them.

[roe2ship]

I think just like the Carnival cruise you have taken, there will be plenty of families from New Jersey since the kids are off the two days during that week. That is a hot week for many New Jersey families to take a vacation, land or cruise. My children have also told me plenty of kids were out of school the other 3 days. In fact, ships leaving from the NY / NJ area actually increase their prices that week probably because they sell out quickly.