Best ship and best ports with kids?

[mill4023]

We are a family of 7.

Kids are 4,8,12,15,17.

My wife and I did our first Caribbean cruise in 2011, but we didn't take the kids.

We were on the Ruby Princess and visited Princess Cays, St Thomas, St Maarten, and Grand Turk.

We loved the Ruby, but for our first cruise with kids, I think we would be better off on a ship with more to keep the kids entertained. They may or may not be into kids club activities, so I'm thinking more of other stuff. Things like bigger and better pools, water play areas, water slides, etc.

 

We would either get connecting balcony rooms or 1 balcony and an adjacent inside cabin.

 

As far as itinerary, we would be looking for ports that are easy and affordable to do with kids. From our experience, Grand Turk and Princess Cays(or similar private beach) were great because with kids, we could just get off the ship and have a nice beach day. We aren't opposed to doing an excursion. It just might be more work and get expensive with 5 kids.

 

We are on a budget, so Disney is out and from what I've looked at so far, RCI probably won't work either.

 

Which ships would you suggest for us?

 

Which ports (or itinerary in general) would you recommend?

 

We will be driving from NC, so anything out of Florida would work for us.

[MichelleChell]

I would pick a Carnival ship that has the upgrades. Or one of the larger Royal ships. Something that has the water slides and kid stuff. My kids love Carnival. So much that we went on a Royal ship last yr and we were all bored. Mind you it was not the huge Allure but still big. This yr we will be on the Carnival Magic and they can't wait!

[mill4023]

We are definitely leaning towards Carnival because of price and the reputation of being good for kids and families. I just didn't know if there were others I should think about as well.

 

What about ports?

Any particular ports that are good to do with kids?

As I said, Grand Turk and Princess Cays would have been perfect for the kids, but when it comes to Western ports, I know very little about them.

[#1TravelMom]

I definately recommend the EPIC. We've been on the Epic twice and have another booked. Soooo much for everyone to do and fabulous entertainment.

[MississippiMom]

We are a family of five, and we have found that the best thing to do is to drive to a port, so we don't have the added airfare expense. For us, that means that we (all five of us) have left twice out of our nearest port, New Orleans, and once from Tampa (to get on a refurbished ship with a water slide). We have rarely found where any other line is less expensive than CCL, but it can happen. (We went on NCL, once.)

 

Select your dates first and then comparison shop the prices and ports (include length of time in ports). I would select your top three and then compare the ships themselves and see what they offer.

 

Although we like to book excursions, we have just gotten in a taxi and headed to the beach in both Costa Maya and in Grand Cayman. There are also several ports that have public transportation that you might be able to jump on/off to save money.

[neptuno]

Carnival Glory out of Miami was great for our 13yo's, slide, kid camp, other kids, reasonable price. MSC Poesia, Lauderdale, was good also, mostly for the kids sail free pricing, definitely the best pricing available, Oceanview for four $1450, balcony for four $1750. Dutch St. Marteen has a close beach with shopping in town right there. On St. Thomas we all climbed in a Safari cab outside the gate near Yacht Haven to Morningstar Beach for $2 each, same return, OK snorkeling right from shore. Hiking in Old San Juan was fun too. There is a deserted beach just around the south tip of Grand Turk with the best beach snorkeling we have seen. Enjoy!

[GTO-Girl]

Carnival Glory out of Miami was great for our 13yo's, slide, kid camp, other kids, reasonable price. MSC Poesia, Lauderdale, was good also, mostly for the kids sail free pricing, definitely the best pricing available, Oceanview for four $1450, balcony for four $1750. Dutch St. Marteen has a close beach with shopping in town right there. On St. Thomas we all climbed in a Safari cab outside the gate near Yacht Haven to Morningstar Beach for $2 each, same return, OK snorkeling right from shore. Hiking in Old San Juan was fun too. There is a deserted beach just around the south tip of Grand Turk with the best beach snorkeling we have seen. Enjoy!

 

In St Marten please do NOT use the beach that is right in town. It has been well published on these boards that this beach is poluted from run offs. Go over to the St Martin board under Ports of Call and ask the local guy, Gary Taylor about it.

 

He once posted that you will never see any local people there nor their children. because of it.

 

Just wanted to give everyone here a "heads up".......

[Mizzouaholic]

Our 4 year old daughter loved the waterworks area on teh Carnival Fascination. There are 3 bigger slides and a couple of small slides that she loved along with a couple of water guns and a bucket that fills up with water and overturns on top of you. :eek:

[askimdog]

Ship, it's hard to say. Ports which we think our child has benefited from:

 

Catalina

Ensenada

Belize and

Roatan

 

and to a point Grand Cayman

 

I make up work sheets on each port for my daughter (8), local things, maps to be colored, country flag, language etc. We tend to his Museums, hike some and always try to visit a school and drop off school supplies at an orphanage. Then we wander the streets for local street food. This is our plan at all ports

 

Catalina had awesome hiking spots and many eco-educational things

 

Ensenada had GREAT people, THE BEST local street food, loved wandering the city fish market and local schools

 

Belize may have had the nicest folks and kids in school we ever saw. You HAVE TO leave the Tourism Village and get into Belize City, don't let the rough look scare ya.

 

Roatan...so lush, best orhphange we ever visited, daughter played there as we chatted for hours.

 

What boat seems all the same the 2 cruises our daughter has been on. She and us do not care for Camp Carnival, so she hangs with us.

[salad22]

I know price may be an issue, but we have done 2 cruises with our children and extended family ranging from ages of 6-14 on both RCL's Oasis and just got back from a New Years cruise on the Allure. Granted there are no slides avaialable, but there is a ton of activities for kids of all ages. We really loved the port of Labadee Haiti, as RCL purchased a huge piece of property and created a fantastic port with ziplines, aqua park and water slides and all the beach ammenities you can want.

I agree from other responses that there are other cost effective options, but we really had a fantastic time.

[mill4023]

We would love to do the Oasis or Allure, but it's not in the budget.

The cheapest date I've found on one of those ships is going to be around 7k for 1 balcony with 4 people and 1 inside with 4 people.

That compares to around 6k on the Norwegian Epic and around $4500 on the Carnival Dream or Breeze.

[rstout]

I would consider a RCCL Freedom Class (Freedom/Liberty/Independence) ship...less expensive than the Allure or Oasis and still a ton to do. The only thing missing from Carnival is the slides, but they have a water spray area for the younger kids, and a rock wall, mini golf and flow rider. Royal Caribbean ships have a much better flow to them than Carnival ships...we hated trying to get around the Carnival Dream and Destiny. But Carnival does give you a nice value. If it's the kids' first cruise, they will really love whatever you choose.

 

We did cave tubing in Belize when our kids were younger than yours...think the hubby picked some kind of stomach thing up there. It was fun, but we really weren't a fan of the Belize/Roatan/Costa Maya stops on the Dream. Honestly our favorite port for the kids has been Cozumel. So much to do there. We've stopped there many times and still find something new to do. All of the cruiselines' Western Caribbean itineraries tend to stop there. The Eastern routes have nice beaches with St. Thomas, St. Maarten, etc., so you can't go wrong there either.

[ginger123snaps]

I have only been on carnival magic with my kids and i highly recommend their kids club (mine are young...3, 4, 4 all boys). The way I see it...from a kids perspective a beach is a beach! Now for the parents its a completely different experience. I would choose ports that you as parents want to see...and then let the cruiseship be the "port" or "destination" for the kids. There is so much to do on these new ships. Trust me they won't be bored!