Comfortable Family Cruising

[PixieLegal]

Just stepped off the Carnival Imagination. I have to admit I feel slightly disillusioned. Camp Carnival was great as well as the other Carnival Staff. The downside was how crazy the other passengers were. Is this normal? Just overall rude, pushy, zero tact and zero respect for others. Is it the brand? Is it the Fleet/Class of ship type? We are younger parents with two daughters (3 & 7). Princess looks very nice, however, I have heard mixed reviews. Along with an older demographic of sailors. But if they are nicer and more respectful than the group we were with, AGE does not matter. RCI looks nice, but a bit large, expensive and everything seems like an extra cost. Ditto goes for Disney. AGHH! I do not want to waste any more time or money! Please help! Just some good ole safe, FUN, family cruising! I look forward to your thoughts, Thanks.

[boulders]

It's the brand, the short 3 or 4 night cruise, and likely the ship too, but I've had similar experiences on one of the RCCL ships on a 7 night cruise. Sorry your vacation was marred by such behaviour.

 

If you can only get away for 3 or 4 nights, Disney would probably be your best bet. For 7 nights, any ship would/should see less of that behaviour.

[Essiesmom]

My experience on a 3 day cruise was that it was filled with extended family groups with matching tshirts, pushing their way through the crowds to get to where the rest were, frenetically trying to cram in as much 'fun' as they could in the time allowed. I think it is the length of the cruise. EM

[PixieLegal]

Thank you fellow cruisers! I thought it was just me being crazy! I was wondering I have heard good things about the Breeze, so I did not want to hold it against Carnival!

[cb at sea]

Pretty much any shorter cruise will have the same sort of folks.....doesn't really matter WHICH line you're on!

 

Longer cruises are generally more relaxed!

[PixieLegal]

That's a bummer! Another option would have been the NCL Sky. We live near the port so shorter is usually better for us. But maybe we need to save cruising for our larger vacations;)

[Waterloomarc]

I agree that generally the shorter the the cruise the more difficult the clientele. The other thing I've found is that departure ports play a role in ship-board demographics as well. Of course don't discount just sheer bad luck - any cruise can have a nightmarish passenger load from time to time.

 

But I definitely agree the longer the cruise the better the odds of avoiding seeing Bubba trying to hog tie the fountain in his wife's lingerie.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[PixieLegal]

Ooooo, Interesting. May have to switch ports! Thanks

[Lerin]

That is the general sentiment of any short cruise(under 6 days).

 

At the end of the Alaska season, several people on the Holland America board had the same complaint with a 1 night cruise from BC to Seattle.

 

Also sail date can be a factor. The more kids(including college students) who are on vacation, the less enjoyable it can be for those who want to relax. Not sure when exactly you returned, but several schools had this entire week off.

 

You'll have more of what you are looking for on a 6+ day cruise that isn't during any holidays, March, April, or summer.

[PixieLegal]

All good info! I will put it into my research, thanks! We went for Thanksgiving maybe we have to change our timing.

Edited November 30, 2013 by PixieLegal

[Gardeneroflove]

All good info! I will put it into my research, thanks! We went for Thanksgiving maybe we have to change our timing.

 

YEP! We've ONLY done 7 days, but tend to go during Thanksgiving. I was looking for our cruise next year, taking into account how much dh gets paid daily and cruise prices, and he reminded it was worth the extra time off to NOT go the week of thanksgiving.

 

Granted, we always had fun, I find impossible to not have fun when I'm surrounded by water and someone else is cooking and cleaning, but the cruisers are different and TONS of kids (it's the tweens who are typically an issue).

[JimAOk1945]

I agree. It's amazing what a short cruise does to people's behavior. I'm not saying everyone acts different, far from it. I'm just saying you are more likely to see more of a "party/let loose" type of atmosphere.

 

We typically go on seven day cruises, but sailed on two 6 day cruises on the Carnival Ecstasy for the itinerary. Wow! What a difference one day made!

[RSLeesburg]

Just stepped off the Carnival Imagination. I have to admit I feel slightly disillusioned. Camp Carnival was great as well as the other Carnival Staff. The downside was how crazy the other passengers were. Is this normal? Just overall rude, pushy, zero tact and zero respect for others. Is it the brand? Is it the Fleet/Class of ship type? We are younger parents with two daughters (3 & 7). Princess looks very nice, however, I have heard mixed reviews. Along with an older demographic of sailors. But if they are nicer and more respectful than the group we were with, AGE does not matter. RCI looks nice, but a bit large, expensive and everything seems like an extra cost. Ditto goes for Disney. AGHH! I do not want to waste any more time or money! Please help! Just some good ole safe, FUN, family cruising! I look forward to your thoughts, Thanks.

 

Try one of the smaller RCI ships. I believe Vision sails out of Tampa. We sailed on Grandeur out of Baltimore. These are older, smaller ships but still had plenty to do. Our son was one month shy of 4, and loved it. The prices were a bit more reasonable than the bigger ships.

[azcater]

We just came off the NCL Sky and I was not impressed.. we had sooo much fun on the Star with the kids. But anyway, I was going to say that Carnival has a bad reputation for it's general demeanor of clientele which is why we've never cruised with them. But I have to say there were a bunch of very rude, impatient, selfish people on the Sky this past week as well. So, maybe the comments above are right?? We sailed out of Miami and it was our first 4 day cruise. All others have been 7 day, but we encounter a lot of rudeness in general on cruises, so who knows??

[PixieLegal]

We just came off the NCL Sky and I was not impressed..

OMG, too much! I have been reading the reviews of the Sky because we were thinking of trying that one next! We were talking to the people in the shuttle to the parking lot and they were surprised about our exp on Carnival. But they sailed on the Freedom. So it must also have something to do with the ship/sch'd like people have mentioned on here. Well maybe someone will read these and step up. We need a sassy classy short trip ship in the POM or POFLL!

[Gardeneroflove]

We did NCL once, I don't know which ship, it sucked. The service sucked, the entertainment wasn't up to par, it just wasn't worth it. I've been hearing good things about the under 3 zoo was thinking of trying NCL again next year...ummm

[azcater]

Gardeneroflove- I don't know if the program is different on other ships but the under 3 zoo was an absolute joke on the Sky this past week. They literally threw a couple soft mats out with 3 different small toys and a few blocks in one of the lounge areas (it wasn't in the kids club area), there was no staff there. (not that I expected someone) I heard that there were a couple times where the kids could paint with food paints or something or other but they were at nap times.

[PixieLegal]

Awe, that is soo sad! One of the best things the Imagination had going for it was Camp Carnival! They were good with the kids and had an entire schedule of supervised and creative events/activities. My 7 year old wanted to stay in there the WHOLE time! And it was good they had it, she was far better off there then anywhere else on the ship this trip. I wonder if NCL's other programs on other ships are better.

[RSLeesburg]

I think when it comes to kids clubs, you need to consider more than just cruise line vs. cruise line, but also different ships within a cruise line. The newer and larger ships all seem to have larger, more dedicated spaces for kids, and more activities outside of the clubs for kids. The older and smaller the ship, the smaller kids club and fewer kids activities available. Depending on the age of the kids, some smaller and older ships are fine, and in other cases, they are not. We sailed on Grandeur, and it had everything our son needed. They had a nursery for little ones; however, we did not use this so cannot comment. But I have seen some people complain that Grandeur was sparse compared to Oasis - well, duh! You cannot compare these ships, and it is unrealistic to think you could get the same level of activities on both ships. I would think this is true for NCL, Carnival, or Princess...

[Carnival_Brides]

I don't think it's the brand, but the ship and holiday. Imagination only does short cruises which makes it more affordable for people to cruise--add in that it was likely a weekend cruise and pile on Thanksgiving and voile. I normally do 5-9 day cruises out of the northeast and haven't run into problems like you experienced.

[CaribbeanH2OLover]

We just got off the 8 night Breeze and it was the same thing. Rude passengers (not all) and the children's activites were hard to get to because of the 6PM dining time.

 

Our DD loved Princess. The other passengers were very considerate and although there were no water slides, she had a blast. The service was top notch and the food was awesome!

 

We have done Disney and it is awesome but very expensive. Service, food, activities, other passengers etc.... DD did not like the kids club though. It wasn't a good fit for her but it may be for your children.

 

We love RCI Freedom of the Seas. It's not as big as the Oasis and Allure but still large and tons to do.

 

Good Luck! You will find the right fit for you. Each line has pros and cons for each individual. You just need to weigh what is important to you.

[PixieLegal]

Our DD loved Princess. The other passengers were very considerate and although there were no water slides, she had a blast. The service was top notch and the food was awesome!

 

I have my eye on Princess too. Right now I am researching Norwegian also. I am hoping to have more luck next time. I will probably sail Carnival again. But I do think I have to sail the Breeze, Freedom or other. The food on the Imagination to me was awful so I hope that is not across the entire line. I am generally easy to please there! Plus I will probably never sail at Thanksgiving again, lol!

[SUSIEK]

We did Princess 2 years ago. A 10 night out of Ft. Lauderdale aboard the Star. Our son was 6 at the time. We absolutely loved it! The crowd was slightly older, but everyone was so well mannered and polite. Our son loved the kids program. The kids facility was bright and large. There were just the right amount of children so each received alot of attention from the youth staff. The Princess private island even has a pool for the kiddos.

 

We are sailing this coming March on Celebrity Reflection and are hoping to have a similar experience. We choose lines that may not attract a large number of kids (RCL or CARNIVAL) as we are now following the school holiday schedules.