Celebrity vs. RCL vs. NCL

[Tagong]

Hi all. Long time no message for me hope everyone is well.

 

Some background before my questions. Family of 3 (w 2yr old) considering our third cruise but the variable that looms is do we or don't we have a second child. That's not my question. Our previous cruises were on Celebrity Silhouette and Royal's Independence.

 

Here is my question. I completely get that choice of ship is subjective and will vary from person. What I'm hoping to get out of this is some thoughts and ideas I haven't already thought about. We're looking at 7nts on all 3 lines. Ports are a little different but all we'd enjoy. The big difference is what the ships offer for the younger crowd. Clearly Royal (Allure) and NCL (Getaway) offer more for this crowd but I'm wondering if the more they offer is worth it when Celebrity itinerary has one extra port day 4 in 7 vs. 3 in 7 with others.

 

To you parents. Does what a ship offers kiddies matter as much when you have more days in port? NOTE: we will want to spend most of our time with our little one(s) but wouldn't hesitate to put the older one into a kids club for an hour or two on seas days.

 

Thanks all.

[rebeccalouiseagain]

Of the three lines- only Royal and Celebrity offer any type of babysitting. NCL is a nice line. I enjoyed our recent cruise on Norwegian Pearl very much. It's really casual and loud enough that you won't feel conspicuous with a fussy baby. They offer some play time "Guppies" but a parent has to stay there.

 

Personally- I'd do Royal because you do have the option of babysitting. Celebrity does offer in cabin babysitting at night (after 8) but the ships are definitely more formal than Royal and NCL and I'm don't think the best fit for the two and under crowd. No baby pool- unlike the larger RCL ships that have the Baby h20.

Edited August 7, 2014 by rebeccalouiseagain

[kitkat343]

If you are looking to put your 2 year old in a kids club, then only Royal (on a newer or refurbished ship with a royal tots nursery) is your option of the three lines you have listed, unless you are sailing after your child's next birthday.

 

Cunard also allows drop off in the kids club at the age of two, and allows children aged 6 months to two years to attend the kids club with parental supervision. Princess also allows children under the age of three to attend the kids club with parental supervision. Disney has a nursery for children your daughter's age.

 

If you are sailing after your child turns 3, if all other things are equal I'd recommend either Celebrity or Royal. We live near the Breakaway, but are waiting for Royal's Quantum to come to sail from a local port because NCL's kids clubs are closed from 12-2, and 5-7 on sea days. My son (age 3) still naps and on our last cruise he slept from 1-4, woke up and promptly wanted to go to the kids club (which was closed since HAL's kids clubs are closed from 4-7). So even if you don't intend to use the kids club for a lot of hours, you can have a lot of unnecessary stress if the kids clubs are closed more than the other lines.

[flhokie]

Another thing to consider is if child will be potty trained by sailing. Allure has a baby splash area (diapers allowed). I'm not sure if getaway offers anything like this, but Celebrity does not.

 

We took Dd on Allure at 2 1/2. She was potty trained so she was able to use the main splash area, but if she hadn't been & there was not a baby area, we would have had to avoid the pool deck (can we say meltdown). We used the nursery & it was awesome!

 

For us, we would pay more attention to the ship than the ports in the Caribbean (Europe, etc would be a different story). We did not get off the ship in Nassau with DD and did not leave the port area in St. Thomas or St Maarten. We really enjoyed having the "empty" ship to explore.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Go with RCL...