Norwegian or Princess for Christmas cruise with 3 yo

[Cruzin-K]

A friend and her family are considering a cruise for Christmas this year. It would be two adults and a three year old. She asked me if I'd recommend the NCL Jewel or the Emerald Princess, both out of Houston. My gut instinct was to steer her to NCL because I've never really seen a huge amount of small kids on Princess, but I've never cruised with NCL. Also, I don't cruise when school is out, so I'm really not an expert on holiday cruises.

 

For those of you who've cruised to the Caribbean over Christmas, did you find a large number of children on board.

 

If you have kids, how is the kids program?

[Mom2B&Z]

There will be a lot of kids on board over Christmas. We have never had a problem getting our boys into the kids clubs on Christmas holiday trips, but they do have a max capacity and will close when they meet it. This happened on Breakaway in March, mainly because it was March break in Ontario.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Cruzin-K]

Any more comments? What sorts of activities are there for kids? Will Santa be on board?

[kimchee1212]

Any more comments? What sorts of activities are there for kids? Will Santa be on board?

 

 

You should be safe on either one; both will have plenty of kids on board that time of year. I'm not sure about NCL, but Princess definitely does Santa on Christmas Day. He hands out small gifts to all the children in the atrium. I wouldn't be surprised if NCL did the same.

Edited August 27, 2014 by kimchee1212

[buckeye82]

NCL does the same. There were also holiday crafts, shows,caroling and meals. The Captain read the Night Before Christmas on the POA.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[chiefy_mom]

Not Caribbean at Christmas, but we did just do Norwegian to Alaska with a 3-yr old. I thought NCL did a really good job with the kids club. They do close from 12-2 and 5-7 on sea days which is a "concern" for some people, but I would have preferred having the kids with me for most meals (allergies) and one night they got put in the kids club and then we went "out" to dinner. The programming varied every day and they put on an absolutely adorable circus at the end of the week. The 3-5yr olds were "trained tigers" and it's possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen.