Are there any family friendly cruises?

[Tmaxx1]

In my family we have a 12 year old daughter and 16 year old son. We have been on two cruises as a family. The first was Carnival. We went to the evening shows (8-9pm) and they were appropriate for families.

The next cruise we went on was with Royal Caribbean. We went to the evening shows (not the late night shows and the shows were very inappropriate for children. Very skimpy outfits for the girls, guys bragging about their sexual prowess. One showed had a lady in lingerie dancing seductively around a guy. We went to the customer service and let them know that the shows were not family friendly, but they insisted they were.

Anyway, we spoke to some friends of ours and they mentioned that Carnival has family cruises which have shows which are geared towards families. I went to Carnival's website and they seem to indicate that all cruises are family friendly. Does anyone know here if some Carnival cruises or Royal Caribbean which are more geared towards families including the evening shows? I understand the late night shows may not be so family friendly, but the earlier evening shows is what I am thinking of.

[SunnydayKim]

I know that any show that we have been to on Carnival has been family friendly (in the main theater, I think that they have a 7pm & 9pm show). In addition, they now have an 8pm (or 8:30pm) family comedy show which I would bring even a 5 year old too. We found it funny, but not vulgar at all. Very PG.

 

Overall, I think that Carnival is a good family cruise line. However, I have never sailed RC, so I can not comment there.

 

Hope you try cruising again with your kids as I know how wonderful a family vacation is! We are leaving a week from today on a 7 day Carnival Glory!

 

Kim

[flhokie]

We found Royal Caribbean shows on Allure to be fine. We took DD to the Aqua Theater shows, OceanAria and ice show. Some of the costumes were somewhat skimpy (but no worse than anything we saw at the pool). Most musical shows I've seen on cruise lines take a lead from Broadway/cabaret/nightclub shows.

 

We did not go to Chicago as it was not our cup of tea--saw it on Broadway & found it to be kind of dark. Is this the show you were referring to?

 

You might want to look in to Disney if you want to feel comfortable that all the shows/entertainment are family friendly.

[cb at sea]

All of the mainstream lines are "family friendly"..so no worries! Carnival, RCI, Disney and NCL will probably have more "bells and whistles" for kids, than HAL, Princess or Celebrity, but even they offer a kid's club, arcade, sports deck, etc....so on any line, your kids will be entertained.

[flhokie]

All of the mainstream lines are "family friendly"..so no worries! Carnival, RCI, Disney and NCL will probably have more "bells and whistles" for kids, than HAL, Princess or Celebrity, but even they offer a kid's club, arcade, sports deck, etc....so on any line, your kids will be entertained.

 

I agree completely (love RCI and would not hesitate to take DD on the others), but OP was referring to evening entertainment--said shows on RCI are very inappropriate for families.

[mjkacmom]

On the NCL Breakaway, we found a lot of family friendly entertainment. Rock of ages was fine for Ds15 and dd18 (they had already seen it on am choir trip), and most of the test was fine for our 12 and 10 year olds (burn the floor, circ show, second city early showing, magician).

 

I don't think there is anything on a cruise hip anywhere that I wouldn't watch with a 16 year old, though.

[A2Mich]

It could also be a matter of perception. While the show may be inappropriate to the OP, they may have more conservative tastes than others might. The same shows that seem inappropriate to the OP may be just fine for the majority of people.

[flhokie]

It could also be a matter of perception. While the show may be inappropriate to the OP, they may have more conservative tastes than others might. The same shows that seem inappropriate to the OP may be just fine for the majority of people.

 

This was my thought exactly. I found everything, except Chicago (& comedy show---not available for kids), on Allure to be fine for families of all ages. I saw Chicago on Broadway & had no desire to see it again. We would have arranged care for DD (3 years old) if we had gone to see it on Allure. I'd probably consider taking her to it once she's a teenager if she was even interested in seeing it.

 

The one cruiseline I can think of that would have family friendly entertainment, regardless of tastes for all general shows would be Disney.

[Lerin]

In my family we have a 12 year old daughter and 16 year old son. We have been on two cruises as a family. The first was Carnival. We went to the evening shows (8-9pm) and they were appropriate for families.

 

Seems you've answered your own question

[Carnival_Brides]

Carnival as a whole is pretty family-friendly, but some of the entertainment on the ships is geared to specific age groups. The Freedom, Breeze, Splendor, and Sunshine have the Dr. Seuss activities with Freedom also having Dr. Seuss' Bookville and Camp Ocean for the little ones.

 

A whole bunch of the ships have the waterworks area (Carnival Breeze, Carnival Dream, Carnival Ecstasy, Carnival Fantasy, Carnival Fascination, Carnival Imagination, Carnival Inspiration, Carnival Legend, Carnival Magic, Carnival Sensation and Carnival Sunshine) which is obviously for the potty trained crowd and older ;-). Breeze and Magic also have the ropes course.

 

Some of CCL's Vegas-style production shows (they're eliminating them now with 2.0) had G-strings for costumes, but the new "shows" (people dancing and singing in front of LED screens) are toned down in terms of costumes.

[WAHMto5]

All my kids have always had soo much fun on our Carnival cruises. They do have some shows (like the adult comedy club), but they do state that it is for adults only! Of course Disney is awesome for all children friendly shows;)

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

RCL tries to ..

[OCruisers]

Princess is very family friendly and has an excellent program for their younger cruisers. :)

LuLu

[Cruisin' Chick]

We usually have taken our daughter to the production shows since her first cruise at 23 months of age. That wasn't her first show -- the month before, she saw Blue's Clue's Live (picture tons of little ones wearing horizontal striped polo shirts).

 

Her first three cruises were on Carnival and the next five (from age 5 to 15) were on Princess. Again, she would go to the shows, but then she's been in some piano/voice recitals and some children's theater (IMO, the best Jafar ever:)). I don't think there's been any questionable or suggestive move in any of the shows she's attended. But then, I've let her watch shows like "South Park" and some R-rated movies (the high quality ones like Chinatown) since she's hit her teens.