ADVICE: Please share what cruise line.......

[Lynzchat]

We're doing a family type reunion and we have a couple of kids who will be joining us ( ages 4 and infant). We looked at the Disney cruise and it may just be way over our budget and also we don't want to have everyone fly too far, most people live in Virginia.

 

Please share who you think would be a cruise line for adults and kids, preferably leaving out of Baltimore or Norfolk.... THANKS SO MUCH!:D

[serene56]

Carnival has a cruise or two that leaves from Norfolk. But these are 11 and 12 day cruises/There is also Philadelphia, Bayone,NJ or New York.

 

Carnival allows 2 year old to participate in camps. MUST be two by the date of sailing. Royal Caribbean must be 3 and potty trained..no accidents allowed.

 

Both cruiselines has a night time babysitting service after 10pm for a fee.

Royal Caribbean has incabin sitting.

[Kuffam]

We went on NCL (Hawaii) this past January with Me, DW, DD-4.5, DS-1.5, M&FIL & BIL. We found it to affordable and Freestyle works nicely with Children.

 

:) DD enjoyed Kids Crew, frexible meal times, Causual atmosphere.

 

:mad: Kidscrew for 3>, no babysitting for <3, Fair service.

[Cruisin' Chick]

If some in your family are new to cruising, I would suggest looking for a 3 or 4 day cruise just in case. If you go to the home page of CC and look for the destination link, you'll be able to see which cruises are the closest to you.

[Nliedel]

If there are a lot of children the Royal Caribbean Cruiselines Voyager class ships might be a good bet. Either Carnival or RCI have outstanding children's programs with RCI's notorious for being an excellent experience for most children.

[merela]

children will adapt to whichever ship the adults ultimately choose.

 

For parents with young children, they should realize that whatever vacation they choose travelling with young children will be hard. Having said that, cruise travel is the easiest and funnest way of travel for parents who have young children.

 

It will be silly to go with Disney cruiseline for the sake of these 2 children ...unless the other adults going are Disney fans! You pay so much more for Disney cruiseline. They baby wouldn't really know Disney characters.

 

Since both children are young enough that they don't need to travel during school breaks, you can take advantage of off-season cruising rates. Since you are from the East coast, you may want to look at cruises leaving from East coast ports. But if a majority of your family need to fly in to go to a port, then you might as well choose an itinerary that's affordable, while factoring in the airfares.

 

For example, typically, the last week of November and the first week of December, 7-day Mexican Riviera cruise out of Los Angeles can go as low as $525 pp for inside cabins. For the 2 young children, you don't ever need to pay full price for them. There are always 3rd and 4th passenger rates for sharing the same cabin with their parents. For Princess cruiseline, it's usually $199 for inside cabins and $299 for outside cabins for their 7-day cruise.

 

Since I'm from the west coast, I'm not familiar with the east coast itineraries and cruise fares.

 

Some cruiselines such as NCL will only charge port charges and taxes for children under 2.

 

The 4YO will be able to participate in all the kids programs offered by most cruiselines since he/she is older than 3. But if your 4YO has never been in a preschool setting, it will be difficult for the 4YO to participate in the kids' program. So you will need to look at your 4YO and see what he/she is used to at home.

 

What you have to do is

 

1. determine an itinerary your whole family will enjoy

2. determine the number of days (3, 4, 5, 7, 10, or more days)

3. shop around different on-line sites and determine what dates are cheaper.

4. determine the date of your cruise

5. find a cruiseline that suit the style and tastes of your family members.

 

Celebrity and Crystal cruises are upscale and tends to be more expensive.

Royal Caribbean/Carnival/Princess can be grouped together

Then comes Holland America and Norwegian Cruiseline.

 

Bigger ships and newer ships are more enjoyable, I think. I also think Princess serves better food than Royal Caribbean and Carnival, but this is also very subjective. I've read about people commenting that Princess has the worst food.

 

If food is important to your family members, try Celebrity and Crystal cruises, but it's going to be more pricey.

 

If your family members' average age is 20-35, try Carnival. If your family members' average age is 35-50, then try Princess.

 

BTW, Princess provides baby food for infants. Basically, it's rice cereal and Gerber's Stage 2 baby jar food. They don't provide baby finger food (Cheerios) nor formula. But I think it's great that they provid baby jar food. So if your infant is between 6M-9M at the time of the cruise, try Princess. Princess will also allow kids under 3 to play in their kids' zone if accompanied by an adult.

 

You can email me if you have specific questions.

 

 

jtsaila@excite.com

[Chucksta63]

We have a Family Group Cruise here at CC! We leave in April and We have GREAT Prices!! Babysitting Too!!

Click on my banner to get to our Group Boards, there you will find all sorts of answers!

Enjoy:)

[Arubalisa]

HAL sails out of Norfolk. Check summer 2006 sailings out of Philadelphia. NCL also has some sailings out of Charleston. I agree with some of the other posters that with kids that little, the choice is more of an adult's issue.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Since port of embarkation seems to be the first consideration for you, then definitely check to see what ships cruise out of that port for the time period you are considering.