Equinox - fun for families?

[aquanaut1]

I for one am not thrilled about water slides on a ship. Not sure why though. They just seem out of place to me. A little too garish maybe?

 

I fully expect your kids to have an amazing time. I think that the more we cruise with our kids, the more they will gravitate to a more relaxing cruise without the need for all the bells and whistles.

 

Dan

 

 

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Same age as my two

They will have the time if their lives

Have a wonderful time

 

 

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[Knighton]

I'm sure you will laugh at this one. My son (11) has been on lots of cruises and always has a good time. He's been on a couple of Celebrity, including the Summit last summer, which he loved. For this summer I gave him a choice. I said do you want to go to the caribbean on one of the larger Carnival ships, with the water slides and stuff, or do you want to do a Celebrity cruise. He said he'd rather go on Celebrity because of the great service they have! (Hey, I'm not knocking Carnival in any way! I love Carnival cruises, too, as my signature shows.) I was really surprised that he chose service over bells and whistles, especially since he doesn't like being in the kids clubs anymore.

[ginger123snaps]

My boys are 9,9,7. We took them on solstice a couple of years ago for an Alaskan cruise. They had a blast in the kids club. We are going again in June on Equinox. I am nervous to be in the carribean without all the bells and whistles that kids like...but I think they will enjoy the kids club. Hoping and crossing my fingers they have fun!

[dkjretired]

Well, I hope it's fun for families! We are booked for August 6th with two 9 year olds and an 11 year old. It will be their first cruise, and we purposely decided against a ship that was a floating theme park. We hope the pool, kids' club (which gets great reviews), arcade, etc will be enough to keep them busy. If we tried a ship with water slides first, I'm sure they'd always want that type of ship!

 

 

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Your kids will be fine, mine grew up on Celebrity and loved it more than other lines. We always get these comments on this board, most come from people who have never taken their kids on a Celebrity cruise and have no idea how good the program's actually are.

[crusinthrough]

The OP stated the kids went on RC Oasis of the Seas and Harmony of the Seas and had a great time. I don't believe there is a Celebrity ship that will compare to experience or activities on RC's biggest ships. Celebrity ships are not comparable nor are they meant to be.

 

 

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[aquanaut1]

The OP stated the kids went on RC Oasis of the Seas and Harmony of the Seas and had a great time. I don't believe there is a Celebrity ship that will compare to experience or activities on RC's biggest ships. Celebrity ships are not comparable nor are they meant to be.

 

 

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If you read the feed , we aren't t comparing , we are simply alleiving concerns that Celebrity is perfectly fine for children

 

 

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[ADD Boy]

Well this is disheartening. We are bringing our dd10 and ds12. Has anyone been able to plug an XBox or similar into the cabin tv? I know they may have those in kids club but they might like to play in the cabin too.

[riclop]

RCL is far superior.

[aquanaut1]

Well this is disheartening. We are bringing our dd10 and ds12. Has anyone been able to plug an XBox or similar into the cabin tv? I know they may have those in kids club but they might like to play in the cabin too.

 

 

There's an hdmi socket on the back of the tv so you ' may' be able to .

 

 

 

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[aquanaut1]

So ... to sum up ..... YES .... celebrity is absolutely fine for kids , it hasn't got the slides , flo rider, climbing wall , dodgems, ice rink, zip wire etc that other ships have , but some kids care not for that any way .

If you have children who want to make new global friends , enjoy the quieter than most pool , have fun in the much quieter kids club but still enjoy all the kids activities you'd get in another lines kids club , be treated like royalty by the restaurant staff , try new cuisines , and have FUN FUN FUN.... do it .... we do ....loads of others do too .

Last year there w.r.t. about 100 kids on board the Eclipse , the year before on RCC there were 1300 ...., it was ugly .... the last night at sea , the stairwells were filled with teens all crying over new loves that were leaving them ..... it was like the last day of school !!! The pools were rammed , totally crazy . Hence the switch .

I adore cruising with my family , and recommend everyone to do it , but I do like a bit of peace too as do the kids . The pool is shallow enough , and space to

Have fun !!!!!

 

 

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[JulieVee]

We have been cruising with my now 14yo DS since he was 15 months old. We had been longtime RCCL cruisers before he was born (our honeymoon was on RCCL Song of America!) but for his first cruise we went with Disney, which is excellent especially for young kids. We did his first RCCL cruise when he was 4 and stuck with them until about 3 years ago when we made the switch to Celebrity. For us personally we enjoyed the level of service and ambience better on Celebrity and our son has enjoyed all his cruises.

 

A lot of it depends on when you cruise, we usually do a Thanksgiving cruise and there has always been a good amount of kids on Celebrity but not overwhelming like it could get on RCCL. We also sail in April and that's been hit or miss on the # of kids, last year we did the Hawaii Repo and there were some kids but we knew not to expect a lot but he did manage to hook up with a few for the cruise, fortunately for our son he likes to hang with smaller groups so he's usually been able to find a few kids to connect with. This last cruise we were on, 4/22 repo from San Juan to NJ there were only about 10 teens total and he hung with a few kids but it wasn't his best cruise from an xclub perspective (he still had a great time though), they did say the cruise before ours there was about 100 kids on board so it's all timing.

 

This summer we will be on the Equinox in July and I think there should be a good amount of kids on board. I find for him on Celebrity it's a trade off of lots of planned activities and things to do on a RCCL ship vs the freedom and more casual/laid back environment on Celebrity.

 

Enjoy, whichever cruise you pick will be fun!

 

Julie

[a.madruga]

RCCL....hands down especially with children of those ages. they'll get straight A's next year, mom and dad.

[annbarker23]

We have hardly seen any children on Celebrity. Even our last cruise which spanned the Easter holidays they were conspicuous only by their absence. I have to say that the behaviour of the few we have encountered has been impeccable.

 

 

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[wallie5446]

Well this is disheartening. We are bringing our dd10 and ds12. Has anyone been able to plug an XBox or similar into the cabin tv? I know they may have those in kids club but they might like to play in the cabin too.

Call whom ever you booked thru and have them make a call to Celebrity, and ask if this possible. On our last 3 cruises the external input slots have been disabled.

[The Fun Researcher]

This thread got me thinking back to when I was a kid. Back then, ANY cruise would've COMPLETELY blown me away. How spoiled are we that we can have this discussion of choosing Celebrity or Royal Caribbean?

 

Either one will be incredible for a first time cruiser!

 

Dan

 

 

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[Softball20]

Thanks everyone. I am thinking we will wait for a time without the kids.

 

Our kids loved the Equinox; twice! Actually, we took them on a couple RC ships as well, and they much preferred Celebrity. Sure, you won't find all the schtick on the Celebrity ships, but none of that stuff really impressed them (or us). My kids were between 13 - 16-ish the last time we were on Royal and afterwards they both said that they never would have missed all the "stuff" if it wasn't there. Keep in mind, too, that in July, there will be many others their ages, if that's important to them.

[WeLuv2Cruz13]

We are taking our 13 year old son on the Equinox June 25th. I am sure he will love it - even without all the slides, etc. The fact that he is on a cruise he will find amazing. Can't wait to see his eyes when he sees how big the ship really is. Looks from the roll call there are quite a few kids. Just from the 46 that have signed up it looks like almost 20 so with all the others who haven't signed up it should be great and plenty of new friends to meet! Funny about the comment about the xbox in the room. I told my son "absolutely not" when he asked me if he could bring his gaming system. I also did not buy the internet on purpose. I want him to enjoy the cruise not sit in the cabin - he can do that at home!

[Pier290]

We are taking our 13 year old son on the Equinox June 25th. I am sure he will love it - even without all the slides, etc. The fact that he is on a cruise he will find amazing. Can't wait to see his eyes when he sees how big the ship really is. Looks from the roll call there are quite a few kids. Just from the 46 that have signed up it looks like almost 20 so with all the others who haven't signed up it should be great and plenty of new friends to meet! Funny about the comment about the xbox in the room. I told my son "absolutely not" when he asked me if he could bring his gaming system. I also did not buy the internet on purpose. I want him to enjoy the cruise not sit in the cabin - he can do that at home!

He will love it! Just took our almost 12 yr old son...he had the time of his life. The fun factory was a huge hit...age appropriate and not babyish. Pools, basketball. And he met tons of friends from all over the world! It was his 1st cruise on Equinox. He loves being able to eat all the time too. Lol. ENJOY!!!! SO FUN!

 

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[Pier290]

So ... to sum up ..... YES .... celebrity is absolutely fine for kids , it hasn't got the slides , flo rider, climbing wall , dodgems, ice rink, zip wire etc that other ships have , but some kids care not for that any way .

If you have children who want to make new global friends , enjoy the quieter than most pool , have fun in the much quieter kids club but still enjoy all the kids activities you'd get in another lines kids club , be treated like royalty by the restaurant staff , try new cuisines , and have FUN FUN FUN.... do it .... we do ....loads of others do too .

Last year there w.r.t. about 100 kids on board the Eclipse , the year before on RCC there were 1300 ...., it was ugly .... the last night at sea , the stairwells were filled with teens all crying over new loves that were leaving them ..... it was like the last day of school !!! The pools were rammed , totally crazy . Hence the switch .

I adore cruising with my family , and recommend everyone to do it , but I do like a bit of peace too as do the kids . The pool is shallow enough , and space to

Have fun !!!!!

 

 

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TOTALLY AGREE

 

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[Pier290]

Well, I hope it's fun for families! We are booked for August 6th with two 9 year olds and an 11 year old. It will be their first cruise, and we purposely decided against a ship that was a floating theme park. We hope the pool, kids' club (which gets great reviews), arcade, etc will be enough to keep them busy. If we tried a ship with water slides first, I'm sure they'd always want that type of ship!

 

 

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Its,AWESOME for families!! Our kids 11,7 were treated like GOLD! They were respected and loved by the staff!!!! They had the time of their lives doing fin, unique activities in the fun factory, meeting kids from all over the world, staying up late, pool parties for kids in the solarium, smores party, boat races, talent show....so much more. So super fun. They also loved the undercrowded pools....had lots of room to swim &play!!! They loved the MDR....our waiter cut our daughters steak for her without asking, servedthem.milk in wine glasses....just awesome experience. They can't wait to back! Taking them on the Edge next!!!!

 

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[annbarker23]

The amount of kids obviously depends on itinerary and time of year. We do longer trips to exotic destinations and see virtually no kids. Short cruises in school holidays obviously have different dynamics.

 

 

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[crusinthrough]

Well this is disheartening. We are bringing our dd10 and ds12. Has anyone been able to plug an XBox or similar into the cabin tv? I know they may have those in kids club but they might like to play in the cabin too.

 

My son was able to play his Xbox on the Silhouette. The Equinox is older than the Silhouette but the tv hook may be the same since they are in the same class of ships. Someone who has been on both can say for sure. He didn't do anything special. He changed the input with the remote and took out one HDMI connection and added his.

[villauk]

The amount of kids obviously depends on itinerary and time of year. We do longer trips to exotic destinations and see virtually no kids. Short cruises in school holidays obviously have different dynamics.

 

 

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I think it depends on time of year more than anything else. With our children, we take longer cruises all over the world (short sailings are not worth the airfare), but obviously our cruises are all in peak holiday season when the prices are extortionate ;).

[missthesea]

This thread got me thinking back to when I was a kid. Back then, ANY cruise would've COMPLETELY blown me away. How spoiled are we that we can have this discussion of choosing Celebrity or Royal Caribbean?

 

Either one will be incredible for a first time cruiser!

 

Dan

 

 

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Totally agree! Any cruise beats driving to a campground in a crowded station wagon without air conditioning, lol. Our kids will never understand.

 

 

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[The Fun Researcher]

Totally agree! Any cruise beats driving to a campground in a crowded station wagon without air conditioning, lol. Our kids will never understand.

 

 

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Thanks, now I totally have the theme song from National Lampoons Vacation in my head. [emoji12][emoji15][emoji445][emoji846]

 

Dan

 

 

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