More kids on X

[rimmit]

8 hours ago, PhoenixCruiser said:

What exactly draws parents traveling with children to Celebrity?

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As someone who travels with our kids who are 4 and 8,  I’d have to say the itineraries for us.  

 

We are diamond plus on RCI,  and have exhausted their itineraries except for a couple med ports,  the South Pacific (Vanuatu, etc), and the short Asian cruise market.  Celebrity just more inspired itineraries for a mass market line.  The ships have a pool and a kids club and that’s typically all my kids need to be entertained.

 

The KSF is nice but not a necessity as RCI offers it as well, albeit with more restrictions.  It comes down to the ports for us.

[rimmit]

2 minutes ago, dkjretired said:

They have excellent children’s programs

 

 

 

I would have to agree.  The kids program is shockingly not mailed in.  My kids loved it.  More so than RCI even.

[lahlah57]

Took one bahama cruise with carnival in august and what a mistake!!! Crawling with kids.....yuck!

Always now only stick to mid fall and we have been very lucky having no kids!

Want to try Celebrity but don't wish to if the push is for families!

[HS2BS]

First I’ll let everyone know that we have done 60+ cruises, over 30 on Celebrity. There has never been a cruise that was over 7 days that there was more than a handful

of “children”. When we have gone with grandchildren, it’s on RC or Princess because there programs and activities are more organized. This past summer we cruised with our 14 year old grandson(on Coral Princess), there were hundreds of young people, but well supervised and never a problem. 

As mentioned, Celebrity does not have indoor pools except for the solarium, and there for all the “kids” gather in and around the hot tubs without supervision(cold water in the pools or cool weather).

As for school attendance, I believe that a family vacation together is important. The time missed from the classroom is really enhanced by travel and new experiences especially as a family unit(I taught for forty years).

 

Hal

[dkjretired]

12 hours ago, Luvcrusn said:

I really think is depends on the time of year, itinerary and length of the cruise. We generally don't sail during school holidays and choose longer itineraries and don't see many children. However there was a thread recently about a sailing from Southampton UK that complained about a cruise that had many and wasn't equipped to handle them. I looked but can't find it now.

 

Keep in mind that many schools are not on Traditional Schedules and many more children are being home schooled, in the future may not be easy to find a time when there are few kids.

 

Some have mentioned taking kids out of school, I laugh because years ago on this board there would be very long and nasty threads on that subject.  Drove the moderators nuts.  They were just as prolific as kids on a cruise and dress code threads. 

Edited October 17, 2019 by dkjretired

[PTC DAWG]

On a recent 11 day Southern Caribbean...I might have saw 5-7 kids...it was great.  Put me in the crowd who never cruised with their small kids.  

[TeeRick]

13 hours ago, Luvcrusn said:

I really think is depends on the time of year, itinerary and length of the cruise. We generally don't sail during school holidays and choose longer itineraries and don't see many children. However there was a thread recently about a sailing from Southampton UK that complained about a cruise that had many and wasn't equipped to handle them. I looked but can't find it now.

Luvcrusn- I agree with your comment.  Now that we are in our early retirement we tend to take the longer and more exotic itineraries that Celebrity offers.  Regardless of ship these cruises are near empty of kids of any age.  If we sail out of FL on Celebrity on a standard 7-night cruise there will be more kids particularly in vacation periods.  But nothing like when we sail on Royal C where we have sometimes seen literally thousands of kids on their behemoth ships.  Hey but we used to take our kids with us too when they were younger and we needed to cruise at times to match their school holidays too.  

Edited October 17, 2019 by TeeRick

[maljeff]

I think Luvcrusn makes an excellent point.  I just read the overview for Edge and the reviewer says this:

 

And you probably won't be traveling with your young children; this is a grown-up ship.

 

And yet kids sail free is being promoted for Edge and Apex sailings.  Just seems like they aren't sure who they are trying to attract.

[dkjretired]

13 minutes ago, maljeff said:

I think Luvcrusn makes an excellent point.  I just read the overview for Edge and the reviewer says this:

 

And you probably won't be traveling with your young children; this is a grown-up ship.

 

And yet kids sail free is being promoted for Edge and Apex sailings.  Just seems like they aren't sure who they are trying to attract.

They are just trying to fill ships, we did kids sail free on Celebrity 25 years ago, nothing’s changed.

[rimmit]

My parents did a lot of traveling when I was a kid.  I was OCD about attendance and only sporadically missed school,  but not nearly as much as my parents would have liked, but I threw a fit if they had me miss.

 

The only “regret” (I have no regrets,  but this about the closest I have to one) was not being more lenient with my parents about missing school.  I remember practically none of what I learned in school outside of a couple random facts and grammar I use to write posts on CC and the basic math I need to get by.  Most everything I use on a daily basis I learned on the job or my graduate training.  What i do remember VIVIDLY was the many places we traveled and all the time we spent together as a family and learning about the world first hand and learning about new and different cultures.

 

School is incredibly important if not one of the most important things.  However,  there is a lot to be said to exposing a child to other cultures and languages.  Especially third world countries.  It really opens your eyes as a child that not everything and everyone is the same as you, or enjoys the same privileges.

 

Having been traveling my whole life I have also not noticed much of an uptick in children traveling during non school holidays as well.  During the summer and breaks and holidays I’d say there are definitely more kids traveling then than before,  but there are still very few in the off season.  So for all of you avoiding kids,  stick to cold weather, >7 day itineraries in the off season and have no fear.  There are almost none on the boat.

[bikerunner]

I tend to do late Oct/Nov cruises and usually 10 plus days so really very few kids on them.  With longer cruises I notice in general less kids.  Celebrity has been running this offer for the last few years I think, I do remember it last year at least.  This all depends on what the parents are looking for, if looking for the total distraction on board celebrity wont give the kds that, ie water slides, mini golf type of things. 

[dkjretired]

43 minutes ago, bikerunner said:

I tend to do late Oct/Nov cruises and usually 10 plus days so really very few kids on them.  With longer cruises I notice in general less kids.  Celebrity has been running this offer for the last few years I think, I do remember it last year at least.  This all depends on what the parents are looking for, if looking for the total distraction on board celebrity wont give the kds that, ie water slides, mini golf type of things. 

 

They run it on and off, it is not a permanent offer.  Maybe run it for a month or so and that's it.  Think they are having trouble filling Edge since some of the offers only allowed booking on the Edge.  

 

Don't forget they run the half off offers for third and fourth guests, that is popular and brings in kids.  

Edited October 17, 2019 by dkjretired

[2flacruisers]

13 hours ago, PhoenixCruiser said:

What exactly draws parents traveling with children to Celebrity?

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I asked someone this question once a long time ago...the response was because the children, just like the parents accrue points....when they reach a certain age, an account is set up for them. By the time the little tykes are able to cruise alone, they have enough points to be in the top tiers....

[hcat]

They do have good  programs for children but lack outdoor activities specifically gearsmed to youngsters and teens.  They no longer  have a children's swimming pool area....thus use of the hot tubs  as a substitue, or having  toddlers in swim diapers in the pools..yuck!

 

Hot tubs are high up on EDGE so hope that will discourage that!

 

Also, we  never see the spray area used on S Class anymore...usually covered with lounge chairs.

[Bootstrap77]

5 hours ago, lahlah57 said:

Took one bahama cruise with carnival in august and what a mistake!!! Crawling with kids.....yuck!

Always now only stick to mid fall and we have been very lucky having no kids!

Want to try Celebrity but don't wish to if the push is for families!

It seem s like there are more and more families lately in the last few years. To the point where we are going to cancel our next celebrity cruise and go with Oceania.  Never tried Oceania but I posted on their boards and the cruisers familiar with Oceania say there a very few kids. 

[Baron Barracuda]

26 minutes ago, 2flacruisers said:

 

I asked someone this question once a long time ago...the response was because the children, just like the parents accrue points....when they reach a certain age, an account is set up for them. By the time the little tykes are able to cruise alone, they have enough points to be in the top tiers....

 

Do you think kids care about points?  All the mass market lines run kids sail free promos, so X isn't unique to that.  Parents who take kids on X are putting their desires first, kids just along for the ride.  What kid would choose X over bumper cars, skydiving, rock climbing, surfing, ice skating, etc etc...

 

Having said that, in 25 years of sailing with X have never seen many school age kids on a ship, even in summer.

[MarLieb]

I can only speak to why we sail with our 12-year old son on Celebrity.  Our son detests chaos and noise, so Celebrity is really up his alley.  His ideal day is having hot chocolate and a muffin at Cafe al Bacio, doing a half-day shore excursion, returning to the ship for lunch (Sushi on 5 is his favorite), playing basketball (on our last cruise there were a ton of teens and adults playing pick-up games), maybe lounging by the pool, dinner, then an evening in the small kids club.  We've sailed DCL 7 times and age 7 was really the sweet spot for him on that line.  On our last DCL cruise, when he was 11, he went to their kids club for exactly 2 hours while my husband and I went to one of their adults-only restaurants.  After dinner, we found him in the club playing chess with one of the counselors and, once that game was over, he wanted to leave immediately.  We sailed over Christmas week last year on Summit and the ship really was not overrun by children and, the ones that were there, were quite well-behaved in my opinion.  We have never sailed under KSF, so it hasn't been an incentive thus far.  I find, all-in, Celebrity offers a pretty good bang-for-your-buck for a major cruise line and always prices out less than DCL and RCCL for comparable staterooms.  I will say, in the mommy circles I run in, Celebrity is not on the radar at all.  I think the go-to cruise lines for families continue to be DCL, RCCL and Carnival.

[sgmn]

5 hours ago, HS2BS said:

 

As for school attendance, I believe that a family vacation together is important. The time missed from the classroom is really enhanced by travel and new experiences especially as a family unit(I taught for forty years).

 

Hal

Each to their own, but if parents are taking children out of school because it is cheaper in term time then I can only say from personal experience, my favourite ever family  holidays when the kids were small were cheap-ish caravan holidays on the continent during the school holidays. The kids loved them and they played happily with children from all over Europe. Loads of freedom and the beaches in France are  great. 

[phoenix_dream]

3 hours ago, rimmit said:

My parents did a lot of traveling when I was a kid.  I was OCD about attendance and only sporadically missed school,  but not nearly as much as my parents would have liked, but I threw a fit if they had me miss.

 

 

Please refrain from throwing out statements like that about OCD.  It is a real mental disability and not to be taken lightly.  People are not 'OCD' - they have OCD.  I'm sure you meant no offense, but living with someone suffering from it I feel the need to have my say every time I see statements like this.

[villauk]

32 minutes ago, Baron Barracuda said:

 

Do you think kids care about points?  All the mass market lines run kids sail free promos, so X isn't unique to that.  Parents who take kids on X are putting their desires first, kids just along for the ride.  What kid would choose X over bumper cars, skydiving, rock climbing, surfing, ice skating, etc etc...

 

Having said that, in 25 years of sailing with X have never seen many school age kids on a ship, even in summer.

 

 

Have you ever taken kids on an X cruise? And for your information, not all kids want to go ice skating, skydiving or rock climbing - surprisingly, just like not all adults like belly flopping, drinking alcohol all day until they can’t stand up straight or sitting in soupy jacuzzis. I agree that they don’t care about the points though, just the same as some adult pax don’t cruise just for the points! Some families travel all over the world experiencing new cultures together as a family and don’t care for returning to the same beaches in the Caribbean year after year 😉.

[rimmit]

54 minutes ago, phoenix_dream said:

Please refrain from throwing out statements like that about OCD.  It is a real mental disability and not to be taken lightly.  People are not 'OCD' - they have OCD.  I'm sure you meant no offense, but living with someone suffering from it I feel the need to have my say every time I see statements like this.

 

I apologize and will refrain from making statements like that in the future.

[keesar]

2 hours ago, Baron Barracuda said:

 

Do you think kids care about points?  All the mass market lines run kids sail free promos, so X isn't unique to that.  Parents who take kids on X are putting their desires first, kids just along for the ride.  What kid would choose X over bumper cars, skydiving, rock climbing, surfing, ice skating, etc etc...

 

Having said that, in 25 years of sailing with X have never seen many school age kids on a ship, even in summer.

 

How about those parents that post that their Celebrity is the favorite ship of their one year old child?

 

I also have noted that even on school vacation weeks, there are not many children on Celebrity ships.  

[Mike981]

2 hours ago, Baron Barracuda said:

Do you think kids care about points? 

 

I believe the point is that when the "kids" become 21, they will have a much higher status and receive whatever perks are being offered at that time for their higher status.
Not, "Mommy I only want to go on Celebrity to get my points." 🙂

[Georgia_Peaches]

14 hours ago, gretan said:

we are cruising Celebrity again this Thanksgiving on a 9 day Silhouette cruise.

On the same cruise and can't wait!  I think that there will probably be a nice mix of people with kids vs. those without due to the 9 night itinerary.  

[rimmit]

3 hours ago, Baron Barracuda said:

Parents who take kids on X are putting their desires first, kids just along for the ride.

 

I think this is an unfair generalization.  There are too many reasons to list why a parent may take child on X as we have.  Sure RCI, DCL, and CCL have more for kids,  but is life really all about ice skating rinks, bumper cars, and water slides??

 

Maybe, just maybe, some parents want to expose their children to the world and other cultures rather than just going to the same beaches year in and year out.  Maybe they want them to gain appreciation of how people in other countries and cultures live and how lucky they may be to have a roof over their head and a warm meal everyday.