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Kids and Empress of the Seas


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14 hours ago, cruiserider444 said:

I am looking at a cruise next year for Empress of the Seas. My young kids have been on many cruises on various cruiselines. This ship doesn't seem to have a lot compared to other ships. Any feedback on kid's activities, events, things to do?

 

Adventure would be a better choice, IMO.

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Here is an Empress Adventure Ocean and Teens Cruise Compass from a past cruise:

 

Empress AO and Teens CC Jul 21, 2019.pdf

 

I'm on her right now.  Fifty kids on this sailing, three hundred next week for Thanksgiving.  

 

My kids are all grown up so I have no direct experience with the children's programming on the ship. 

 

Empress provides a classic cruise experience.  Today ships have water slides, ice skating rinks, bumper cars, zip lines and all sort of activities.  Empress doesn't have all that.  If you are looking to spend time with your kids and leverage Adventure Ocean for some adult time she is a great ship.  If you are looking for a lot of activities and sports to entertain your kids so you don't have to you are not going to find that on Empress.  

 

 

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thanks everyone. The itinerary and timing is the reason this ship is chosen. Just 1 sea day, so I figured entertainment during the day wouldn't be a big deal and at night, they can do kids club during the shows. There are newer ships leaving the same timeframe, but they go to places we have already been (Port canaveral, nassau and the private island)

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2 hours ago, twangster said:

Here is an Empress Adventure Ocean and Teens Cruise Compass from a past cruise:

 

Empress AO and Teens CC Jul 21, 2019.pdf 875 kB · 2 downloads

 

I'm on her right now.  Fifty kids on this sailing, three hundred next week for Thanksgiving.  

 

My kids are all grown up so I have no direct experience with the children's programming on the ship. 

 

Empress provides a classic cruise experience.  Today ships have water slides, ice skating rinks, bumper cars, zip lines and all sort of activities.  Empress doesn't have all that.  If you are looking to spend time with your kids and leverage Adventure Ocean for some adult time she is a great ship.  If you are looking for a lot of activities and sports to entertain your kids so you don't have to you are not going to find that on Empress.  

 

 

Hard to believe 20yrs ago Royal had not single one of these extras. Didnt even have Diamond Lounge, pretty sure first was called Diamond Club and was in the Crown Lounge on Voyager Class. Single parent back then, 3 kids, 2yrs, 5 and 9. We still had fun everyday of our Cruise

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Depends on the kid! I would agree that there is not a lot going on on this ship but my daughter was fine with it.  She is 10 and has  been on all Oasis class ships, the two larger Disney ships and the Anthem.  We have never had a problem finding something to do on any of them.  If given a choice she would prefer Oasis class but perfectly happy with smaller ships.  She is pretty low maintenance though. 

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If sharing a stateroom with kids, keep in mind that Empress has extremely small cabins.  Insides I think are about 115sqft and balconies are similarly small when compared to other ships.  I would pass on Empress with kids or if planning more than 2 in a cabin.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 11/21/2019 at 2:59 PM, twangster said:

Here is an Empress Adventure Ocean and Teens Cruise Compass from a past cruise:

 

Empress AO and Teens CC Jul 21, 2019.pdf 875 kB · 9 downloads

 

I'm on her right now.  Fifty kids on this sailing, three hundred next week for Thanksgiving.  

 

My kids are all grown up so I have no direct experience with the children's programming on the ship. 

 

Empress provides a classic cruise experience.  Today ships have water slides, ice skating rinks, bumper cars, zip lines and all sort of activities.  Empress doesn't have all that.  If you are looking to spend time with your kids and leverage Adventure Ocean for some adult time she is a great ship.  If you are looking for a lot of activities and sports to entertain your kids so you don't have to you are not going to find that on Empress.  

 

 

I was worried about the kid's club.  Our recent cruise we hardly saw our kiddo as he wanted to spend the entire time in the kid's club.  Hoping there will be plenty of kids but this sound good so far.  

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We did a short 4 night cruise on the Empress to Cuba. My kids are 10 and 7 years old and they’ve sailed 10 times across 5 different cruise lines. They usually love going to the kids club, but this was the first time in a long time that they begged not to to go. On this ship, Adventure Ocean is just one smallish, windowless room. It did look pretty depressing so I don’t blame my kids for not wanting to go. The only time that we absolutely forced them to go was when we had reservations at Chop’s Grille.

 

With that said, we did have a very enjoyable cruise. We just didn’t use the kids club. They enjoyed the pools and the rock climbing wall. They also participated in several family friendly activities throughout the ship, like the 70’s party and main theatre shows. That was enough to keep them happy.

 

Empress provides a nice experience, but you need to go with very realistic expectations. This ship is NOTHING like her bigger and younger sisters. Had this cruise been longer, I think that it would’ve been a bit more challenging to keep the kids entertained. 

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On 11/30/2019 at 9:19 PM, Tapi said:

We did a short 4 night cruise on the Empress to Cuba. My kids are 10 and 7 years old and they’ve sailed 10 times across 5 different cruise lines. They usually love going to the kids club, but this was the first time in a long time that they begged not to to go. On this ship, Adventure Ocean is just one smallish, windowless room. It did look pretty depressing so I don’t blame my kids for not wanting to go. The only time that we absolutely forced them to go was when we had reservations at Chop’s Grille.

 

With that said, we did have a very enjoyable cruise. We just didn’t use the kids club. They enjoyed the pools and the rock climbing wall. They also participated in several family friendly activities throughout the ship, like the 70’s party and main theatre shows. That was enough to keep them happy.

 

Empress provides a nice experience, but you need to go with very realistic expectations. This ship is NOTHING like her bigger and younger sisters. Had this cruise been longer, I think that it would’ve been a bit more challenging to keep the kids entertained. 

I'm pretty sure NCL's Escape Splash Academy is windowless too.  I imagine some other kid's clubs are as well.

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5 hours ago, VicRock said:

I'm pretty sure NCL's Escape Splash Academy is windowless too.  I imagine some other kid's clubs are as well.

Yes, true. Several that we’ve come across are windowless or lacking in natural light. Even the most elaborate, state of the art facilities, like the one aboard the Disney Fantasy, have been pretty enclosed. But the big difference is that those are large, expansive facilities designed for their intended purpose. Empress of the Seas was built without a kids club, so it was added later wherever they could. The room that was selected for it is literally 4 walls without windows, the size of a small conference room that would hold maybe 50 people. The facilities don’t look inviting. Its not where anybody, kid or adult, would choose to spend a couple of hours. 

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