Age range 1-70, will people hate us on Princess??

[snazurc]

Hi, we are looking at cruising Alaska for my parents 50th wedding anniversary. If everyone comes it will be a big group, with lots of little kids(8-9). Im looking between Princess and Carnival currently. Im trying to figure out if we would be hated on, on a Princess cruise?? Is princess kid friendly, or do people pick that one hoping there will be minimal kids? The cruises im looking at would either be Princess(emerald or regal) and Carnival Freedom. Any insight into these would be so helpful. Princess shows cheaper currently.

[thegoaliegirl]

My kids are 6 and 8 right now and we just booked their 3rd Cruise (our 5th) on Princess. For us, Princess is a great fit. There are kids but not over run with kids, so they all seemed better behaved. On our early Aug southbound sailing on the Regal there were 76 3-7 year olds and 147 8-12 year olds. Kids seemed to get extra attention from cruise staff, especially the younger ones. My kids love the kids clubs. Quite a few family activities onboard. 

[ceilidh1]

Both my kids cruised almost exclusively i=with Princess from under a year of age. They are both elite and still love the Princess cruises. We have never had an issue with other passengers and tend to see lots of kids on our sailings since we now sail during school holidays. We have done Alaska on Princess MANY times. The ships don't have the bells and whistles that some of the others do (no waterslides, arcades, rock wall, etc) so if you are looking for more kid activities then you might want to look at other lines. My kids do like to do the other ships with these added things now that they are getting older (now 12 and 9) but still request Princess as the first choice! The kids clubs are spectacular on Princess - not just babysitting but actual fun, educational activities. Most entertainment is very family friendly and there are lots of options for you to do things together as a family.

[kitkat343]

The passengers on Princess are very patient with children, as are the staff.  The kids club is excellent and will allow children under 3 to attend with parental/guardian supervision.  Princess is an excellent choice for young children, since the ships have lots of quiet areas for them to explore.  Older teens might be happier on a cruise line with water slides and go carts.  The only cruise line we had an issue with was HAL, where fellow passengers were a little unfriendly to children, but we were on a one week segment of a 3 week cruise leaving from Ft. Lauderdale, where the average age was quite senior.   A cruise with a different passenger mix might be different.   Surprisingly, even Cunard had friendly passengers and crew to young children.  

Edited January 31, 2020 by kitkat343

[Kerry's Girls]

Alaska cruises all have lots of kids.  My girls were always treated like queens on Princess.  Choose early dining and there will be lots of kids at dinner as well.  

[snazurc]

Thanks you guys, I found some forums that caused my initial worry, so this helps put my mind at ease. Since its alaska, the "outside" perks probably arent as necessary as they would be for a different type of cruise, I'm assuming it's not really warm enough for the slides and such. I want to try out princess, but didnt want to run into problems if it wasnt kid friendly. 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

why would they hate you? That's silly.

Our kid has been on Princess 4 times (4-8 yo). We never felt any different from being on RCI or NCL.

 

[snazurc]

39 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

why would they hate you? That's silly.

Our kid has been on Princess 4 times (4-8 yo). We never felt any different from being on RCI or NCL.

 

I agree its silly, I just was reading on some other forums that passengers were annoyed with kids. And multiple people said they dont take their kids on Princess when they go. So then I worried that they weren't very kid friendly and people chose princess for lack of kids. I just wanted to make sure that wasnt the case! 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

Just now, snazurc said:

I agree its silly, I just was reading on some other forums that passengers were annoyed with kids. And multiple people said they dont take their kids on Princess when they go. So then I worried that they weren't very kid friendly and people chose princess for lack of kids. I just wanted to make sure that wasnt the case! 

definitely not the case. You will find adults who are not happy that kids are present on any line pretty much. Grumpy people...

[snazurc]

5 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

definitely not the case. You will find adults who are not happy that kids are present on any line pretty much. Grumpy people...

Probably true! Those people should save their money for their own yacht or the really fancy cruises 😉 haha

[kitkat343]

Oh, I totally missed the part about you sailing to Alaska.  I did this cruise in mid May, when many schools were in session on Princess and there were still a ton of kids.    There will be even more during the later summer months.  The Alaska cruises tend to skew a bit younger demographically, but honestly I took a two year old on a Panama Canal cruise with only 9 kids and everyone loved my son.  In fact, I was once walking across the deck and a random stranger asked me where he was.  I told him he was napping with his father.  Three hours later, my husband ran into that guy and he asked him how his nap was.  There will be the occasional grouchy person, but I found a lot more of them on HAL than Princess, and was amazed that everyone was nice on Cunard.  I figured people who wear formal wear to the buffet would want no kids around, but they were very patient.

 

The ports in alaska are really small, so you can save money by booking private excursions.  My signature line has info on that.  Just note the deadliest catch excursion has an age limit (set by the boat, so you can't get around it by booking a private tour)/

Edited January 31, 2020 by kitkat343

[ceilidh1]

After many trips to Alaska, my kids still have three standout moments that they insist we do any time we are there!

 

Juneau: take the local bus to Sandy Beach and walk around the Treadwell Mine remains and then have a beach day! YES - a beach day in Alaska. Each time we have done this, the weather has been great and we have had an absolute blast for the cost of a bus ticket! The other thing they LOVE is hiking up Mount Roberts - it's about 45 minutes to an hour up but a relatively easy hike. At the top, buy something at the cafe and ride the gondola down for free!

 

Skagway: Either the ship excursion or book in town but do the summer dog sled camp. Definitely a highlight for my kids - hanging out with puppies and riding on a "sled" with the dogs pulling it.

[chipmaster]

Princess or Carnival for Alaska, no brainer decisions PRINCESS.

 

I've sailed them with parents and kids, there is NO discrimination they are a well rounded cruise that you'll love and they have far more sailings and ships to choose from to meet your probably tough scheduling!

 

[cb at sea]

It's your basic cruise line....they don't mind families any more than any other line!

[TupeloHoney]

There will always be people who get annoyed by everyone and everything on a cruise.  But I have not experienced too much of that on Princess and we have sailed with our kids on them many times.  Now my kids are generally not overly unruly so that perhaps helps.  But honestly, it's the grumpy butts that are the bigger problem on cruises, not the kids.  Chill out people!

You'll be fine on Princess!

[atobols]

We did Alaska on Princess last year.  My boys were 10 and 12 at the time.  The 10 year old loved it because he was playing video games in the kids club on every sea day.  My 12 year old was bored.  He wasn't into the kids club and he found most of the evening entertainment to be boring.  He did enjoy the High Seas Heist game, the comedian,  and the movies under the stars.  That was our second Princess cruise.  I will say that none of the other passengers were rude or seemed to be bothered by children in any way.  The staff wonderful with the kids and most of them went out of their way to make them feel special. 

 

My kids loved Alaska and wanted to do another cruise there this summer.  We've all gotten a little bored with Princess so we've decided to give Carnival a try.  I'm hoping the entertainment is more suited to our age range and that there will be more kids on the ship.  I liked Princess and will definitely sail with them again.  I'm just not sure it's the best fit for our family at this stage in our lives.