Regal, is there things for kids to do?

[njkate]

Newbie here and booked on Regal for July and my 8 year old grandson is coming besides the kids club is there much for an 8 year old to do? It is port intensive but curious for evenings. 

[PRINCESS Sweet Pea]

You will get mixed responses to this....   Some kids really love just cruising.   And, the kids club on Princess will have the usual space and activities.   (I haven't been onboard with a child that age, so I do not know any detailed info)

Personally, for me, I would not say that Princess has a lot to offer, as compared to other cruise lines that have kids water/park area, rock climbing, wave rider, even a racing motor-cart track on one ship.

Those just will not be on the Regal.

 

For an itinerary like the one you are planning, I would LOVE the regal.  I would choose her in an instant.   It is one of my favorite ships.

But, maybe not-so-much for the 8 year old.

Maybe he is low-maintainance, and doesn't really need/want those extra active things onboard.

 

This kind of thing is always personal preference!

Weighing what everyone in your family would be happier with.

Ship, Ports, etc.

[njkate]

Sweet pea, first thank you for answering my newbie questions.

His first cruise was last month on NCL Bliss to Alaska and he loved it, asked when Mema was taking him on another cruise lol 

Our port stops were short and sweet in retrospect wished I had checked out Princess for Alaskan cruise as I felt very rushed on NCL, the Bliss has all those kid gadgets like arcade, race track etc which came in handy with the amount of time we spent on ship instead of in ports.

 

He loves to swim so we do have pool, I already registered him for kids club for sea days and evenings if he isn’t too tired. I had looked into NCL for a similar itinerary but the cost was outrageous, it’s on the Dawn a smaller Ncl ship so it doesn’t have all the kid gadgets.

I’m thinking we will be fine but we shall see lol. He is very excited now to get his first passport stamp, he loves to hand that over himself to TSA lol

Edited August 16, 2022 by njkate

[Sail away MK]

My 9 year old LOVED the Princess kids club when we did an Alaskan cruise several years ago.  After day 2 we had to switch to early seating so she could be in the club for the 7-10 evening activities.  In one port there was a zip lining activity planned which she could not go on (too small) so we signed her up for the on ship "excursion" of making a cake with the chef.  She is 25 and still talks about it.  For her, the biggest plus was not many kids.  There were about 12 in her age group and no one felt left out.  In contrast, we did a Carnival cruise a couple of years later and she hated the kids club.  So many kids that the staff could give no personal attention to the quiet ones.  The reason you don't see a lot of kids on Princess is because the clubs are so fantastic.

[njkate]

46 minutes ago, Sail away MK said:

My 9 year old LOVED the Princess kids club when we did an Alaskan cruise several years ago.  After day 2 we had to switch to early seating so she could be in the club for the 7-10 evening activities.  In one port there was a zip lining activity planned which she could not go on (too small) so we signed her up for the on ship "excursion" of making a cake with the chef.  She is 25 and still talks about it.  For her, the biggest plus was not many kids.  There were about 12 in her age group and no one felt left out.  In contrast, we did a Carnival cruise a couple of years later and she hated the kids club.  So many kids that the staff could give no personal attention to the quiet ones.  The reason you don't see a lot of kids on Princess is because the clubs are so fantastic.

Thank you that’s good to read 

Edited August 16, 2022 by njkate

[PRINCESS Sweet Pea]

Too bad you didn't check out Princess for Alaska...  Princess is really THE way to cruise Alaska!

I hope you and your grandson have a great cruise on the Regal!

[njkate]

29 minutes ago, PRINCESS Sweet Pea said:

Too bad you didn't check out Princess for Alaska...  Princess is really THE way to cruise Alaska!

I hope you and your grandson have a great cruise on the Regal!

I very much plan on going Alaska again and will book Princess

[fishin' musician]

Compared to RCL, Carnival and NCL; Princess offers very few family/children activities.

[ghgeckos]

7 hours ago, Sail away MK said:

My 9 year old LOVED the Princess kids club when we did an Alaskan cruise several years ago.  After day 2 we had to switch to early seating so she could be in the club for the 7-10 evening activities.  In one port there was a zip lining activity planned which she could not go on (too small) so we signed her up for the on ship "excursion" of making a cake with the chef.  She is 25 and still talks about it.  For her, the biggest plus was not many kids.  There were about 12 in her age group and no one felt left out.  In contrast, we did a Carnival cruise a couple of years later and she hated the kids club.  So many kids that the staff could give no personal attention to the quiet ones.  The reason you don't see a lot of kids on Princess is because the clubs are so fantastic.

Our youngest son did the cake excursion too. He loved it too (24 now). We still talk about that cake. They served it to us for dessert.

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, fishin' musician said:

Compared to RCL, Carnival and NCL; Princess offers very few family/children activities.

I think this is a matter of perspective. What does one want their 8 year old to get out of a cruise?  On a port intensive cruise, are go-carts and rock walls important?  We took our kid on a cruise to climb Mayan pyramids and zip line in the Honduran rainforest. Not climb a cruise ship wall and zip line over the pool deck. Off the ship at 8:00 a.m., back by 5:00. Dinner at 6:30. It’s now 7:30-8:00 p.m.  What is the cruise ship supposed to provide from 8:00-9:00 (bed time) that is so important that Princess can’t deliver?  As for a Sea Day, the club for 8 year olds will do just fine in July. People can’t assume that all cruise are Caribbean cruises with 4 Sea Days.  Consider how much free time there will actually be on a cruise before concluding that Princess isn’t a good choice. Destination, port activities and excursion options are far more important than what a kid’s club offers. Kid’s clubs are vastly overrated on cruise ships. If you want your child to have an amusement park vacation, take them to an amusement park. 

[fishin' musician]

1 hour ago, JimmyVWine said:

I think this is a matter of perspective. What does one want their 8 year old to get out of a cruise?  On a port intensive cruise, are go-carts and rock walls important?  We took our kid on a cruise to climb Mayan pyramids and zip line in the Honduran rainforest. Not climb a cruise ship wall and zip line over the pool deck. Off the ship at 8:00 a.m., back by 5:00. Dinner at 6:30. It’s now 7:30-8:00 p.m.  What is the cruise ship supposed to provide from 8:00-9:00 (bed time) that is so important that Princess can’t deliver?  As for a Sea Day, the club for 8 year olds will do just fine in July. People can’t assume that all cruise are Caribbean cruises with 4 Sea Days.  Consider how much free time there will actually be on a cruise before concluding that Princess isn’t a good choice. Destination, port activities and excursion options are far more important than what a kid’s club offers. Kid’s clubs are vastly overrated on cruise ships. If you want your child to have an amusement park vacation, take them to an amusement park. 

Did I say anything that was not accurate?

[JimmyVWine]

31 minutes ago, fishin' musician said:

Did I say anything that was not accurate?

I said that it is a matter of perspective. From my perspective, what you said is not accurate. Princess compares very favorably with those other cruise lines you mentioned for a July, port-intensive cruise which is what the OP is doing.  When you get off an RCL ship at 8:00 a.m. and return at 5:00 p.m. having spent the day touring, and you do the same from a Princess ship, I’d say that by definition the two cruise lines are dead even.  

[njkate]

9 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

I said that it is a matter of perspective. From my perspective, what you said is not accurate. Princess compares very favorably with those other cruise lines you mentioned for a July, port-intensive cruise which is what the OP is doing.  When you get off an RCL ship at 8:00 a.m. and return at 5:00 p.m. having spent the day touring, and you do the same from a Princess ship, I’d say that by definition the two cruise lines are dead even.  

Thank you! Yes this cruise is very port intensive, he will be about 6 weeks shy of his 9th birthday and isn’t the type of kid that has to be entertained 24/7. Our Alaskan cruise last month on Ncl Bliss even though the ship had all the kid gadgets, even with my son buying the arcade package for him he had limits each day on how much time he could spend there. 

[johnnylikely]

My 8 year old nephew LOVED kids club on the southampton Enchanted we just came off. They had computer games, skee ball, fuseball and he made some great friends. The family fun day fair was great too. Really well done!

[Roatanfans]

My kids all loved the kids club at that age.  They are very well organized and run with lots of planned activities as well as individual activities (video games, board games, table games (depending on ship air hockey, skee ball, frooz ball).  Outside kids club there are a lot less things for kids and most are family activities.  Most ships have a mini golf or croquet area, ping pong tables and there are usually games available in the library.  Of course there are pools, movies under the stars and most activities in the patter would be fine for a child that is interested.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

We've been on Regal twice. Compared to RCI and newer NCL ships, it offers nothing for active kids, aside from the kid's club. Pre-pandemic there was a lovely kid's party in the piazza, but the last time we were on Regal the party was very lame.

Our kid doesn't do kid's club, so he just tags along with us around the ship. DS is low maintenance, thank goodness. He also loves the extensive free movie and cartoon on-demand TV programming on Regal. When he was younger (DS is 11 now), he also loved to lounge in the hot tubs. The pool water is way too cold usually.

 

DS loves cruising and doesn't complain about a lack of activities on Princess ships. For him, cruising is more about going to the beach in the ports of call (we only sail in the Caribbean) and just vegging out. And if we get him a beverage package, he'll just be the happiest kid on earth. Which we did for our Enchanted cruise in 3 months.

Of course, we'll probably get covid on the next cruise (like we got it on the last cruise) and have to quarantine in the cabin, which makes the beverage package kind of useless since the room service is not up to par lately...

[WAvoyager]

My concern is that the one cruise your 8 year old has been on was on the Bliss, which is loaded with fun “special” activities (stuff he can’t do without leaving the house).  The Regal does not have anywhere near the level of experiences for kids that age, so I would prepare for a bit of a letdown.

 

Offsetting that is that the itinerary is much more port intensive, so he probably won’t be as impacted as if he had to spend more days at sea.

 

Our daughter has only cruised on Princess, and I’d like to book a trip on a more “loaded” ship, but I’m also fearing it a bit.  She had a great time on the cruises, but she doesn’t have any expectations of amenities which aren’t there.

 

No matter how much fun Universal Studios is, if the kids are expecting to see Mickey, there’s bound to be a bit of a letdown.  (We have the opposite problem now … damn Minions!)

Just be prepared for the “where’s the arcade?” Or “where’s the go kart track?” questions, and you’ll be fine.

 

Edited August 18, 2022 by WAvoyager

[njkate]

6 hours ago, WAvoyager said:

My concern is that the one cruise your 8 year old has been on was on the Bliss, which is loaded with fun “special” activities (stuff he can’t do without leaving the house).  The Regal does not have anywhere near the level of experiences for kids that age, so I would prepare for a bit of a letdown.

 

Offsetting that is that the itinerary is much more port intensive, so he probably won’t be as impacted as if he had to spend more days at sea.

 

Our daughter has only cruised on Princess, and I’d like to book a trip on a more “loaded” ship, but I’m also fearing it a bit.  She had a great time on the cruises, but she doesn’t have any expectations of amenities which aren’t there.

 

No matter how much fun Universal Studios is, if the kids are expecting to see Mickey, there’s bound to be a bit of a letdown.  (We have the opposite problem now … damn Minions!)

Just be prepared for the “where’s the arcade?” Or “where’s the go kart track?” questions, and you’ll be fine.

 

Yes that is my concern as well. I’m not a fan of the mega ships but booked the Bliss as it was his first cruise and had tons of kid stuff now I fear I may have set the bar to high. Even if I had stayed with NCL the only ship doing a similar itinerary is the Dawn a smaller ship that doesn’t have all that kid stuff. Hoping the ports have him returning to ship tired lol