Norwegian vs. Princess vs. Royal Caribbean for 11-yo and 6-yo sons

[pssamit]

Hello,

My wife and I are planning an Alaskan cruise for summer 2024 that will include our two sons who will be 11-yo and 6-yo next summer.  We've read that Princess has great structured educational programs for the kids, while Norwegian (e.g., Encore) and RC (e.g., Quantum) will have more entertainment options for them.  Can anyone compare/contrast these options to help us decide?  Why did you pick one over the others?  Do all of these options have a dedicated kids club where we can drop off the kids from time to time?

Thanks.

 

Edited to add:  our family has been on one cruise (Disney to Bahamas), so are fairly inexperienced with cruises.

Edited June 8, 2023 by pssamit

[Jeremiah On a Cruise]

We've only sailed with our kids on Princess, but found their kids club very good.  Actually, we have sailed on several lines with our kids, and found most of the at sea kids clubs outstanding.  Our kids, who are around the ages of your kids, loved them.  Though, none of these will be quite the level of Disney, which is clearly a step up.  However, I would not call any of these programs educational.

 

RC has an amazing reputation for kids, and will probably have more families than the other options.  Their sweet spot is probably 12-18, though they will definitely cater to, and offer good services for a 6-11 year old.  We've tried to book them several times, but don't love her itineraries and found their rates for a good cabin too high, and spent a similar amount on a more premium line.  This will be the most lively of the options listed.

 

I can't speak to the Encore as I've never cruised on her, nor seriously researched her. 

 

Another option is the Celebrity Eclipse.  If you're open to leaving from Vancouver, the Celebrity Eclipse has a great itinerary, and is actually my kids' favorite ship.  Frankly, it may be my favorite ship as well...  Some, but not too may kids.  Adult focused but do a great job catering to kids.  Fancy but comfortable.  She will be slightly older than the other cruise options, but is a great ship with ideal connecting cabins.  

 

[tetleytea]

Norwegian.   I've sailed them, Norwegian is the best for kids.

[CCJack]

23 hours ago, Jeremiah On a Cruise said:

  Actually, we have sailed on several lines with our kids, and found most of the at sea kids clubs outstanding. 

 

I tend to agree....  My kids are older now, but we cruised a lot when they were that age.  It took me a couple cruises to figure out that my kids really didn't care if there were lots of other kids and lots of kid's programs.   The basic kid's programs on most mainstream lines was fine for them, and some  but not a lot of other kids was fine (actually preferable to them).   They sometimes ended up fascinated with something else....  billiard table, shuffleboard or the self serve ice cream machine !  You can never predict that stuff.   I would not compromise itinerary or the ship that the parents want to get a better kid's program.   That said, we usually ended up on RCCL with kids.  Now that we are empty nesters, we like Celebrity.   However, I would not hesitate to take kids on Celebrity as well.

 

 

[Coral]

I would book the cruise you want with the best itinerary. All major cruise lines have great kids programs and your kids will have a blast. In Alaska - Alaska is the destination, not the ship. It would not be good to sacrifice itinerary for a climbing wall, etc....

[vswan]

Any Alaska cruise is focused on the itinerary and not on the ship itself. All three lines have a kids club and I have had good luck with kids club on every line I've sailed.

 

I would base my decision on what your port stops are and how long you are at those places - and where you get on and off the ship and how easy/difficult it is to get to those ports from where you live.

 

Having said that, I am traveling to Alaska this summer with my 14 year old grandson. I chose to go on Norwegian - in and out of Seattle. Shorter flights than from Vancouver to Anchorage. Being his first time to Alaska, he will not miss the full north to south route or know which glaciers are better than others. Flights are shorter and since it's just the two of us, I thought he might like the race cars, water slides and laser tag at his age - and I've made him to agree to go to kids club the first night to meet others his age so he doesn't have only grandma to do things with the whole week.

[SuzieQ521]

I have a very detailed review about the kids club on our recent Alaska voyage on Princess (on the Princess thread--just search "Discovery Kids club") but in a nutshell, Princess's kids club is by and far better than NCL's in my opinion.

 

We have a 4, almost 5 year old; when we tried NCL (Bliss) to Mexico this past January, he really did not care much for the kids club and it seemed more like a babysitting service (no real structured activities)--mostly playing Mario Kart and Legos, which is fine if that's what your kids want.

 

We just did a Royal Princess cruise last month and they have the most amazing structured Alaska programming...my son did not want to leave and kept asking to go back. We almost needed a whole separate suit case for all the fun crafts and activities he brought home; they had theme nights (like Pirate night, cowboy western day, Olympic games day, PJ party night, etc.) and Alaska specific activities. On Glacier Bay Day, they had a park ranger come and speak as part of a junior ranger program and they all received pins and special certificates. Your kids would be in the second group for ages 8-12 on Princess and that room is a lot of fun too (skeeball, air hockey, video games, and other games in there, plus all the structured activities). Also, Princess's kids clubs are open on Port days (you reserve ahead of time) while NCL's were not for us. 

 

What I also liked about Princess's kids club is that they would give you pagers in case of emergencies; NCL would ask us what deck would be on which wasn't really helpful if parents wanted to move around. I think NCL is fun for older teens for all their activities like the go karts, laser tag etc. (although those cost extra).

 

I definitely recommend Princess's kids club!

Edited June 12, 2023 by SuzieQ521