Children on Princess Cruise

[ravenrob]

Here is my situation, we are experienced cruisers and will be on the CB next June celebrating my 40th birthday. We will be bringing our 2 children (ages 8 and 5)with us. I am concerned that they will not enjoy the kids programs. They have already been on RCCL and Disney. Anyone that can shed some light about the Princess kids program will be appreciated.

 

Thank you.

[Love Boat Dream]

He will have his 7th birthday on the Crown this summer.

 

He LOVES the kids program on Princess. We were also on RCI and he enjoyed that one too.

 

I'm sure someone has kids patters scanned to you can see the activities. but, there is a lot to do and they have a lot of fun.

[LARGIN]

Welcome to the CC.. You should do a search to find that information. Since you are a newbie, I did it for you.. Go here..

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/search.php?searchid=3398840

[LFM]

We started taking our 2 sons at about the same ages of yours. They had a ball and remember their first cruise to this day - the boys are now 28 and 23. Enjoy!!!

[Boatingmom]

:confused: My children presenty 8 & 6 have been cruising since they were 6 & 3 yo. We've been on Disney, RCCL and Princess. In that order. On the Magic we found the kids program over crowded and noisy. My son who is sensitive, threw up and we had to retrieve him. That was the end of the castaway club for the entire vacation. We tried everything! Then on RCCL Adventurer of the Sea they liked the kids pools but the pools were closed during the hours you wanted to use them. And not much by way of kids club. However, we hired an on board babysitter from house keeping who was exceptional. When we booked Princess we were expecting the worse. Plus we were sailing with the inlaws:eek: We Cruised the Golden in February and now my kids beg to go on another Princess cruise. By day three they didn't want to come with us either day or night! My son is exceptionally shy and Princess just gave the added attention to make the children feel special. Hope this helps

[hawaii6o]

We have sailed on Disney and just got back from the Sun princess to Alaska. My dd is shy and not a socializer. I found disney to have a lot more down time. With less structure than the princess cruise we were just on. On our princess cruise they had alot of activities but they seemed to be a 1/2 hr long and then went to the next activity. My daughter went into the disney club when they had the structured things that she wanted to do. Like the baking cookies and making goo. On the princess cruise she just went in like 2 times. Then she made a friend and hung out with her the rest of the time. This is just my observation with my child. I saw on both ships that kids loved it. I think it just depends on your child.

[Cruisin' Chick]

My daughter's Princess cruises were at age 5, 7, and 8 and she enjoyed all three cruises. The scope of the program depends on the quantity of kids aboard. When we went in February (the lst of those), there were less kids and fewer activities. The next two times, more kids and more activities.

[Bob-A-Loo]

My 10 year old grandson just completed his 13th cruise - his first being when he was 4. We usually cruise on Princess and he LOVES the kids program. He also loves good food and never orders from the kids menu. His favorites are sushi for lunch, and of course crab legs and lobster! VERY expensive tastes!

[lbcrosby]

We went to Alaska for our 10th anniversary and took our son along. Yes, I know this is crazy and we were optimistic that he would enjoy the kids program. We were thrilled to see how much he enjoyed it. We took him off the ship one of the ports and the rest of the time we just left him on board as he complained so much about wanting to be with his friends on the ship. One thing that I enjoyed with Princess is that the kids program was not that crowded (there were less than 30 kids in his group with about three to four workers). I have attached a link to the webshots I have from the Diamond Princess trip. http://community.webshots.com/user/loricrosby. It also includes a copy of the kids menu and the Patters for that ship. I am not sure how closely the activities mirror those on the CB but at least it will give you an idea. You can do a search to find other patters that may have been listed. We are planning a Disney cruise for next October (2007 - I love to plan:o ) and one difference we noted was it appears that on Disney you can actually leave your kids in the program all day whereas Princess we had to pick them up for the meals. Often we returned him before our meal was over in the evening as it started up before the late seating was done.

 

If your kids are social at all they will most likely enjoy the Kids program.

[Guest newhampshire]

We just returned from a Princess Baltic cruise with family and our 4 year old grandson. He loves the Kids Zone and wanted to go back there every evening after dinner. There were not many children on board this cruise and he even stayed on board one day rather than walk around Stockholm. He also had a blast last year on the Island Princess in Alaska, plenty of crafts for them to do and games to play.

[emarismom]

I just got off the Diamond this past Saturday. I sailed with my two kids aged 7 and 10. We have been on three Carnival cruises prior to this one and both of my kids preferred the Princess kids club to Carnival. They never wanted to come with us. They begged to go to the kids club when we were in port and when it closed. They really enjoyed it. I DID TOO!!!