laura215 Posted July 6, 2006 #1 Share Posted July 6, 2006 Hi I am new to the board. I am considering either ncl or Rccl out of NY with my husband and 4 year old and 7 month old. Is one better then the other for children. Any suggestions on what rooms to get. I was thinking a balconey room on RCCl and a mini-suite if we go with NCL which is defintly the cheaper of the two cruises. Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusinmama06 Posted July 7, 2006 #2 Share Posted July 7, 2006 I've sailed with both cruise lines and I can say without a doubt, for kids...RCCL is your best bet. We were booked to do Explorer out of Cape Liberty but had to cancel for personal scheduling conflicts :mad: . But I really researched info on that ship (I have 2 kids, 6 and 2)....and it looks like a wonderful ship for kids. All of the reviews were great. So many activities for the kids. No doubt, book the Explorer balcony room even if you have to pay more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laura215 Posted July 9, 2006 Author #3 Share Posted July 9, 2006 I will look into rccl kids program Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smilk16 Posted July 12, 2006 #4 Share Posted July 12, 2006 We have cruised on all of the RCI Voyager class ships with our son starting at age 3. He LOVED the kids program. I can't say enough about it. We had to beg him to come and spend some time with us for a change. We are cruising NCL Dawn later this month so I don't have anything to say about their program yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2Cruise4Ever Posted July 13, 2006 #5 Share Posted July 13, 2006 I've cruised on both but only NCL with my kids (2 and 7 then). We had an absolute blast! I loved the Kids Crew. As did my kids. They begged me every day to go there. Every staff member doted over both of them. The one thing that amazed me was when we were dining with our children, the service was quick and efficient. When it was just DH and I, the service was slow and intimate. They already knew that the kids wouldn't sit at the table for 2 hours or more and allowed DH and I to reconnect with a slower meal. I've only cruised NCL twice, but both times were amazing. Not that the other lines weren't good. But, we found the service to be far and above the others on NCL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katyjeka Posted July 14, 2006 #6 Share Posted July 14, 2006 We sailed the Dawn 12/05 with our 3 DD's(2,4,10). We loved it so much we are sailing NCL Spirit again this December. We were told there were 90 kids on board the Dawn when we sailed, which made for great interaction with all of the staff. They loved our girls, and our 2 oldest begged to cruise again this year and skip Disney World. We booked connecting balcony cabins and had more than enough room. We enjoyed the kids pool area with our youngest which was almost always empty. It felt like we were at a private pool aboard a private ship. We often asked each other, where is everyone?? We enjoyed the shows, played bingo, napkin folded, etc.. with the kids, and the staff was great the entire cruise. We heard a couple of comments from fellow cruisers who stated that they did alot more with the kids on the Dawn because there were so few of them.(I guess the 1st two weeks of Dec. are not busy weeks, and less people take kids on the longer cruises). What ever you decide, have a great trip. Janice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunkey1 Posted July 15, 2006 #7 Share Posted July 15, 2006 We've taken our kids on the Norwegian Dawn, Norwegian Sun and Carnival Glory. They had a blast on all their cruises, but I do think NCL had the edge in really making the kids feel special. Haven't taken them on RCCL yet (can't justify the extra cost!) but would be more hesitant to take smaller kids on the mega ships just due to the logistics of getting them from point A to point B. Having to sign them in and out requires lots of trips on mom and dad's part and with a huge ship it can be tiring. I also love the freestyle dining with kids as you aren't pressured to be ready for dinner at a particular time every day. This makes for a much more relaxing trip. We had great service on both lines. the wait staff always realized our kids wanted to get to their activites, but they also wanted to enjoy the dining room experience. Often, we would finish our meal and my husband would run them to Kid's Crew while we were waiting for dessert to come out and then he and I would relax and enjoy a leisurely dessert and coffee. This is another example of where the smaller ship came in handy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laura215 Posted July 16, 2006 Author #8 Share Posted July 16, 2006 We sailed the Dawn 12/05 with our 3 DD's(2,4,10). We loved it so much we are sailing NCL Spirit again this December. We were told there were 90 kids on board the Dawn when we sailed, which made for great interaction with all of the staff. They loved our girls, and our 2 oldest begged to cruise again this year and skip Disney World. We booked connecting balcony cabins and had more than enough room. We enjoyed the kids pool area with our youngest which was almost always empty. It felt like we were at a private pool aboard a private ship. We often asked each other, where is everyone?? We enjoyed the shows, played bingo, napkin folded, etc.. with the kids, and the staff was great the entire cruise. We heard a couple of comments from fellow cruisers who stated that they did alot more with the kids on the Dawn because there were so few of them.(I guess the 1st two weeks of Dec. are not busy weeks, and less people take kids on the longer cruises). What ever you decide, have a great trip. Janice My kids will be 7 months and almost 4 on our cruise. If we do take the dawn do you feel that 2 connecting cabins are better than a minisuite? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katyjeka Posted July 21, 2006 #9 Share Posted July 21, 2006 We went with two cabins because we wanted the two bathrooms.(And they came in handy!)They opened the door between the room and balcony when we got onboard. It was also nice to have our own room at night, after the kids went to sleep. The only con to this is that you will not have a tub. Although the shower worked great with our kids and the nozzle can be moved very low for the little ones. Either way you go, you'll have a great time. The Dawn is truly a wonderful experience. Janice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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