New to the boards got a question

[MISN MB]

What is the best ship, line and ports for a family cruise?Three families going and grand parents. kids range in age from 16 down to 2 years( one child has Aspergers syndrome)

Please give all the suggestions you have all will be appreciated. we are looking for early April 2007.

Thanks in advance

[Eskwire]

What is the best ship, line and ports for a family cruise?Three families going and grand parents. kids range in age from 16 down to 2 years( one child has Aspergers syndrome)

Please give all the suggestions you have all will be appreciated. we are looking for early April 2007.

Thanks in advance

 

If you will have kids under 3 at the time of sailing and want them to use the kids clubs then you should do Carnival or Disney. You must be 3 to use the kids club in Princess or RCI.

 

RCI probably has more energy for the teens and RCI also has in cabin babysitting (so does Disney, actually). Carnival and Princess only have group babysitting after 10pm.

 

As for the child with Aspergers, you should contact the cruise lines individually to find out their rules regarding children with special needs and separating in the kids clubs.

 

People say Disney does kids better than anyone but you will pay a premium for that service.

 

Since you are travelling with grandparents, do their personalities need to be considered also or are they happy just being with the family wherever? You will read on these boards comments about food, service, etc., which may or may not be important to the grandparents. Princess I would say is a great "generations" cruise because it has a lot for everyone and most people say the food is superior to RCI. RCI is very high energy...maybe too much for some. I really don't know that much about Celebrity.

 

As for ports, I would say a Caribbean cruise is the easiest and you will find lots of other kids on this cruise (nice for the teens to meet other teens). All the ports are wonderful and you can do a port intensive cruise and you will get nice beach days. The other choice is to do a cruise with more at sea days and less ports, which is great for the large ships, since there is plenty to do onboard.

 

Enjoy your planning!

[2Cruise4Ever]

NCL has a kids club for children 2 and above as well. When we were on the NCL Dawn last year, we saw lots and lots of families; people of ALL ages. We took our 2 young ones (2 and 7 at the time) and we had a blast. The kids loved the kids crew so much they both begged us to go there as much as possible. We're going again next year and bringing the grandparents with us.

 

Whatever cruise line you choose, you'll be hooked for life!

 

Happy Sailing! :D

[Arubalisa]

Our dd has Asperger's and we are sailing Celebrity for a second time. Dd loved and dh and I were very impressed with their kid's program.

 

The program runs for ages 3 - 17. They offer "toddler time" for under 3 were parents may accompany their child to "play" in the kid's club for specific hours.

 

Dd was never treated any differently than any of the other kid's. When she needed "alone" time and did not want to leave the club, which she rarely if ever wants to, the counselors allowed her to go off to the side and occupy herself with a game or Playstation. She then rejoined the activity when she felt better. We were very surprised that the noise of all the kid's did not bother her, but it did not.

 

We were not impressed with HAL, though they offer kid's clubs on most ships, they are not known as being a "family" cruise line.

[CurtS]

We have six children, one has Asperger's and two are ADHD. At the time we did Disney, our children were 3-12 years old and it was a wonderful experience. For children that age, there is nothing more fun than having them meet disney characters and participating in many of the fun activities (Animator's Palate restaurant, pirate night). However, this year, with our children 5-14, we changed to Royal Caribbean on recommendation of our TA. While the 5 and 6 year olds would likey still enjoy Disney, the programs on RCL (and probably Carnival) were fine for them and I think the older children enjoyed themselves more.

 

Our Asperger's child did fine in the kid's club. Of course he didn't socialize that much but the counselors were very good about trying to keep him part of the activities and one counselor on DCL even had some one-on-one time with him. They all do a great job. Since the cruise was a new experience when we did Disney, two of the younger ones were a bit apprehensive and spent the first few days with us. But we had to make reservations with them on our latest venture!

 

Hope this helps.

 

Curt