Which Family Cruiseline do you like most & Why

[cdnliving]

Hi all. We are himming and hawing (?sp) over which cruise to take with our children (12, 10). I was wondering if you would mind sharing with us, which cruiseline you prefer to travel with, with your children and why?

Thanks so much.

 

Karen

[jimswims]

Hi all. We are himming and hawing (?sp) over which cruise to take with our children (12, 10). I was wondering if you would mind sharing with us, which cruiseline you prefer to travel with, with your children and why?

Thanks so much.

 

Karen

 

Hi Karen:

 

My wife and I have really enjoyed taking our kids (age 8 and 12) on NCL. We have been on other lines and while we have really enjoyed RCCL and Cunard, we think NCL is great for families. We will be taking our kids on their 4th NCL cruise next summer. Here is why:

 

1: Kids Crew. They really have a great time meeting friends and the counselors.

2:Freestyle cruising. We love to have 13 restaurants (larger NCL Ships) to choose from. We love the fact that we do not have to eat a certain time every night at an assigned table. Some nights we eat early, some late. We like to dress up but NCL is Resort Casual dress code.

3: Family dinners and dinners for 2. With freestyle, we can take the kids to dinner and feed them at 6:00 pm, they can go to the Kids Crew at 7:00 pm and my wife and I can then have a nice romantic dinner for 2. The kids are safe, having fun, and we have a date on vacation....Love this perk of Freestyle!

4: People. We have met some wonderful people on our NCL cruises. Freestyle dining lets us have dinner with them (very hard/impossible to do on a traditional cruise that has assigned seating). It was so easy to make reservations for 2 families (we met on the CC Roll Call) to eat together one night on NCL!

 

I am sure that we will return to other lines in the future, for now NCL and freestyle works well for our family.

 

Good luck with your decisions....cruising is a great way to vacation :)!

[benolathe]

Don't have anything to compare with - but we took our kids on a RCCL cruise when they were 10 and 12 and they loved it! RCCL also has nice kids' clubs that mine really enjoyed. RCCL does have assigned seating for dinner - and again, our kids enjoyed having a nice 'fancy' meal. There is an informal, buffet option every evening for dinner as well as room service.

 

Good luck choosing a cruise!

 

BTW, we had taken the kids to DisneyWorld a couple of years prior to the cruise, and they said that they enjoyed the cruise much more. I think it was because we were constantly 'on the go' and doing something at DisneyWorld - but there was more "relaxing" time on the ship.

[cdnliving]

Thankyou both for sharing your personal experiences. They were very helpful, both have their benefits. We would love to hear from others too!! Keep them coming.....

[crusinmama06]

Well since we have been on all of the main cruise lines (RCCL, NCL, Carnival and Disney) with our 2 children (ages 2 and 6)...I can say that for your childrens' ages I would choose RCCL.

 

We JUST got off of our Carnival cruise and my kids LOVED it....BUT they are younger than yours. Carnival seems to have LOTS of stuff to do for the 8 and Under crowd. But I didn't really notice alot of activities for the 9 and over age group.

 

On the RCCL ships, especially the Freedom Class and the Voyager Class, there will be many things for your kids to do (ice skating, rock climbing, surfing, H2O Zone on the Freedom class, etc)

 

You'll have a great time whichever line you choose. :D

[will work to cruise]

:o Can't really compare! The one and only cruise that we've done was on DCL. We had a great time, but we are going to do RCCL in June 2008. We are expecting to have just as good a time.

[derrick22]

Sailed with Disney in April with a 15 y/o and and loved it. Only a 3 day. We did the land/sea cruise. We saw our son for dinner only because we told him we had to. Disney even took him off island and we spend time on the adult only beach.

The last time we cruised was 20 years ago and it was with RCCL so we are trying them agin in April 2007. The Disney cruise was very expensive and I'm not sure it was worth it. Will compare in April.

Have fun deciding.

[lexxity]

We have just done Cunard with our (then) 13month old, so I can't compare ages, but it was really marvellous. So good we have two more to look forward too. :)

[dkjretired]

Have done 8 cruises with my kids on Celebrity and they have excellent childrens programs and just created an affiliation with Leap Frog Schoolhouse programs. Below is a link to their press release announcing the new program. Royal Caribbean just announced a new program affiliation also.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=443213

[shirleygr]

We've done Carnival and RC with our sons when they were around your kids' ages. We found RC to have the better program for this age group. Can't comment on NCL since we only had our 2 daughters with us on that cruise and they were 3 and 5 at the time.

One thing to consider aside from the cruiseline is the ship. I've found the ships with the best kids areas, and therefore more and better activities, are definitely the newer ships. Stick with those built in the last 5 or 6 years.

I think cruising is the best family vacation out there. Have a wonderful time whatever you choose. :)

[3GR8Sons]

We have only taken the kids on one cruise (our second is coming up this week) and they had a great time on Carnival. THey were 5, 9, 11 when we went last time and they are 7, 10, 12 (almost 13) now.

 

The older 2 generally do not like kids clubs at land based resorts but they love kids clubs on the ships. The older ones (9 and over) can sign themselves in and out as long as you consent. We armed them with walkie talkies and they contacted us when they were leaving the kids clubs. They liked the freedom to come and go as they pleased. Carnival had a party for the kids that lasted all night (additional charge). They danced, played, had ice cream, contests, etc. The kids were escorted back to the room at some really late hour (like 2AM). My kids had a blast. My younger one wasn't old enough at the time. I think the kids had to be 8 to participate in the party.

 

My kids stick together when we travel. They like to play with each other and keep each other company when we travel (not like when we are home). I don't know if Carnival is better or worse than any other cruise lines for family travel but my kids loved it. They were excited when we said we were taking another cruise.