cruisingwith6 Posted January 8, 2007 #1 Share Posted January 8, 2007 We have 4 kids age 15, 13, 11 and 8 and we have decided to cruise from Florida this summer after a trip to Disney. We know that we LOVED the Mariner, the Magic and the Wonder with our kids but they are not in the budget with a trip to Disney as well. We have narrowed our choices down to one of the following: Carnival's Glory, Valor or Legend OR the Caribbean Princess (Carnival Liberty was too pricey). We love the idea of a water slide and free ice cream on Carnival and the mini golf and movie screen on Princess. Our concerns with Carnival are the reviews we have read that the Carnival ship may be really crowded and that there may not be too many entertainment options for kids. For Princess we have sailed without kids and enjoyed the atmosphere that was so relaxed but we are concerned that there may not be enough to do to keep the kids busy. We thought that Princess dining was the worst of the lines we had cruised as well. Has anyone had experience on any of these ships with kids as far as activities and the kids programming? We need to make a decision soon and any help would be soooo appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
POOHISME2 Posted January 8, 2007 #2 Share Posted January 8, 2007 I also have 4 children ages 14,13,11 and 10 have you looked into NCL? I have taken mine twice on NCL and they loved it both times. They have a great kids progran, anf teen program and the food choices for kids is great and always available. I have sailed Princess and Carnival and would not take my children on Princess. If I had to choose between the two I think Carnival, but check out NCL you just might like it with the kids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisingwith6 Posted January 8, 2007 Author #3 Share Posted January 8, 2007 Thanks for the quick reply! We looked at all of the options out of Florida for July and didn't see NCL. I will look and see if we missed one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrp96 Posted January 8, 2007 #4 Share Posted January 8, 2007 As of right now, NCL doesn't sail out of Florida during the summer. In fact, during the summer your choices out of Florida are RCCL, Princess, and Carnival. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisingwith6 Posted January 8, 2007 Author #5 Share Posted January 8, 2007 Thanks for your help! We are still trying to talk ourselves into Carnival or Princess. We don't want to spend a week trying to find things to do. We are so spoiled from Disney and RCI! Anyone else have personal experience with Carnival or Princess? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiseHobbit Posted January 8, 2007 #6 Share Posted January 8, 2007 Last summer, we went on the Carnival Miracle on the Western Caribbean out of Tampa(The Legend, it's sister ship now does this route). We took our kids, 8, 10 and 12, and they loved it. If your kids are active, I would suggest this ship. It does four ports, all in a row. Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize, and Costa Maya. Luckily you then have a sea day, to rest up. You can easily do something at every port inexpensively. I would highly suggest going Cave Tubing in Belize. You will need to go through an independant tour group, since you have kids under 12 years old.(they are also half the price of the ship tour). We used Cavetubing.com and had a great time. In Costa Maya, we stayed at the pools right at the pier, we planned to go to the beach, but we got lazy and never made it. There are inexpensive beaches at Cozumel, and also at GC. To save money, I opted for obstructed view balconies, instead of the regular ones. They were not much more than an ocean view room. and the only problem was that you could not look directly down to the water.(There was a lifeboat, and then a deck directly below that). We had no problems with the kids and a balcony, plus there is practically no way they could fall overboard because of the deck below. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
palmtre2 Posted January 8, 2007 #7 Share Posted January 8, 2007 Our first cruise was on the Glory - our DD, age 9 at the time loved it the itinerary was good and this ship was spotless. The kids club appealed to her with scavenger hunts, basketball games, movies, playstation time, etc and we got some alone time we didn't expect. Carnival now has Club O2 for the older kids that includes nightly dances and their own lounge. I'd give the Gory a shot, it's a great value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
palmtre2 Posted January 8, 2007 #8 Share Posted January 8, 2007 Our first cruise was on the Glory - our DD, age 9 at the time loved it the itinerary was good and this ship was spotless. The kids club appealed to her with scavenger hunts, basketball games, movies, playstation time, etc and we got some alone time we didn't expect. Carnival now has Club O2 for the older kids that includes nightly dances and their own lounge. I'd give the Glory a shot, it's a great value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisingwith6 Posted January 9, 2007 Author #9 Share Posted January 9, 2007 Thanks for the replies. We will look at the Glory and the Legend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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