Caribbean Princess - does it like kids?

[princessb]

Quick question - does any one agree the Caribbean Princess is not too kid-friendly? We recently returned on the 7/24 sailing. We were a group of 10 and had a great time - agreed the food was very good, entertainment was very good and the ship was beautiful. But, it lacked activities for the kids to do besides the "kids" club. There was no sports deck or video arcade for the kids to meet at or hang out at. There wasn't a "coffee" house for the 16 or 17 year old crowd either. The oldest kids club was 13-17, and our 17 year olds felt a little funny in the disco with the 13 and 14 year olds. Was just curious if anyone else experienced this. Overall, great cruise, but didn't have some of the fun stuff (Promenade, coffee house, sports deck with hoops) that the Voyager Ships of RCL had. My travel agent said it did, but it didn't.

[Cruisin' Lisa]

Are basketball hoops there, but just no basketballs to play with? Could we play if we bring our own ball, or is it blocked off? My husband and 9 yr old son was so looking forward to playing some basketball together while on vacation, esp since there is no arcade either.

[laginog]

From what I've heard...no basketball!! Were taking our 11-year-old Godson in September and he was really looking forward to Basketball too. He had a blast playing Basketball "out on the open seas" on the last cruise we took him on!! Sounds like they have some other fun things though.....something called "paddle tennis" that everybody seems to like. I'm preparing him for the things they don't have but "pumping" him up for the things they do have!!!! He's still very excited and....was only slightly disappointed about no aracde and no Basketball! I sure don't understand the arcade thing though! They had to make money on that thing! If 20 other people put in as much money as we did every month, it would pay itself off in 6 months! Ha-Ha!!

[ddpe]

They took the basketball off the Golden as well because it interfered with the Spa.

[kimanjo]

We just returned from the Caribe 7/24 Princess also and although it is a great ship I feel that the Kid's Program is lacking in some ways. Although my daughter--almost 12--had different "issues", you are right, there were some things lacking on the ship that we found on RCL.

 

I think the putting green on Caribe is way too small and unattractive. Also, the 2 ping pong (paddle tennis?) tables I saw were in closed-off area outside the youth room, and I heard thirdhand that they weren't usually available (for whatever reason). Also, on a couple of different cruises we have done we saw older teens utilizing shuffleboard on the upper decks, but on Caribe Princess I didn't see that activity.

 

If I could put my finger on "it" I would say the Kid's program seems to be centered around the playroom, the teen disco, and the hot tubs. I didn't get the feel that there was a lot of emphasis on interspersing the teens/kids throughout the ship. I think it would have been really cool to show an additional movie in the theatre (maybe from 4 to 6? pm) and make it a movie that kids/teens might want to go see, even if it is a bit dated....such as the Austin Powers movies, or Robin Hood in Tights---some really zany comedy.

 

What surprised me most on this particular cruise was how few people attended the Movies Under the Stars. Maybe I missed something but whenever I was on the open decks at night I saw more people crowded into the hot tubs then watching the movies!

 

About the basketball hoop, I did see one of those portable black plastic hoops on the aft Deck 16, is was the kind you put in your driveway on a stand, but it was not regulation height.

[Zoey1]

Quick question - does any one agree the Caribbean Princess is not too kid-friendly? We recently returned on the 7/24 sailing. We were a group of 10 and had a great time - agreed the food was very good, entertainment was very good and the ship was beautiful. But, it lacked activities for the kids to do besides the "kids" club. There was no sports deck or video arcade for the kids to meet at or hang out at. There wasn't a "coffee" house for the 16 or 17 year old crowd either. The oldest kids club was 13-17, and our 17 year olds felt a little funny in the disco with the 13 and 14 year olds. Was just curious if anyone else experienced this. Overall, great cruise, but didn't have some of the fun stuff (Promenade, coffee house, sports deck with hoops) that the Voyager Ships of RCL had. My travel agent said it did, but it didn't.

 

We were also on this sailing with my almost 17 yr old son. He also didn't go back to the "teen" disco as he found mostly 13-14 yr olds. He looks much older and spent the rest of the week trying(and mostly getting escourted out) to get into skywalkers. Since the 18 yr olds that are allowed in cannot drink anyway, not sure why they need to limit this.

 

However even with all that he still had an awesome time!

Wendy