OnTheBrink Posted July 3, 2007 #1 Share Posted July 3, 2007 In June 2005 we went on Carnival Glory. My kids were 8 months and 4 years. Honestly, I didn't love it. I have never been a partier or drinker and that is what I "sensed" around me a lot. It felt like a fraternity party at a Golden Coral! Of course, having an 8 month old was kind of tough. He wanted to crawl everywhere - including through people's spilled beers. Ick! (No offense to Carnival fans!) This time we're going on Emerald Princess and they will be 3.5 and 7. I'm hoping it will be better! (Read: The kids will do kids activities and we'll get some grown up time!) Can anyone tell me the differences between these two ships or cruise lines as it pertains to kids? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Keith1010 Posted July 3, 2007 #2 Share Posted July 3, 2007 We only cruised Carnival once many years ago and had the same observation as you. I remember walking out of a louge and saw someone passed out on the floor. That was certainly a first for us on a cruise line. We took our children on three Princess Cruises and six Celebrity Cruises and thought the overall exprience was better for both them and for us. Based on what you have said, I think you will find Princess to be enjoyable while being a bit more on the less rowdy side. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdmomof7 Posted July 4, 2007 #3 Share Posted July 4, 2007 Oh dear! I just booked Carnival Freedom for Jan. 2008 because I thought it would offer more activities for the kids than Princess. Our friend are also going, their second cruise. Their entire family went on CB last spring break at our suggestion. They loved it. This time, we are bringing our own large family and I couldn't find a 3/4 passenger break w/ Princess, so we booked Freedom. I thought it would be okay since it's their newest ship and they are supposed to be getting more family friendly. I do love Princess, though. People passed out? Yikes!!! Help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Keith1010 Posted July 4, 2007 #4 Share Posted July 4, 2007 Lots of families go on Carnival so don't panic about the cruise. And as you said your friends enjoyed it as well. I'm sure you will enjoy the cruise and so will your kids. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdmomof7 Posted July 4, 2007 #5 Share Posted July 4, 2007 Thanks, Keith. Our friends went on the same ship that we did, Caribbean Princess. They went during the MD area's spring break and didn't have any problems with unruly behavior of any age group. They loved it. I was hesitant about Carnival, but thought I had heard enough good reviews for families. I still love Princess and would love to take the family on Princess. We did an open booking last August and even utilizing that and the OBC accompanying it, I couldn't get close the Carnival price. I even prefer to cruise from FLL, esp. because I now know the area a bit and it worked great for us twice before. I guess I'm having the just booked jitters? :confused: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting_Cruiser Posted July 5, 2007 #6 Share Posted July 5, 2007 We've cruised four times on Carnival (fifth coming up in 42 days :D) and once on Princess--that was last summer on the Caribbean Princess. DD has come on every cruise with us--from age 21 months to 11 years old. She's had a great time on every cruise (though she was bored with the Princess kid's club and absolutely loves Camp Carnival). Carnival used to be the "party ships" but they're very family friendly now. For some reason the Glory seems to have a more "party atmosphere" than most of the other ships from what I've read, though we've never sailed the Glory so take that FWIW. To be honest we saw many more drunk people on our Princess cruise than we've ever seen on any of our Carnival cruises (well, except our first Carnival cruise which was a four-day cruise over college spring break--yikes!). On our Princess cruise one woman even passed out right into DH's lap while we were sitting in the atrium! :eek: Based on our family's experiences on Carnival, I don't think you have anything to worry about. They're very family friendly. I hope your kids love Camp Carnival as much as mine does! Have a great cruise! Jayne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdmomof7 Posted July 5, 2007 #7 Share Posted July 5, 2007 Thanks, Jayne! You were disembarking CB when we were embarking. I am really anxious about this. I thought I was okay and I think I was, but now little things are bothering me. Lately, it's the decor of the Freedom. I much prefer the Liberty's decor and find the Freedom's atrium plain ol' ugly. I was just thinking that Freedom was the newest ship so it should be very nice and to top it off the beloved John Heald was going to be our CD. So...it's a cruise, I need to stop OCDing over it! It will be great! lol!!! :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Keith1010 Posted July 5, 2007 #8 Share Posted July 5, 2007 Jayne, I'm glad to hear that you have found Carnival to be less of a party ship than it used to be. Obviuosly, they attract a number of passengers. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Keith1010 Posted July 5, 2007 #9 Share Posted July 5, 2007 mdmom, I am sure that your cruise will be great. I have always found that what we enjoy on a cruise will far outweigh what we don't like so we always tend to focus on what's good and ignore what we don't care for. Don't worry ahead of time and focus on how wonderful the cruise will be. I'm sure you and your entire family will have a great time. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nu2cruises Posted July 8, 2007 #10 Share Posted July 8, 2007 We are just back from a trip on the Golden Princess to Alaska with kids and here is my only real complaint about the kids program. There were 192 kids age 3-12 on our ship and they said that was too many to put in their kids club area. Therefore, our kids DD12 and DS 9 had to go to club FX deck 15 aft which was actually used for the teen disco at night. It is just a small room with windows on one side and doors that they blocked off that go into the arcade. The kids club looked like a lot of fun, had computers, etc., however, since they were in a small room, they had to do the activity that was planned and couldn't do computers, a different activity, etc. when they were there. They did have 2 nights where the kids had dinner in the Horizon Court buffet, then saw a movie in the kids club and had 30 minutes of choose your own activity. They did enjoy most of the planned activities and did go up on sea days. However, they both said they liked Disney much better for the activities and the kids club. Alaska was beautiful and we had fun on our shore excursions. I hope this helps, but it is just my opinion. While I understand they may have had too many kids for the space, maybe trading spaces with the younger kids for a couple of times during the trip would have been fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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