Did we make a HUGE mistake?

[3GR8Sons]

We are cruising on the Coral Princess holiday cruise in December. We will be traveling with 9 people in total. DH, myself, MIL, SIL and 5 kids ranging in age from 5-13. For my immediate family this is our 4th cruise. We travelled on Royal Caribbean and Carnival in the past and we liked both.

 

We booked this cruise with a TA with whom we are very familiar. We have used her for years. I know her because our oldest sons (13 years old) are friends. When I asked about Princess and kids she said she has travelled on this ship and her kids had fun. Her son was pretty enthusiastic about the ship when my son mentioned it to him.

 

HOWEVER-the comments on this board are scaring me a little. I am afraid it will be a bit to stuffy for our family. My kids are experienced travellers and have been all over the US and Caribbean. They are well behaved and they love crusing becuase they meet great people.

 

I am a little concerned that the Princess clientele is stuffy and intolerant of young people. I can still get my money back.

 

Have any of you had any good family travel experiences with Princess?

 

Jenna

[spongerob]

Jenna, what you see posted on these boards on the bad days is completely unlike what you will find on board. I recently posted some comments to that effect. People (me included) can get a little too enthusiastic when discussing their personal points of view on some subjects and occasionally we all need to step back a bit and evaluate how we are presenting ourselves to others.

 

You'll have a fine time. We have met many people from this site that have remained good friends over the years.

[DeltaOne]

Don't worry, there will be lots of kids on any cruise line during holiday periods or when school is out. You'll be fine on your Princess cruise with kids.

[regnig]

Jenna - Rob has nailed it. Just disregard the negative you read here on CC. Holiday cruises usually have a greater number of kids on board so I'm sure yours will meet several in their age brackets. Princess has been praised for their children programs in case you are interested in a little "adult time".

[ddpe]

Jenna,

 

My 13 year old son had the time of his life on the Golden. He loved the teen center. When we left the ship in San Juan, we stayed one night at a hotel. He crashed at lunch and didn't wake up until the next day. He had just worn himself out during the week.

 

I will say that I might have chosen one of the bigger ships like the Golden, Grand, or Carribbean becuase I don't know what the kid facilities are on a smaller Princess ship. During the holdiays, however, there will be lots of kids.

 

I have cruised with Princess and RC. Frankly, I found Princess to be more kid friendly because of the entertainment (all pretty G or PG) and the fact that smoking wasn't allowed in the smaller show lounge while it was on RC.

 

I think perhaps that some of the responders on this board would like to see Princess without kids and so they post negatively towards kids hoping to discourage. My family felt completely welcome while on board by both passengers and the staff.

[Toto2Kansas]

We are cruising on the Coral Princess holiday cruise in December. We will be traveling with 9 people in total. DH, myself, MIL, SIL and 5 kids ranging in age from 5-13. For my immediate family this is our 4th cruise. We travelled on Royal Caribbean and Carnival in the past and we liked both.

 

We booked this cruise with a TA with whom we are very familiar. We have used her for years. I know her because our oldest sons (13 years old) are friends. When I asked about Princess and kids she said she has travelled on this ship and her kids had fun. Her son was pretty enthusiastic about the ship when my son mentioned it to him.

 

HOWEVER-the comments on this board are scaring me a little. I am afraid it will be a bit to stuffy for our family. My kids are experienced travellers and have been all over the US and Caribbean. They are well behaved and they love crusing becuase they meet great people.

 

I am a little concerned that the Princess clientele is stuffy and intolerant of young people. I can still get my money back.

 

Have any of you had any good family travel experiences with Princess?

 

Jenna

 

Cruising on a Holiday Cruise, you all will have a great time, especially the kids.

Don't let a few 'cruise snobs' that post here make you think otherwise. Every board has those passengers that want things 'their way' and think posting their own views here are going to change things onboard ships. You will have a great time, no worrys! :)

[cynbar]

I saw the recent thread questioning whether the DRs discouraged children, and I honestly didn't know what they were talking about. In all my Princess cruises, the wait staff in the DRs has bent over backwards to fuss over the children and make them feel right at home. Plus, Princess has some great alternatives for dining, in case families don't want to dine together in the DRs every night. The kids' centers all have 2 nights with special dinners for the kids, and the option is always there to feed the kids in the buffet or the grill or pizzeria, then send them to the evening program while the parents eat alone. I think your family will be fine, especially on a holiday sailing. Princess attracts a wide range of ages -- the off season cruises have a larger percentage of older passengers, but summers and holidays have plenty of families onboard.

[Spikesgirl]

We recently travelled with our 14 year old GD and the crew aboard the Grand couldn't have been nicer to her, especially in the dining rooms.

 

There were a lot of kids on the ships and they seemed pretty well behaved. I never heard a bad word from the crew about them either.

 

I think your kids will be fine!

 

Charlie

[steveweese]

A lot of the comments pertain to the rowdy unsupervised kids which are a very small percentage.

 

Good kids are alot of fun !!!

[dlp252]

I agree that what I see posted here is often not very reflective of what I've seen on the ships.

[cbpanda]

As said many times above, our now 14 year old son has been on Princess 3 times. He has a fantastic time, and does nothing but rave about the teen center.

 

I have seen many negative threads about unrowdy kids on the ships and have been on one of the largest ships two years in a row in the middle of summer (the high point for kids). I have never witnessed poorly behaved kids. All seemed like they were enjoying themselves and acting like kids! Most of the "kid intolerant" people travel during the off season anyway and completely avoid the family travel times (summer, spring break, holiday, etc.).

 

Please don't worry about what's said here. Take everything with a grain of salt and enjoy your holiday cruise. The Princess ships are not glitzy but not stuffy either.

[tcdtcd]

No mistake at all! If you're on the 12/27 sailing, there will be two more boys (13yo and 11yo) joining yours. This will be our boys' 3rd Princess cruise (So Carib and Med the other two). They absolutely love it. The kids programs are hit and miss, but they enjoy meeting other kids on board and playing mini golf, basketball, shuffleboard, etc.

[junglejane]

Our kids have been on two Princess cruises, the Caribbean Princess when they were 4 and 8, and the Diamond Princess this past Spring (ages 6 and 10). We're also booked on the Golden Princess for next Spring. Our kids love Princess and we've had no problems. We've always felt welcome and our kids have loved the Fun Zone and other onboard activities.

 

I agree with the other posters. Don't let the negative attitude of a few people on CC give you the idea that Princess is not a good choice for families. A few curmudgeons wish that families would all stick to Carnival and RCCL, but Princess welcomes families and treats them well.

 

--Junglejane

[donna travels]

I sailed Alaska on the Diamond June 2 and was very surprised at the amount of children (all ages) on an Alaska cruise. I don't think your children will have any problems sailing with Princess. I would expect for the holidays several families and kids of all ages. Your kids will have a blast.:D

[kestrel]

We sailed with relatives on the Crown Princess to the Caribbean last December. There were lots of families and lots of kids. Don't worry too much. You and your family will have a great time.

[cherylandtk]

You did not make a mistake...check out this family album as just one example. I have no idea who these folks are, but they had so many fun pictures I could not pick just one....although I am sorta partial to 'Cocktail Hour 2'

 

http://travel.webshots.com/album/558469488awYmae?start=0

[quincytoo]

We are cruising on the Coral Princess holiday cruise in December. We will be traveling with 9 people in total. DH, myself, MIL, SIL and 5 kids ranging in age from 5-13. For my immediate family this is our 4th cruise. We travelled on Royal Caribbean and Carnival in the past and we liked both.

 

We booked this cruise with a TA with whom we are very familiar. We have used her for years. I know her because our oldest sons (13 years old) are friends. When I asked about Princess and kids she said she has travelled on this ship and her kids had fun. Her son was pretty enthusiastic about the ship when my son mentioned it to him.

 

HOWEVER-the comments on this board are scaring me a little. I am afraid it will be a bit to stuffy for our family. My kids are experienced travellers and have been all over the US and Caribbean. They are well behaved and they love crusing becuase they meet great people.

 

I am a little concerned that the Princess clientele is stuffy and intolerant of young people. I can still get my money back.

 

Have any of you had any good family travel experiences with Princess?

 

Jenna

 

The last few days have been kinda rough on here in certain threads.....our cruise was incredible and our 14 year old son had SO much fun!!!! I would tell anyone with a family that family cruising is a great family holiday :)

 

Like I said before on another thread one morning we were seated with two elderly couples who were not thrilled (at first) about being seated next to a teenaged boy but they quickly warmed up when they realized he was polite, wasn't wearing a hat or talking with his mouth full, and that he could carry on a decent conversation :)

 

The crew was wonderful with our son and DS really really wants to go with us next Oct when we do a Carribean Princess cruise (We are trying to sneak away for our first holiday in over 20 years without children) LOL I think he will end up with us through!! I think he will play the guilt factor HUGE ;)

 

Oh well, they grow up so fast!!

 

Enjoy your cruise and welcome to this site it certainly helped us so much with our cruise!! :)

[3GR8Sons]

Thank you all for your comments. I have an add on though-It's not just the kids that I worry about. Dh and I are both 41, SIL is 37. We consider ourselves sophisticated. All of us have graduate degrees and have travelled quite a bit, with our kids, and before we had kids.

 

I'm not that worried about the kids after reading your comments. My kids don't care much about formal kids programs. They usually go the first day to meet people, and then make plans with the people they meet. My little one will go to activities he likes. The 11 and 13 year old will have fun either together, or with other kids their age in the pool, game room, etc.....They are close and usually meet people easily. They like to go onshore with us when the ship is in port.

 

I am also not worried about the dining room. My kids like real food and will not want to eat dinner at the buffet. If the older ones want to eat dinner with other kids their age they can hit the buffet and just keep in touch with us via walkie talkie. They usually eat with us though. They like good food.

 

We are on the 12/20, not the 12/27.

 

What about the adults? Will anyone really blow a gasket if I change out of my dress after dinner on the formal nights??

 

Jenna

[cherylandtk]

.What about the adults? Will anyone really blow a gasket if I change out of my dress after dinner on the formal nights??

 

Jenna

Not as long as you put on something else.:p

[fathercop]

3GR8Sons - Everything will be fine! I have gone with my three daughters on several cruises. When they first cruised they were, 14, 11 and 8. They are really good kids - 90% of the time! The other 10% they are only moderately graying my hair! We had no problems with them and with other passengers on the ships on which we sailed.

 

As Spongerob has said, sometimes the opinions get a little "too enthusiastic", but he is right, you will have a great time! If you look at the negative posts about children and young people on CC, don't forget to look at the many positive ones, too!

 

The overwhelming majority of passengers we met on board were just some very terrific people! You will have a great time! Enjoy your cruise!

[jakzak]

While I'm the first to admit I did have issues with our recent Crown sailing I do not think you made a mistake in booking your cruise. The kids program on board Princess is as good as any we have sailed with.

 

A suggestion would be to have your kids correspond with other like age kids from your roll call. This way they will have friends on board the same way the adults do.

 

If you look for problems you will find them, the key is hoping the first problem is not big enough to spoil the entire cruise.

 

Have a great time and enjoy!!!!

 

Alan

[quincytoo]

>>>>What about the adults? Will anyone really blow a gasket if I change out of my dress after dinner on the formal nights??<<<<<

 

We did it one night and no one batted an eye.....saw lots of people in their *before and after* clothes......

The last formal night I would have changed but had actually found a comfortable formalish dress.

[dlp252]

What about the adults? Will anyone really blow a gasket if I change out of my dress after dinner on the formal nights??

 

I have never heard any comments about my attire on formal nights, nor have I noticed any glaring looks (although I must honestly say I've never even thought about that, so maybe people were and I just didn't notice).

[karatemom2]

Hi Jenna! You know I totally understand your concerns after reading some of the threads here. I am just really glad I didn't find my way to this board until after our cruise last month on the Dawn Princess or I might have thought about cancelling too! I am so glad I didn't because it was a truly fantastic vacation.

 

We have cruised on Disney, Norwegian and RCCL and now Princess and we have always had a wonderful time. That being said I want you to know that the kid's program on Princess was top notch and my daughter in particular liked it better than any other, including Disney. My teenage son made many friends and had a great time as well. In addition, we met the nicest, friendliest and most down to earth people. The fellow passengers were wonderful. Not a bit stuffy, snobbish or unwelcoming to our family in any way shape or form.

 

We liked it so much that like you we now have two Princess cruises booked for the upcoming year. I think that you will find the actual atmosphere on board is great for all and the opinions here are those of a vocal minority that really have nothing much to do with the reality of the actual cruise experience on Princess, which in my opinion was excellent.

[stoneharborlady]

You will have a wonderful time, and so will the kids. Sometimes I wonder if these people were really on a ship.

Karen