Cruising With Young Kids

[Thomas7]

I'm wondering if anyone has any opinions of which cruise line/ship would be appropriate for travelling with a four year old and a two year old.

 

Any thoughts would be most helpful.

 

Thomas

[cb at sea]

Carnival, RCI or Disney will be your best bets.

[CKEA_Cruising_Family]

We sailed NCL last year with kids these ages. They had a great time in the kids club! We're trying Carnival this year.

[Julienatul]

Yes, any of those mentioned above cater to families with young kids. Carnival accepts non-potty trained into the kids club at age 2 and will change diapers, NCL accepts them at age 2 but will page you to change diapers. RCCL wont aceept them until age 3. Disney's kids club starts at 3 but has a nursery for a fee for age 2 and below.

[boulders]

I would restrict it to Carnival and Disney. RCCL doesn't really have much for 2 year olds.

[sunflower girl]

I would look into Carnival and Disney, because of the youngest being 2. They offer the most for kids that age.

 

Have fun!

[CeleBrat]

We've done Carnival, NCL and and Disney with our (then) toddlers. There's something for every size child on all of those ships, so pick based on what YOU want to do.

 

CeleBrat

[Crusin6]

Disney

[Kutty1101]

We just sailed the Celebrity Constellation 10 nights with a 2 & 3yr old. (boys.) We loved it! The 2 yr old was too young for the kids club, but we didn't use it anyways....there was always plenty to do.

 

At these ages....they really didn't need the "kid fest" atmosphere. We appreciated the more elegant food & accomodations instead. Since there weren't many kids on board...our sons felt that vibe, and were very well behaved. They even wore tuxes and loved the 2 formal nights.

 

Now, we have decided that when they get to be ages 8 & 10....we'd probably want the ship with the wave rider, waterslide, etc. But at this young age, we appreciated the ammenities more than they would have.

[Quisty]

I think that any cruise line (with the exception of some very expensive ones) have kids programming. WE are sailing on MSC next week, and the kids were both FREE! We paid $2095 for a category 11 superior balcony room (12 is a suite) for a family of 4. Can't beat that!! (7 night W Carrib.) Just do some homework, but I think a cruise is what you make of it, not only the ship's features. We found last year that the kids spent most of the time with us anyway. THey went to the kids club twice the whole trip. Realistically if you are going on a family acation, chances areyou're going to be spending time with your family!! Not putting them in daycare. Kids have a great ability to create their own fun.

[calikak]

NCL and Carnival and Disney and Cunard are the ones with kids' clubs open to ages 2 and up, so I'd go with one of them. NCL and Carnival are definitely the less expensive of those options. Of those two, with a family of 4 I'd probably go with Carnival because their cabins are usually bigger, so you get more bang for your buck.

[lamolesky]

We went with NCL with our two little ones, first was 18 months and 4 1/2 then 2 and 5. They loved the Kids Club, but just like calikak said, the rooms are small.

[CruisinEurope]

with kids that young, you have to think of what they CAN'T do vs. what they CAN do on most ships.

 

For example, we REALLY want to try some of the RCCL ships and Disney, but our kids aren't old enough to be able to do them... so why bother paying the extra $$ right now?

 

when they ARE old enough - ABSOLUTELY we'll be there!

 

For now, we cruise based on itinerary and price THEN ship/line. For toddlers, most all ships have very comparable kids clubs, toddler pool, etc. Beyond that - they probably can't do it anyway, so why bother?