Poll: Which is your favorite cruisline to cruise with kids (5 yrs old)

[dreadlockjack]

I would like to find the ideal cruiseline to travel with a 5 yrs old toddler. We know only NCL, so far.

 

Please vote, and also give statements, which one you would recommend and why. Also indicate cruiselines you would never choose, with a you boy!

 

Thanks!

DJ

[crusinmama06]

You can't go wrong with Royal Caribbean, Carnival or Disney for that age. It's impossible. ;)

 

Now Regent and Seabourn...um, yeah, not signing up for those any time soon.

[Warm Breezes]

At that I age I would say Disney. I wouldn't have missed the wonder in my DD's eyes at 4 for anything.

[Cruisin' Chick]

I would like to find the ideal cruiseline to travel with a 5 yrs old toddler. We know only NCL, so far.

 

Please vote, and also give statements, which one you would recommend and why. Also indicate cruiselines you would never choose, with a you boy!

 

Thanks!

DJ

 

Hi, somebody directed me to your thread on the waterslides on Princess because she thought I could answer your question. Unfortunately, by the time, I got there, the thread was closed.

 

My daughter has sailed on Carnival (at 23 months, 3 years, 4 years) and Princess (at 5, 7, and 8 years). I understand you're looking at longer cruises, which may rule out most Carnival ones. Unless you're willing to do a back to back cruise (some ships may alternate between Western and Eastern Caribbean).

 

Carnival has a great kids' program, with many activities. And they have a waterslide on maybe some, if not all, of their ships. You might want to check out their itineraries on their website www.carnival.com.

 

Princess often does cruises longer than 7 days in length, including the Hawaiian one which goes round trip from Los Angeles. We did this cruise in 2005 on the Island Princess (which is now doing the Panama Canal trip). I haven't been on the Golden Princess so I can't really answer questions that are specific to this ship.

 

The Princess program for kids your son's age is called the Pelicans. On the first day of the cruise, when you get to your cabin, there will be a packet of info about the Pelicans, including a day by day listing of activities. You and your son goes to the "fun zone" to register that night and meet the counselors and the other kids. The actual program starts the next day. He will probably be with age 3-7 kids (depending on how many kids are onboard). As with any cruise, the number of school aged kids onboard will depend on when you're going (US schools have become very tight about taking your kids out of school for a vacation). Other than between June and August, the last couple of weeks in December, or the week around Easter, there may be quite a few toddlers and preschoolers (the 4 and under crowd) onboard, but probably only if they are only children, have older siblings who are homeschooled, or parents who managed to get permission to take older kids out of school.

 

As you saw from the other thread, there isn't a waterslide on Princess ships. I think the point some people were making (if not all the time nicely) is that different cruiselines focus on different features. Royal Caribbean may have the most physical activities, such as rock climbing, rock climbing, even surfing on some. Disney banks on their familiar characters, but often their cruises are twice as much as other cruiselines'.

 

Princess does have arts and crafts, a jungle gym inside the Pelican's room, a kids' private dinner (Carnival does too), science activities (through a partnership with the California Science Center...one of the faves is squid dissection, but that may be for the older kids), video games, movies, scavenger hunt, etc. They will be kept busy. Also, if they can swim, there is a pool. Many kids also have joined in on some of the adult activities, such as trivia games, dance lessons, and crafts.

 

One thing to be aware of with the Hawaiian cruise is that there may be some rough seas leaving Los Angeles (and maybe on the return). Also some people get amazed that LA isn't sunny and dry during the winter (most winter days by the coast can be in the 50s and 60s, and that's our rainy season, such as it is).

 

If you have any more questions, I'll try to look here again. Hope this helps.

[dreadlockjack]

Hi Patty!

 

Thanks so much for this very valuable statement here! This helps really a lot! Thanks also for researching and finding me here :) !

 

We are really floating around on all these offers from different cruiselines, and I am eager to find a ship, that has something for everybody of my little family.

 

About this Hawaii-Cruise from Princess you did. What do you guess, how many kids have been on board, especially in the group of the pelicans? At what time in the year did you do that cruise. We are looking into cruises in April next year... I just don't want our son to be alone....:( ...

 

Rough seas are no problem for us (it's even fun, I think:rolleyes:)

 

Thank you so much!

DJ

[wrp96]

DJ, there will be very few kids on the roundtrip Hawaii cruises from the mainland. It doesn't matter what month you go. The average on those cruises is much older than a weeklong cruise, due to the fact that most young people can't take that much time off from work (or if they have kids, take the kids out of school for that long). You might find a few children, but it definitely won't be in large numbers.