Best activities for preschoolers - Liberty/Legend/Jewel

[2preschoolers]

We're planning our first cruise for this Jan 2010 and we'll have extended family along. The kids will range in age from 2-6....there will be 4 kids and 7 adults. Three of the adults have been on NCL before and are nervous about Carnival b/c they're afraid it'll be over crowded and rowdy. I was on 2 Carnival cruises (a good 10 yrs ago, mind you...) and I absolutely loved them. Carnival seems to have the best rates especially since some of us would like Balcony Cabins.

 

In anycase - I'm trying to find out if Carnival's Liberty or Legend or NCL's Jewel would be best for us. I'm having a hard time finding any photos of the supposed "toddler" pools on any of the ships and wondering if there are any water play areas for the young ones (all are potty trained). And aside from the Kids Club, are there any activities that the kids can do on the ship - if they are not going to be in the kids club? Just wondering if there's enough to keep little ones happy and content if the parents don't want to leave them in the kids club much? (My sister in law is hesitant - NOT me! haha)

 

Can anyone give me any suggestions for those ships? If someone's been on NCL before, will they be disappointed in Carnival?

 

THANKS!

[CeleBrat]

Norwegian definitely has the better kids pool area. The NCL ships all have a themed kids pool, whereas the Carnival ships just have a standard circular wading pool. Some of the NCL pool themed areas includes: jungle, space, or pirate.

 

Do a search for NCL Jewel pics, and I'm sure you can find that specific pool area.

 

CeleBrat