HAL vs Princess vs RCCL vs NCL

[bicoastalbabe]

Help please! We are HAL/Princess preferring grandparents who want to take our kids (with 3 little girls who will be 2, 4, 5 1/2) on a Christmas cruise on the West Coast. I have been reading tons of postings about cruising with kids and also about reports of cruisers on the various ships and am now thoroughly confused. We want a good time for the kids, time off for mom and dad but also a good cruise for us and mom and dad who are fairly traditional and like good food, etc.

 

Our choices are: Sapphire Princess, 7 days; RCCL Radiance of the Sea, 12 days; NCL Norwegian Star, 7 days and HAL's Oosterdam, 7 days.l

 

The 12 days of Radiance is a plus, but not if one of the others will be a better cruise.

 

I know that NCL takes 2 year olds in their child care program which would be very nice, but I have just read a string of horror stories about their child care, and cruiser reports were pretty bad about their food and cruise experience.

 

I would love any experiences or comments. Thank you so much for helping a despairing grandma.

[Keith1010]

Personnally, out of the cruise lines you mentioned I think that Princess has the best of the children's programs and to me the other benefit is it is good for the parents/grandparents.

 

Now the 12 day cruise is good and RCCL does a nice job so if you want the longer cruise I would go with that. But if you are fine with either length I would go with Princess.

 

Keith

[Kerry's Girls]

My toddlers were on the Sapphire twice before they were old enough to participate in the kids program, and we have loved all of our Princess cruises as a family - you just have to be prepared for zero childcare for the 2 year old the entire time.

 

Does HAL have babysitting/childcare at all for 2 year olds? If so, that's what I would choose. Otherwise, I'd also go with Princess. Any cruise on the West Coast at Christmas will have tons of kids. Sounds like a wonderful trip.

 

Best,

Mia

[c-cruise]

Hi bicoastalbabe, we have a 2.5 yr old and have been on all 4 of those lines and actually 3 of the 4 ships you mentioned.

 

With the family group you are describing I would go with Princess. Their kids club starts at 3, but children under 3 can participate as long as 1 adult stays with them. We just got off the Island Princess with our daughter and we loved the "Princess Pelicans" program. Princess still offers a traditional enough cruise experience for the grandparents to enjoy plus an expansive enough kids program to keep the kids entertained.

 

2nd choice would be HAL. Our daughter has been on HAL (several times) mostly because mom and dad enjoy HAL and they always seem to have a good rate for 3rd/4th passengers. They have a decent kids program from our experience, but it just wasn't as good as what we had on Princess.

 

You mentioned the Radiance cruise was 12 days. That would be an awfully long time to cruise with 3 young kids. We have now done 5 cruises with our daughter and 7 days with her on the ship is enough. We did a 10 day with her (Noordam) at age 2 and we were all ready to get off by the end. We have been on the Radiance and it is a beautiful ship, but didn't have a child at the time so can't comment on their kids program.

 

We have sailed only once on NCL. It was fine, but it would be my last choice especially if you are looking for a traditional cruise experience. I believe they do take 2yr olds in their kids program, but I don't know that I would leave my two year old alone anyway.

 

Oh, and with three young kids and a large group I would definitely go with a traditional confirmed dining time. We have found it really helps for trying to keep a young child on a somewhat normal schedule.

 

Hope that helps!

 

c-cruise

[cb at sea]

Un-potty-trained kids aren't allowed in the pools on Radiance, if that makes a difference. To use the kid's club, they MUST be 3 years old, too....

[CanadianTwosome]

The only line I've been on with my daughter is NCL, and I've seen no reason to go elsewhere. (I've been on other lines also, so I've had both traditional and 'Freestyle' experiences). Freestyle definitely suits our family, and in my opinion is particularly well suited for children, because of the flexibility.

 

We've been on three NCL cruises as a family, and as it happens, our favourite (all three of us) so far has been the Star. I think I've read two posts by people who had negative experiences with an NCL kids' program - and I've read at least as many for every other line as well. As for the food, our family has always loved the food on NCL. Again, I've read posts stating that people hated the food on every other line as well. Of all the things someone could express an opinion on, food is probably the most subjective, so you might as well believe mine is the 'correct' one, right? :p Seriously, though, we really have loved all the food we've had - well... except when our daughter tried caviar... :eek:

 

The bottom line is that cruise ships are staffed by humans, and those humans do the cooking, run the kids' programs, and take care of the passengers - who are also human. On any given ship you run the risk of having some bad service or finding a brat in the kids' program that bites :eek:. So far on NCL, we have had exemplary service, and as I said earlier, for us the Star was the best of them all. The Kid's Crew staff were especially good, actually. When we were in port one day, we passed a few different groups of them, and all of them greeted our daughter by name and stopped to talk to her - even the ones who were not responsible for her age group. She cried on our last morning because she couldn't go back. Does that mean the kids' program will be that good on the sailing you're considering? Nope, but I believe it's a LOT more likely to be a great experience than a negative one. :)

 

Now, after all that, I can't tell you if the Star is your best choice. I absolutely recommend her, though, and I know she's not a 'bad' choice. Check out the itineraries, times in port, and of course, the fares. Aside from the Freestyle dining, NCL and all the rest have a LOT more in common than not. I'm sure whichever one you choose will be a wonderful experience for your family. :)

[bicoastalbabe]

Thanks to all. I figured I'd better get started with the realities of this project so I started with HAL, got the real skinny on their kids program and then discovered that they don't have any cabins that would work for us. No connecting cabins until at least super verandas, not even any adjoining cabins until the very upper levels. Way too much money for 8 of us and I am scared to death of even thinking about a balcony for them (or even us if they will be visiting us).

 

What do you think about balconies? Can't agile kids push the chairs and tables to the railing and climb on them ? How come so many of the postings I read talk about families and balcony cabins? Does no one ever turn their back on any of their kids?

 

I guess tomorrow I will see if RCCL and Princess have what we need at a price I can manage (and see if I can get the kids off the dime to decide whether they want 7 or 12 days). I think I will leave NCL for last after my reading on the boards. I will be sending them your comments.

 

Any further thoughts very welcome. :)

[c-cruise]

We have found the HAL (Oosterdam in this case) balconies to be just fine for kids. The doors push open instead of sliding and can be difficult for even an adult to open at times. We don't worry about our daughter on the balcony, but we of course don't let her out there on her own and we keep the furniture away from the railing (as much as possible). Most if not all of the balcony dividers open on the Oosterdam making it possible to go between rooms on the balcony rather than through an interior door. This is what we do rather than getting true adjoining cabins. We get a room with our daughter and book a second room next to it with the grandparents. We can go back and forth between the rooms out on the balcony which offers more privacy than true connecting rooms. We bring along a baby monitor and during nap time we can go out on the balcony or to the other room or best of all just leave the monitor with the grandparents!

 

Of course this setup is not unique to HAL most ships that we have been on have had balcony dividers that open. Actually, now that I think of it the Radiance OTS didn't have dividers that opened at least not in the rooms we were in on the bump.

[GOLDENBONNY]

Help please! We are HAL/Princess preferring grandparents who want to take our kids (with 3 little girls who will be 2, 4, 5 1/2) on a Christmas cruise on the West Coast. I have been reading tons of postings about cruising with kids and also about reports of cruisers on the various ships and am now thoroughly confused. We want a good time for the kids, time off for mom and dad but also a good cruise for us and mom and dad who are fairly traditional and like good food, etc.

 

Our choices are: Sapphire Princess, 7 days; RCCL Radiance of the Sea, 12 days; NCL Norwegian Star, 7 days and HAL's Oosterdam, 7 days.l

 

The 12 days of Radiance is a plus, but not if one of the others will be a better cruise.

 

I know that NCL takes 2 year olds in their child care program which would be very nice, but I have just read a string of horror stories about their child care, and cruiser reports were pretty bad about their food and cruise experience.

 

I would love any experiences or comments. Thank you so much for helping a despairing grandma.

 

 

With kids I would go royal or Princesss and by any cost avoid NCL:eek::eek:

[bicoastalbabe]

Thank you so much to everyone. I am here update.

 

I tried to book cabins on Princess and HAL and discovered that in the 2 or 3 days I was researching they have filled their ships (we checked first thing to be sure there was space). Princess had NO cabins except very very expensive balconies (or suites, don't remember) that could take 3. HAL had no adjoining cabins except for very expensive balconies (or maybe even suites, again I don't remember). So I quickly called RCCL and booked our 4 cabins. After all the reading here and on the various lines and ships boards I had decided on Princess, HAL, RCCL, NCL. I will now try Princess again, but looks like RCCL it is.

 

And curiously, when I asked about the hours of the kids program and price of babysitting I got different answers from different reservations people (I had to call back to check something and asked again). One said the kids program was 7AM to 10PM straight through, sea and port days, $24/hour for 3 kids for private babysitting. The other said kids program was 9AM-5PM and 7PM-2AM and $15/hour for 3 kids for incabin babysitting.

Does it differ cruise to cruise (this is a holiday cruise: 12/21/09 - 1/2/10)?

[c-cruise]

Not only will the hours of the kids clubs vary from line to line they can also very from ship to ship of the same line and even sailing to sailing. I know on HAL the hours depend on how many kids they have on that particular sailing that fall into each age group. Now on a holiday sailing you will have tons of kids on any line so I would imagine the kids club to be open the majority of the time.

 

Surprised prices are that high. Mexican Riviera is generally about the cheapest cruising you can do. Although they do jack up the prices for the actual holiday sailings. I bet if you look at the cruises the week prior to the holiday sailings they would be significantly cheaper. Princess does not discount the price much for 3rd/4th passengers so they will probably be the most expensive of the bunch. We generally find good 3rd/4th person rates on HAL.

 

Glad you found a sailing that will work for your group. Radiance is a very nice ship and I am sure you will enjoy it. Hope the parents are ready for 12 days on a ship with that 2yr old although I am sure the grandparent will be more than happy to watch the kids ;)

 

Enjoy your trip,

 

c-cruise

[Kerry's Girls]

Princess does not discount the price much for 3rd/4th passengers so they will probably be the most expensive of the bunch.

 

 

This is not always true on Princess - it depends on the cruise. I always have 3 in my cabin and we've done 6 Princess cruises. There is no way to know unless you price it out, but usually our 3rd person fare was substantially less - like $199, $299, $399 for our Mexican Riviera cruises, however, on our 2 week cruise to Hawaii on the Golden Princess, the 3rd person fare was almost the same as #1 & #2. And it's not just based on the exact cruise - it also changes depending on when you book, which level cabin you want, etc.

 

Best,

Mia

[boulders]

For RCCL, on some days, you can sign up for the kids to eat with Adventure Ocean from 5 to 7 p.m. On those days, your child could theoretically stay from opening at 9 a.m. to closing at 2 a.m. It differs for port and sea days as well. For sea days, it's 9-12 and 2-5 and 7-10 pm. You can sign your child up to have lunch at Adventure Ocean from 12-2, so they can be there from 9-5. There is a late night party for $5/hour/child after 10 pm. All other times are no charge. The child is automatically enrolled for late night if you don't pick them up before 10 pm. For port days, it's 30-60 minutes before the first shore excursion, until 5 p.m. and then the same as sea days for the evening. Clear as mud? Don't worry, they'll give you a schedule.

 

Babysitting is $10-$12/hour for the first child and then $1-$2 for each additional child. Babysitting is available on first come first serve basis from 8 a.m. -2 a.m.

 

Overall, I'd say the second person had it right.

[Essiesmom]

Thanks to all. I figured I'd better get started with the realities of this project so I started with HAL, got the real skinny on their kids program and then discovered that they don't have any cabins that would work for us. No connecting cabins until at least super verandas, not even any adjoining cabins until the very upper levels. Way too much money for 8 of us and I am scared to death of even thinking about a balcony for them (or even us if they will be visiting us).

 

What do you think about balconies? Can't agile kids push the chairs and tables to the railing and climb on them ? How come so many of the postings I read talk about families and balcony cabins? Does no one ever turn their back on any of their kids?

 

I guess tomorrow I will see if RCCL and Princess have what we need at a price I can manage (and see if I can get the kids off the dime to decide whether they want 7 or 12 days). I think I will leave NCL for last after my reading on the boards. I will be sending them your comments.

 

Any further thoughts very welcome. :)

I don't know why you are saying there are no connecting cabins on Oosterdam. I just spent 32 days on her, Feb. 28-April 1, in cabin (OV) 1115, and it definitely had a connecting door to 1117! Perhaps there are none available for your dates...EM

[doclove]

We will be on the Oosterdam for Christmas this year. It will be my wife and I, my parents, and our 4 kids. 11, 9, 7, and 4. We have 2 outside adjoining rooms booked. I just went on a travel website and found that there is still adjoining rooms available in the outside category. They are rooms 1046 & 1050.

 

We chose HAL because it was the cheapest cruise we could find. They have great 3rd and 4th passenger rates which helped lower the price.

 

I worried about having kids on HAL, but after talking to my TA she said that there are plenty of kids on the 7 day Christmas cruises and that HAL brings on extra staff to help with the influx of kids.

 

We have also sailed on Princess and prefer HAL over Princess. We sailed on the Oosterdam last year and loved it.

[bicoastalbabe]

Another update. First of all, sorry for being misleading (accidentally). We are looking at the New Year's cruise, not the Christmas cruise. That has caused some confusion. The Christmas cruise apparently has more availability.

 

I went back to Princess and HAL and discovered we can get cabins on Princess and HAL if we take cabins next to each other but without a connecting door. I must have asked only about connecting door cabins originally. (And Princess originally said that since they don't have any cabins that can sleep 3 we couldn't go.) This time I asked about 4 cabins for 2 rather than 2 doubles, 1 single and a cabin for 3. I guess we can shift ourselves around as we wish (putting the 3 little ones in one cabin, the 2 year old in a pack-n-play) and my son alone (he's 36 year old, so it's ok if he is alone). I am learning as I go along.

 

I wonder if using a baby monitor would make no connecting door ok? I have asked the parents but not yet heard back. Any comments on that?

 

So now I am waiting for the parents to decide whether they think they can manage/and prefer 12 days on RCCL or want 7 days on Princess or HAL. My son has already voted and said no to HAL (too "older" I think). Also, Princess doesn't have any private in-cabin babysitting, so that would prevent our having adult late dinners. What a complex decision!:confused:

[SelectSys]

Help please! We are HAL/Princess preferring grandparents who want to take our kids (with 3 little girls who will be 2, 4, 5 1/2) on a Christmas cruise on the West Coast... We want a good time for the kids, time off for mom and dad but also a good cruise for us and mom and dad who are fairly traditional and like good food, etc.

 

Kids at these ages will probably be happy with any ship and won't really be able to tell too much difference I would expect. My kids liked RCCL Adventure Ocean when they were younger.

 

If you really like good food and you pick RCCL plan on going to either Chops or Portofinos. The main dining room on RCCL is just OK but as I have no direct experience with HAL/Princess I don't know if it is any better or worse.

 

The 12 days of Radiance is a plus, but not if one of the others will be a better cruise.

 

I am also interested in this trip as it adds a few more ports than is normal for Mexico.

[trapezemom]

My daughter now age 9 has been on HAL, NCL & Princess. She has liked consistently HAL the best and disliked NCL the most until last week when she really did not like the kid's program on the Sapphire Princess. The personnel was okay but not stellar (she really liked the Diamond Princess last year) and there were a few trouble makers in the group that caused the counselors to spend a lot of time on damage control rather than being engaged with the kids (my opinion). I also thought the other passengers were the rudest to kids I have ever encountered.

Why don't adults who do not want to be bothered by kids travel during summer vacation. With school aged children we certainly do not have the options that those non-kid friendly cruisers have. Our daughter behaves and has good table manners but fellow diners at breakfast were out and out rude and others refused to sit at our table. A fellow passenger gave our daughter one of the Princess coke cups (she kept water in it), when seeing our daughter with it another cruiser stated "oh great, theres a kid that will be hyped up on sugar and caffeine".

We are "senior parents" with grown children and "started over", I understand not wanting to spend time with screaming toddlers but I would much rather spend time with a polite, well mannered 9 yo than with the "adults" who are rude and ill mannered!