Best Cruiseline for kids?

[auntie]

We did Disney.

The ship was lovely, the cabins amazing. But it had way too many kids on board for my comfort level and I had one with me. TBH, DS hated the child activities; he felt they were too much like school. It was super child friendly at pools and meals. There typically isn't much for infants and the child care is generally for 3+ if they're potty trained.

I hear good things about RCCL for older kids. We did NCL with DS when he was a young teen, but there wasn't much going on in the Teen Club.

[jenn248]

Anything other than Carnival...

[hrp22]

I've done 1 cruise with young kids, and wouldn't do it again. No fun. They were both still under 2, so not able to get in pools due to being in diapers. One person had to sit in the cabin whille they napped totally cut off from any fun/sun. Beach house was much more fun. Kids love the sand and it was way more relaxing. Plus, they can actually get in the water.

[ginkgoleaf]

We did a Disney cruise in November and DS had a blast.

DH and I did a Celebrity cruise last year and it was really nice, but the kids club looked pretty sad. I would not take DS on that line for now.

I've been interested in this question, too, so will be reading responses. It seems like Royal Caribbean and Norwegian have good kids clubs?

[doctorsbaby]

I'll be the dissenter and say Carnival. We have take DD (4) on 4 cruises and have to bribe her to spend time with us. All she wants to do is be in the kids program. She absolutely loves it and it makes for a better vacation for us. They put out a schedule at the beginning of the cruise that shows the activities for the whole time, most of the time they have something new every 30 minutes.

[CloudBee]

We took DS on a Disney cruise over his 1st birthday and it was fantastic. We even left him in the nursery and he had SO MUCH FUN. It was great. He even took a nap for them. They have a room full of cribs, and work some serious magic. Every stateroom has 2 cell phones, so you can even leave your kiddo on the ship in childcare when you get off and spend time on their private island.

I can't wait to cruise with Disney again. Their rooms have thick blackout curtains separating sleeping areas. We packed a sound machine and were able to put DS to bed at his normal time, and still have the ability to chill in the room watching TV, etc.

They are great about keeping kids happy while waiting in lines (to see characters, etc.), and go out of their way to entertain them when waiting for meals. They whip random activities out of thin air, and our waiter even sat down to read DS a book one night.

I can't say enough good things about DCL. Well worth the cost.

ETA: They also had a diaper genie in our room (didn't have to request, must be based on age), and have these awesome fitted coverings that slide over the Pack and Plays they provide. This way your kid can lick the Pack and Play all they want and not contact any portion that another kid has touched.

[BAMFMrsB]

Apr 27, 2015 8:14:48 GMT -5 @this said:

Royal Caribbean! For sure over the other non-Disney lines. Carnival is... Carnival and the other popular likes (Princess, NCL, and Celebrity) are all more adult-oriented IMO. We haven't brought DD yet, but we've been on several RC cruises and they do a fantastic job with kid stuff from what we could see and from the (many, many lol) reviews I read.

If you're doing a seven day, OMG you MUST do the Oasis or Allure out of Ft. Lauderdale. We did Oasis before TTC and it was amazing. There is SO MUCH for kids to do too. They have a contract with Dreamworks too and had tons of parades, characters, etc. So push Shrek and Madagascar in the month before you go if you end up going Royal Caribbean. lol

Agreed. I've been on HAL (we called it the SnoozeCruise. Avg age was prob 80 on board), Carnival (meh. just meh) and Royal Caribbean <---- by far, our favorite, so far. We haven;t done a Disney cruise yet, but we will!

[cherry1111]

Do some research on non potty trained kids in the water areas. I think 1 Carnival ship allows swim diapers in the kids area and most Royal Caribbean do. It depends on the filtration system.

[lishie]

We did a Disney Alaska cruise with our kids and loved it, but if we were going to do a caribbean cruise with out kids, I think we'd go with Royal Caribbean. They're a good bit cheaper, and they have great kids facilities, but also tons for adults to do. I loved the Disney cruise as an adult, but it is just soooo much more expensive. Being able to bring alcohol on didn't make up for the major price difference for us.

[origami]

We did a RC cruise with our kids last year. I have some pics on FB from it. It was out of Singapore, but basically the same as their other cruises I've been on except the excursions were longer because the tourist spots were far from the ports.

We/They had a great time. I only used the kids drop-off program once because my kids did not want to go there, but they ended up saying they had fun. I think the good part of the kids program is the activities the workers do with the kids. The space itself was kind of depressing looking when no one is playing, so I think that's why my kids didn't want to go at first. We took them on excursions instead and played in the pool and that was great. The characters were fun but the lines to see one were long, so just warning you. We had a room with the Pullman beds and they are not rated for small kids - the bed rails are very low. But we read a lot of reviews and decided to use them anyway and it worked just fine, but my kids are 4. I wouldn't use them for 3 and under, or for kids who won't stay put at night. RC had good kids menu options (good as in things my kids love, not good as in healthy lol) and the ship had a bunch of stuff they like - arcades, mini golf, etc. The pool was the best though.

[redheadbaker]

We're going on a Royal Caribbean cruise next summer, when DS will be 4. Glad to hear the good reviews