MattG Posted December 8, 2021 Report Share Posted December 8, 2021 We’re a party of six, three adults and three kids (2, 3.5 and 5) The wife is curious about cruising on Carnival (hush) or Celebrity and what experience we would have with our party, but different lines. I priced out our Anthem cabin for a similar timeframe, and found Celebrity to be 3x the price for a 9-day instead of 7-day, and Carnival to be a tad less (5%) for a 5-day instead of a 7-day, all out of NJ/NY (it doesn’t make sense for us to fly to Florida with three kids at this point). What’s everyone experiences on other lines? What are the kids clubs and activities like? Splash pads? Play areas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wordell1 Posted December 8, 2021 Report Share Posted December 8, 2021 Celebrity is definitely not designed for kids. Not to say that you couldn't bring them but there won't be as many activities aimed at them. I would look at Disney if you want a higher end line with kids. Carnival will be similar to Royal in basic experience with kids. Neesa and Baked Alaska 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fa-li Posted December 8, 2021 Report Share Posted December 8, 2021 Can't speak to either of those lines, but cruised Princess with the extended family, including kids of various ages. The programming was very impressive, with lots of interaction, crafts, baking/cooking, planned activities and just fun downtime in the kids clubs. The kids often didn't want to leave to join back up with the adults, and were very excited about each day's theme, which they learned about the day before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill Posted December 8, 2021 Report Share Posted December 8, 2021 Well to sail Carnival with kids, you have to apply for a vaccine exemption. They are only allowing a certain amount of unvaccinated kids/teens/adults. You are not guaranteed to sail. That might take carnival out of the equation. Celebrity is definitely geared more towards adults but kids are allowed. I don’t think their ships have any water slides for example. I’d personally stick with Royal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKMCruising Posted December 9, 2021 Report Share Posted December 9, 2021 Yeah, if we were gonna do another line we might do a Disney cruise when the small one gets a little older just to have that experience, but otherwise we're happy with Royal for the cost/benefit balance. Baked Alaska 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steverk Posted December 9, 2021 Report Share Posted December 9, 2021 I prefer royal when I'm cruising with my family, but Celebrity does have kids clubs. What few kids I met on board all seemed happy. That said, the line doesn't have all of the cool toys like royal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffmw Posted December 9, 2021 Report Share Posted December 9, 2021 Disney is phenomenal, particularly for the age of your kids, if you can get over paying 50+% more. Dining in different themed dining rooms each night is pretty awesome. And the general service and food quality is a step up as well. It's definitely worth doing once while your kids are this age, but I'd recommend doing it at an off-peak time so you don't completely break the bank. There's definitely more of that 'magic' quality on Disney cruises, but now that my kids are nearly 8 and 10, RC seems to fit them better overall. Neesa and Baked Alaska 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
infosec123 Posted December 9, 2021 Report Share Posted December 9, 2021 20 minutes ago, jeffmw said: Disney is phenomenal, particularly for the age of your kids, if you can get over paying 50+% more. Dining in different themed dining rooms each night is pretty awesome. And the general service and food quality is a step up as well. It's definitely worth doing once while your kids are this age, but I'd recommend doing it at an off-peak time so you don't completely break the bank. There's definitely more of that 'magic' quality on Disney cruises, but now that my kids are nearly 8 and 10, RC seems to fit them better overall. I strongly recommend waiting until after these restrictions are lifted before trying DCL. They price point is incredibly high, and we went on a cruise in October and were miserable due to Disney packing the boat but not adjusting capacity limits. Highlights included waiting 30 minutes to use the pool for 15 minutes, waiting 20 minutes in line to get a bowl of fruit, and waiting 30 minutes in line to drop my kids off at the kids club (they give you limited time in the kids club and don't care how long you wait in line). WAAAYTOOO, Baked Alaska, Neesa and 1 other 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyfsu21 Posted December 9, 2021 Report Share Posted December 9, 2021 17 hours ago, MattG said: We’re a party of six, three adults and three kids (2, 3.5 and 5) The wife is curious about cruising on Carnival (hush) or Celebrity and what experience we would have with our party, but different lines. I priced out our Anthem cabin for a similar timeframe, and found Celebrity to be 3x the price for a 9-day instead of 7-day, and Carnival to be a tad less (5%) for a 5-day instead of a 7-day, all out of NJ/NY (it doesn’t make sense for us to fly to Florida with three kids at this point). What’s everyone experiences on other lines? What are the kids clubs and activities like? Splash pads? Play areas? Carnival (newer ships only) are great for kids. I wouldn’t personally recommend short voyages because it attracts more of a party crowd. They have a great kids program which is as good or better then RC. I’m not a huge fan of Carnival but based on the last couple sailings on the newer ship to the Southern Caribbean it was very much a positive experience. WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BowTieBrigade Posted December 10, 2021 Report Share Posted December 10, 2021 17 hours ago, jeffmw said: Disney is phenomenal, particularly for the age of your kids, if you can get over paying 50+% more. Dining in different themed dining rooms each night is pretty awesome. And the general service and food quality is a step up as well. It's definitely worth doing once while your kids are this age, but I'd recommend doing it at an off-peak time so you don't completely break the bank. There's definitely more of that 'magic' quality on Disney cruises, but now that my kids are nearly 8 and 10, RC seems to fit them better overall. Our experience with Disney was just the opposite. The kids club was largely just sitting our 5 year old in front of a video game and there were very few activities for our 2 year old. The kids club staff was calling our youngest by the wrong name when we came to pick him up (even though they wore name tags) and the guest services offered no help when my wife got extremely ill the last night. (Though, as you said, the dining was a good experience.) I don’t know if it was an anomaly on Disney, but RC is much more exciting for the kids and their service has been top notch. WAAAYTOOO and Baked Alaska 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffmw Posted December 10, 2021 Report Share Posted December 10, 2021 4 hours ago, BowTieBrigade said: Our experience with Disney was just the opposite. The kids club was largely just sitting our 5 year old in front of a video game and there were very few activities for our 2 year old. The kids club staff was calling our youngest by the wrong name when we came to pick him up (even though they wore name tags) and the guest services offered no help when my wife got extremely ill the last night. (Though, as you said, the dining was a good experience.) I don’t know if it was an anomaly on Disney, but RC is much more exciting for the kids and their service has been top notch. Yeah, this was definitely not our experience from the couple Disney cruises we went on vs. the Royals. On Royal, the kids club is an afterthought. On Disney, it's a focal point. It takes up almost an entire floor of the ship. Although the amped RC ships do have much, much better kids clubs on par with Disney's. But the real difference is what happens outside of the kids club. Everything outside of the kids club on a RC ship is mostly geared towards adults. Most things outside of the kids club on a Disney boat are for families/kids (dance parties, meet and greets, shows, etc.) Also the staff across the whole ship is SO focused on the kids and making sure the kids have fun. If your plan is to drop your kids off at the kids club and be on your own, RC is probably the better choice. If you're in it for a family vacation for kids under 8, I would absolutely go Disney if you can stomach the cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heymarco Posted December 10, 2021 Report Share Posted December 10, 2021 NCL is definitely not kid friendly. we cruised with them pre-Covid and everything was very adult oriented. Post Covid, they even banned kids for a long time, some age groups still can’t cruise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharla Posted December 10, 2021 Report Share Posted December 10, 2021 When we went on Celebrity my daughter absolutely loved it because there were so few kids there she got such great attention in the kids club! Royal is more geared toward kids. I don't like Carnival, so I'm going to just outright say you'll have a better time on other lines. steverk, cruisellama and Ampurp85 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atricks Posted December 10, 2021 Report Share Posted December 10, 2021 In the current covid lineup MSC's kids club (Dorimiland - Think Do Ri Me Fa Sol La Si Do for pronounciation) currently has the most going on and the most generous with time slots (6-11PM). It might change if restrictions lift on the other lines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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