What's next-best to Disney for a cruise with young children?

[liza]

We loved our first cruise, on the Magic in March. We would like to try a different line for our next trip. Our children will be 8 and 4 1/2. We would like to depart from Florida (or New Orleans) and spend no more than 7 nights onboard. Does anyone have a recommendation for us?

I don't know much about any of the other cruise lines, except for these impressions:

Crystal is fabulous but pricey and adult-oriented. Celebrity is nice but also geared to the older crowd. Carnival does not appeal to me or my husband. I don't know much about the relative advantages/disadvantages of RCI, Norgweigan, and Princess. We are not looking for a party scene or casinos, necessarily. We would like decent cabin size, good food, and an itinerary that takes us to interesting locations. We would like a very good childrens' program.

Any advice?

Thanks!

[akid@hart]

We found the Voyager of the Seas - Royal Caribbean had a very good children's program and the ship is awesome!

[OurDogCisco]

We did the Norgweigan back in 1998 with our 1 year old dd. I would have to say it was the worst vacation we ever had. We decided on that trip that we didn't like cruises. However, this year we are going to give cruises another chance with the Disney Wonder that we'll be taking in August.

Anyways, I am not sure what boat we were on. I really didn't research it like I researched my WDW trip. The waiter was very inflexible about bringing out food for our dd out of sequence. For example, she loved mashed potatoes and I asked the waiter to bring it out with our appetizers. He said no because the cooks can't cook out of order. Then, one evening our dd was not up to eating so, we tried to get room service through the restuarant. They would not bring us a plate. We even offered to go down and pick it up as a to go bag. The answer was a flat out "NO". I was not impress. Also, I wasn't impressed with the food at all. The chefs were from France and they were trying to cook American food. I swear they had a translation problem in their cookbooks. One night was fifty's night. They served rootbeer floats for dessert. Would you believe they made the floats with Coffee ice cream instead of vanilla.

We did however, really enjoyed the cruise and the islands we visited. We did the Eastern Carribean route. It was very nice.

My FIL goes on about 4 cruises a year. His favorite line in Princess. He said the food is great. He is very picky eater too. But his tastes are simple. So, I don't know if that helps.

GL

[lespaul55]

I have been on Carnival and Disney cruises with the whole family and RCI without the children.

While I didn't have my children on the RCI cruise, we would "run into" the children's program and it looked like the kids were having fun. The best food I've had cruising was on RCI.

The one warning for you with RCI, they have some of the smallest cabins you have ever seen. My sister booked our RCI cruise and wanted the cheapest cabin they had. It was smaller than my walk in closet. And it was a cabin for 4!!!! Any of RCI older ships will have closet size cabins in the lower categories, be careful!!! You would get a more Disney size cabin on RCI's mega ships, the Voyager and her sisters.

My family have had a great time on Carnival too. If you cruise when children are out of school, their ships are full of families and it's hard to beat their prices. We didn't see any hard core party types. And the other cruisers looked no different than Disney's. I wouldn't go on Carnival's short cruises [3-4 days], they are called booze cruises.

Crystal is not a family oriented cruise and very formal, also expensive!!! Celebrity does have children's programs and their ships are beautiful but also another rank up in price from the others. My friend just went on a Princess cruise with her family and had a great time.

Leslie

[chrisn]

RCCL's Eagle Class is for you! We sailed on Voyager of the Seas in March with our 14 and 4 year old. They both loved it. Kids club was AWESOME! Disney cannot compare in this department. We had a D7 balcony cabin port side. Loved it! Definitely look into Voyager or her sister ships Explorer, Adventure or Navigator of the Seas. You won't be dissapointed!

[sapphire]

Has anyone tried Celebrity cruise line with children?