Hello all...we were recently on a Disney Cruise, Disney Wonder Pacific Coast Cruise. We loved it, but we would like to also experience other cruise lines as well. Can I get some feedback on other cruise lines that are good for young kids, toddler/preschool out - out of Los Angeles/San Pedro. I know Disney is the best for kids and we had a blast - but would like to experience other lines as well.
IMO.the only other line I feel wood be really good for kids is RCCL. Others line have kids programs, but not near DCL, is the best, followed by RCCL. I will never sail carnival and we dont care for NCL. Whatever you choise have a great trip! AKK
We have done 1 Disney and 3 RCCL (Explorer and Enchantment of the Seas) cruises with our kids (currently 8 & 6). While Disney is great, my kids had an awesome time on the other ships as well. The pools were larger on RCCL and they have kids programming, just no characters. I think Oasis or Allure of the Seas have some characters from Shrek. We travel NOT during school breaks, so there are fewer kids on the ships and it seems that kids get more special treatment. My daughter was 4 on her 1st cruise and was treated like a princess on a non Disney boat. BTW...we have 2 cruises planned in the next 10 months...1 on the Disney Fantasy and 1 on the Grandeur of the Seas.
My parents have been on Royal Caribbean, Norweigan, and Holland America. They told me that they wouldn't feel comfortable taking kids to some of the night shows on all the ships they have been on. We have a lot of friends who will cruise Carnival only without kids. They say even the family shows are not for kids. When I ask everyone what is so bad with the shows they say the dancers wear thongs, (on Carnival there was pole dancing in the family show) adult comedy that was pg13 atleast and cussing. My kids love the night shows and I have been hesitant to try another line. Since it does fall into what other lines are good for kids, I hope it is ok to ask if any other lines have shows that are family friendly like the ones on Disney....
We've had great luck on both RCCL and Celebrity. Our now 7 year old son has been on 3 RCCL cruises (all 1 week long) and 1 Celebrity cruise (2 weeks long) and loved them all. He's actually worried if he'll like Disney as much! There were fewer kids on the Celebrity cruise than there were on the various RCCL cruises we've done, although there were still a fair number of kids on board. This did not bother our son at all; he liked the personal attention in the kids' club and on the ship. He liked some of the things for all ages (not just kids) on the Celebrity ship (the Eclipse, in our case) that the other ships just don't offer. He loved the glass-blowers on the top deck, the large grass lawn, and the creperie. He really loved our Celebrity cruise. RCCL has great kid's programs and great swimming pools. They are not as good for under 3 and not potty-trained as I understand Disney is, but they've improved that over the years somewhat. At this point, most of their ships have a toddler program, but no nursery for dropoff, and no pool area for the unpotty-trained. They do have a toy check-out program, where you can check out bags of toys at no charge for little ones. They do have a daily playgroup (parents must stay) for babies and one for older toddlers. On our February cruise, they set up one room as a basically permanent indoor playground for the toddler set, that you could take your young child to at any time from something like 7am to 10pm, except during the hours they were doing the playgroups in the space. For older kids, the Adventure Ocean clubs had activities going through most of the day except mealtimes. I will admit that we got a little frustrated that the clubs often seemed to be closed when my son would want to go while we did a longer sit down meal. Anyway, we were generally very impressed with the quality of the club and the staff on RCCL.
