Good Cruise Lines

[auntyjenn]

If I can't afford a Disney cruise what's another good cruise line for families if I have kids 15, 14, 12, and 8? My mom said Carnival was like more of an adult party cruise. Which ones have the big water slides on them?

Thanks for info

We'll probably be leaving form a Ft Lauderdale port though.

 

[cornish pixie]

Hi , We are going to be cruising with royal carribean on there freedom of the seas ship. Have heard some great things about it . Have been lucky enough to sail on Disney twice but we can cruise for 7 days with a balcany cabin for less than we can cruise in cat 12 stateroom for less days. So we are taking the plunge. also our girls will be 12 and 14 when we cruise and the activities on the ship look amazing, Flowrider , Rock wall,Ice skateing, you name it.
Anyway good look and enjoy what ever you decide to do
Cornish Pixie
P.S I think the oasis sails from Fort Lauderdale

 

[disnee4mygirls]

We have been on Disney (before I had kids), Princess, and Carnival. I have to say for the price, Carnival has been the best for us! Camp Carnival and the kids activities were better on Carnival compared to Princess and the FOOD was MUCH better on Carnival (I loved their desserts made with Splenda). My kids wanted to be in camp more than they wanted to be with us! We didn't do evening partying or anything as we aren't interested in that kind of stuff so not sure about the 'partying' aspect for adults. I do know that it all depends on the ship and what each one will have on it. I think the newer larger ones have much more than the older ships as far as rock climbing walls, big slides, etc! For the price and size of the room we could get, we would do Carnival every time. It's not the top of the line but we got a smaller room and paid alot more with Princess. My parents have gone Royal Carribean and loved it, but they didn't have any kids along so can't comment on what there was for the kids to do. I also want to say that there is no cruise line like Disney and I was ruined by going on my very first cruise with Disney. None of the others have compared! (and we have been on several with Carnival and one with Princess)

 

[kreed]

We cruised on Royal Carribean when our kids were 11 and 14. They loved the kids (oops sorry)TEEN program they had ( I was able to request that the both be allowed in the 12-14 program). Our kids met friends the first day and hung out with them the whole week. At the end they all signed Royal Carribean Bandanas given to them in the teen program and exchanged emails. It was a great experience for them. Within each cruise line you will find a variety of different prices depending on the ship you cruise on. My Husband and I traveled on Norweigen Cruise Lines for our Anniversary but we were without our kids. We really liked the food options on Norweigan with the new Freestyle Cruising. I can't say how the teen program was as we were without children. We have scheduled a cruise for June 2010 on the new Royal Carribean Oasis of the Seas. We are very excited. Have fun cruising.

 

[mc'smommy]

If I can't afford a Disney cruise what's another good cruise line for families if I have kids 15, 14, 12, and 8? My mom said Carnival was like more of an adult party cruise. Which ones have the big water slides on them?

Thanks for info

We'll probably be leaving form a Ft Lauderdale port though.

Has your mom actually been on a Carnival cruise ? I highly recommend Carnival with kids, they have the big water slides, a great kid/teen program and the food is wonderful...And also affordable for a family with 4 kids...

 

[serene56]

I too would like to know if your mom has ever sailed Carnival.

Carnival has the best price for cruises on anything out there.
But please do stay away from the 3, 4 day cruises as they are more party barges then a regular 7 day cruise.

I could not ever afford a disney cruise as they are more then double my price.
you DO get free soda on a disney cruise but must pay for the soda on other cruiselines.

camps are broken down by age groups- where all your kids will be in a seperate camp- (unless your 15 year old wants to move down with the 12-14 year olds) and yes they are very strict with moving a kid up in age.
The 8 year old will need someone to sign them in and out of program (until they are 9)

you would need two cabins. Only older ships allow 5 unless you pay the price for a family suite (which are rather pricy)

 

[QT Pooh]

I too would like to know if your mom has ever sailed Carnival.

Carnival has the best price for cruises on anything out there.
But please do stay away from the 3, 4 day cruises as they are more party barges then a regular 7 day cruise.

I could not ever afford a disney cruise as they are more then double my price.
you DO get free soda on a disney cruise but must pay for the soda on other cruiselines.

camps are broken down by age groups- where all your kids will be in a seperate camp- (unless your 15 year old wants to move down with the 12-14 year olds) and yes they are very strict with moving a kid up in age.
The 8 year old will need someone to sign them in and out of program (until they are 9)

you would need two cabins. Only older ships allow 5 unless you pay the price for a family suite (which are rather pricy)

I agree with serene...we just went on our first Carnival cruise in February with our 15 and 14 year olds. They had a great time...DH and I did too. If you're looking for less party (true on any main line cruise ship BTW), book at a time other than summer or spring break and stay away from the shorter cruises. We went during Mardi Gras...and while there were some party'ers on board, they did not bother us at all. The ships are big enough that if you encounter someone you don't want to associate with, you can always find something else to do.

We've also gone on Royal Caribbean a few years back, which was a more expensive cruise for us, but we thought it was a better overall experience. We all had a great time on that cruise.

 

[serene56]

We "heard" that princess is for older people and have no night activities and the ship closes down early in the evening. I was so afraid to try that cruiselines because of everything we heard. I am so happy that we didnt listen because the cruises we took with them truly wowed us from moment one.

We sailed Royal and carnival and felt they were compatible with product with Royal being more expensive then carnival-- plus sailed the Voyager and found that ship was too big for what we liked.

Basically=- a cruise is what you make it to be- if you want a party ship you can find it. If you want a cruise for relaxing you can find it- a cruise for families-- you can find that too.

Your kids on a cruise-- you wont see them except at dinner time-- which we made mandatory on our cruises. The kids loved trying new foods that on land will cost $$ for them to try. We tried something new every night and passed it around the table- found we all loved the chilled soups- we all got different desserts too for tastings.

 

[Steph14]

I have been on 2 RC and 6 Carnival cruises. For the money....Carnival is your best deal. Camp Carnival is great, my kids loved it. Whatever cruise line you choose, you will love it. Cruising is great!!!

I have a girlfriends (co-workers) cruise booked for the end of July......it will be my 4th time on the Fantasy. I can't wait

 

[Julienatul]

We are huge cruisers, we take at least two per year with our kids. We have sailed NCL, RCCL and Carnival. We havent done Disney yet due to price and my DD is still afraid of the characters. Anyhow, we mostly sail Carnival because its the best value for your money. A long time ago it had a reputation for being a "party" ship. That changed a while back. Their newer ships are right along the lines of Royal Caribbean, Norweigien, Princess etc. You will find people of all ages-infants to elderly. They have one of the best kid's club at sea including a great teen program with specific teen lounges and dance clubs. Their staterooms are larger than most other lines and the food is better. I dont think your family would be dissapointed with them.

I am a member of another cruising message board "Cruisecritic" go to cruisecritic.com and click on message boards, look under "special interest cruising" and "family board". You will find a wealth of information about cruising with children of all ages on all lines.

 

[VP of Spiderman]

My DW, and DD's, 17 & 12, have taken an annual cruise over Feb vaca for about the past 8 years. We've been on Princess Grand Class ships (5), RCCL Freedom Class and Voyager Class (2) and Hal Westerdam (1). Our last cruise (Feb '09) on RCCL Liberty was probably the best cruise to date. The Freedom Class ships are unbeleivable - beautiful ships with excellent activities.

The kids programs were comparable on both Princess and NCL. HAL would be ranked last for kids programs (but still had a decent program). Given the ages of your kids, they'll have a blast regardless of which line you choose.

We typically would book a balcony cabin for us with an inside cabin right across from us for the kids. This worked out really well for us and saved us some money by not having to book two balcony's.

Food on all lines were comparable. We've dined in fine dining establishments in Boston to the local greasy spoons. There are minimal differences in food quality amongst these lines. It's amazing that these ships are available to pull off the variety and quality for serving 2 to 4K passengers.

We haven't been on Disney and could never really justify the cost. We haven't been on Carnival because the itineraries, etc just never seem work out logistically for us, but we would certainly cruise on Carnival as well.

We've found cruising pretty much has the best bank for the buck out there.

Good luck!

 

[dizzneebabe]

Has your mom actually been on a Carnival cruise ? I highly recommend Carnival with kids, they have the big water slides, a great kid/teen program and the food is wonderful...And also affordable for a family with 4 kids...

I second this! We have cruised Carnival, Royal Car and Norwegian before. My fave by far without kids was Norwegian, but the most fun I had (and the kids) was on Carnival. We went with friends and kids on Carnival and the kids program can't be beat.
We are taking a 5 night Carnival before our week long stay at AKV in one month! The kids-we have two boys 16 & 14 and a girl, 5--are all VERY excited!!! The boys don't remember a LOT from the last cruise--they were 4 and 2. DH and I were selfish after that and left them at home with Nana and Papa for our cruise escapes!

I do have to say that the new Royal Car ships look AMAZING!!! They are double the size of the ship we are sailing on next month, which just blows my mind!!!

I don't think you can go wrong with Carnival, especially for a first time. Find out if you and the kids like it. The older ships just have been redone and have waterslides and such on them now. They do some shorter cruises, too--which might be an option. I would not say it is strictly an adult party cruise. Yes, we went with married friends and had a great time partying without our kids, but there are families galore, too.

Have fun!

 

[kokomos]

We've cruised Carnival 4 times with the kids, our last one was during spring break on the Fantasy a 4 night cruise. Many would expect that would be lots of wild partying but it really wasnt. There were 800 kids on the ship all seemed to be well behaved. My kids would rather cruise than go to Disney ds6 dd14. I think the mayjor parties are right after graduations. The kids camps are fantastic.

The only bad experience we've had was booking a gurantee balcony where they choose the location. We were placed directly above the piano bar that gets started about midnight and goes strong until 3-4 am.

Good luck what ever you decide. A bad day on a cruise is better than any day at work.

 

[auntyjenn]

Yeah, we're going to try a short one. Thanks for the input as I really know nothing about cruises.

 

[mrsmom]

We took my kids 22,16,15 11 on carnival over thanksgiving they loved it!! The kids programs were great and they have alot for kids to do.My kids still talk to the friends on the computer they met from the different places and countries.They can't wait to go again.
Kim

 

[gracie1]

Royal caribbean is great. You are so catered too, and the kids we met on there were so happy in the kids area that they didn't even want to leave!!