If not DCL, then who would you cruise with?

[mevelandry]

We've also seen Mr and Mrs Potato Head on some of our Carnival Cruises.

Carnival has partnered with Hasbro which has increased many of their family friendly options - you're find Carnival Tower (Giant Jenga game), Trivial Pursuit group trivia (on sea days), connect 4 tournaments, Clue Mystery game and of course, the Hasbro Game Show (main theatre event). They also stock the library with a large variety of Hasbro games so if you're looking for family friendly on a sea day and none of the activities interest your gang - you can always head to the library and play candyland, battleship, monopoly, risk, clue, etc.

RIGHT! I saw them too. Completely forgot about them!

 

[braysmommy]

You also have the advantage of going east to west.

I can't wait! Gaining back some of the hours from going the other way.

 

[suedon70]

Love DCL and 4 of our past 8 cruises have been on the Dream and Fantasy. But next March 2019 my daughter and I will be taking a 7-night on RCCL's Freedom of the Seas. Different itinerary than normal (sailing from San Juan to Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, and St. Maarten) at a much better price for a comparable DCL cruise. I haven't cruised on RCCL in over 10 years so looking forward to the variety of activities, shows and restaurants they have.

 

[jaiminee krikit]

DD15 loved our Princess cruise last summer to Alaska. She likes the Disney cruises, but the teen clubs bore her. She met a few kids the first night and they hung out the entire cruise, sometimes at the clubs, sometimes just wandering around the ship.
We're trying Norwegian next - their new ship will have a go-cart track and laser tag. I cannot wait! I'm not sure what she'll do, but I'm super excited

 

[richmo]

I haven't read thru the thread, so I hope I'm still on topic...

If price was equal or even close to equal, I'd pick DCL every time. But, I find it hard to justify paying sometimes at least double to cruise on DCL. My kids are older now, so we don't need the clubs, etc.

So, last summer we took a 4 nighter on RCCL Enchantment of the Seas out of Miami and thoroughly enjoyed it. This summer, we'll drive up to Bayonne and take a 7 nighter on RCCL Anthem OTS. Would I rather be on Disney? Probably. Do I want to pay double for a similar cruise? No

My hope, and I'm sure I'm wrong, is that when Disney adds the new ships the demand will decrease a little and they'll bring the prices down a bit to compete with the other cruise lines. Guess I better not hold my breath...

 

[MainMom]

What cruise line/itinerary would you book to avoid college spring breakers? My friends went on a bahama cruise on Royal last spring break and said it was over run. I would like to avoid that.

 

[dcassetta]

What cruise line/itinerary would you book to avoid college spring breakers? My friends went on a bahama cruise on Royal last spring break and said it was over run. I would like to avoid that.

Spring break could be an issue on any ship, but I would guess if you sailed with Disney, Celebrity, or Holland America you are much less likely to see college-age kids, particularly in big groups

 

[cadien]

I wouldn't expect to see groups of college kids on Princess either. Also keeping the cruise to 7+ days makes a difference for every line.

 

[bobbiwoz]

For a quick get away, it is DCL. We prefer the day and night activities.

Then we book by itinerary, Trans Atlantic, Trans Pacific, Panama Canal, South America, Europe

Trans Pacific...RCCL
Trans Atlantic...DCL
Panama Canal.... Princess for partial transits, DCL full transit
South America...Celebrity
Dover to Rome...Princess


We will return to Alaska, probably it will be Princess, we want to go to Denali.

 

[Reese'smom]

Before kids-10 or so cruises on Royal Caribbean. Love them. We will go back there in the next few years when the kids are a little older. They are currently 10 and almost 8 (birthday next week). You can’t beat RCCL in activities. They have sooooo much.

 

[MickeyD]

We have stuck with Disney pretty much for the last 8 cruises, but we have done the others. With kids, I would stick with RCCL or Disney. Older kids, Princess, RCCL, or sometimes Disney (depends on the kid). We have liked all our cruises, but then we aren't overly picky--we are on vacation after all and it beats being home working. We have sailed two older Carnival ships and did not encounter the "booze cruise" atmosphere, that we found on Celebrity, believe it or not. While the crowd skewed older on Celebrity, they drank A LOT! Now it wasn't frat parties by the pool, but older people that drink a lot can get loud and belligerent. LOL
We liked all of them, but I would rate our preferences as:
#1 DCL
#2 Princess
#3 Celebrity
#4 Carnival
#5 RCCL

 

[KashasMom]

I am looking at cruises for next year and find we are getting priced out of DCL for our family of 5. I was wondering what other cruise lines you have had good experiences with for family-friendly cruising. My kids are ages 9-14, and we have only ever been on Carnival a long time ago. Any tips on who to look at, and who to avoid would be really appreciated. We would either depart from Galveston or Port Canaveral. Thanks!

We love Royal's Oasis class ships. We started cruising them when my daughter was just over 6 and was starting to be less interested in Disney princesses (she never went into the kid's clubs on Disney). She'd much rather spend her days on a rock climbing wall or in one of Royal's 4 decent sized pools. The shows are all family friendly - love the ice skating and aqua shows. We like the other things offered on the ships and never felt overwhelmed by the size. Just a note - we've been on the newer NCL ships - possibly 1 family friendly show per cruise (and that might be a Cirque with a surcharge). The very small kids pool and 1 adult pool didn't work for us either.

 

[cyclenut]

We've sailed out of Galveston twice. Once on the Wonder and once on the Carnival Breeze. We would totally do the Carnival Vista now that she's going to be sailing out of Galveston and are actually planning a 2019 cruise with some friends on board that ship. 2018 is fully booked for us already, but we've decided that after this year, we're waiting for the new DCL ships to sail DCL again. We'll be choosing Royal or Carnival, with Southern Caribbean on our list.

 

[cyclenut]

It's hard for me to get past Carnival's rep of being a booze cruise. I wonder if that is for shorter cruises.

They have earned that reputation for certain ships from certain ports, but it is not that way for the majority of Carnival cruises. Newer ships with longer itineraries are definitely more family friendly.

 

[tierney corbett]

i think that you should really try for dcl. it is expensive, but i went on my first cruise with disney at age 5 and it was my favorite vacation! my advice is that the cabin(s) don't matter. if money is an issue than get the cheapest cabin(s) you can find because the difference really is disney! you will only sleep in there so who says a cabin needs to be crazy expensive.

 

[cadien]

People traveling with kids under 5 actually spend a lot of time in the cabin because of naps and earlier bedtimes. We have downgraded now that our kid is older but an inside is no vacation when you’re stuck in there.

 

[daisyx3]

I looked at some for next March but I like shorter cruises and the ships that are available tend to be older. I had a 5 night scheduled this March on the Crown Princess but we canceled it as we weren't feeling it--doing 5 nights at the Poly Villas instead. Doing a 3 night Fantasy this summer...our first without any kids (took DS on the Dream his senior year). If we are bored, we will revisit where we cruise from now on. But we don't gamble or smoke or drink a lot, so I'm always wary of "party cruises".

 

[tidefan]

For the lines we've cruised, I'd put them in this order:

1) DCL
2) Princess
3) Carnival
4) RCCL

(NOTE: Our RCCL cruise was on the Serenade of the Seas and was our least favorite cruise after all of the build-up we had heard about RCCL (C'mon RCCL, no food available from 2-5pm except a place located in the adult only area???). Our experience may have been different if we were on one of the bigger ships...)

 

[Frozen2014]

For the lines we've cruised, I'd put them in this order:

1) DCL
2) Princess
3) Carnival
4) RCCL

(NOTE: Our RCCL cruise was on the Serenade of the Seas and was our least favorite cruise after all of the build-up we had heard about RCCL (C'mon RCCL, no food available from 2-5pm except a place located in the adult only area???). Our experience may have been different if we were on one of the bigger ships...)

I've only been on DCL and Royal and although I love Disney parks, I am Royal biased for cruises. I agree with your note in that you selected an older smaller ship. Royal has tons of different ships for everyone. The Oasis class is amazing and so family friendly. Your thoughts may be different if you tried a different ship.

 

[RedSox68]

While we love their ships, I would not suggest Princess or HAL with kids. Not sure what they offer for kids as we have never checked that out. We have had a great time on Carnival (Glory and Sunshine) and on NCL (Breakaway and soon on the Escape) and they seemed to have a lot to offer for kids activities and clubs. Have not done RCCL.