Taking the kids on their first cruise...

[kkayluvsdis]

the cruise line would have to be ______________.

Looking for suggestions on the best cruise experience with kids. I'm thinking that Disney Cruise Line is the most obvious choice, but I would love to hear your experiences. My dh and I have only cruised once and it was pre-kids. Oh, our kids will be 8, 5, and 3 at time of travel.

Thanks!!

-Kelly

 

[amomma23]

I would ask this on the Disney Cruise Line board. There are many experienced cruisers (Disney AND other lines) who will give you some insight.

 

[kkayluvsdis]

I would ask this on the Disney Cruise Line board. There are many experienced cruisers (Disney AND other lines) who will give you some insight.

Thanks! I will give that board a try!

 

[DCbride]

DD6 has been on 12 cruises in the past 3 years with her grandparents. She prefers NCL over Carnival strict based on kids club and food choices. She always asks about a Disney cruise but they can go on 3 for the price of 1 Disney cruise.

 

[mjkacmom]

We've been on one DCL cruise, had a great time, but didn't feel it was worth paying SO much more than the other family friendly cruiselines like NCL, RCCL, and Carnival.

If you can, cruise out of your home port. It saves so much money on flights, plus it is really incredible to be on vacation so soon after leaving your home. Plus, you retain your vacation good mood longer, not having to spend hours flying back home.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Also check out cruisecritic.com. Lots of great choices which are much cheaper than DCL.

 

[LONES]

We went on our first cruise last summer. It was a Princess cruise to Alaska, RT out of Seattle. My MIL paid for the cruise for all of DH's siblings and families. Honestly... if I was paying myself, I would have paid the extra for a Disney cruise.

One thing to keep in mind is if you think your kids would use the kids club on the ship. On Princess, the age groups were 3-7, and then 8-12. My girls were 6 and 8 at the time. They are very strict about the ages, and they could not be together. We tried the kids club for about 1 1/2 hours the first day. When I went to pick them up, my oldest had a look on her face like I'd left her in the middle of a nightmare for 3 weeks straight. I wasn't surprised, as she is not very out-going at all. I think if she could have been with her sister, it would have been a different story.

Since the kids clubs were out for the rest of the trip.... I found myself incredibly bored. The pools were not kid-friendly at all. My kids are not strong swimmers, and the pools were basically big rectangles that went from about 5ft deep to 7 ft deep. My kids did swim some, but I was a nervous wreck the entire time. Also, I really have no concept of relaxing. My MIL and SIL's would sit around and read books and play cards. I would pretty much pace around with my kids saying... "okay, how long until dinner?". I felt like I was always looking for something to do. I'm guess I'm more of the Disney type that needs non-stop stimuli!!!

I suppose if my kids would have been in the kids club, I would have had a few more options. The other side of that is that my kids are in daycare everyday. On what is supposed to be a family vacation, I don't see the point in dropping them off at "vacation daycare" everyday.

I did enjoy the port days, and would highly recommend Alaska, though! I also would like to try a Disney cruise at some point, but over-all, I just don't think we are really a "cruise family".

 

[Golden Rose]

We've done DCL, RCCL, Celebrity, and NCL.

We disliked NCL. We might like a different ship more, but we were not impressed with the ship we were on or with "Freestyle Dining", which always seemed to mean getting a buzzer and waiting for 30 minutes, to be rushed through the mediocre meal in a noisy dining room.

We like DCL, RCCL, and Celebrity, and we've liked all three with kids. The kids much prefer DCL, but DD is princess obsessed, so we're not surprised she prefers DCL right now. DS doesn't love the kids club on DCL; it sometimes is just too noisy for him, with too many ages doing too many things. His favorite kids club was on Celebrity, which was smaller, quieter, and had fewer kids.

The reason DS prefers DCL overall is that there is so much that the kids can do with the parents on DCL. With the other lines, there was kids club, and there was a lot to do for the adults, but there weren't that many activities we could do together as a family. DCL does kids club well, adults only activities well, and entire family activities well. DCL is particularly good with younger kids, particularly kids who particularly love various Disney characters.

With kids the age of your children, I would think DCL is probably best, BUT it is likely to be a more expensive option, and you would probably also have a really good experience on Royal Caribbean. We've done both with both kids, and they enjoyed both.

 

[daisygirl902]

I've done RCCL, Disney, and Celebrity, and would by far choose to take fewer trips to spend the extra on a Disney cruise any day. We've yet to cruise with our own children (our son will be born in August and his first cruise will hopefully be in September 2015 on DCL), but have cruised on our own and with my sister and her girls. We all prefer DCL hands-down for service, quality, and most of all, entertainment!!

 

[dmoonchild]

Hi kkay, We are also taking our kids on their first cruise. We just booked The Disney Fantasy, 7 day Eastern Carribean. Hubby and I did the Wonder , pre- kids, and loved it. My hub has cruised on several other cruises, and said Disney is the best for kids. He stated the other lines are more geared for gambling, drinking. I have heard horror stories about one particular line where there were fist fights at dinner, nudity, cussing.
Disney is more pricey, but you get what you pay for. Good Luck. Please let us know what you decide.