Which cruise line, and specifically what ship offers the most for a family?

Question

We have been on cruises before, and every time we have a blast. But I've heard that some cruise ships have bowling allies, climbing walls, and miniature golf. I want to find out who has what so we can plan out next trip to be the best yet!

Answer 1

Some of the Newer NCL cruise ships have a bowling alley, I think the newest ship the Pearl does, but NCL is a little more controversial because some like it and others dont, and the service kind of varies.

Royal Caribbean has rock climbing walls, and ice skating rinks, golf simulators, and the new flowrider. This would be your best bet, and I would book your cruise on any of the Voyager Class Ships, which include, Freedom of the Seems, Liberty of the Seas, Mariner of the Seas, Adventure of the Seas, Voyager of the Seas, and Explorer of the Seas, I believe. Those have the most to do. Also RCCL is generated more towards families, even though they are a little higher.

Carnival is more of a younger crowd, that has waterslides for the kids, and its more of a drink and gamble, and party type of cruise line. Even though they are a lot cheaper, its more for a younger crowd, but they have good children's programs and teen discos and alot of teen activities as the teens are hardest to please.

I would avoid Princess, Holland America, and some of the more upscale lines, like Cunard, Crystal, Windstar, etc. I didn't mention Celebrity or Costa as they have some good cruises, and have families on the ships, but they arent as family oriented. Celebrity's staff has kid counselors with degrees in children psychology and other stuff, and they have previous experiences with kids, so they are well trained. Also Costa has water slides, and is more of an Italian cruise line.. The only downside though is every time the Captain or crew make an announcement over the loud speaker the announcement is spoken in like 6 different languages so that gets annoying after some time, but its a nice cruise line. Also Celebrity is really nice, and they have some of the most amazing food, and wouldn't be bad for a family, as they have lots of things to do on board, and they have some great deals. Hope you have a wonderful trip.

Answer 2

If you visit cruisecritic.com, you will find any possible info on cruising you can imagine. There is a " Boards" where you can chat with people ( post and answer questions)

Answer 3

I like Carnival for our family vacations, some of there ships have mine-golf, the Fantasy, Sensation, and possible other Fantasy class ships. been on the Fantasy and there was no lines for the mine-golf

it is Royal Caribbean that has the rock wall, and ice skating but as they are still new there potential for a line like at Disney to get to them

Answer 4

I would do either Disney or Royal Caribbean depending on the ages of your children. What you are describing sounds like Royal Caribbean. If you have kids who are a little younger or really into Disney I would go on Disney. They also have a lot of stuff for teenagers on Disney. On both the ship and Castaway Cay they have exclusive teen areas. They have their own private beach, only teenagers allowed. If you have kids who are really into sporting type stuff like climbing walls, surfing onboard etc. I would go for Royal Caribbean.

I don't think I would choose Carnival. It is more of a party ship and when we went they had long lines for the buffets and lots of drunk people.

Princess and Crystal are very nice ships. They are not as geared towards kids but because their are fewer kids, yours will definitely get a lot of special treatment.

Hope this helps! Have fun!

Answer 5

I suggest that you go on the new Royal Caribbean ships Freedom of the Seas or Liberty of the Seas. Both of these ships are brand new, one launched last year and the other just a few months ago. They both do Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries. We did the Western Caribbean itinerary on the Freedom and the port stops were Cozumel, Grand Cayman island, Ocho Rios, Jamaica, and then the RC's private island in Labadee, Haiti. The ship, food and service will be much better than you will get on Carnival.

Cozumel is a good stop for beach time, snorkel, and scuba. Not much else in my opinion to see and do. We toured the island on one trip there and didn't see anything to go back to see again. Grand Cayman is great for beach time. They have a place called 7-mile beach which you can reach by taxi or bus. Ocho Rios is a nice stop and I recommend the river rafting trip. It's safe, fun and scenic.

The highlight of this RC itinerary is the private island. Its a huge island with several beaches and they have a tram to take you around. There is a market where you can buy native crafts. Then you can go Jet Ski, Para-sail, snorkel, or play in their water park. They bring food ashore for a beach party and every thing is first class.

Check out this link with all of the "hot deal" cruises listed:

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruis...

This is definitely a family friendly ship.  It has a water park area just for kids called the H2O Zone, a rock climbing wall, a full sized basketball court, an ice skating rink, and the Flow Rider where kids can surf while on board the ship.

Answer 6

Disney definitely has activities for all ages.  I just came back from the Disney Cruise last week and I was definitely impressed by the activities they had for all ages starting from about 7:00 AM to midnight.

I've heard mixed reviews on Carnival, great on Celebrity.  You can check out the particulars on each cruise line web site (do some homework), call the cruise line and then talk with a travel agent specializing on cruises.   I found no one source had all the details of information I needed before the cruise but I gathered enough information to plan for most of my key shows, shore excursions, on-board ship activities, lectures/seminars, etc.

Disney publishes daily activities each night for the next day and leaves it in your cabin.  

I started my planning a year ago, but even with that, I was impressed by how well Disney had everything organized from the moment I boarded the ship to all the events on the cruise till we the day we left.  It costs more, but I can attest that was worth the memories.

Good Luck and have fun!

Duane

Answer 7

Sounds like you are describing Royal Caribbean.  They do an excellent job, have massive ships, some the largest in the world and a great list of activities for the adults and the kids.  Cost comparison they are about equal to Carnival.

Here is a link to their website:

www.royalcaribbean.com/

It would also depend on what area of the world you want to cruise in.  

No matter what cruise you take, just cruise.  Every ship has something special to offer.  What you have described here is RCL (Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines).  Great choice for a family vacation!

Shop the prices and be flexible in your dates and you might really end up with a great deal.  Try some of the discount cruise companies.  Never pay "rack rate" or the price in the brochure.  Too many deals out there!!!!!

Bon Voyage and have a great time together......really wonderful vacation to do as a family!