Cruise recommendations for families pls

[6jonesss]

We would like to do another cruise in the Caribbean around this time next year. Just on the end of a 7 day cruise on epic at present. I've cruise once family haven't before. We have decided we would like to cruise again but wouldn't do EPIC again Andrea doubt we can afford Disney.

Any recommendations please.

Thanks.

[disneymadhouse]

I've heard royal Caribbean and NCL are good for families. They would be the first ones I would look at if I wasn't looking at DCL.
Carnival has a reputation as a party ship, where the focus does seem to be on alcohol. Of course this probably depends on the ship, destination, time of year and the mix of other passengers
We nearly booked the Carnival vista last year for this year as it was brand new, and a lot cheaper than DCL. But the Disney Magic lured us back!

[danisleigh]

We didn't like the Epic either but like the smaller NCL ships and also like royal Caribbean. we did do a Disney cruise in August and it was the best by far but is obviously more expensive, we will definitely do one again though.

[Scotty]

What age are your children? We had great family holidays with P&O when ours were younger, as teens they loved Celebrity. We don't like the huge ships.
MSC have great prices but haven't been with them yet.

[Cyclospora]

Royal Caribbean are great for families.

[scarecrow]

I have done 1 DCL cruise and three Carnival cruises all fir 7 nights or more.

I can wholeheartedly recommend Carnival for families. Lots of different eating places, great kids clubs, Dr Suess on their newer ships. Just avoid the shorter cruises at Spring break, that's where the party atmosphere comes from.

Carnival limit passengers to 15 drinks per day under their drinks package.

This year I went on their newest ship the Vista which is now in Miami. They have special cabins for families called family harbour rooms, which looked great.


Have a read of the sticky that I wrote a while ago.

If you utube gailjen my friend has compiled a few videos of their newest ships that we have both sailed on. The Breeze, Vista and Sunshine.

My favourite ship of three was the Breeze.

[6jonesss]

Thanks for all the suggestions so far. Next Christmas our children will be 15 nearly 13,9 & 6. Thanks

[scarecrow]

Sweeney people ask me about cruise lines I tend to try and compare the cruise lines to Disney hotels.
Moderate disney hotel think, Carnival, NCL, RCL, MSC

Delux hotel, Princess, celebrity, Holland America

Grand Floridian Seaborne, Crystal

You will get more mature passengers on Holland, Seaborne etc, with very few kids.

The others will be a good mixture especially during school hols.

Also consider your dining experience. All of the lines with the exception of NCL have formal nights, some are very formal, Princess, Cekebrity P&O Hoolahd, think tux, long gown/cocktail.

Carnival have formal, but not as many tux's /gowns. More suit and ties for the men.

Some cruise lines you have to share a table with fellow passengers which we hate and you have set dining times.

NCL and Carnival for sure have free time dining, not sure about the others.

For us, I usually choose the ports I would like to see rather than the ship first. But I do tend to go for newer larger ships rather than smaller ones if I can.

[marlouwrig]

Originally Posted by scarecrow

Sweeney people ask me about cruise lines I tend to try and compare the cruise lines to Disney hotels.
Moderate disney hotel think, Carnival, NCL, RCL, MSC



Also consider your dining experience. All of the lines with the exception of NCL have formal nights, some are very formal, Princess, Cekebrity P&O Hoolahd, think tux, long gown/cocktail.

Carnival have formal, but not as many tux's /gowns. More suit and ties for the men.

.

See more...

We have only been on 2 cruises, both DCL to Bahamas and Alaska. This year we are doing a 7 night Western Caribbean cruise with Celebrity as DCL came in too expensive for DS and his girlfriend and as we are not fans of dressing up we are delighted that Celebrity have ditched formal nights in favour of 'Evening Chic'

Get chic. Be sophisticated. Now, on up to two nights on every cruise, Evening Chic activities are being introduced, and Evening Chic attire is replacing Formal attire. While dressier than Smart Casual, Evening Chic is intended to be less dressy than Formal attire.

An excellent compromise I think

[Pootle]

Originally Posted by scarecrow

Moderate disney hotel think, Carnival, NCL, RCL, MSC

Delux hotel, Princess, celebrity, Holland America

Also consider your dining experience. All of the lines with the exception of NCL have formal nights, some are very formal, Princess, Cekebrity P&O Hoolahd, think tux, long gown/cocktail.

Carnival have formal, but not as many tux's /gowns. More suit and ties for the men.

See more...

Celebrity no longer have formal nights as such, they have renamed them 'evening chic' and basically it seems to be whatever you consider to be appropriate - men no longer need jackets or ties for example, and 'designer' jeans would be fine - as would tux, kilt etc. if you so choose.

Even on Princess a year ago, our (elderly) table companions informed us they would not be dressing up! No one minded at all.

Some cruise lines you have to share a table with fellow passengers which we hate and you have set dining times.

NCL and Carnival for sure have free time dining, not sure about the others.

See more...

Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Princess all have the option to choose flexible dining - so turn up when you wish to eat and request a table just for your party if you wish - but they all give their schemes different names.

To add to the above, Disney is the only cruise line I have been on with our grandchildren, but last summer on a Celebrity Med cruise, the children seemed to be having (supervised) fun around the ship. However, these were younger than teens.