Transatlantic with 3 kids under 12yrs

Hi there
Our close friends are joinging us on the inaugural cruise of the Norwegian Sun - a 16 day transatlantic crossing via Iceland. We're a little concerned as it's in the first week of September and wonder how many other kids will be on board. Has anyone done a crossing with kids, was it OK??? They are 11, 8 and 7 yrs! Any feedback would be highly appreciated to pass on to the parents!
Cheers.
Elenore

I'm the family cruise editor of CruiseMates.com and I did some checking with Norwegian Cruise Line about your Norwegian Sun crossing. At this point, there are only seven minors booked for that cruise (and I assume three of them are your children). While NCL could tell me the number of children, they could not tell me the ages of the children booked. I'm assuming it's a low number since it's back to school time for most and also since it's a long cruise. However, NCL does offer a youth program year round so I'm sure the youth counselors will make sure your children are well entertained. We cruised on an older NCL ship a few years ago which didn't have as many kid-friendly options as the Sun will, and my daughter loved the cruise mainly because of the fun counselors.
Bon voyage!
Luisa Frey Gaynor

Thanks so much Luisa. I was hoping that the numbers would be a little higher as it will be a shame if they don't have any younger company. Will the kids programs still run as per the normal hours with so few kids on board? I've had little luck trying to get any information through our agent as NCL is not well represented here in Australia. I just hope the parents will be able to enjoy the cruise as this is their first. Even though we've wanted our friends to join us on other cruises, I did advise them not to come on such a long cruise with the kids - they just liked the itinerary and thought the time out of school would be compensated by the life experience of a transatlantic crossing. Let's hope we all have a good time and that the Sun will be a nice introduction to cruising for our friends!
Cheers from Downunder

I wanted to let you know that I spoke to personnel at NCL and they assured me there will be youth counselors and activities for your children on the Norwegian Sun transatlantic cruise even if there are only a handful of youths aboard. The ship has some fun facilities your kids will enjoy: dedicated youth room, kids' splash pool, video game room, basketball court, ice cream bar, along with regular ship facilities such as deep pools, shuffleboard, etc.
Hopefully this will reassure you!
Luisa

Thanks for checking on that - your information has been very reassuring. We'll just hope now for calm seas and a few sunny breaks...............this is one area that you certainly can't help me with! I'll report back after the trip and let you know how it all went. Cheers. Elenore