We cruised on Disney this past year and had an absolutely fantastic time. Pricing this year for Disney seems to have gone up considerably. We are thinking od either RCCL or Princess for our next cruise, but I can't decide. I have heard that if there are not enough kids on board Princess will cancel the kids program, also that the average age is 70. Don't know if this is true or not. Would love to hear from someone who has don;e both with children. My kids are 5 and 2. We are thinking of going in March 2004. Carnival is also not out of the question. But Princess has great ports of call.
I do not have chlidren, but have been on RCCL, Princess and Carnival cruises. With kids, Carnival is probably the best choice of the three. I am going on my second princess cruise in November, but my parents only cruise Princess as their staff is great, the food and the shows. I went on RCCL last May and was not very impressed. It was their smallest ship and I was not thrilled with the food (seemed to have the same side dishes every single night), but I still had a good time, after all, I was on vacation. Now if you are looking into one of RCCL newer biggest ships (voyager of the seas, etc) then I would say that might be a better choice than Princess because there are so many activities. Princess really can be for an older crowd. Iam only 26 and since my husband and I do not yet have children, we enjoy more of an "older"crowd. Carnival is definately suited more towards children and younger crowds. Good luck. Hope I helped.
Dayna:
While Princess has better food, Royal Caribbean has a better youth program. Note that neither line, however, will accept your two year old in their youth program (kids have to be three years and potty trained). However, Royal Caribbean does have private baby sitters you can hire if you want a few hours alone without kids. We've did that last year when my son was an infant and the baby sitter was a lovely young lady. Royal Caribbean's youth program is tops -- my daughter has been on 14 cruises and loves RCI's youth activities. Their newer ships have great kids' pool areas too (Adventure of the Seas, etc.)
If you're looking for lines which take kids age two and over in their youth program, contact NCL or Carnival. Both have good youth programs too.
Let me know if you have add'l questions.
Smooth sailing,
Luisa Frey Gaynor
Family Cruise Editor
Dayna, it is not true that the average age of passengers on Princess is 70. Lots of kids -especially on the mega sized ships, in the Caribbean during school break time. You will tend to get an older crowd 50+ on the longer cruises 10 days + but that's about it. Our kids are older (teenagers) so i don't know about the kids programs, all i know is that there were plenty of happy, smiling, busy kids around. I think that either cruise line will be great for you and your family, when it comes down to choosing, opt for the ship that has the itineary you are looking for
My husband and I sailed on the Grand Princess for our first cruise this past year, and were extremely pleased as to the quality of the food, entertainment, and the overall ship. This October, we are sailing on the RCCL Navigator of the Seas. After doing extensive research, the two lines seem to be comparable. I heard pros/cons both ways, i.e. Princess has better food from one person, RCCL has better food from another person. We ended up looking at the ports of call on the itinerary and at the activities each ship offered. The biggest positive to me about Princess is that all of their pools are freshwater, which doesn't seem to be the case on any other cruise line. This year, for us, RCCL won over Princess because their Eastern Caribbean itinerary has 4 ports of call instead of 3.
Either way, I don't think you can lose. I'll let you know what I think of RCCL.
Dayna:
Our family travels on school breaks so there are always plenty of kids onboard. We sailed the Mexican Riveria for ten days on the Sea Princess and had a fabulous time. The pizzeria is super, much better than that on our RCL trip last Easter on Brillliance of the Seas. Besides that, the waiters and room stewards on Princess were more into kids.
There's a big difference between the kids programs that everyone should be aware of. On port days, the Princess kids program is closed, at least until dinner time. On RCl, they are prepared to care for your kids while you enjoy the shore excursions. Also, they gave prizes for attendance at the kids programs and had very creative activities.
royal caribbean or princess?
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