What is your fave CRUISE LINE and WHY?

[supercalifragilous]

Not going anywhere in particular, just trying to research what lines have been favorable to some... Plus get info (on the Why part) that I may not have even thought about. DD will be 5 and she'll be coming with us, so kid-friendly is a factor. I'm leery about putting her in on-board kid camps, too, so any feedback on that would be great, too. TIA!

[KBecks]

We have cruised on Carnival, Norwegian and Royal Carribean.

I think RC is the nicest. We were on one of their very big ships but it was years ago. I have also heard very good things about Disney cruises.

Whatever line you chose, look for one of their newer ships (the older ones get beat up ) and look for a good itenerary. I like to go places and not have a lot of sea days where you're stuck on the boat (but if it's a nice boat, then it's not bad). I loved the RC solarium room.

[KBecks]

oh and a great web site for cruse info is cruise critic.

[urquie]

i love ncl for cruising with dd. the dress code is casual and there are no set dinner times. you can go when ever you want or just get 24 hour room service :)

[Tondi G]

If you have an un-potty trained toddler (2+) then the lines to go with are Carnival (they change diapers) or Norwegian (they give you a beeper and beep you when the kiddo needs a change). I believe Carnival has the most ships so their prices are often lower.... doesn't mean the quality of the cruise is less than. They also have some of the largest standard cabins out there!

Royal Carribean is great for a 5 year old... go for one of the newer ships that have the H2O zone water area. Freedom class I believe it is! RC also offers in room baby sitting for a small hourly fee... if your kiddo goes down early allowing you to enjoy some adult time in the evening!

Disney is apparently fantastic but you can often get the same cruise itinerary for a much cheaper price on Carnival, RC or Norwegian. You are paying for the Disney experience (and the fact that they only have 2 boats in the water currently) but a lot of people opt for other lines on the price factor. From what I've learned their private Island Castaway Cay is great and is worth it for a 3 or 4 nighter connected to a Disney World vacation! If your DD is princess happy then she would love the Disney cruise experience!

Norwegian is known for it's free style dining. Some people like it, some don't! Some seasoned cruisers are so used to the set dining times with the same server each night, same table mates each night that they miss it! Check out the ship though and make sure it has the updated kids clubs etc! I believe the older boats also have smaller cabins which is a consideration if you have more than 2 people in a room!

Princess is do-able but often an older crowd.

I don't know much about Celebrity but it is another option.

I think most people with children go for Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian or Disney.

I highly recommend heading over to Cruise Critic and checking out their message boards! I've gotten SO much helpful info over there!

We are more than likely cruising with Carnival this summer because we have a soon to be 3 year old who is no were near potty trained at this point and we don't want to take any chances. He'd be so disappointed if his brother got to go into the camp program and he had to miss out! When he is potty trained and depending on how much be like the Carnival ship we will probably try one of the Royal Carribean boats with the H2O zone, rock climbing wall and ice skating rink!

One other thing to note is that most of the ships pools are salt water... only a few have fresh water pools! I wish they were all fresh water!

~Tondi

[deenass]

We have been on Norwegian (honeymoon) Disney (extended family - in laws paid for it) and Royal Carribean (pre and post kids) - f

For the kids club I would recomend RC - they require all youth staff to have bachelor's degrees (I think preferably with an education major) - my UBER paranoid SIL (she would have her kids polay in the garage rather than on the driveway where they may get "kidnapped") has used the kids club for all her kids and the kids love it. We'll be going in November and DS will be enrolled.
We did the in- room babysitting thing when DS was 2 1/2 - we would put him to sleep and the sitter stayed in our room with the lights off watching a low vlolume tv. The sitters are crew members who are off-duty (one sitter was a server in the crew dining room, another worked in the infimary. It was nice to have some adult time with DH when our son was asleep.

The Disney cruise is great, but it is all kids all the time (the shows are fa,ily friendly, the restaurants are family friendly, no casino on board).

[codex57]

I love Cruise Critic.

I'm personally a Princess fan. However, me, my sister, and our friends who went on the cruises with us were all pretty sedate kids (re boring).

For kids, I'm most impressed with Disney. I'm waiting for my kid to get a bit older so I can take him. I was a teen back then and that Disney cruise is up there in my top 2 favorite cruises of all times. I repeated my favorite last year (Alaska) and I'd definitely recommend it for the slightly older kids. Disney has entertaining kids down to a science (literally - I've worked at Disneyland; their tricks/techniques are quite clever).

Haven't been on Royal Carib, but I'm dying too. I suspect it'll surplant Princess as my favorite line. It's on the pricier side tho.

I didn't like Carnival over Princess and my parents (also big cruisers) and their friends always come back complaining about Norwegian (they keep going cuz they keep finding these awesome deals for like $399/wk).

Holland and Celebrity (the slightly higher end lines) can be ok for kids, but they're more of an extreme version of Princess (for the more seasoned of folks).

The onboard kid camps are fine. Certain lines put more of an effort than others, but ultimately, how much fun your kid has depends on the people in charge on that ship and if your kids will mesh with the other kids there.

[chibabymom]

I know most of the cruise lines will have kids programs for those two and up. Are there any out there who take care of 18-23 month olds? I miss my old cruise travel agent!

[Tondi G]

You can PAY for limited time on Disney in Flounders Nursery. I think it's 10 hours over the course of your cruise and then may be able to add to it depending on how many others are utilizing the service. You need to book the times right away when you get on board!

Royal Carribean offers in room babysitting paid for by the hour... I believe the child has to be over 1 year. It is just done by any crew member who is available and interesting in making a little extra money I think! Also on RC they offer programs for a mommy and me type activity that you can do with your child in the playroom!

I think thats it though!