Free/cheap cruiselines for infants?

[GracieCat]

I've been planning a multi family cruise for next summer when my baby will be about 10 mo. I was appalled to find out that he will cost almost full price (3rd passenger rate) on Royal Caribbean and Celebrity! I'm not paying $1000 for an infant! He won't need a bed, can't eat much real food, can't participate in the kids programs, etc. RCI told me they charge for infants because they don't bring in revenue from the casino and spa! We've cruised several times on these lines and I can tell you they've lost my business at least for a few years!

Does any know of any cruiselines that allow infants to travel for free or significantly reduced rates? It looks like Norwegian (NCL) might. Anybody else? Anyone have luck negotiating a cheaper rate for the 3rd person?

Thanks!

[mrshalco]

I, unfortunately, don't have any advice for you but wanted to let you know that I tried to book a cruise with RCI recently and was told the same thing. My son would have only been 7 months. Needless to say....we aren't going on a cruise until he is MUCH older! Good luck finding what you are looking for!

[soccermom]

NCL does let under 2 free (and he can't turn 2 on the trip), although I think we paid taxes on him. But be forewarned that NCL is a different experience than RCI or Celebrity -- not as upscale. So you kinda get what you paid for (although I completely agree about not paying for infants, which is why we're not cruising for a while).

[Cam&Clay]

We are cruising on Carnival next month with my 18 month old, and he is costing us the full 3rd/4th passenger rate, which is only $229 for our 5 day cruise. Is your cruise going to be much longer than that? $1000 is an awful lot for the extras in the room!

[soccermom]

Also, I heard from friends who went with a large group on NCL this summer that their "freestyle dining" made it hard for them to find seating together unless they ate off-peak. I personally liked the freestyle, but we were a small family, and I'd never considered the cons of it with a large group until my friends mentioned it. HTH.

[urquie]

Also, I heard from friends who went with a large group on NCL this summer that their "freestyle dining" made it hard for them to find seating together unless they ate off-peak. I personally liked the freestyle, but we were a small family, and I'd never considered the cons of it with a large group until my friends mentioned it. HTH.

we only cruise on ncl now because it works better for us, with kids (ok, even without kids... i prefer casual attire and no set dinner time). there are usually 7 of us and we never had to wait for a table at meal times... not sure what times we went though??

you can't get out of port charges and taxes, but the best infant/kid prices i've seen are on ncl. the worst are on the diseny cruise line. :mad: i just checked our invoice for a two week s.a. cruise and are paying $389 for dd1 and $.00 for dd2. dd1's fair would be about half that if it was a one week cruise.

[Tondi G]

I would ask this question over on the Cruise Critic message board!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=49

[mominma]

We are going on our second NCL cruise with the kids. The Freestyle dining works so well with the kids. You can eat whenever is convenient! The first one we went on my youngest was 20 months and there was no charge. We are going on the same ship in June (NCL Spirit). It is a great ship for kids. They even offer the kids club to the babies at certain times of the day. Kids program was one of the highlights for my kids. They loved being in there! Ballpits, tunnels, games, facepainting, arts & crafts, etc.

We went with 11 family members and never had trouble getting a table. You can make reservations at the restaurants which might be a good idea with a big group.