Best Cruises for Families with Kids
More families are cruising than ever before, and lines are beefing up their kids and teen facilities to keep everybody happy. All the lines included here offer supervised activities for three to five age groups between ages 2 or 3 and 17, plus well-stocked playrooms, group and/or private babysitting, wading pools, kids’ menus, and cabins that can accommodate three to five people.
Disney Cruise Line: This family magner offers the most sophisticated and high-tech kids’ program in the cruise world, bar none. Huge play areas, family-friendly cabins (the majority have two bathrooms– a sink and toilet in one and a shower/ tub combo and a sink in the other), baby nursery, and the ubiquitious Mickey all spell success. Plus, the 3 and 4 night Bahamas cruises aboard the Disney Wonder are marketed in tandem with stays at Walt Disney World, so you can have your ocean voyage and your Cinderella Castle too.
Royal Caribbean: The huge Voyager-class ships are truly theme parks at sea, with features such as on board rock-climbing walls, ice-skating rinks, in-line skate rinks, miniature golf, burger-joint diners, and Disney-esque Main Streets running down their centers, with parades and other entertainment throughout the day. The new Freedom of the Seas goes them one better, adding an top-deck water park and surfing simulator. All this is an addition to bigger-than-normal kids’ playrooms, teen centers, wading pools, and video game rooms, plus regulation-size basketball, paddleball, and volleyball courts. The Radiance-class ships are also a great family choice, and even the line’s older ships have impressively roomy kids’ facilities.
Carnival Cruise Lines: While Carnival’s let-the-good-times-roll attitude appeals to adults, the line also does a particularly fine job with kids. A few hundred per cruise is pretty normal, with as many as 700 to 800 on Christmas and New Year’s cruises. You’ll find the biggest and brightest playrooms in the fleet on the Conquest-class vessels, with computer stations, a climbing maze, a video wall showing movies and cartoons, arts games, plus great water slides out on the main pool deck. Carnival’s Destiny and Spirit-class ships are pretty great, too.
Princess Cruises: The Grand and Coral class ships each have a spacious children’s playroom, a sizable piece of fenced in outside deck for toddlers, and another for older kids, with a wading pool. Teen centers have computers, video games, and a sound system, and the ones on the Grand class ships even have teen hot tubs and private sunbathing decks.
Norwegian Cruise Line: The kids’ facilities on the line’s Norwegian Dawn, Star, Spirit, Pride of America, and Pride of Hawaii are fantastic, with a huge, brightly colored crafts/play area, a TV corner full of beanbag chairs, an enormous ball-jump/play-gym, a teen center, and an outdoor play/pool area. Parents will appreciate the many restaurant options on board, while kids can dine in tiny chairs at a kids-size buffet of their own.
Cunard: Though you’d hardly expect it from such a seriously prestigious line, the QM2 has a great program and facilities for kids, starting at age 1. Aside from Disney, no other line offers such extensive care for children so young. There’s even a special daily children’s teatime that’s perfect as an early dinner, and the children’s programming is free of charge until midnight daily.
Once we’re in the money again, I’d probably lean towards Carnival. The wife and I need some adult time however, it sounds like it would keep our 4 yr old daughter happy as well!