Family Cruises: Information, Tips, Reviews

• Carnival: Carnival caters to families, offering a good percentage of family-size staterooms and numerous onboard activities for kids, including well-stocked and well-supervised play areas for toddlers and younger children. There is also an appealing hang-out lounge reserved just for teenagers 15 to 17. Parents should note, however, that tweens (12 to 14) have fewer structured activities available for them than their younger siblings and little supervision.
  
  On a recent Carnival cruise, my 12-year-old daughter was disappointed at how few activities were designed for her age group; she ended up spending much of her time with new friends at the pool, which was fun for her but allowed her father and me less flexibility. It’s also worth noting that Carnival offers among the least expensive cruise vacations available—and you get what you pay for. Expect fewer opulent public spaces, smaller and sparser staterooms, and more pedestrian dining than on most other mainstream lines.

Cruise Lines With Fewer Family Options

• Holland America: Holland America offers a traditional cruise experience with a formal atmosphere, which tends to attract an older crowd (over 70). Therefore, there are fewer families onboard. Holland America does offer a children’s program, but the times and variety of activities are contingent upon the number of kids sailing. Outside of school holidays, many cruises sail with few children and fewer organized kids’ activities. [Holland America is the favorite cruise line of TravelMuse photo editor Ashleigh Nushawg, who went on several annual multigenerational family cruises while growing up. Read about her experiences in the Memories of Family Cruises Past article.]

• Crystal Cruises: Crystal cruises are a bit more upscale than their large-market competitors, and attire, dining and entertainment are formal as well. This may not appeal to a lot of children—and frankly, not all Crystal cruisers will appreciate young ones, either. Although Crystal offers babysitting and a children’s playroom for each cruise, organized programs are offered only during summer and holiday voyages.

• Dolphins come out to play with guests of a Carnival cruise excursion.
• Benjamin Graves

• Regent Seven Seas: This luxurious, smaller-market line often restricts the number of children onboard. Supervised children’s programs are offered only for select sailings, and even when available, the hours are generally less inclusive than many large-market alternatives.

Tips for Planning a Family Cruise

• Plan your trip well in advance—12 months out will offer the most choices in cabins and itineraries, and will likely save you as much as 50 percent. Note that the most expensive and the least expensive staterooms sell out first, so if you want to splurge on a suite—or economize with an inside cabin—it’s especially important to book early.

• Areas near cruise ship ports are usually filled with street vendors selling their unique wares.
• L. W. Yang

• Expect to pay between $150 to $300 per day, per adult (including taxes and port fees) for most family cruises. Children staying in the same cabin with their parents usually travel at significant discounts—the per-child charge is usually between $400 and $700 for a full week. Standard cabins generally have a maximum occupancy of no more than four. There are larger family suites on most ships that can accommodate a greater number of children, but these are quite limited, and they book up quickly.

• Choose an itinerary that suits your family. If you are traveling with children who love to play in the water, for example, chose a warm destination like the Caribbean or Hawaii, which offer sun and sand all year long. If you’re looking for a wilderness adventure or an educational experience, consider Alaskan and European cruises. Check out several itineraries to find the ports most likely to have activities that suit the various ages and interests of your brood.

• Cruise ships have many different shows to keep cruisers entertained during those days at sea.
• Cristián Infante

• Analyze booking organized shore excursions against the freedom of charting your own adventures. Research the attractions at your ports of call in advance, so that you know if what you want to see is within easy traveling distance of your ship’s docking point. For example, in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, ships dock within a few minutes’ walk to downtown and within short taxi rides to extraordinary beaches, making it easy and inexpensive to tour this island independently.
  

By contrast, ships visiting Manzanillo, Mexico, pull into an unappealing industrial port that is at least 15 minutes by taxi from downtown shopping and restaurants and as much as 30 minutes to the best beaches, making it less accessible for an independent traveler who is on a rigid time table. Remember that ships will always wait for the port trips they sponsor, should these excursions return after the scheduled sailing time. They will not wait for tardy individuals who head out on their own. On a recent Mexican cruise, our ship left behind several people in each port of call. In these instances, the passengers were responsible for getting themselves to the next stop at their own expense.