Kid Friendly Cruises
by Kari
(Bloomington, IN)
My family went on a Royal Caribbean Cruise in July 2008 to Key West, CoCo Cay, and Nassau Bahamas. My three year old loved the ship and had a great time!
He did not participate in any of the kid's programs on the ship, so I cannot comment on that.
I would recommend sticking with the buffet dining rather than the formal seated meals. My son did great during the formal captain's dinner but there were not many options for him...spaghetti or chicken strips. He really enjoyed eating at Johnny Rockets on board - definitely worth the $4.95 cover charge!
We spent the majority of our time at the pool. I wish there had been some family friendly shows in the auditorium. He loved the ocean view from the cabin window.
If I had to choose, I would have gone with Carnival cruises since it is more family friendly. The atmosphere of our ship was adult oriented. NO playrooms or anything for the kids at night. Swimming was really our only nighttime activity option...but there was no special place just for the kids...no waterslides or fountains.
The pools were 6 ft deep all the way around. It would have been great if the ship offered stroller rentals for off-ship activities. We had to find places at each stop the rented strollers and they were expensive! There was not enough room for us to bring our own.
His favorite thing to do was to get ice cream cones and sit on the top deck of the ship to watch the sun go down. He could see the dolphins jumping.
