what is the best time of year to cruise with young kids?

Question

two kids ages 3 and 11

Answer 1

There is no such thing as a best time for kids. Kids are most likely to enjoy most cruises to the Caribbean where they can have beach time. The only thing you need to be concerned about for a Caribbean cruise time wise is Hurricanes. The Hurricane season is officially June to Oct 30. So plan to go to the Caribbean outside that time period.

But all of the major cruise lines like Carnival, Royal Caribbean (RC), Celebrity, Princess and Norwegian, and Disney, have programs just for kids and a staff person or two assigned to keep the kids busy each day. Some ships have special pool, water slides and other areas just for kids, like a teen disco area. All cruise ships have an arcade with a variety of games and other things like mini-golf, roller blading, ice skating and on the RC ships the Rock climbing wall.

On the new RC Freedom of the Seas and Liberty of the Seas there is a new feature called a Flow Rider where kids can surf on a boogie board (maybe your 11 year old) Then on these same ships they have a water park area called the H2O Zone which has water cannons, a small lazy river, a small pool and falling water all over it. Your 3 yr old would enjoy this. The Freedom and Liberty also have an ice skating rink, and they do a very nice ice show, like the ice capades, twice a week.

We were just on the RC's Adventure of the Seas and it has the inline skating rink up on one of the top decks.

Answer 2

The best time would be in the summer months. That is when the kids are out of school. Carnival cruises has camp carnival and they will have lots of fun with other kids their ages, while you can have fun doing things you want to do. Prices in the summer are a little more money, but they will still be cheaper on Carnival. Check out carnival's website for activities for kids. I have been taking my son on cruises since he was 9 (he is now 16), and he likes cruising better than any other vacation, because he can go and make lots of new friends and do things he likes to do, and not be bored with the things I like to do, yet I can have a great time too. We hardly see him when we go on cruises, but we know he is having a great time. Have a good time and good luck.