Which first cruise with 3 young kids?

Hi all! I haven't been around for a while, but back in 2011 we had a first cruise planned that I had to cancel because of pregnancy complications with baby #3. Well, that baby is now turning 3 and we are looking at another cruise!

We are a family of 5 and the kids will be 3, 7 and 10 when we cruise in April We are considering the Western Caribbean out of Galveston, either on the Carnival Magic in 2 interior cabins or the RC Navigator of the Seas in a family oceanview cabin. Pricing is almost identical. I know that a lot of this comes down to personal preference, but which would you choose with a young family?

I'm leaning toward Carnival right now, primarily because of Waterworks and the option to have 2 cabins.

Ditto..2 cabins would cinch it for me!

RCL is the best for family's ..

We are a family of 5 with the youngest being 17 months and oldest 13y, decided to do our first family cruise.We decided to go with Carnival. I purchased a interior room for the low cost, but I just got a call from the upsell fairy :D and we upgraded to a grand suite. So excited to see their faces when we go.

Carnival will be great ..

I'd much rather do Navigator of the Seas. The family oceanviews are my favorite cabins, especially with little kids. The living area is very spacious.

Is your 3 year old out of diapers. That would be my deciding factor. If not I know for a fact they won't be able to swim on Navigator (diapers allowed on Freedom and above). Not sure about Carnival Magic though. My fear when I travel is one of the diapered kids seeing the old kids swimming and not fully understanding why they can't. That would be heartbreaking to me to have to tell my child they can't swim.

We've found Carnival to be great while we have little kids. It's inexpensive, has great kids programs... it's really been fabulous. I plan on moving over to RCI once the kids are bigger and care about things like wave pools, rock climbing, etc. Right now there doesn't seem to be as much they could enjoy on the Royal ships, so I figure I'll save the money and splurge when they are older and can do more. Otherwise I'm paying a lot more to be on a ship that has lots of really cool amenities that my DDs can't use!

[quote name='scoutfinch72']Hi all! I haven't been around for a while, but back in 2011 we had a first cruise planned that I had to cancel because of pregnancy complications with baby #3. Well, that baby is now turning 3 and we are looking at another cruise!

We are a family of 5 and the kids will be 3, 7 and 10 when we cruise in April We are considering the Western Caribbean out of Galveston, either on the Carnival Magic in 2 interior cabins or the RC Navigator of the Seas in a family oceanview cabin. Pricing is almost identical. I know that a lot of this comes down to personal preference, but which would you choose with a young family?

I'm leaning toward Carnival right now, primarily because of Waterworks and the option to have 2 cabins.[/QUOTE]


Highly recommend RCI for cruising with kids. I personally have never been on carnival, but have sailed on RCI with kids twice. I really like the fact that RCI attracts a wide age range, is more of a calm crowd compared to what I've heard Carnival is. Some of it comes down to what you've done before and personal preference. Adventure Ocean offers great kid programs for 3 year olds (must be potty trained) and up.

Sorry to disappear for a bit. To answer some of the questions, DS will turn 3 in December and is not yet potty trained. We are working on it but he has some language delays that are making it very challenging right now. I'm honestly not sure if he will be potty trained before April, so we need to make that a serious consideration.

So, RCI has water areas for diapered kids on Freedom and above, but my understanding is that if he's 3 and not potty trained he wouldn't be able to participate in the kids' programs. Am I right about that? That might be a deal breaker for us. I imagine it would be hard to keep him entertained for 7 days in an unfamiliar setting without some structured fun for him. He does love to swim, though, so ugh. I never thought we would be facing him not being potty trained by then. Edited September 1, 2014 by scoutfinch72

[quote name='scoutfinch72']Sorry to disappear for a bit. To answer some of the questions, DS will turn 3 in December and is not yet potty trained. We are working on it but he has some language delays that are making it very challenging right now. I'm honestly not sure if he will be potty trained before April, so we need to make that a serious consideration.

So, RCI has water areas for diapered kids on Freedom and above, but my understanding is that if he's 3 and not potty trained he wouldn't be able to participate in the kids' programs. Am I right about that? That might be a deal breaker for us. I imagine it would be hard to keep him entertained for 7 days in an unfamiliar setting without some structured fun for him. He does love to swim, though, so ugh. I never thought we would be facing him not being potty trained by then.[/QUOTE]

Carnival is the only cruise line that will change diapers in their kids clubs. Many RCI ships will have nurseries - but those don't have structured activities.

The waterplay area for diapered children on RCI ships is a small wading pool. Fine for toddlers, but I don't think a 3 year old would like it for very long. Carnival doesn't allow diapers at all in their water areas.

You might want to check out Disney. They have more water areas for diapered children and they are more flexible on the potty training stage in the kids clubs.

[quote name='boulders']Carnival is the only cruise line that will change diapers in their kids clubs. Many RCI ships will have nurseries - but those don't have structured activities.

The waterplay area for diapered children on RCI ships is a small wading pool. Fine for toddlers, but I don't think a 3 year old would like it for very long. Carnival doesn't allow diapers at all in their water areas.

You might want to check out Disney. They have more water areas for diapered children and they are more flexible on the potty training stage in the kids clubs.[/quote]

Thanks for your input. It helps to know that it's such a small area on RCI. Unfortunately Disney has consistently been way out of our price range when we have priced sailings. Being a family of 5 drives the costs up so much, especially because we have to fly to FL from the west. We may just need to wait until DS is fully potty trained before we cruise. Edited September 1, 2014 by scoutfinch72