15 day cruise to Hawaii with kids

Has anyone done one of these with younger children? My wife wants to go to Hawaii, and I want another cruise, so thought I would try to combine these. I noticed that Princess has one cruise out of SF that covers one week of my son's spring break, so thought about going - but was not sure if there is enough to keep him occupied on the many seas days, or if there would be lots of other kids on board.

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I've done that cruise and I can tell you that there were 4 school age kids on board. A very limited kids program, and the hours they ran the program was nowhere near to what they do when there are more kids. Another thing us that Princess doesn't have all the on board activities for kids that lines like Carnival, RCI and NCL have. If your child would be happy with the pool, hanging around with you, spending time at the arcade and touring the islands when you're in port, then by all means, go for it.

I've done that cruise and I can tell you that there were 4 school age kids on board. A very limited kids program, and the hours they ran the program was nowhere near to what they do when there are more kids. Another thing us that Princess doesn't have all the on board activities for kids that lines like Carnival, RCI and NCL have. If your child would be happy with the pool, hanging around with you, spending time at the arcade and touring the islands when you're in port, then by all means, go for it.

That is what I was afraid of. My son would be happy with one or two other kids his age, but that's a lot of sea days with not much to do. I know Carnival offers a similar cruise out of LA but my wife grew up around SF, so she would prefer leaving from there. I may keep looking for other options - this one caught my eye as it falls over my son's normals vacation, and the price was actually fairly reasonable.

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I've done that cruise and I can tell you that there were 4 school age kids on board. A very limited kids program, and the hours they ran the program was nowhere near to what they do when there are more kids. Another thing us that Princess doesn't have all the on board activities for kids that lines like Carnival, RCI and NCL have. If your child would be happy with the pool, hanging around with you, spending time at the arcade and touring the islands when you're in port, then by all means, go for it.

I'm pretty surprised to read that kitty had a limited program and shorter kid club hours. I did this cruise with my twin 4 year olds and it was one of our all-time favorite cruises. There were very few kids on board but in no way was the program limited in hours or fun. I've never read that Princess has shorter kids club hours on the Hawaii cruises. I talked to the other kids on board (the ones participating in the kids club) and they were having a ball because it was like they were kings of the kid's club. Also, you can't believe how busy they keep the passengers during all the sea days on these Princess Hawaii cruises. It was like the cruises of my youth when there were activities planned from morning until night - many times we had to choose between fun things going on at the same time. We did spend a good amount of time at the pool. None of us were ready to be done by the time the cruise was over. If you do a search on this board of "Hawaii" and "Princess" you should come up with some of the others who have done this itinerary.

Best,

Mia

Limited hours in the kids club would be a disaster for families, and I hope this doesn't happen. We were on a Panama Canal cruise with 9 kids, 2 of whom (including my son) were under the age of 3 and they ran a full program.

Maybe a compromise would be to fly to Honolulu and cruise on the NCL Pride of America. You always have the option of using the Splash Academy but with every day a port day, there is always lots to do..

Maybe a compromise would be to fly to Honolulu and cruise on the NCL Pride of America. You always have the option of using the Splash Academy but with every day a port day, there is always lots to do..

lol... If I fly my wife all the way to Hawaii, she will not get on a ship - she has a favorite resort on the big island. Although, she might be OK with my son and I going, so she can have some "me" time. :).

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Our last three cruises were the Hawaiian RTs from LA on Princess. Our girl was 8, 13 and 15 on these, but we did the holiday ones (so she wouldn't miss school) and there were plenty of kids.

When we went on our first Princess cruise, it was in mid-February and there were few kids on board. My daughter was one of just three five-year-olds. There was NOT limited hours on this cruise. The age groupings may have been changed slightly and they didn't have the science program that they've had on our later cruises (squid dissection -- a kids' fave, making models of glaciers, coral reefs, solar systems, depending on the itinerary, and other activities). There were the kids' dinners in the Horizon (the buffet) on a couple of nights.

Maybe one poster is thinking of the fact that Princess doesn't have the water slides, the rock climbing walls, the ice skating rinks. No, but the kids' program does have a variety of activities to keep them busy and happy. And kids can participate in some of the "adult" activities such as trivia or going to many of the shows. (my daughter has been going to the production shows since her first cruise at 23 months of age on a Carnival ship, but that wasn't her first exposure to a live show)

The girl did find the teen program "lame." But then, she was at that age at which kids want to design their own fun. She had found some girls her age when she was 13 (take them the first night to the kids' orientation so they can check out the other kids and make some friends) and they practically lived in the pool area and watched many of the movies on the Movies Under the Stars screen. In fact, when hubby and I decided to catch a movie (it was our first cruise that had the MUTS screen), she sat down with us and told us where to find the popcorn, etc. One of her friends from that cruise (of course, they kept in touch via Facebook) was on the next cruise so they made plans to meet up the first night. They, another girl, and three boys their age formed a group. She said they held a table tennis tourney and I remember hearing them in the art gallery one day -- while we were nearby -- discussing the art. She also enjoys the shows, so she saw some with her friends and a couple with us.

The Hawaiian cruises on Princess have a great cultural program. There's currently two duos that provide the program of uke lessons, lei-making lessons, hula lessons, talks about the islands, etc. Our last two cruises had Elua on board -- they were hired some years ago by Princess to create such a program and they not only provide instruction, but also perform every day, either on the pool deck or in the Piazza, beautiful Hawaiian melodies. You'll see tweens learning the uke or hula as well as kids in their 80s.:)

So it depends on whether your kid needs to have those water slides, etc., or not.

My son is 5, and has never been on a ship with water slides, ice rink, etc. He has only been on Grandeur once last year, and will be on again in three days. He was fine with pool and kids club on Grandeur, but if there are no other kids his age on board, he will not go to club by himself - which leaves us with just the pool.

Also, I was looking at the family suite - I saw some pics, but it is hard to tell if this is just two connecting rooms or one large cabin. We normally book Grand Suites on RCI, so would want some comparable - especially with so many seas days. All of the suites looked to be booked, so I may hold off on this trip until I can get a larger cabin.

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There won't be a lot of kids on 15 day cruises of Hawaii but with each passing year there are more doing these sailings with more children being home schooled.

If you want to have a lot of kids on board then something along NCL would be better.

My experience when our children were young is that it didn't take a lot of children on board for them to be happy. It just took a few.

Keith

There won't be a lot of kids on 15 day cruises of Hawaii but with each passing year there are more doing these sailings with more children being home schooled.

 

If you want to have a lot of kids on board then something along NCL would be better.

 

My experience when our children were young is that it didn't take a lot of children on board for them to be happy. It just took a few.

 

Keith

Yes. I agree - he does not need many at all. I just wanted to gauge how many. I saw on the Princess forum that there could be as many as 350 for a two week cruise over spring break, but wanted to ask here as I know there are some frequent posters who sail on Princess a lot.

BTW - I started to read your blog for your big trip on Crystal, but never finished it. It sounded like an amazing trip.

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We are doing the March Hawai cruise RT Vancouver with our 7 year old and 3 year old. I highly doubt there would be many kids onboard as spring break ends right at the time the cruise begins. I have no issue with that, but would have a problem if the kids club was limited - my two LOVE the Princess club. Ironically, we just did DCL earlier this year, which was packed with kids, and neither one of mine wanted any part of their kids club. In fact, the 7 year old said on the first day, "I wish we had sailed Princess"!!!!!:confused:

We just did the HI cruise on Carnival the last two weeks in October. Just commenting on the numbers.

Some of clubs were combined. The 12-17 yo were lumped together. There were about 6 on the ship.

As an aside----

Book a ship's excursion for any tender port if you want to get off early.

We did that cruise a few years ago on Princess in the winter- I think it was five days at sea on the way there (all cold except the last one) and five days at sea on the way back (again, all cold except the first one leaving HI). So, the days we thought would be hanging by the pool were too cold for the pool (aside from the indoor pool). We were in our early 40s and there were probably only a handful of other kids on the cruise. Honestly, WE were bored with the number of days at sea. The demographics of that cruise tended to be much older than we were. I would personally not do another cruise with so many at sea days in a row again - but that is just my personal preference.

On the other hand, we did a FL to CA panama canal cruise that was awesome and I'd totally do it again - so for me it isn't the length so much as the fact that the HI itinerary had just too many at sea days all in a row.

My husband and I did this cruise last Feb and noticed far more kids then expected. We enjoyed it so much we are taking our 7 year old son and almost 4 year old twin daughters this time- there are no reduced hours for the kids club, and having checked it out on our last cruise I think our kids will love it!

In Oct we took my 9 year old son on the grand princess there where very few kids maybe 10 total in the club. My son had a blast even with out many kids but that may have been why it was the adults who where unimpressed with princess on that cruise but it got rave reviews from my son. Also do not go in Oct our sea days the pool was only open a limited time do to wave that was the I ne dispoiment my son had.

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Our youngest was 5y/o on our 15nt Hawaii cruise. Yes there were less kids. Yes the programs hours were the same as any other cruise. There were fully if not over staffed and they even did a lot of family activities in the club that they would not be able to do with a full club of kids. Most nights the staff would come to the main dining room at the right time to wisk them up to the club so we could end our dinner relaxed. If you unsure, call the cruise line and ask. They can tell you the total # of kids that will be on it and I bet with it coming around spring break it will have way more kids than our Oct sailing.

We are going next week and there are 19 kids onboard including my 3, and this is not over any school holidays, so you would probably have a lot more!

We took our kids, ages 18 months, 3 years, 3 years, and 6 years, on a cruise to Hawaii last October. It was the most amazing trip ever!!! There were very few kids on the ship. My four made up 10% of the under 18 age group, I think. The best part was that with so few other kids, our kids got top notch care from the kids club attendants. They were able to tailor the programs to suit what our kids enjoyed, and we had no trouble at all when we requested that they allow our super shy 6 year old to stay with her younger siblings.

The entire staff on the ship took extra time with our kids, and that was so special.

We cruise to hang out together as a family, so our kids don't spend a lot of time in the kids club. I appreciated that when they were with us, there weren't other kids, running around like crazy monkeys. It's much easier to teach them good behavior when surrounded by others that are behaving well.

For our family, long cruises are the best vacation option we've found. We liked the 15 day Hawaii trip so much, that we're taking them on a back to back cruise for 14 days this summer (7 and 7). We'll only get as far as Mexico for the cruise this summer, but that's fun too!

Even though there were sea days where it was too cold to be in the pool, or anywhere outside, our kids were never, ever bored. There are so many places to explore!

Really hoping there are not many kids on my Sydney to Singapore cruise! It's not in the school holidays and just after school goes back.

This way my man with autism will have more of a chance to go to kids club than he did last time when the ship was full if kids.

I've done that cruise and I can tell you that there were 4 school age kids on board. A very limited kids program, and the hours they ran the program was nowhere near to what they do when there are more kids. Another thing us that Princess doesn't have all the on board activities for kids that lines like Carnival, RCI and NCL have. If your child would be happy with the pool, hanging around with you, spending time at the arcade and touring the islands when you're in port, then by all means, go for it.

Keep in mind everyone that Kitty9 does not have young children that she cruises with so her information may be incorrect since she had no personal experience. I say this with no disrespect to Kitty9 as her input is invaluable on this website.

I once had a poster tell me that my DGS was disrespectful for the way he acted at Bingo. Her mother had played Bingo on land and they did not tolerate "game playing" during the GAME. She on the other hand had never once attended Bingo on a ship but felt comfortable giving advice on what was acceptable and not.

Even when we had less than 10 kids on board they were well taken care of.