Most luxurious family friendly cruise line?

Hi there! I'm new here. We've taken our kids on 2 cruises and we are looking into a 3rd (Northern Europe). We'd like something as nice as possible for my husband and I but still fun for our 3 boys (ages 6, 9, and 12 right now...so all school aged). We did Disney Alaska and loved it and we did Royal Caribbean Mediterranean and loved it as well (although it was definitely a distant second for us) . We'd like to try something else though. I'm hoping for a Four Seasons sort of experience...great kids activities, great food, great spa, as comfy as possible. Luxurious but still kind of laid back (we skipped the formal nights on the second cruise...just not really our thing).

Anything that might suit us?

We've had friends recommend Celebrity so that is what we've been exploring.

Thanks!

We booked Norwegian's Haven so that we could have amenities of a larger ship, but receive butler and concierge services.

Good idea for the "Haven" on NCL...you get a fabulous "suite" experience (NCL has the best suite perks!) and still have kid-friendly things! Most true "luxury" lines have no kids clubs, no sports deck,no "bells and whistles"...can be boring for active kids.

Good idea for the "Haven" on NCL...you get a fabulous "suite" experience (NCL has the best suite perks!) and still have kid-friendly things! Most true "luxury" lines have no kids clubs, no sports deck,no "bells and whistles"...can be boring for active kids.

I looked at Crystal Cruises and found the Haven at about the same price. I had grave concerns that my older boys would have something to do. I prefer traveling with my kids, but I think Crystal might be something we reserve for just the two of us at some point.

I think Crystal fits what you are looking for. We have sailed Crystal with our daughter and really enjoyed it - it is her favorite cruise line!I think it is the only luxury cruise line that has a dedicated kids space and program. We have only sailed them in Europe and there have been between 30 and 60 kids - with at least 3 staff.

It is all inclusive so no constant selling or signing things. Each ship holds about 1000 people so that also makes it quite relaxed.

Some downsides are - no buffet open in the evenings - your options are MDR, specialty restaurants (at least 1 free reservation per sailing), room service, burger bar til 6pm or there bistro. They only have 2 ships, so limited choice of itineraries.

We do not find it 'stuffy' - people have been pretty mellow.

We have sailed Celebrity twice as a family and are about to sail them for the 3rd time - while we like it, I would say it is more 'JW Marriott' than Four Seasons.

Let me know if you have any questions!

The baltics are amazing. My son was much smaller (3) but my signature line describes a lot of ways to make this trip work for kids.

Celebrity! We are 40, 2 kids age 7 and 11. Been to Bermuda, Mediterranean and going on Celebrity equinox in April on a 10 day Carribean cruise. We love Celebrity. ...it's sophisticated with just the right amount of fun, excellent food, outstanding service and a great crowd.....can't go wrong.

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Another vote for Celebrity!

So, we have also looked at Crystal but another option - depending on where you want to go is A&K - they charter one of the Ponant yachts to do a cruise to Antarctica for one of their family friendly tours. We are looking to do this one year over Christmas. I was also looking at Tauck Bridges for either river cruise or Galapagos.

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The most luxurious cruise ship that truly caters to kids is Hapag Lloyd's Europa 2.

Celebrity will suit your needs.

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Definitely agree with the Haven suggestion on NCL. We have done it now a few times with kids, and we love the 2 bedroom suite and the perks of being in the Haven.

We are frequent cruisers of Crystal Cruisers.

We have taken our own adult children on this line starting when they were 16 and 20. Since then over the years we took them and their spouses. We just returned from a cruise with them and their children and our grand children are 2 and 1/2, 2 and 1/2 and 5 and 1/2 respectively.

The family had a wonderful time.

Since there were not a lot of children on board there was no children's program. If there was more children on board there would have been a program for those 3 and over and programs would be split into multiple programs by age group.

The family had a wonderful time.

The crew treated them wonderfully and everything was perfect and the cruise exceeded all of our expectations.

If you are still looking for a luxury cruise line for a cruise for the family I highly recommend looking at Crystal.

There are certainly other cruise lines that will have more emphasis on children't programs but they are not luxury lines.

Keith