RCCL Vision Eastern Med with 5,7 and 9 year olds?

Hello! This is my first time posting on a forum, so bear with me, please! I also posted this in the RCCL forum, but I'm repeating here to get some feedback from family cruisers, if possible. :)

We are in the process of booking a family vacation in Europe for July 2016 with our 3 kids. We plan to spend a couple of weeks in a villa rental, then cap it off with a cruise. I am looking at two RCCL ships/itineraries: 12 night Med and Greek Isles on the Brilliance, and 8 night Greece, Turkey, Croatia on the Vision. Based on my research so far, the Brilliance appears to have more kid friendly spaces (like the waterslide), and also has 4 days at sea to enjoy those facilities. The Vision is more affordable and has a really interesting itinerary, but it appears that the Vision does not have a waterslide in the pool area, correct? The Vision itinerary has no days at sea, so perhaps the lack of a kid friendly pool isn't such an issue. Would you go for a more interesting itinerary (for us) but lesser facilities on board? Our last cruise (Disney Magic) has very few bells and whistles (no ice rinks or rock walls, so they wouldn't miss those), but the kids loved it for the entertainment and they enjoyed the pool slide and movies. I assume the Brilliance is a better choice is money permits, with the built in sea/rest days and kids amenities, but I'm trying to talk myself into the Vision because I really love the itinerary and it is significantly cheaper!

Does anyone have thoughts on whether the Vision is a good idea with kids this age? Is this ship geared toward older passengers, and therefore may not be comfortable for a family with young kids? Or would we be ok, since we will be spending lots of the daytime hours off the ship? What about the evening hours on board with kids? On our recent Disney cruise, the kids LOVED the shows each evening, and also spent time in the kids club for evening programming while my husband and I had some after dinner time alone. Any thoughts on the evenings with kids on this ship? Thanks for any information!

Personally, I would always go with the most interesting itinerary. To me, the kids are going to have a great time no matter what the facilities. On our Europe cruise, the ship was really just a restaurant/hotel because our days were spent having adventures. I left them in the kids club one rainy day when they asked to stay back, but besides that, they just swam a bit here and there and otherwise didn't use the facilities. Turkey was absolutely amazing with kids (mine were 5 or 6) and we can't wait to go back. It's wonderful to visit places we wouldn't otherwise fly to. We did all private tours, which were less expensive than ship tours as a family and allowed us to choose a kid-friendly day and go at our own pace.

I know others will go with the most kid-friendly, but since I cruised as a child when there were no kids facilities and always had a great time, I never choose a ship based on what's on board. My girls remember the places we've explored and adventures we've had and all the pools/water slides/kid facilities are more of a blur and just a way to pass a little time on board.

Now, the idea of 12 days over 8 would complicate my decision...either way it sounds like an amazing holiday. Once you decide, head over to the ports of call board. I asked there for kid-friendly ideas and then booked the most-recommended tour guides. It was so nice to see someone holding our name when we got off the ship and be whisked away while the big busses were still boarding.

Best,

Mia

The "slide" on Brillance's pool is nothing to write home about...your 5 year old might like it for about 3 rides....then that's it. It's a "kiddie" slide. The older kids will be wondering where the real slide is!

Carnival is about the only ship will a REAL slide!

Good point. We do lots of outdoor adventures when we travel with the kids, and they almost always prefer those to our theme park days. Do you have specific info about the tours/guides you used? I'd love to see that! :-) Also good point about the slide; our kids liked it on the Disney Magic, but probably did a total of 10 times in a week.

I don't remember the guides anymore, it was a few years ago, but you'll see the same recommendations over and over on the ports of call board. Those tour companies strive for perfection because they know one bad report on these boards can hurt their business. I chose the most recommended companies and then let them know I have kids and car seats and asked for their most kid-friendly guides. Without fail, we were given guides who are dads and really knew how to keep the day fun for the children (some of our favorite pictures are of each of my girls riding our guide's shoulders around Ephesus).

Do your kids enjoy traveling in general? Are they happy in kids clubs?

Our son travelled on cruises when he was younger than your children, and because he loves to explore new cities and enjoys being in the kids clubs, we always chose cruises based upon itineraries rather than children's amenities on the ship.

In terms of rest days, how challenging are the Vision's ports? The Med cruise itineraries vary greatly in terms of whether you are visiting places with beautiful beaches versus places where you are touring cities and visiting museums. Also, are the ports far from the cities? We found touring the Greek islands/Malta to be lovely and not terribly exhausting, since you are close to the main attractions and it is much easier than when you are touring large cities and going to lots of museums. Rome is a lovely city, but a bit far from the port, and involves a lot of running around. So if you have a lot of destinations like Rome without a sea day it could be tough. On the other hand, I've read of families in which the children skipped a day of touring and stayed on the ship in the kids club if they became too tired, and if you are comfortable with that option it could be your backup plan.

Thanks for the insight! The kids do enjoy traveling and seeing new things, but we are definitely still in the "morning activity, afternoon rest" phase of travel at their ages. It works well for us, and the afternoons tend to be when we chill out by the pool or even rest in the room. They've only been on one cruise (Disney) and they did enjoy the kids club. We really only used it in the evening and a few random day times when at sea. The itinerary we have is not too taxing except for a few historical highlights (Athens and Kusudasi). Otherwise, it's dubrovnik, corfu, santorini, and katakolon. It starts and ends in Venice. I love this itinerary because of Venice and Athens for history, and also because I think the greek isles will be just fun and pretty. Most days we are back on the ship by 5:00, so really the late afternoon/evening is the most likely kids club time.

Switching to another, sort of unrelated ship question- we have booked a large family room with two bedrooms and lots of living space, but no balconies. I'm wondering if it's smarter to switch to two normal balcony rooms, less living space but with some outdoor space. Does the Vision have outdoor space to relax and see the ports from the ship, or is a balcony best for that?

"Family" vacation means different things to different folks.

If I want to spend time relaxing I pick one kind of destination, if I want to pick a Med its all about sightseening and waking up in a different and exciting port every day. The ship IMHO becomes less the priority.

I did a long and port intensive Med when my kids were younger, not as young as yours. No question their appreciation of the ports will be minimal to a drag, but unless you plan to leave them on the ship, I'd pick the cruise/ship for the ports. Private tours structured with good kid experience is a must IMHO. Things like waterslides etc... if that was my priority I'd pick a different destination than a port intensive European, but instead a warm weather Caribbean for example.

Even my daughter who was 7 at the time has many fond memories of the crazy port days, climbing Pisa, running among the ruins in Ephesus, watching the Pope on TV and realizing she was at the Cathedral.... She now wishes she didn't stay on the ship in Istanbul and got to see all the boring museums and ruins too.

Pick the ship/line with the places you want and expose the kids to that is what I say. I looked very hard at the Disney product when I planned, and the port line up was just not very interesting and no amount of ship experience makes for a port not visited. IMHO want Disney do the park thing or Caribbean and pick the European for the ports. :D

For us the Grand Med lineup; Athens, Rome, Venice, Florence, Pompeii / Amafli, Istanbul plus found Ephesus/Barcelona the nice surprise a line up too tasty not to take.

I haven't been to all of those ports, but I was very glad to have visited both Santorini and Dubrovnik. Santorini is absolutely gorgeous. There are also beaches, so you can explore the beautiful town and then take the kids to the beach. Where our ship docked, you needed to either ride donkeys up a hill or take a funicular to reach the city, and please note that the lines were extremely long for both. You might want to leave early or later than most people to avoid those lines.

Dubrovnik was lovely - and your kids will really enjoy walking on top of the city walls. It's a perfect cruise ship stop, since it takes a half day to see the highlights of the city and you don't feel like you missed anything by not taking a land tour there. You can also stop at the Cafe Buza, which has an amazing view of the water.

Venice is a great destination for kids, and it is very nice that your cruise starts and ends there. They'll love the canal rides, glass blowing and exploring the city.

Corfu was not a very taxing day, and if your kids need to spend a day in the kids club out of the destinations I'm familiar with this would be it.