Solstice and younger children, please advise

My husband and I would love to vacation on the Solstice this summer, but are reluctant because it doesn't seem too kid friendly (we have a 4 year old daughter). Could anyone please give me advice on this matter? I am not a person who chooses to put their child in a program all day, but a workout, spa treatment or dinner, yes. Really, if she's not happy, it won't be fun for us... Please help!

Thank you,

Yvonne

There are a bunch of us that had 4 year olds too at one time, or children ;), and took them cruising with us. Our kids had a great time on Celebrity and some have even earned Captain's Club membership numbers in present day.

Take your child and enjoy the amenities that are in place for them to enjoy the time and the opportunities that are available for you to enjoy on board while you both enjoy this together time and build moments and memories that last.

That's why Celebrity makes it the best of all worlds for young families.:)

We have 7 grandchildren who have cruised a number times with Celebrity. The programs for the younger kids are especially good.

GS,6, liked his Solstice cruise so much he asked when we were going again!!!!

Thank you so much!! I appreciate your responses.

Check out posts on the Family board about Celebrity as well. We've taken our DD on several cruises with Celebrity and are going on the Eclipse next weekend. We have found the kids clubs to be absolutely marvelous and our DD has always had a wonderful time. I can't imagine why your DD would not enjoy herself. The facilities and staff are excellent.

I was just on the Celebrity Equinox for the June 14 cruise in the Meditarranean. My daughter is 13 and I was told there were 220 teens aborard the ship. Obviously, I didn't check out the younger kids club, but I can tell you there were a lot of families and younger children on board. My daughter said she liked the Celebrity teen club more than Royal Caribbean.

I think if you are going in the summer, you're going to find lots of children having a blast.

We just got off the Solstice with a 4 and 6 year old. Not only did the staff treat the children with great patience - so did the other people on board. The staff remembered what the children liked to drink, they were careful to get their dinner order correct, many staff stopped at our table to say hello to them or admire their stuffed animal, they were greeted by name. But - I did expect that. What I did not expect was how nice other passengers were to the children. Just about everyone had a smile and kind word for the girls making them feel very welcome. Not one person pushed or bumped even in a full elevator. The 6 year old wanted her picture taken on the staircase and adults gave us room to do that. You will be very happy if you sail this ship. I really liked the people on our cruise.

Thank you so much!! I am SO happy to hear this. It was the Celebrity vacation planner on the telephone who made us apprehensive. He told us it was not really a cruise to go on with children, that he just vacationed on the Solstice, and wouldn't bring his own children. I appreciated his honestly... but, then I got to thinking, why would they offer children's programs? I thought I would ask here, because everyone has always so helpful to me in the past. I am so happy I did. I really appreciate the responses.

Was on solstice last week, and the crew reported 300 teens, maybe fewer than that little kids, but still quite a few. I think this is a fine ship for kids. Especially during the summer break. During the school year, might think twice.

Only drawback is RCL would have ice shows, rock climbing, etc. but in terms of service to kids, there is not difference.

I have cruised with my kids since they were 4 (now teens) - have found that many people think kids want a ship with lots of kids (like Disney 1000's of kid) and that is not true. If a ship has maybe 200 kids on board, that is good. More attention for the kids that are there, and surprisingly, kids don't necessarily want to sit in a dining room with lots and lots of kids anyway - a little lower key and adult oriented is fine for kids to enjoy.

Thank you so much!! I appreciate your responses.

Our first X cruise was on Solstice, last February. We did see several families traveling with small children. For the most part, kids seemed happy, well supervised, and well behaved. One small glitch -- the morning we arrived in Labadee, it was pouring-down rain. That day saw its share of cranky kids and adults who had planned to go ashore, but had to wait for a break in the weather. :(

One small request though -- on behalf of those of us who don't travel with kids. Please refrain from taking your little ones into the areas that are set aside for adults: e.g. the Solarium, the spa areas, and any specialty restaurants with posted age limits. You'll find that there are lots of "family-friendly" places on the ship! Hope you and your family have a great cruise! :D

We cruised on the Solstice in April with my parents, brother, SIL and 5 year old niece. My niece had a wonderful time in the children's program. If we were out during the day, she was ready to go back to the ship and be with her friends. They had lots of great activities. I guess there is a kiddie VIP package add on. With that, they have a meet the Captain event where they go to the bridge and get to look around. No parents allowed. The staff will take the kids. You can send a camera to get photos taken.

They had a talent show. If she was not in the program, she was known by name. We went to pick her up one day and she was having so much fun. She didn't want to leave.

My parents and brother were a little concerned as they had heard the same thing about it not being a cruise for kids. But we chanced it and we are so glad we did. She LOVED the kids program as much as, if not more than, she enjoyed any other ship's program. The kiddoes are definitely treated as little celebrities.

Thank you so much!! I am SO happy to hear this. It was the Celebrity vacation planner on the telephone who made us apprehensive. He told us it was not really a cruise to go on with children, that he just vacationed on the Solstice, and wouldn't bring his own children. I appreciated his honestly... but, then I got to thinking, why would they offer children's programs? I thought I would ask here, because everyone has always so helpful to me in the past. I am so happy I did. I really appreciate the responses.

Our 8 yo DD has half a dozen cruises (on other lines) under her belt, and our recent Solstice cruise was her favorite.

Hi, yvonneh. I am just off Solstice 6/27 E. Caribbean today. We were a big group of friends/family - 27 in all and three of those 27 were ages 4, 5 and 6. All of our group's little ones loved the fun factory and were very much welcomed wherever they went on the ship. My one friend only sent her daughter to the Fun Factory for one or two hours a day (while she went to the spa or worked out in the gym) and she was very satisified with supervision, etc. In fact, her daughter loved the fun factory and would've liked to have stayed longer, but...my friend is not into dropping her off all day. Other friends we were travelling with have 2 boys (4 and 6 yr olds). They took advantage of the VIP Kid's Club package (I think $110 per child) and dropped them off prior to dinner and picked them up about 1-ish. They, too, loved it...and their parents were also very pleased with supervision, etc.

I'd say that we had a decent amount of children on our sailing...all very happy...and as a result, a ton of relaxed parents!:)

Solstice is a beautiful ship! I'd say go ahead and book her...and have a fabulous cruise!

Hi Sunnygirl,

You've put my mind at rest! We are planning the mediterranean June 27, 2011 cruise on Equinox and our 12 year old son, (will be 13) is driving us crazy ... he has been on five cruises with us Pride of America (NCL) which he loved and four of the P&O/Princess cruises from Australia (as we are from 'downunder'). Always has a great time but was concerned that the Equinox did not cater for the teen market ... I am over the moon as I have showed him your post and now he is really keen and counting down to the big event. We are actually looking at an inside cabin for the three of us, given the itinerary is so port intensive ... spending room in the cabin is not a priority for us so, are you able to suggest whether these cabins are adequate (space-wise) for the three of us. Don't know which category you enjoyed but if you could comment on this, I'd be very appreciative. The Equinox looks like a dream-liner ... WOW!!! Cheers.

We first sailed Celebrity when my daughter was 4---she loved it & was treated marvelously. She's now 9, and we were on a B2B last month....and she loved the ship & the Fun Factory. There were 500 kids the first week & 700 the second week---so lots of kidss & programs for them. Go & ENJOY!

woops.