woostergirl

You can also bring your own board games. We brought Catan for kids. It's a great cruise game as it can take quite a while to win. We just bought Wingspan but haven't tried yet. We also like Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza, a fun slapping game. Your cruise might offer family activities like a scavenger hunt, craft making, or video game tournaments. The Celebrity cruise we were on offered those. The egg drop contest on our Princess Alaska cruise last year was fun and there were tweens/teens who entered.

I'm going on my first river cruise next week...AMA/ABD Basel to Amsterdam cruise on August 3rd. Thanks @notamermaid and everyone for the information and updates on the Rhine water levels! Much appreciated!!

Following along! You're an amazing brother!! I'm considering a YC MSC cruise for my family.

We're on Celebrity Equinox for a Dec 2024 sailing on deck 8. We have oceanview forward cabins and I'm worried about the motion. We have stayed in a forward oceanview cabin before, but only a short 4-day cruise that didn't go very far. I'm a little worried about the motion but we will bring bonine. Any thoughts on this cabin location? I've been reading that this cruise can have rougher seas. Thanks in advance!

Here's a recent-ish video of a forward prime oceanview cabin.

Has anyone reached Celebrity's Destination Insiders to organize a private journey tour? I just received their info because of an itinerary change to my cruise in 2024. But when I email privatejourneys@celebrity.com my email was returned with a delivery failure notice. For those that have gone on excursions planned by the Private Journey program, what did you do and would you do it again? Many thanks!

Thank you @KasioSails for the great trip report! I also have kids around the same age and we are considering a CS on Solstice. We've only been on one Celebrity cruise and our whole family loved it. It is fun to read your trip report as it brings up fond memories of my own cruise. Some of our friends ask us about cruises for family travel, and honestly, it is so much more relaxing for me, as a mom to cruise. While I love land trips and the whole planes-trains-automobiles aspect to that immersive experience... sometimes I just want some time on my vacation to do nothing or read a book. I would like to hear if you have additional thoughts on Royal vs Celebrity regarding your experiences traveling as a family. Thanks again for sharing!

Following along! Doing this cruise next Xmas. Thanks @abbydancer for all the tour ideas on BA.

Love these pictures! Are you able to pet the wombats too? An Australian cruise is definitely on my cruise list..

Looking forward to following along! We are also on the West Coast. Bon Voyage!

Great review! Our kids also loved our cruise on the Beyond. The activities the Camp at Sea puts on, especially dodge ball and the campout night in Destination Gateway were really nice. Our kids really loved those. The other activity my 11 year old loved was the cardboard armory session. The kids made all kinds of armor with cardboard (shields, swords and helmets) and then they played games with their armor towards the end of the cruise. She loved it so much all the "armor" travelled home with us! We also did the famiily scavenger hunt and some other famiily events coordinated by Camp at Sea. Between their activities and the port days, there was plenty to do for everyone. Our next Celebrity cruise is on the Millennium, which is much smaller, so I'm a little worried but hoping Camp at Sea will work its magic there too!

We went on a Celebrity cruise in December and my kids (11 and 7) loved the kids club program and the food/service is very nice. They do have a teens club/hang out area. Teens have their own programming generally more geared to scavenger hunts and sports activities. There were lots of inter-generational families on our cruise and it's a nice festive but not crazy atmosphere. The one nice thing about Princess (from a mom perspective) is that they have the Medallions. The Medallions are like a GPS token and you can see where everyone is on the ship on your app or on the large screens around the ship. For tweens/teens like your grandkids, that might be a benefit. They can be independent around the ship and you still can keep track of them. Princess also has good food and has lots of inter-generational families on board. On our Princess cruise, the teens even have teen dance nights early-ish in the night. Although my kids are younger, the thing I would say about the ships with lots of extras like go carts and roller coasters is that those are more destination cruise ships and not great for port intensive cruises like Med cruises. You don't really have the chance to use/enjoy those amenities when every day is a port day. Celebrity and Princess both sail to Greece. Those would be my top suggestions. Good luck and happy cruising!!

@fryfrye Sorry, I didn't get to answer in time for your cruise. I hope it was amazing!! I wish I was back on the Beyond!!

Maybe a bottle of Poo-Pourri toilet spray. I bring a bottle for the bathroom, really helps with smells from number two!

I like the magnet hooks to hang jackets/lanyards/etc. I would also suggest air fresheners. Like the solid ones. I bring one for the closet but sometimes I wish I had another one for the cabin or bathroom.