Celebrity Equinox for kids?

Hello, is Celebrity a good cruise for children or would you say it’s an only adult cruise line? My family is considering going on a 7 day cruise this August with my 2 year old and with another family with a 6 and 8 year old. The only other cruise I have been on was the reflection pre husband and baby 4 years ago. I absolutely loved it but honestly don’t remember many young kids. Any guidance is appreciated. Thank you!

Also, I couldn’t figure out how to search the forums if my life depended on it.

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Hi! We are in the "same boat", so to speak, with you! We are on the Equinox in June with our 5 and 9 year old. Following this thread so we can also get the scoop!

If interested, here is a link to what I understand is the newest kid's MDR menu.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170303/0e4ea66071b5ed6be1c220e68e56a9c2.jpg

We just returned from a Celebrity cruise during a school vacation week and there were very few children on board. There was a kids club but it was dead. If you have children that can occupy themselves, then go for it. But there are no slides, walls, children oriented activities, etc. It is directed to adults, mainly older adults.

There are better choices for families, i.e. Royal Caribbean.

I have sailed Celebrity my last 5 cruises and have only ever seen a handful of children. However, I do know that Celebrity has a really nice Kid's Club with many activities enjoyed by young children. I've read other threads where parents have said their children had a wonderful time. For sure, Celebrity is not as family friendly as say, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, and Carnival. I recommend that you look at some Youtube videos of the Kid's Program offered. Here's one you might find helpful:

Christina

We had our 6 and 8 year olds on both the Reflection and the Infinity. The Fun Factory is amazing. There are fewer kids, but they always found a new BFF on each cruise. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of some of the other more family friendly lines, but there is always enough to do. The other secret is that since there are fewer kids, the crew seem to real go out of their way to make the kids feel special.

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It will be boring for kids.

Hi! We are in the "same boat", so to speak, with you! We are on the Equinox in June with our 5 and 9 year old. Following this thread so we can also get the scoop!

 

If interested, here is a link to what I understand is the newest kid's MDR menu.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170303/0e4ea66071b5ed6be1c220e68e56a9c2.jpg

Thank you for this! Good to know that they cater to children in the MDR as well. Hoping to get some more feedback before we book.

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We had our 6 and 8 year olds on both the Reflection and the Infinity. The Fun Factory is amazing. There are fewer kids, but they always found a new BFF on each cruise. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of some of the other more family friendly lines, but there is always enough to do. The other secret is that since there are fewer kids, the crew seem to real go out of their way to make the kids feel special.

 

 

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Wonderful to hear about the attentive staff. I remember them being great on the last cruise I was on.

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I have sailed Celebrity my last 5 cruises and have only ever seen a handful of children. However, I do know that Celebrity has a really nice Kid's Club with many activities enjoyed by young children. I've read other threads where parents have said their children had a wonderful time. For sure, Celebrity is not as family friendly as say, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, and Carnival. I recommend that you look at some Youtube videos of the Kid's Program offered. Here's one you might find helpful:

 

 

 

Christina

Thank you for this!

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We just returned from a Celebrity cruise during a school vacation week and there were very few children on board. There was a kids club but it was dead. If you have children that can occupy themselves, then go for it. But there are no slides, walls, children oriented activities, etc. It is directed to adults, mainly older adults.

 

There are better choices for families, i.e. Royal Caribbean.

Unfortunately Royal Caribbean isn’t giving me any good deals [emoji20]

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We cruised last Thanksgiving with our 8 year old granddaughter and 4 year old grandson. They had a blast! The crew were great with them and they felt so special! My granddaughter loved the production shows, participated in activities, and she and her Dad made great memories at the Silent Disco. They both enjoyed the splash pad and lawn club. Already booked for this Thanksgiving!

We cruised last Thanksgiving with our 8 year old granddaughter and 4 year old grandson. They had a blast! The crew were great with them and they felt so special! My granddaughter loved the production shows, participated in activities, and she and her Dad made great memories at the Silent Disco. They both enjoyed the splash pad and lawn club. Already booked for this Thanksgiving!

There is a splash pad on the Equinox? I wonder if my 2 year old is able to use that?

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Unfortunately Royal Caribbean isn’t giving me any good deals [emoji20]

 

 

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Check out Norwegian Getaway. The older kids will love it with the slides, ropes course, mini golf, etc. Lots of other stuff for the kids and adults, plus lots of different entertainment options. They frequently offer 3 & 4th sail free along with one other perk like Celebrity. If it were just adults I would say Celebrity is great. If it is multi generational, I would look toward the newer Norwegian or Royal Caribbean ships. Just my 2 cents. Last year with the kids we did Getaway, this year without the kids we are on Equinox.

These threads always end up opening a can of worms. Expect a number of posts telling you to take your business elsewhere.

Having sailed with my youngest on Celebrity since he was 3 (a long time ago), here is my honest evaluation. Celebrity accommodates children and provides a nice kids club and some activities for them. Celebrity is not geared towards children and has few of the fun stuff other lines might have (kids pools, water slides, miniature golf, climbing walls, flowriders and so on). On most cruises there are not large numbers of children, although cruises around school breaks will have more than other times.

Whether your kids will enjoy it depends on the kids. If they want a lot of activities and a lot of new friends, then yes they will be bored. If they are more quiet and enjoy some fun times, but also spending some fun times with Mom and Dad swimming, playing board games (bring your own), watching movies in the room, playing with games/video games, etc. brought from home, being treated like celebrities by the staff, then they will enjoy Celebrity. My son enjoyed Celebrity a lot, but has told me he vastly preferred the couple cruises we took on RCI.

There is a splash pad on the Equinox? I wonder if my 2 year old is able to use that?

 

 

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Yes! We saw many young ones out there! They loved it.

We just came home yesterday from the Equinox with our 10yo. This was her third cruise (with Disney being 1 of them) and she reports that she had an amazing time. She loved going to the Fun Factory even though there were very few kids there most of the time. Her age group (cadets 10-12) only had 5 kids on the ship and their activities were often combined with the teens. She spent lots of time in the pools with a few of the 8&9yo girls that she met. The ship definitely isn't geared toward the kids like other ships so it really depends on the child/family finding things to do. I think the 6 & 8yo would have fun with the activities, but there really isn't much for the 2yo.

We are booked for next Feb on the Equinox with our 3 and 4 year old, and some of the comments make me concerned. I am really hoping they will go to Fun Factory willingly, and since they can go together, that should help.

However, we were on the NCL Gem this winter and thought the Splash Academy was not great. Our oldest refused to go. RCCL seems like overkill as they can’t really use he slides and there won’t be wall climbing. So, if worse comes to worse, we’ll download a ton of Paw Patrols and let them go to town...

If you are looking for a family vacation, then look at Royal Caribbean and Norwegian. If you are looking for an adult vacation, then Celebrity is fantastic. Our daughter loved Royal Caribbean as there was plenty to do, others her age and a high energy level on board.

We've sailed extensively across several different lines, Celebrity being our absolute favorite. While we only sail on cruises during the normal school year, we haven't seen but a handful of kids on either Celebrity or Holland America and have seen more so on Carnival, Royal Caribbean and NCL .. with Princess being somewhere in the middle with a smattering of kids depending on the itinerary.

Best rule of thumb is that more families with kids will book not only during the summer months or when school vacations occur, but also a 7 day or shorter itinerary. As soon as a cruise spans two different weeks, the number of kids onboard is lowered.

Celebrity will definitely have less kids onboard as there really aren't a lot of activities geared towards the younger ones but you mentioned August and if in early in the month and a 7 night cruise, so you will see families.

Could you still have a great time? Sure, but it depends on your kid's attention span and the things they enjoy. There won't be a lot of playground type structures like slides or rock climging but they do have fountains that spurt up on deck on some of the ships. The also have some games up on the lawn area on the S class ships (croquet, cornhole, hot glass (even though I read they brought this inside to a classroom setting). The indoor pool area opens up for families for a short period of time every day, usually an hour as adults are getting ready for dinner. They will have food choices geared towards kids up by the pool and the staff will most likely spoil them rotten. Aqua Class rooms are limited to two pax only so no kids can bunk up with their parents. It's more of an adult floor even though kids are technically allowed as pax #2 in a room.

Only you can determine if this line is right for your kids. Personally, I just don't see it being a draw for families with young kids but everyone's kids are different. And, as I've mentioned, we won't travel during the summer months and usually take longer cruises so never see all that many kids onboard anyway.

Check out Norwegian Getaway. The older kids will love it with the slides, ropes course, mini golf, etc. Lots of other stuff for the kids and adults, plus lots of different entertainment options. They frequently offer 3 & 4th sail free along with one other perk like Celebrity. If it were just adults I would say Celebrity is great. If it is multi generational, I would look toward the newer Norwegian or Royal Caribbean ships. Just my 2 cents. Last year with the kids we did Getaway, this year without the kids we are on Equinox.

I’ll look into that thank you.

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We've sailed extensively across several different lines, Celebrity being our absolute favorite. While we only sail on cruises during the normal school year, we haven't seen but a handful of kids on either Celebrity or Holland America and have seen more so on Carnival, Royal Caribbean and NCL .. with Princess being somewhere in the middle with a smattering of kids depending on the itinerary.

 

Best rule of thumb is that more families with kids will book not only during the summer months or when school vacations occur, but also a 7 day or shorter itinerary. As soon as a cruise spans two different weeks, the number of kids onboard is lowered.

 

Celebrity will definitely have less kids onboard as there really aren't a lot of activities geared towards the younger ones but you mentioned August and if in early in the month and a 7 night cruise, so you will see families.

 

Could you still have a great time? Sure, but it depends on your kid's attention span and the things they enjoy. There won't be a lot of playground type structures like slides or rock climging but they do have fountains that spurt up on deck on some of the ships. The also have some games up on the lawn area on the S class ships (croquet, cornhole, hot glass (even though I read they brought this inside to a classroom setting). The indoor pool area opens up for families for a short period of time every day, usually an hour as adults are getting ready for dinner. They will have food choices geared towards kids up by the pool and the staff will most likely spoil them rotten. Aqua Class rooms are limited to two pax only so no kids can bunk up with their parents. It's more of an adult floor even though kids are technically allowed as pax #2 in a room.

 

Only you can determine if this line is right for your kids. Personally, I just don't see it being a draw for families with young kids but everyone's kids are different. And, as I've mentioned, we won't travel during the summer months and usually take longer cruises so never see all that many kids onboard anyway.

Thank you for the information. I appreciate the feedback about the differences between the cruise lines. We are looking at beginning of August so it might work out ok for our group. Our research continues.

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If you are looking for a family vacation, then look at Royal Caribbean and Norwegian. If you are looking for an adult vacation, then Celebrity is fantastic. Our daughter loved Royal Caribbean as there was plenty to do, others her age and a high energy level on board.

We are considering planning an RCCL for summer 2019. The ships look so much fun and maybe wise individuals on these forums could guide me as to when the best time is to book for first timers.

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For very young kids, keep in mind also that until they are potty trained they are not allowed in any of the pools even with swim diapers. Wasn't aware there was a splash pad - curious where it is? Are you talking about the shallow areas next to the pools??? I've sailed on Celebrity 40 times now and never noticed a splash pad, but then again my son is now 31 so he can go in the big boys pool:)

We are booked for next Feb on the Equinox with our 3 and 4 year old, and some of the comments make me concerned. I am really hoping they will go to Fun Factory willingly, and since they can go together, that should help.

 

However, we were on the NCL Gem this winter and thought the Splash Academy was not great. Our oldest refused to go. RCCL seems like overkill as they can’t really use he slides and there won’t be wall climbing. So, if worse comes to worse, we’ll download a ton of Paw Patrols and let them go to town...

I’m sure you will have a fantastic time. If you over prepare with extras for the kids I think you will be fine. I’m most worried about my toddler who can’t even go for a swim. Tough decision.

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Thank you for the information. I appreciate the feedback about the differences between the cruise lines. We are looking at beginning of August so it might work out ok for our group. Our research continues.

 

 

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I think it will work out for you and your group! At least you will know what to expect and make a final decision based on everyone's input as well as what you like. Whatever you decide, have a great time!!