Thinking if Royal Princess Jan. 2019. Bringing three kids.

Not sure if this is the right cruise for kids?(well behaved). This is the 7th cruise for the kids- all Carnival. Will be 8,14,15 when it sails. I did a Princess cruise in 2010 when I was 45 and seemed like I was the youngster on the ship. The kid areas were not even open because there were no kids. The Royal Princess looks like it has all kinds of kid stuff. Thanks.

Not sure if this is the right cruise for kids?(well behaved). This is the 7th cruise for the kids- all Carnival. Will be 8,14,15 when it sails. I did a Princess cruise in 2010 when I was 45 and seemed like I was the youngster on the ship. The kid areas were not even open because there were no kids. The Royal Princess looks like it has all kinds of kid stuff. Thanks.

It's the right cruise if the itinerary looks right for you and yours and the price is right!!

Lots for kids to do, Princess has excellent kids programming, I'm sure your well traveled kiddos will have a great time... Lots of kids on our Royal Caribbean cruises each time, even the 10 night ones.. Generally speaking, better behaved and look to be having more fun than the grumpy and rude adults.

Enjoy!

Princess has a great kid program but they reserve the right to cancel the program if there are fewer than 20 kids. So, are you planning to cruise during normal "school" dates? If so, not many parents will take kids out of school when they have just had a "holiday" break in December. It is indeed possible that there would be fewer than 20 kids in any age grouping at this time of year. On the other hand, Princess will tell you how many kids are booked on the cruise, closer to the date but before the cancelation penalties start.

We're taking our 16 and 14 year olds on Royal next month, so I will report back! We're going over spring break though, so I would guess there will be more kids on our sailing than in January.

We're taking our 16 and 14 year olds on Royal next month, so I will report back! We're going over spring break though, so I would guess there will be more kids on our sailing than in January.

There is likely going to be a large difference in the number of kids on a 10 day sailing than on the Royal's 7 day sailings in January 2019.

Aside from perhaps the 8-year-old, I'm not sure your teenagers will be wanting to participate in the kids' activities anyways so I wouldn't base my decision on that.

As far as "feeling like youngsters," we prefer the laid-back, traditional feel of Princess, so we don't care much about the age of the crowd as we often make our own fun.

We're taking our 16 and 14 year olds on Royal next month, so I will report back! We're going over spring break though, so I would guess there will be more kids on our sailing than in January.

Not really sure what the Royal Caribbean cruise will have to do with the Princess cruise but I would like to hear how it goes.

Unless this would be a New Years cruise, then kids will all be back in school, and fewer kids onboard. Especially a Princess cruise.

If I am going to give my honest opinion, I would not bring kids onboard a princess ship unless I knew that it was one of those cruises that would have more kids onboard. I am sure that there are supposed to be some kids 'programming'... But, Princess just isn't Carnival. or like the Oasis/Allure ships.

PS: I think poster are referring to The Royal Princess... not RCI cruise line.

Unless this would be a New Years cruise, then kids will all be back in school, and fewer kids onboard. Especially a Princess cruise.

 

If I am going to give my honest opinion, I would not bring kids onboard a princess ship unless I knew that it was one of those cruises that would have more kids onboard. I am sure that there are supposed to be some kids 'programming'... But, Princess just isn't Carnival. or like the Oasis/Allure ships.

 

PS: I think poster are referring to The Royal Princess... not RCI cruise line.

Oh, I get it! We always sail the end of January and Carnival always has a ton of kids aboard. Worry though about being the only kids.

For kids the ages that you are talking about, I would suggest one of the Royal Caribbean cruise line ships. A 10 day the end of January is not going to have many school age kids. The Royal Princess is a great ship for adults but I don't think there is much for 8, 14 and 15 year old kids during that time of year.

I just got off the Royal Princess ship and had a great time, but overall passenger age group was older with most passengers being retired. I saw some preschoolers, but only a very few school age kids.

I'd suggest canceling the Royal Princess cruise and book with one of the RCI ships (Royal Caribbean cruise line), maybe the Oasis or Allure.

I would think you'll have at least 200 kids onboard at that time of year. Could be higher. Your kids will love the kids' program and it's especially nice and fun when the kids' program isn't packed to the gills with kids. Your kids actually get time to play the video games and get special attention from the counselors. My kids loved it when the program had less than 20 kids!

A 10 day the end of January is not going to have many school age kids. The Royal Princess is a great ship for adults but I don't think there is much for 8, 14 and 15 year old kids during that time of year.

 

I just got off the Royal Princess ship and had a great time, but overall passenger age group was older with most passengers being retired. I saw some preschoolers, but only a very few school age kids.

 

I

Correction. I just realized that this year the Royal is doing a 10 day (we were on the 10 day Eastern cruise this month) but next year its a 7 day.

The 7 day should have some younger people on board, but still, its the end of January when school is in session so the number of school aged children would still be limited.

That's not what I've experienced anymore. It used to be that way, but there are so many different schools on different schedules now and SO many parents home-schooling their kids that there are usually a lot of kids even in January. I'd expect about 200 and maybe as many as 300 for that sailing on that big of a ship out of FLL.

2010?

.....Our first cruise was with Princess in '98 to Alaska and we not only were the youngest on board, the 2000pax ship, but there was not one child. I have seen plenty of kids on Princess have a great time and who knows what mix of pax your sailing will bring.

But, it really has only been in the last 10 years that Princess has advertised to families. RCI has always catered to families, In our family it has mostly been RCI family fun, Princess "serious travel business". I love RCI ships...Princess cannot hold a candle to their activities for youth.

I have looked at the layouts of their clubs on all classes of ships for both lines. RCI wins hand down.

Was on Carnival in the 80's...have not been back.......but I really do think, they have the fun and youthful ships in the corp. Are your children happy with those ships?

Your kids will have a great time whatever you choose....but do look at RCI as others have suggested on this thread......soooooo much fun.......for teens!

We try to do 1 7 day cruise every year in February. Our kids are 15 and 11. Our daughter spends the week in the kids club and just loves it. We have to beg her to come eat dinner with us she' having so much fun. Our 15 year old son won' go in there. We play basketball and bring our gloves and play catch. They also have pickleball and on the regal set up a batting cage. We have only cruised princess and we always talk about changing and trying another line but haven' yet.

You've cruised 7 times with your kids and know them best and what they like. I'm sure you're aware that Princess doesn't have things like water slides or rock climbing walls. But that doesn't mean that kids and teens won't have a great time. My kids are now 21 and 17 and started cruising on Princess when they were 8 and 4. Our next cruise on March 10 will be their 12th Princess cruise and 17th cruise overall. They have always loved cruising on Princess. Of their 5 non-Princess cruises, one was on the QM2, 3 were on Celebrity and one was on RCCL. Don't assume that all kids and teens prefer Carnival, Disney and RCCL.

We were on the Royal Princess for 10 days this past January. I don’t think there were 25 children total.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Our first ever cruise was on Tahaitian Princess to Alaska - our daughter was 1 year old and the only child onboard. There was no kids club on the smaller ship and no kids activities but we all had a blast - so much so that, 10 years on, my (now) 11 year old has 18 cruises under her belt and my 6 year old has 10! We primarily sail Princess and, with the exception of that one smaller ship cruise, have had kids on each and every trip and the programming has been great. Both my kids love it and beg to sail Princess (they hated Disney, were so-so over Royal Caribbean but really enjoyed Carnival, too). We haven't sailed Royal Princess yet but booked on her for March 2019 when she heads out West! I have no problem taking my kids out of school to cruise and many other parents obviously feel the same way as we certainly see plenty of kids when we sail!

I always took mine out of school too, but a lot of parents don't or won't.

Every kid/family we've ever talked to has loved the Princess kid program.

It may be too early to get a good accurate count, but if you contact Princess they can tell you how many children are already booked on the cruise you are looking at.

We have sailed Princess on a 10 day with our kids. They were 10 and 13 years when we did it. It was late March so near spring break time. There were plenty of families with kids of all ages. There are lot less kids than on other cruises we have taken with NCL and Disney but plenty of other kids. My kids LOVED this cruise and because of the smaller amount of kids on board they actually meet lots of friends during the cruise. The crew were happy to engage with the kids. My kids were never bored or even out of place. We are going back in 30 days from another 10 day trip on the Royal Princess.

We are sailing on the royal in June 2019 Alaska. We will be taking our 6 year old son with us. Princess told us they have plenty of kids activities on board and cater for families! We can't wait! We were on the Sapphire princess in Dec and he loved the kids club!! :)

Not sure if this is the right cruise for kids?(well behaved). This is the 7th cruise for the kids- all Carnival. Will be 8,14,15 when it sails. I did a Princess cruise in 2010 when I was 45 and seemed like I was the youngster on the ship. The kid areas were not even open because there were no kids. The Royal Princess looks like it has all kinds of kid stuff. Thanks.

I'm not sure which weeks in January you are planning...

The weeks between thanksgiving and christmas, and the weeks after new years are very slow, and inexpensive.

You are much more likely to see a couple busloads from a retirement village, than a lot of kids.

If you want more kids, wait until February/March/April.

We will be taking our three children ages 10,10,13 on the February 2019 cruise. We normally do carnival or Norwegian with them so this will be their first Princess cruise.

I was on the Regal Princess in January (this year) and there were very few school aged children on board. There were some toddlers, but very few older children.