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  • 1 month later...
Hi... I know Disney is great with single parents, but curious about others’ experiences with other cruise lines. Thanks.

I’ve cruised many times with kids on Carnival. In full disclosure, I was always married but my wife would hide in the cabin most of the time.

Others were so used to seeing just me and the kids they assumed it was “daddy’s week.” I wasn’t really available, and I would try to make that known quickly. Nonetheless, it seemed I often met many single parents. At dinner, I was typically placed at a table as a family of 5...if the kids didn’t join me for dinner, the table was sparse.

 

Now that I’m actually single, I’m looking to take the kids on a cruise before summer ends. I’m interested in Disney. The idea that they cater so well to kids (4/5 of my party...and perhaps myself if I’m being honest) is very appealing. I’m going on an NCL cruise alone this summer while they are with their mother. NCL would be about 1/3 the price of Disney. If my solo cruise goes well enough, I’ll be taking the kids on NCL.

One big challenge for me; 4 kids and one adult. It is hard to fit in one room and I’m prohibited from another room w/o another adult. I have trouble justifying one of the excessively expensive suites, though the space would help solve my problem.

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  • 1 month later...
I’ve cruised many times with kids on Carnival. In full disclosure, I was always married but my wife would hide in the cabin most of the time.

Others were so used to seeing just me and the kids they assumed it was “daddy’s week.” I wasn’t really available, and I would try to make that known quickly. Nonetheless, it seemed I often met many single parents. At dinner, I was typically placed at a table as a family of 5...if the kids didn’t join me for dinner, the table was sparse.

 

Now that I’m actually single, I’m looking to take the kids on a cruise before summer ends. I’m interested in Disney. The idea that they cater so well to kids (4/5 of my party...and perhaps myself if I’m being honest) is very appealing. I’m going on an NCL cruise alone this summer while they are with their mother. NCL would be about 1/3 the price of Disney. If my solo cruise goes well enough, I’ll be taking the kids on NCL.

One big challenge for me; 4 kids and one adult. It is hard to fit in one room and I’m prohibited from another room w/o another adult. I have trouble justifying one of the excessively expensive suites, though the space would help solve my problem.

 

Some cruise lines have rooms that fit 5 i think. Disney does a great job with single parents and sits them with other like families. Im doing Royal C this summer and hope they do well too...

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Check into the prices for 2 bedroom suites. They might not be too much when compared to Disney.

 

Freedom of the Seas has Oceanview rooms that sleep up to six. The cabins are all the way forward with the windows looking out over the bow. Each of these cabins has a different shape, but one of them has a living room and separate bedroom and 2 windows. We had that cabin and it was quite spacious (but only one bathroom ). You might have to call for those cabins.

 

 

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  • 1 year later...

I've done Disney as a single dad with kids, and will be doing RCCL this February just me and the kids too.

Thought I'd put this out there: Disney is great for kids and families, but not so much for socializing as an adult, if you know what I mean. And that's not really Disney's fault. They have great facilities and programs in the evening for adults, it's just that no one shows up. Or at least they didn't on my trip.  All those parents are just as exhausted as the kids by the end of the day, they just crash too. The bars and clubs were mostly empty at night.

The ventriloquist put on a hilarious adult-themed show post 10pm to about 15 people. Maybe 2 couples stayed for the dj dancing afterwards.

The Piano bar had one couple in it. The sports bar had about 3 guys in there. The martini bar had about 4 couples at any given time.

No single ladies were out at night.

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  • 1 year later...

I have done lots of cruises with my son starting when he was 9 and the last one was when he was 22.  I have found that as a single parent,  I was better off at large tables and not small ones.  The cruise lines try to match you to one or two other single parents but that ends up being a mistake more times that not.  I am a happy single parent that raised my son without any mother involved.  I spent a lot of time listening to issues with the ex-husband or ex-wife before I changed to a large table.  A lot of people think because you are single like them you want to hear about their issues.  

Here are my thoughts on different cruise lines with my son:

 

Disney:  The best and great for single parents (that do not want to hook up).  They have priced us out of the market in the last 10 years.  Before that they were the same price as other cruise lines.

 

RCL:  Tons of things to do with my son.  On most cruises I would not see my son except for dinner because he would be in the kids area.  On RCL cruises he would come out of the kids area to do activities with me.

 

Princess:  Some of our best cruises have been on Princess.  We did lots of cruising in December before the holidays or in May before school was out.  There would only be about 20 kids on the entire ship but my son would make the best friends with the other kids because the amount of kids were limited so they knew they had to adjust their likes and compromise.  

 

Carnival:   My son and I never got into the Carnival cruises.  We had done multiple other cruises before Carnival and got spoiled.  We thought there we to many kids running around the ship and to many drunk people.

 

NCL:  My son did not like NCL.  The kids area was terrible and they did not know what to do with or for kids.  Because my son did not want to stay in the kids area he did not make friends and wanted to spend all the time with me so I did not get to relax.  *** Now NCL is my favorite ship for Solo Cruising.  I make sure I am on a ship with a solo cabins and a solo coordinator.  

 

 

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