Cruises from San Juan - help me choose!

[cruisincarly]

Hi All!

 

We've been thinking of our next cruise and have decided we probably want to do something out of San Juan (combined with some pre or post cruise enjoyment of Puerto Rico on our own). We're trying to choose between cruises, and have found itineraries from Royal Carribean, Carnival, Celebrity and Princess that look good and that are in our price range. So, we're looking for opinions. A little more info about us:

 

We have a little boy who will be just barely 3 years old at the time of sailing. We think and hope he'll be potty trained by that point, but we're not counting on it. We'd like him to be able to go to the kids club some of the time and/or have babysitting in the evenings sometimes.

 

Good food is really important to me and my husband. I mean quality, not quantity!

 

We want a cruise where there's things that are good to do together as a family, not just adult stuff and kids' stuff separately. Our little boy is of the "never stops moving unless he's asleep" type, and while he's generally polite and well-behaved, a little understanding from fellow passengers is always appreciated.

 

Good shows would be a plus, but not a big priority. My husband and I don't do the nightclub thing, we're more of a quiet place, listen to jazz and talk kind of couple ;-)

 

I don't mind there being people partying hard on the ship so long as its not in our face, but too much drunkenness or rowdiness would be a minus.

 

So....any thoughts?

[Essiesmom]

I think you will find the best food on Celebrity, but the only line that will take your child into the kids club if he is not fully potty trained is Carnival. None of the ships have a waterplay area for non-potty trained kiddies, although I think I read that Serenade will be getting it at her next refurb. EM

[dforeigner]

Celebrity does offer babysitting services. Depending on how busy they are, they will either babysit in your stateroom or ask that you bring the child to the club. Book early as they have limited staff available to provide babysitting services.

[dforeigner]

I forgot to mention that they do change diapers on Celebrity through the babysitting service.

[Fiftiesareus]

I would choose the cruise which goes to a different island every day. Check out the Carnival Freedom. We went on it. Skip Nassau, forget Freeport skip Key West (bunch of bars) Go to St Martin, St Thomas, St Lucia, Dominica, Turks & Caicos. Carnival does a great job with kids. We were on one ship and there were 300 kids. Not one cry or whine in over a week. Yes, there are some partiers on Carnival ships but there is plenty for the kids to do and plenty for adults to do. I would not take a cruise which has only 2 ports.

[queenL]

I've been on all the lines you mentioned, most with my 4 yr old. I could give you better advice if you named the ships/itineraries that you are interested in. That said, just based on the info you provided I would probably pick Carnival. If you are a user of the kids club it is the only one that will take them when they aren't potty trained. That way you won't have to be stressed as to whether you get him trained in time as I was. I took DD, when she had just turned 3 on the Summit. She was newly potty trained. I ended up running up to the kids club every 1 to 1 1/2 to get her to go to the bathroom. I was afraid she would have an accident since they didn't allow them to wear a pull-up as a back up. It was a true aggravation.

 

Since you said you like activity, I would steer away from Princess and Celebrity because I find the ship life more sedate on those lines. Years ago, when Celebrity had Micheal Roux as the head chef, I felt their food was superior then the other lines. However, now I think their food has declined and it is on par with the other lines.

 

As I said I haven't seen your itinerary or ship choices yet and for us that weighs heavily on picking a cruise. Good luck with your decision!

[Wayah]

We took the Serenade out of San Juan with our 8 and 10yo's for spring break. They loved the kid's club and the dining room certainly had enough kids at early dining. I recommend a balcony room so that you can enjoy the views after the little one is asleep. The little water slide was a hit with the younger kids. We also greatly enjoyed that the windjammer buffet dining area was open to a patio for seating in the aft part of the ship. We stayed at the Courtyard Isla Verde Beach Resort in San Juan precruise and the best part about it was an outdoor restaurant where our kids could play on a hammock on the beach while we drank wine and waited for the food to come 10 feet away (several other parents were doing the same thing :)