Best cruise line/ship for family with 9 and 6 year old daughters?

[TRCYNTHIA]

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We've been on 2 cruises before - one on Royal Caribbean's Allure and the other on NCL Breakaway....Both went to the same ports of call...We're looking to take another weeklong cruise March 12- 19 (give or take a few days here or there) and would love any suggestions as to which cruise line and ship would be the best for our family of 2 daughters aged 9 and 6 that would not go to Nassau, St. Maarten, and St. Thomas....They love hanging out at the kids club in the evening after we visit the port and eat dinner as a family....We prefer a variety of restaurants with no set times, and we love a variety of entertainment - we almost always see every show the ship has to offer....Thanks in advance for any help/guidance you can offer in helping us pick a cruise line and ship that might offer us a different experience than before.

[A&Jfamily]

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We've been on 2 cruises before - one on Royal Caribbean's Allure and the other on NCL Breakaway....Both went to the same ports of call...We're looking to take another weeklong cruise March 12- 19 (give or take a few days here or there) and would love any suggestions as to which cruise line and ship would be the best for our family of 2 daughters aged 9 and 6 that would not go to Nassau, St. Maarten, and St. Thomas....They love hanging out at the kids club in the evening after we visit the port and eat dinner as a family....We prefer a variety of restaurants with no set times, and we love a variety of entertainment - we almost always see every show the ship has to offer....Thanks in advance for any help/guidance you can offer in helping us pick a cruise line and ship that might offer us a different experience than before.

 

Disney is the one that fits your requirements best...excellent shows and a different restaurant every night. But its expensive compared to the others.

 

Carnival has the widest range of itineraries but they are not going to have a wide range of restaurants unless you take the Sunshine - which is a great ship for kids. They have 4 upcharge restaurants - sushi, Italian, Asian and steakhouse. But while they will have a main show every night and some will be fun for the kids like Hasbro the Game Show its not a ton of production shows. Royal gets the best reviews for entertainment. NCL has the freestyle dining. Princess is like a more upscale Carnival.

[ilovetexas]

Hey there, I'm the one that started answering you over on the Disney board. I'll break down reasons for Breeze here.

 

Breeze was my husband's favorite ship, and he doesn't typically prefer Carnival. Based on how much he liked it, we have Sunshine booked this spring. I've been on Sunshine solo and LOVED it even more than the Breeze. But, that's a story for another time.

 

Food is FAR better than Disney. I realize food is subjective but seriously - Guy's Burgers (free), the Blue Iguana Cantina (free), Cucina del Capitano (free at lunch), plus Ji Ji, Bonsai Sushi and the Steak House all at reasonable prices. Plus, of course the Main Dining Room and Lido Deck. Oh, I forgot about the pizza and ice cream, which is also free. And the deli. And Tandoor. I could go on and on. On my two Disney cruises I had trouble finding anything even vaguely interesting to eat.

 

Breeze has two BIG waterslides that are as good as, if not better than, the AquaDuck on DCL. There is a ropes course that looks fun but I never seem to make it back there to play on it. Kids and adults seem to like it.

 

There's a 3D theater that shows a few different things during the course of the cruise. It's one of those where the seats move and you get splashed with water, or have bubbles floating around, etc. I get motion-sick just thinking about it, but most people like them. I don't remember how much it cost but I don't remember it being too much.

 

They show movies on deck on the big screen at night.

 

One of my sons loves the kids clubs on Carnival. Prefers them over Disney. My other kids won't go to kid's clubs on any line so their opinions don't really add value.

 

Seuss at Sea. Nobody would go with me to the Green Eggs and Ham reading or breakfast so I went to the reading and parade by myself. My teenagers are sticks in the mud! I had fun. :)

 

The week you are looking at cruising, the Breeze will be in Grand Turk, Dominican Republic, Curacao and Aruba on an 8 day trip.

 

That's my suggestion, FWIW.

[Gaprofitt]

I would recommend the Breeze for your family.

[familycruzr]

If you have the money, Disney is amazing for kids that age. My kids were 3 and 5, then 7 ad 9 on their Disney cruises. It was great. Once they get to middle school age, Disney was not worth the extra cost to us so we sail with Carnival. My youngest was 10 on her first Carnival cruise and Camp Carnival was fine, but not anything like Disney. The activities are much more limited for that age.