Best ship for younger kids (under 9)?

[KalamityJane]

I'm exploring my options for a family cruise and wondering what you all would consider the best ship in RCI for younger kids? I'm specifically looking for a decent kids club and great water area/slides. I don't mind smaller ships. Kids will be 8, 5.5 and 4. We are looking at Sept 2016 - April 2017 with flexibility because kids are homeschooled, at least 6 nights and probably out of Florida.

 

So far it looks like Freedom class may work for us?

 

 

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Edited April 15, 2016 by KalamityJane

[Clarea]

I'd look at Harmony out of Ft. Lauderdale. Freedom does not have slides.

[KalamityJane]

Awesome, I will check that out! Freedom is the one with the waterworks, right?

[KalamityJane]

WOW! Harmony is impressive! Thanks for the heads up :) Last time we sailed with RCI, it was on the Sovereign of the Seas :D so it's been quite a while.

[Ourusualbeach]

I'm exploring my options for a family cruise and wondering what you all would consider the best ship in RCI for younger kids? I'm specifically looking for a decent kids club and great water area/slides. I don't mind smaller ships. Kids will be 8, 5.5 and 4. We are looking at Sept 2016 - April 2017 with flexibility because kids are homeschooled, at least 6 nights and probably out of Florida.

 

So far it looks like Freedom class may work for us?

 

 

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As Bob mentioned the Harmony will have the waterslides but there will be height restrictions on the slides. I believe the Liberty has restrictions of 48" on her slides.

[Clarea]

Awesome, I will check that out! Freedom is the one with the waterworks, right?

Both Freedom and Harmony have a kiddie pool area.

[momof4_tn]

Our kids are 10 & 6 and they loved Freedom. They enjoyed the separate kids pool area. We liked that it was still on the same level as the main pool deck for the adults. Kids club was great. It doesn't have slides, but it does have the DreamWorks experience characters onboard as well. Flowrider is fun if they meet the height requirement. 10 year old did, but 6 year old did not. Our waiters in the main dining room were also phenomenal when it came to the kids at dinner. They were treated so well and it made the experience so much more enjoyable for us that they were so accommodating.

[melski]

As Bob mentioned the Harmony will have the waterslides but there will be height restrictions on the slides. I believe the Liberty has restrictions of 48" on her slides.

 

If you are looking at Harmony, check out recent pictures of Liberty's kids area (after dry dock). I believe Harmony will have a similar H2O Zone. The big slides have height restrictions of 48". In the H2O zone, there are 2 slides...yellow one has height restrictions of 45" and purple's height is 42". My 4 year old could only do the purple one and she was ok with that. My 4 and 9 year old loved playing in the H2O zone.

[KalamityJane]

The height restrictions are going to be the kicker, youngest just turned 3 and is 40", middle is almost 5 and 45", oldest is 7.5 and 52". If the 3yo grows 2" before we go, then we would be set :) should be doable, they grow about 2-3" a year.

 

 

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[KalamityJane]

Our kids are 10 & 6 and they loved Freedom. They enjoyed the separate kids pool area. We liked that it was still on the same level as the main pool deck for the adults. Kids club was great. It doesn't have slides, but it does have the DreamWorks experience characters onboard as well. Flowrider is fun if they meet the height requirement. 10 year old did, but 6 year old did not. Our waiters in the main dining room were also phenomenal when it came to the kids at dinner. They were treated so well and it made the experience so much more enjoyable for us that they were so accommodating.

 

 

This is great to hear!! Do you happen to know the height requirement on the Flowrider?

 

 

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[mrpayroll]

This is great to hear!! Do you happen to know the height requirement on the Flowrider?

 

 

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52 inches for Bodyboard and 58 inches for Flowboard.

[VPIcruiser]

All of them! Our kids loved Freedom (twice) and Allure (once). We went on the Jewel and they loved it just as much. I thought they would think the Jewel was too small and that they would miss the kids pool area, but they didn't miss anything and they loved the Jewel. Then we were back on Freedom and they loved it again. They loved Adventure this Spring Break. Right now, that is their favorite ship because of the in-line skating track but that is going away this fall. The three kids were 1, 4, and 6 when we started cruising RCCL with them and right now they are 5 1/2, 9, and 10 1/2.

 

So, I think your kids may love any ship.

[kms18]

Do any of your kids like Oasis? we have 5 year old and we are going on the Oasis.

 

Thanks!

[MikeBTN]

We chose Freedom for our May sailing. First non-Disney cruise with them. The large pool deck and kids water park/splash area was one of the deciding factors. We're also doing Norwegian Escape the week before to experience different lines to see which they enjoy more - the Escape has slides which our kids LOVE.

[CanadaCathi]

My 7-year old LOVED Freedom last month. Agree about the MDR waiters, they would have two cartons of chocolate milk waiting for her and she was treated like royalty. She had a blast in the H2O Zone and Adventure Ocean and was thrilled they had Cartoon Network lol.

[VPIcruiser]

Kms18, your five year old will love Oasis. We were on Allure a few years ago and have booked it for next spring break. The sister ships have a nice kids pool area and a carousel and fun parades and a very entertaining water show and ice skating show.

 

I think Royal Caribbean is great for families.