family of 4 - is a suite better? and which cruise line for Mexican Riviera?

[noesmommy]

Hello all!

 

Newbie here with a question - we are looking to sail the Mexican Riviera in January, and DH is convinced that we need a suite for our family of four. We have a soon to be 1 year old and a 3 year old. Is it worth the extra cost (which is considerable) for the comfort factor? We generally don't do a lot of cruise activities - we just hang out a lot - so we might spend more time in the cabin than the average passengers.

 

This is our first time cruising with kids. In the past we have cruised Celebrity and Princess. We thought Mexico would be good because we are in So Cal, and so wouldn't have to fly any place with the kids. Just drive, park, and go!

 

Right now we are considering Holland America Oosterdam, Sapphire Princess, and Royal Caribbean Vision of the Seas . The ports are pretty much the same. Does anyone know if one of these ships is particularly more kid friendly than another? And are the suites better on one cruise line versus another?

 

TIA,

 

Carol

[Bonnie J.]

I would say RCCL. Holland America is known for older passengers and after being on Princess, I got the same feeling. But Royal Carribean is good family line. And, have you thought of getting connecting cabins? Don't know if that would be less expensive that a suite. Check with your TA about that. Check ship's catalogue to see difference in suite and ask your TA about the square footage of each.

[Happy ks]

Have you even considered NCL Star? I know it is not in the same class as the others, but I think it might work well for your young family. The Freestyle dining would allow you to customize your dining times, crucial with young children.

 

We haven't sailed on her in a few years, but we were actually surprised how nice the ship was and how gracious the staff were.

 

RCCL, I think, has a program for younger children, one that includes the parents.

 

In any case, with kids that young, I think I would have to go with a line that provides in-cabin babysitting (fee). As much as I love my kids, at that age, I would have had to have at least a couple of hours off sometime during the week.

 

Getting back to your original question, if you can afford the added exspense of a suite, the additional floor space would be wonderful. Plus, many times suites have bathtubs, regular cabins don't.

[98Charlie]

Have you even considered NCL Star? I know it is not in the same class as the others, but I think it might work well for your young family. The Freestyle dining would allow you to customize your dining times, crucial with young children.

 

We haven't sailed on her in a few years, but we were actually surprised how nice the ship was and how gracious the staff were.

We were on the Star in September (first Mexican Riviera after the repositioning) and had a great time.

 

We don't sail with children (they're all grown and gone) but saw a number of them around the ship in the kid's program. For one of the shows (magician) they had a special seating area for the kid's program group.

 

The ship is well maintained and the staff very friendly. I agree that with children it is a distinct advantage to have freestyle dining if you want to use the dining room.

 

There was also a small buffet bar with hot food and tables just for kid's in the regular buffet. There were pancakes, cereal, eggs and bacon at breakfast; hot dogs, hamburgers and fries at lunch. I know that there was more on the buffet but we only saw it when passing through.

 

Charlie

[noesmommy]

 

There was also a small buffet bar with hot food and tables just for kid's in the regular buffet. There were pancakes, cereal, eggs and bacon at breakfast; hot dogs, hamburgers and fries at lunch. I know that there was more on the buffet but we only saw it when passing through.

 

Charlie

 

Wow, that's really great! I will go check out Norwegian right now.

 

Thanks for all of the great suggestions, folks!:p

[pg.]

I know tha with regular cabin on Princess that you do not get a bathtub, only a shower, and the shower is not big, so holding a one year old and trying to shower him/her off would be a pain, and forget about using the sink, way too small.

Get a suite just for the tub!!!!! You will need to bath kids often just to get sunscreen off of them!

 

Sapphire Princess also has 24 hr food , buffet is good so you can get kids snacks whenever you want, PLUS, Princess ships have REFRIGERATORS in every cabin, totally useful if you have kids. We stocked ours with stuff from buffet for midnight snacks for kids.

[98Charlie]

I have to agree that tubbin' is the way to get the littlest one cleaned.

 

However, we book insides to stretch the budget and found the showers on the NCL Star to be very large compared to most cruise ships. Also, they have sliding doors instead of the stick-to-your-behind curtains.

 

Star also has a 24 hour restaurant (the Blue Lagoon). Our inside also had a refrigerator which was empty (not stocked with liquor). I know that with other lines you can have the booze removed but, it's one less thing to mess with when already empty.

 

Cabins also came with a hot water pot, tea bags and instant coffee in case you don't want to wait on room service. We use room service each morning for coffee and danish while we get ready and the delivery time was 5-7 minutes each morning.

 

Good Luck With The Planning,

 

Charlie

[tequilasunrise]

I'm a Princess fan, but with a 1 year old I'd look at Royal Carribean. HAL is known for older passengers, no way I'd take kids on that one, even older kids or teens. Princess if fine for older kids or teens, but if you look at Princess seriously check first. I believe that kids who are not 3 and potty trained can't be left in the kids center, and there is no private babysitting service available. That would make for a pretty lame cruise for you and your child.

 

But if you do go Sapphire Princess, the mini-suites are spacious and pretty, and they have a large bathtub. I doubt you'd need a full suite (unless you just want one of course), our family of four fit well.

 

Have you thought about changing to Carribean and looking at Disney? Seems those ships/itinerary would provide a much better vacation for your family demographics. The ports and ships both are more family friendly for little ones.

 

Either way have a good time!

[karfest]

We took our "kids" on the NCL Star last March. They were 17 & 20 at the time so our situation was a bit different than yours. However- we booked an AB penthouse which had a separate bedroom and bathroom for the girls but shared a living area. It might be a bit much for your needs, but it was GREAT! We paid the 3rd and 4th person rate for the girls, which was pretty cheap-but the first and second person is quite a bit higher than a regular room. Previously, we booked 2 cabins that were across the hall from each other- the girls were 9 & 12 so they stayed in one cabin while hubby and I had the other.

 

We met a family on the Star who had small children (5 & 7?) in an inside cabin. The kids spent alot of time in the Kids club and loved it. The room was quite crowded when the beds were pullled out, but they managed to have a great time.

 

The ship is lovely, ports of call were great, and I would go again in a heartbeat!

[Cuizer2]

Seems to be lots of votes for the NCL Star. I was just on that cruise. I wrote a very long reivew of my cruise experience. If you would like to read it, click on the link below ...

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=13327

[MikeT718]

I'm a Princess fan, but with a 1 year old I'd look at Royal Carribean. HAL is known for older passengers, no way I'd take kids on that one, even older kids or teens

 

Let me start out by saying I am not trying to flame anyone but reading this thread HAL is being misrepsented. DW DS and myself sailed on the Zaandam last spring and have booked the Oosterdam this April..On the Zaandam we were told that between the teens and kids aboard there were about 150 we saw very little of the kids as HAL has a very good Kids program as far as the Teens are concerned they have their own area called the Oaisis which is a teen only deck with waterfall confortable chairs and nice hammocks..DS was 15 at the time and the only time we saw him durring sae days was for dinner..So please do not just discount HAL as an older crowd..That is true on their longer curises of greater 10 days:)