Family Experiences?

[flexsmom]

I'm an experienced cruiser but have never been on Celebrity. I've been reading this forum for a while trying to get a feel for the children's programs and whether or not there is enough to keep younger passengers entertained. We've found it nice to have a lot of "together time" at the pools and such, as well as having the option for some adult-only time while the kids enjoy their own programs. Other than one review I just found here about a Hawaii cruise, most of the reviewers mark N/A on the Family side. So how about it? Anyone else out there care to comment about the Celebrity Children's Programming? We're considering a holiday cruise in 2007 and will have two experienced child cruisers - age 8 & 4.

[dzney]

I'm an experienced cruiser but have never been on Celebrity. I've been reading this forum for a while trying to get a feel for the children's programs and whether or not there is enough to keep younger passengers entertained. We've found it nice to have a lot of "together time" at the pools and such, as well as having the option for some adult-only time while the kids enjoy their own programs. Other than one review I just found here about a Hawaii cruise, most of the reviewers mark N/A on the Family side. So how about it? Anyone else out there care to comment about the Celebrity Children's Programming? We're considering a holiday cruise in 2007 and will have two experienced child cruisers - age 8 & 4.

 

We just got back from Summit Hawaii and our girls loved the program. They are 4 and 6 and were both Shipmates. Because it was a holiday cruise there were many children on board...I heard around 200-250? Anyway, our girls loved it and made many friends. My older daughter cried her eyes out the last night because she was sad that she wouldn't see them again. Hope this helps!

[dzney]

I'm an experienced cruiser but have never been on Celebrity. I've been reading this forum for a while trying to get a feel for the children's programs and whether or not there is enough to keep younger passengers entertained. We've found it nice to have a lot of "together time" at the pools and such, as well as having the option for some adult-only time while the kids enjoy their own programs. Other than one review I just found here about a Hawaii cruise, most of the reviewers mark N/A on the Family side. So how about it? Anyone else out there care to comment about the Celebrity Children's Programming? We're considering a holiday cruise in 2007 and will have two experienced child cruisers - age 8 & 4.

 

We just got back from Summit Hawaii and our girls loved the program. They are 4 and 6 and were both Shipmates. Because it was a holiday cruise there were many children on board...I heard around 200-250? Anyway, our girls loved it and made many friends. My older daughter cried her eyes out the last night because she was sad that she wouldn't see them again. Hope this helps!

[mahdnc]

In a nutshell, we have taken our children (now 10 and 13 yrs old) on 5 Celebrity Cruises over the past 10 years. Each time the kids have thoroughly enjoyed the kids program on each trip--I highly recommend it. The program is well organized and staff with very good personnel. The facilities (except for Zenith) are terrific as well.

[cruisewmn]

I sent you a PM on the other cruise site you frequent (I don't know how to send them on this board -- my screen name is budwmn over there). :)

[canderson]

I'm an experienced cruiser but have never been on Celebrity. I've been reading this forum for a while trying to get a feel for the children's programs and whether or not there is enough to keep younger passengers entertained.

At ages 4 and 6, you'll find that any of the Celebrity ships you choose will keep your kids well entertained. If they can handle being away from mom for extended periods, the problem MAY be dragging them away from the program every day!

 

Celebrity does have a bit of a "gap" in their coverage for older teens, however. They do make some effort, but it's harder to keep some kids that age entertained on a Celebrity ship than it might be on some others.

[my3kids]

I am glad someone started this thread...we are also wondering how the kids programs are.

 

Someone posted - except for the Zenith?????? Why not? Was that because you have not been on it or is it not the experience you wanted?

 

Just curious!

 

Thanks

[mahdnc]

The Zenith exception was only meant to note that its facilities are very small and not up to par with the rest of the fleet. It is only the size of two cabins (so we are talking only 350 sq ft here) because Zenith and Horizon were built before the trend towards bigger kids facilities started. In fact on Horizon (which we sailed last year), the kids room doesn't even carry the "Ship Mates Fun Factory" moniker as pointed out to me by the youth counselors on board. I expect the other aspects of the kids program on Zenith to be just fine (quality of the activities, counselors, etc).

[flexsmom]

Thanks to everyone for the info. I was almost afraid to post the question after reading the "other" child-related thread going on at the moment! We've found cruising to be a great way for us to spend a lot of quality time together as a family, yet also have great times apart with each of us getting to do fun things geared to our age groups. I think the kids enjoy their child-fun time without us as much as we enjoy doing mom/dad things - makes the together times that much better, as far as we're concerned. I'm glad to hear that the Celebrity kid's programs are enticing to them - now I just have to wait for the rest of the 2007 schedule to be released to book!

[camella]

We have cruised on Celebrity twice, both on the Galaxy to the Panama Canal (which tends to be a little older crowd) and the Constellation. Both kids programs were excellent. My daughter loves it. Your kids will have a ball and so will you. We found it especially convenient to send her up to the kids club while we went to the specialty restaurant. She was happy eating pizza with the other kids and we enjoyed a gourmet meal and an adult moment. You won't be disappointed.

[Deanie]

Also just returned from the Summit to Hawaii. My daughter is 11 and is an experienced cruiser already and I had posed this question to her on our trip home. Her first choice is Royal Carribean for variety of entertainment and activities, while her second choice in Princess. Celebrity was her least favourite because of the "boring" activities and repetiveness. Check around other boards before booking if your childrens' entertainment is a priority of yours.

 

From my experience I know I had to practically drag her from the ship one day in Juneau simply to spend an afternoon with her! She was having so much fun in RC's program she didn't want to go with us! They didn't even charge during port days like they'd said - nor did Princess. Never tried on Celebrity because we had excursions booked with her.

[Boo's Mom]

Celebrity has a very professionally run children's program.

Most of their counselors are college educated.

I have been very impressed with how well their system is run.

I have seen the children's program on other cruiselines...and Celebrity can certainly teach the others a thing or two.

 

Don't worry. Your kids will be in good hands.

[njcruisingmom]

My DH and I sailed on the Zenith to Bermuda this past June with our two DD's 9 and 5. Yes the facility is small. But the program was wonderful. The kids loved the activities and the counselors. They often made use of other parts of the ship -- activities on deck or in the Windjammer for example. We spent most days as a family and the girls went to the kids program for a few hours after dinner so my DH and I could 'go out' They also participated in the kids talent show and we had fun playing family bingo and Disney trivia.

 

The Zenith is a smaller, but wonderful ship. Bermuda is a beautiful, very family friendly port. We spend most days at the beach, but we also took a boat ride and a horse drawn carriage ride and toured the fort.

 

My girls enjoyed eating in the dining room, but they also offer a kids dinner program so you and your partner/wife/husband can dine alone.

[ferm01]

Last January we went on the Galaxy with DD 3. It was great! We have also been on 2 Disney cruises. We were a 3 generation group of very experienced cruisers.

 

DD LOVED the "Fun Toy Factory", as she called it.

 

Here are some hints:

 

1. Try to cruise during a "down" time for kids. There were only about 8 kids on our cruise (cruised January 10th or so), and it was great because DD got a TON of one-on-one attention from the staff. There were a few other children to play with as well and DD was not intimidated.

 

2. The family karaoke and bingo was so much fun. Plus, with fewer families, we won a lot more! :)

 

3. The staff was so caring. For the talent show, they got DD to sing the abc's song and then the 3 girls on board did a little dance routine with ribbons. It was great!

 

4. We also had DS who was 19 months at the time. We used the in-cabin babysitting several nights, and I would be the LAST person to even dream of that normally.

 

5. If you can swing it (this cruise was a gift from Grandpa), have the family in a suite (Royal is the smallest with 2 rooms on Galaxy, I know it's different on M class). This allowed us to have 2 living spaces, 1 for sleeping, one for eating, hanging out. We also had a full-size dining table, so we usually ate breakfast and lunch in the cabin. We bought a cheap dvd player and got an extra long extension cord from the electrical crew on board to plug it in. This was a lifesaver, granted my kids were younger than your grandkids.

 

Ferm's wife!!

[wiselindag]

We just returned from a Christmas/New Years Cruise on Century. This was my sixth Celebrity cruise. We took my son, who is now 16, on his first cruise when he was six. We were on the Zenith and I thought the kid's program was excellent. He loved it. This time there were plenty of teens on the ship, but I thought the program and facililities weren't great for teens. The younger ones seemed to be having lots of fun whenever I encountered them. For the older teens the program sometimes had something they liked. In particular, my son enjoyed the DDR competitions and the sushi making activity. Mostly, it was a place to meet the other kids and sometimes hang out. The rest of the time they went to the card room to play board games or to other areas on the ship.

 

I spent 34 years in education before retiring, and my impression is that the Celebrity children's programs are well run. I also like that the security folks keep an eye on the children and do a fairly good job of making sure kids are following the rules of the ship. On our recent trip I didn't see any untoward behavior by children although there were large numbers of them. (To be fair someone I met told a story about children horsing around in an elevator one night, but that was all I heard about.)

 

I hope you have a great trip!

[trcori]

our son, now almost 10, has been on six Celebrity cruises in the past three years and has enjoyed the kids' program each time. It's kind of novel for us as we have no one ever to "leave him with" (no babysitters, no close friends with kids) in "real life," and seldom use babysitters (trusted agencies cost massive bucks), so we get some pleasant couple time while he has a blast with the counselors. The "Celebrity Science Journey" presentations they launched a couple years ago certainly spiced things up.

 

Just one thing WRT the differences between ships -- at least until the Century refurb later this year, its Fun Factory is much dinkier and darker than the facility on its sister ships Galaxy & Mercury (it's an inside space on a low deck on Century, then apparently the designers thought twice and moved it up & aft on G & M, quite similar to the M-class ships). OTOH, on our Century cruises, precisely because the Fun Factory space was so claustrophobic, many of the activities for all but the youngest kids took place out on deck or up in the buffet cafe (outside mealtime hours) -- TR

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