Spring Break First Time Cruise

[lovetotraveltx]

Single Dad with 10 and 12 year old girls. First cruise, spring break. Can drive to either New Orleans or Galveston. Which would have the most activities, clubs, etc for that age. Carnival, Royal Caribbean, NCL and please comment why/why not.?? Thank you!

[Liljo22]

This spring break?  If so, these are your best options for those age ranges:

 

Carnival Dream - Galveston

Carnival Vista - Galveston

RCCL Liberty of the Seas - Galveston

NCL Getaway - New Orleans

 

Those are going to all have the extra bells and whistles on newer ships.  You can't go wrong with any of these so I would just look at pricing.  Liberty OTS has been extremely expensive as of late.  

[BallFour4]

I'd take Galveston over NOLA for the ships. The Vista is a nice trip and the Dream is as well. We have priced the Royal ships for the balance of 2020 and they are more expensive on our open dates.
 The Dream has great shows, is easy to navigate around and is a reasonably priced vacation.

 

.

[Ilovesailaway]

My wife and I would take our 3 boys cruising at least once a year. Often times their cousin would cruise with us. That's 4 boys all within 4 years of age of each other. They have been on NCL, Royal, and Carnival. They had a blast on all of them but they unanimously vote Carnival as their favorite. They said that Carnival had better attended kids programs and more activities. Because you are going during a school break I am sure any choice will have a lot of kids on board. However I know if my kids were asked to pick it would be a Carnival cruise.

[CVTWayne]

I would go with the Carnival Vista out of Galveston. Have been on that ship twice now and love it. Lots to do for the kiddos.

[Jamesatgsu]

As for the cities if you are going to spend any time there, I'd go Galveston for that age range.

 

As for the ships, I really loved the Dream (which was in NOLA at the time), but that was also just my wife and I.  There isn't much difference between NCL & CCL. Can't speak to Royal. 

 

I'm not a huge fan of Carnival's kids clubs, but a lot of that has to do with they divide Camp Ocean into 3 age groups, but every ship I've been on with my kids has only had 2 rooms for Camp Ocean resulting in the oldest group spending a lot of time in the dance club or conference center. On our first cruise with the kids that still worked out great and they loved it (they combined the 5-8 & 9-11 groups which kept my kids together). Since then my 10 year old has been pretty bored with the club. My 12 year old has enjoyed the Circle C club.

 

Important note about your daughters is that they will not be in the same Kids Clubs on Carnival. The 10 year old will be in Camp Ocean with 9-11 year olds. You can give her permission to sign herself in & out.  The 12 year old is essentially given free reign of the ship as she can come and go from Circle C as she wants.

 

If you go Carnival, I would certainly choose the Vista, as it has some great ports (do excursions), the option of a Family Harbor room which gives your daughters a place to hangout together, and tons of activities on ship to interest a 10 & 12 year old.

Edited March 3, 2020 by Jamesatgsu

[grandmarnnurse]

19 hours ago, BallFour4 said:

I'd take Galveston over NOLA for the ships. The Vista is a nice trip and the Dream is as well. We have priced the Royal ships for the balance of 2020 and they are more expensive on our open dates.
 The Dream has great shows, is easy to navigate around and is a reasonably priced vacation.

 

.

I just sailed the Glory out of New Orleans, and that was a very nice ship. And our embarkation was probably the easiest we’ve ever had! I’ve sailed the NCL Getaway as well, and that was a super ship. A great ship for kids. Plenty of things to do. 

[Lokiii]

As a former kid cruiser/now adult, Carnival was the absolute best to sail! I had so much fun in the teen club. My brother was 12 and I was 15, so he was in the pre-teen club and they had frequent hang-outs with the pre-teen and teen clubs. It was an absolute blast. I barely saw my family during the day (we'd meet for dinner) and I was never short of anything to do. Even being a teenager I was very excited to be able to hang out with my little brother, I never felt that the pre-teens were infringing on our space. I loved that we all got to hang out together. I do have to note this was in 2008 so I don't know if anything has changed with the kid/teen atmosphere, but that's my two cents.

[mnp75]

I would take the Vista.