6yo & 17yo -- RCI or Carnival??

[MDavis23]

Hi,

 

I know that everyone has an opinion, but I would love to hear them all.

 

We, the family, took a cruise last June on the Carnival Miracle, the best family vacation by far! We dragged our shy 16 yo son to the first night when the kids meet and in the morning he was asking where the information he got the previous night so he could meet up with the kids he met. Our very social daughter, had a blast. We could not have asked for a better vacation than we had.

 

My DH and I have cruised on NCL and HA, but not with the kids.

 

We are looking at taking a Mexican Riviera cruise in the Summer of 2008. My DH is leaning toward staying with Carnival because he feels that the next cruise would be similar to the last and, therefore, the kids should enjoy themselves. He and I will have a great time whichever line we take. However, if the kids are not having fun then we won't be either.

 

When we take our cruise, our son will be 17 and our daughter 6. We are not worried about our daughter making friends and enjoying herself, she is a social butterfly. Our son is another subject though. He is shy to begin with and if he enjoys the kids and activities he is warms up and loves it.

 

So, I would love input on your thoughts on RCI and their kids/teens programs versus Carnival. Yes, opinions are opinions, but I would love to hear them.

 

Thanks! :)

[moxie99]

If we are taking our daughter (13) then we sail Carnival. The RCCL program is "ok" in her opinion but not as much fun as Carnival. We as parents love the fact that Carnival separates the teens into two age groups - we love not having to worry about our 13 year old hanging with 17 year olds. She's a great kid and gives us no worry, but - hanging with 17 year olds is not something we want at this time.

 

If we are sailing just the two of us then we'll do whichever has the itineary and price we want.