Family Cruises
Whether you want 24-hour childcare or a club for your teens, Caroline Gladstone identifies the best lines and ships for kids of all ages.
If you pick the right ship and travel when other families are on board you can congratulate yourself on choosing a dream holiday for you, your partner and the children.
The best family-friendly ships have facilities that rival theme parks with kids-only pools, amazing waterslides, mini-cinemas, video karaoke machines and cool teen clubs serving mocktails and featuring junior DJs spinning the latest sounds. They also have age-specific clubs of offer with activity programs for kids from three to 17 years, and kids-only newspapers listing all the events available.
The big US cruise lines are fiercely competitive and like to add an exciting new feature with every new ship they launch. Royal Caribbean International wowed cruisers with rock climbing walls attached to the funnel and went on to build ships with ice-skating and roller-blade rinks and wave-riding surf machines.
Carnival Cruise Lines has kids lining up to conquer its 65-metre-long waterslides, while its latest drawcard is a big poolside outdoor movie screen.
Cruising with children is big business: Disney saw the opportunity and took its animated characters to sea, Carnival carries around 250,000 to 300,000 children each year and Royal Caribbean has just launched a kids' loyalty program that earns them points every time they cruise, along with gifts and discounts on shipboard activities and even teen spa treatments.
Also new this year is Royal Caribbean's 'Adventure Theatre' where children in the five age-specific clubs can learn music, dance and acting techniques from Broadway professionals.
Even traditional cruise liners QM2 and QE2 cater for children from toddlers to 12 year olds in some of the largest play areas at sea, with the youngsters cared for by qualified British nannies.
Local operator P&O Cruises says families make up around 26 per cent of all passengers and its sister company P&O Cruises UK has seen a strong growth in family bookings on its three child-friendly ships in the past four years.
But family cruising is not all about pleasing the kids. Its popularity lies in the experiences and benefits it offers each and every family member, be they parents, children, grandparents or families travelling together.
A cruise gives adults and kids the space and freedom they need, as well as plenty of opportunities to have fun together doing things only an energetic cruise director can organise - family karaoke, bingo, talent quests, trivia quizzes and beach games.
The ship itself is an amazing playground, where even the most jaded teenager will get a kick out of exploring the bridge and meeting the crew or learning to scuba dive in the pool.
Shore excursions are another way families can have fun together and soak up the local culture. P&O's options include visits to traditional villages, firewalking displays and cultural dances in Fiji, bicycle tours in Noumea and swimming in waterfall-fed rockpools in Vanuatu.
Private islands are a big drawcard and Disney Cruise Lines, Holland America, Carnival, Celebrity, Princess and Royal Caribbean International all have their own little pieces of paradise in the Caribbean and the Bahamas, where kids often have beaches all to themselves, while closer to home Blue Lagoon Cruises calls at its own beautiful Fijian island for a full day of beach games, swimming and snorkelling.
Kid-friendly ships
Children are welcome on the majority of ships with the exception of the very exclusive cruise lines, expedition ships and those specifically targeting an older clientele. Minimum ages range from newborn to 12 months; infants up to three years can use the children's playrooms and toys if accompanied by a parent.
Most supervised kids' clubs are open to children from three years old, while P&O Cruises UK, Carnival, Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) and Star Cruises have programs for two year olds.
Generally toddlers in nappies are not accepted into children's programs. The exceptions are Carnival and NCL - Carnival crew will even change nappies if parents supply them. When booking, parents should check whether youngsters in nappies are allowed in pools because these policies can vary depending on a ship's health regulations.
Child safety is of paramount concern and parents who enrol their children in supervised programs are issued with pagers, while some lines provide children with ID bracelets.
Most children's programs are free of charge and operate year round. Star Cruises, however, charges an hourly fee of approximately $7, while Blue Lagoon's kids' club is open only during Australian and New Zealand school holidays.
Captain Cook Cruises' Fiji operation welcomes children and operates child minding with activities rather than kids' clubs. It is free for children under seven at meal times and during evening entertainment, but still costs $125 a day for up to three children from one family at other times.
Most major lines operate kids' club on sea days from 9am to noon, 2pm to 5pm and from 7pm to 10pm, while only a handful are open when ships are in port.
Late-night group babysitting is another popular service offered from 10pm until around 2am for an hourly fee, while in-room baby-sitting is rarely available although MSC Cruises, Star Cruises and Royal Caribbean will provide it for a fee and with 24 hours notice.
Dinner arrangements differ from cruise line to cruise line, with some stipulating that parents and children dine together at the early sitting, others such as Costa Cruise Lines give parents the night off on the ship's formal nights and supervise kids' buffets, while P&O Cruises UK has a 5.30pm kids' sitting every night.
Kids' menus are now the norm, as are beverage cards offering a limited number of free soft drinks.
Children are split up into three, four or five age-specific groups depending on the line and the number of children on board. Broadly, they are three- to five-year olds; six to 10, 11 to 14 and 15 to 17.
Children under two years usually travel free or for 10 per cent of the adult fare, while good deals are generally available for the third and fourth person sharing a cabin with two adults. Carnival and Holland America Line often sell these fares at 50 to 65 per cent less than full price.
P&O Australia and Blue Lagoon Cruises regularly offer 'kids travel free' promotions on selected sailings both during and outside the school holiday periods.
With so many ships to choose from and a wealth of activities on board, today's families are sure to need a good rest after an action-packed cruise.
Family-Friendly Cruise Lines
- Blue Lagoon Cruises: Free kids' club in school holidays. Free babysitting at night. Snorkelling, beach games, crab hunting, village trips. Special two-cabin family cruise deals.
- Carnival Cruise Lines: Five separate kids' programs. Late-night baby-sitting for children aged from four months to 11 years. Child-minding while ship in port.
- Costa Cruises: Four separate kids' programs including teenagers up to 19. Free late-night babysitting until 1.30am.
- Cunard Line: Children from 12 months old can be supervised in the nursery by qualified nannies. Free late-night group babysitting. Two separate kids' programs for kids up to 12 years old.
- Disney Cruise Lines: Disney characters at breakfast and photo sessions. Animation workshops and shows based on Disney themes. Late-night baby-sitting for infants from 12 weeks to three years. Pirates of the Caribbean themed dinner on every cruise.
- Holland America Line: Four separate kids' programs. Babysitting until midnight. Great teen facilities and entertainment on most ships.
- MSC Cruises: Programs for kids aged three to 12 only. In-cabin babysitting with 24 hours' notice.
- Norwegian Cruise Line: Four separate kids' programs. Kids-only cafes on some ships. Group child-minding when ship in port. Icebreaker parties for teens.
- P&O Cruises, Australia: Four separate kids' programs. Kids' own newspapers. Pacific Star has teen's lounge with DJ booth and plasma TV; Pacific Sun has two-storey waterslide.
- P&O Cruises, UK: Four separate kids' programs. Dedicated pools for children. Children's dinner every night. Free late-night baby-sitting. Teen nightclubs on some ships.
- Princess Cruises: Three separate kids' programs. Unique activities provided by California Science Centre and the National Wildlife Federation, and shore excursions for all ages. Two parent-free special dinners on each cruise. Dedicated teen centres.
- Royal Caribbean International: Five separate kids' programs. Fisher Price program with parents for babies aged six to 36 months. New kids' loyalty program. Broadway song and dance training and DJ training for teens.
- Star Cruises: Three separate kids' programs on SuperStar Virgo only (charge applies). Kids' clubs open when ship in port.
Written by Caroline Gladstone, Issue 28, Winter 2007