Which cruise is best for 11 and 9 yr old

[whenthedreamhappens]

If you have any recommendations on a cruise that would be suitable for the ages mentioned I'd really appreciate your thoughts and advice. We have never done a cruise and the kids haven't really been on any holidays so we are unsure what to book etc.

We would probably want to head in July and do 2 weeks.

At those ages I would do Royal Carribean one of the newer ships, ncl or msc (again the newer ships). They will love the facilities on Royal Caribbean at those ages.

We’ve done P&O and Royal Caribbean cruises, entertainment was better on RC but my son preferred the kids club on P&O. Cruising really suited us as a family as there is something for everyone. P&O have just launched their new family friendly ship Arvia, there will be lots of children’s activities during the school holidays.

Do you know if this ship will be sailing from the UK?

@enoughofthiscrap

Yes, we're going on this ship in April from Southampton

Thank you, I'm going to check out their website now.

I've been on Royal Caribbean Oasis class ship & I would highly recommend it too.

Not been myself but went on holiday this summer and there were a number of Americans who were absolutely raving about Disney cruises. The resort we were at was amazing so they clearly knew what a good holiday looked like.

disneycruise.disney.go.com/cruises-destinations/list/

Some of them had been every single year for their entire kids childhoods. I've been doing some research about what to book.

It’s more the cruise line and then where you want to visit on the cruise.
If you haven’t been anywhere I’d definitely start with the Med. So many nice stops. Lisbon, Villefranche sur Mer, Barcelona are easy to do yourself and you can just get off the boat. Others require a shuttle to get into town and you probably want to go further afield ie Civitavecchia for Rome

I’d recommend the MSC Virtuosia as it quite new and very plush. The ship has waters slides, in air walk ways and very fun looking kids club. The boat is big enough for them to enjoy exploring even if they don’t want to be in a kids club. Download films and don’t bother with ships Wi-Fi ( you can catch up in port if need be ) Guests are from all over Europe so your kids can make friends with lots of other nationalities.

MSC also has the advantage that you can join it from anywhere not just the start and finish. Royal Caribbean are also a line aimed at families and their ships have lots of fun things. Be aware that some things cost extra and popular things could have queues so having a ship that’s good without them is important.

Most cruises will be fun to be fair, the food and the ports are great. All the shops have decent kids clubs. It’s more about finding the best fit for budget on the dates and stops you want. Don’t go via the cruise line website. It’s like shopping at Hush when John Lewis have Hush clothes in their sale. Cruise Nation, Planet Cruise etc all do much better deals.