Cruise Holiday advice

[Thestruggler]

Hello mumsnetters

We are thinking of booking a cruise for our family holiday during the school summer holidays (for DH, me and 2 children aged 10 and 6)
DH has a big birthday this year and has his heart set on a cruise, so I was wondering if anyone can give their opinions on which cruise lines they have been on with kids, and how the experience was in terms of facilities available (accommodation/entertainment etc)
We would be looking to depart from Southampton.

Thank you in advance.

P&O Iona and Arvia go from Southampton and are fun for children that age. Britannia is also a nice ship, but Ventura is a little tatty these days.

Royal Caribbean is a bit brasher and more American. MSC is quite bling. Norwegian Cruise Lines have lots of slides etc. Celebrity is a posher version of RC.

I would suggest going to a travel agent (Hayes is good) and asking them to talk through the options. Each brand is different and ships within the brand are different as well.

I don’t think you can beat Disney cruises for families

Thank you so much @Dearover and @HermioneWeasley for taking the time to respond to me. I shall start researching properly, quite excited to get looking.

P and o Iona is great for kids but the royal Caribbean fleet seems amazing for kids and adults alike. I would have said MSC euribia as that has a water park and high ropes course on board and is very reasonably priced but it's moving this spring.

If it was my choice I would go with Royal Caribbean, anthem of the seas, 14 nights, 11th August around Europe. Starting at £1256 per adult with kids going for £99 each.

Our Disney cruise was absolutely incredible, our best holiday by a mile. Only trouble was the kids didn't want to get off the ship AT ALL so getting them off in ports was hard work. Kids were 6 and 4. There was always something to do, but everything still felt really relaxed.

We also did a Royal Caribbean when they were 14 and 12. It was OK. Ports were excellent and the ship was lovely, as was food. Entertainment was good most nights. Everything was a bit too American for me though and it felt crowded at times. Also had a bit of a bad experience with customer service.

Is there a reason for Southampton? If you’re doing the Fjords then ok but you waste so much time from Southampton getting anywhere, I always think it better to fly and meet your ship in somewhere like Barcelona. You’ll have a good variety of cruise lines where as you are restricted going from Southampton.

Is there anywhere specifically you’d like to see port wise? We’ve never been able to fault Royal Caribbean for kids. The kids clubs and entertainment are first class. You’ll never see them!

Hated P&O Arvia (Butlins at sea), loved Disney Cruise.

We always went with Royal Caribbean when our DC were young as there was a lot for them to do. Iona is a lovely ship but we found it a bit soulless and there didn't seem much for children. Celebrity is my favourite but it's less geared to children.

Emma Cruises is great for the pros and cons of different cruise types, esp her YouTube channel

https://emmacruises.com/

Depends on your budget - Disney is great but they are significantly more expensive than p&o for instance.

We generally do fly cruises to avoid the trip from the U.K. most recently Marella but I've tried most the companies - pluses and minuses to them all so I would say it comes down to budget, itinerary and what you want to get from the trip eg is all inclusive important or are you happy to mostly drink soft drinks from the buffet, it changes what is best for you.

We have done about 14 with the kids from age 3 onwards, they loved it.
Avoid P&O ( Its a grubby Butlins at sea)
Royal Caribbean cater well for kids as do Celebrity, Holland America are also great, Cunard are very snobby.
Check on Cruise critic Forum its great full of ideas.
Plan your days as you can save a fortune by planning your own trips, it can be as tranquil or as busy as you want it to be,
Take any medication you need or may possibly need we urgently needed Calpol but another family came to the rescue. Keep an eye on the sun as you may not realise how strong it is with the sea breeze.
Our kids got to love the dressing up for the formal evenings, but if its not your thing you can choose another place to eat.
Rooms can be small but the whole idea is its for sleeping in you should spend the rest of your time on the ship they will have loads going on but also plenty of quiet areas.
I feel by sailing from Southampton you will be limiting your choice of cruise.

I’ve done Celebrity and it’s fabulous. We loved it and would highly recommend it

Hi everyone,

Oh wow i wasn't expecting so many responses, thank you each and every one of you as you've certainly given me a lot to consider.
I will pop back after work to answer properly.
A few of you have mentioned flying to another country as that will widen our options for our cruise, this is certainly something I will look into, we are in the West Mids and so Birmingham airport is quite accessible to us.

If it helps, we work out where we would like to visit. As an example, you might like to see Rome or possibly Monaco/Monte Carlo or Palma. I then work backwards. I research was cruise lines go to the ports that we would like to see, then I look at dates and then look at booking.

As a seasoned cruiser, ports are important to us. We have been on cruises where we’ve docked in industrial areas and the area has had very little to offer. We also don’t like a lot of sea days which is the main reason why we won’t sail from Southampton.

We've done P&O with DS and it was great. Loads to do and good service and meals that worked with a child.

There are some cruise specialist companies that are good. Might be worth giving one of them a call.