Princess Cruises Anyone?

Gobbledegeek · 2024-02-08T20:47:57+00:00

Has anyone done a round Britain Princess cruise? Would it be ok for kids 9 and 13? It seems a bit of a weird choice but we've only ever holidayed in the UK and DD is quite a queasy traveller. In the back of my mind, I can just take her home if she can't stand it 😬. We seem to have missed the P&O cruises this year but this 12 day Princess one popped up and it seems good value. I guess I'm asking would there be plenty to occupy the kids for 12 days on the ship? It's either this or Centre Parcs again 🤣

dailyduel · 10/02/2024 07:55

I wouldn’t do 12 days round the UK. You’d be better flying to the med and sailing from there as the seas are calmer.

It’s a huge long story which I won’t bore you with but I have a friend working on a cruise ship that did the UK last September. Several ports were missed due to rough seas and them being tender ports. They missed Edinburgh, Fishguard in Wales plus another couple of places I can’t recall. It was 4 out of 10 I think. You need to keep in mind ports are missed if the ship can’t dock or they can’t tender passengers into port safely. You need calmer waters. The UK is risky.

OhhhhhhhhBiscuits · 10/02/2024 08:07

I have sailed Princess twice. It is a lovely cruise line, however, for a 13 year old they may be a bit bored. If they will go to the teen kids club then that will help, if they won't go (as you know what teens can be like!) Then they may be bored. There are not the water slides, ice skating, go karts etc..... that other lines have on board. Princess are a lot more sedate cruise line.

The kids club is amazing for younger ones (I have no experience of the teens one as my child is younger) but the teens that did go seemed to be having a good time. Just to warn you they will not allow your 2 to go in the same kids club for insurance reasons. So they will be separated. This is the same on every cruise line.

Look at Royal Carribean or NCL or MSC for a better cruise line for teens.

TizerorFizz · 10/02/2024 09:48

We went to Alaska with Princess when ours were teens but they went because of the club for teens! Round Britain might be an older clientele so check teen club operates.

In high summer a huge cruise ship will be fine!!! It’s swell that can make you queasy but your distances are small and you really are not in the Southern Ocean! I would do it. Where are the ports out of interest? We sailed around the Hebrides last May in a 100 passenger boat! No issues at all. In fact totally wonderful.

Original poster

Gobbledegeek · 10/02/2024 14:29

Thank you for all your advice - much needed and much appreciated! The ports are: Cork, Dublin, Belfast, Liverpool, Glasgow, Orkneys, Edinburgh over to France for Paris/Normandy and the back to Southampton.

It's a good tip that they won't let the two in a kids' club together!

I think we'll probably look at doing a cruise in 2025 then we'll have more choice and I'll have done a bit more research!

OP posts:

TizerorFizz · 10/02/2024 18:59

I think you can have two dc in the same program as long as it’s age appropriate. Insurance kicks in if a younger child wants to move up. Mine went together. Families would be very disadvantaged if some dc in the age groupings were barred. Book in advance and it should not be a problem and nowhere in their FAQs does it say one teen per family. They might be full though so only take one!

Theres enough to do on a cruise ship to keep teens amused. If you stay in the uk I guess it’s not all about pools anyway! We do get hot weather though! I have had a look at the itinerary and it’s varied enough for anyone to enjoy who just wants to sample some cities.

OhhhhhhhhBiscuits · 10/02/2024 19:24

TizerorFizz · 10/02/2024 18:59

I think you can have two dc in the same program as long as it’s age appropriate. Insurance kicks in if a younger child wants to move up. Mine went together. Families would be very disadvantaged if some dc in the age groupings were barred. Book in advance and it should not be a problem and nowhere in their FAQs does it say one teen per family. They might be full though so only take one!

Theres enough to do on a cruise ship to keep teens amused. If you stay in the uk I guess it’s not all about pools anyway! We do get hot weather though! I have had a look at the itinerary and it’s varied enough for anyone to enjoy who just wants to sample some cities.

At her children's ages they won't be in the same age group for the clubs. And they won't let the teen go in the younger one (not that a teen would want to!) On port days they may amalgamate some groups together but they don't tend to do that with the teens. Normally the youngest and the middle groups go together.

TizerorFizz · 10/02/2024 19:39

So they are not together! They are not at school either. Clubs are always age appropriate. It’s how they work. They make friends with roughly their own ages. Like school. On port days we went out! They just met with new friends after sailing. Mine were not together on one or two holidays. That’s fine.

Marchintospring · 19/02/2024 18:09

There will be masses of cruise deals available for this year. Keep your options open. Best prices are 3 months before they sail normally. I've booked school holiday cruises easily in May/June as long as I was flexible with cruise company.
I agree with UK being risky. A couple of family members did the same route with NCL and they also got two ports cancelled.

I think MSC is a good call. Nice ships , good for kids of all ages. They have massively improved since Covid so ignore the reviews before 2022. The advantage is that you can pick the ship up in any port so you get a ship that sails from Southampton but miss the sea days (and often the bay of Biscay) and fly to one of its stops in Italy France or Spain but you have the option to sail back to Southampton ( so you don't need the cost of another flight)