Thread: Kids on Princess ships

I know the length, week, and destination all factor into how many kids are onboard, but has anyone noticed a significant age difference among the Princess ships? When eveything else is the same - week, length, and itinerary - and two different ships in the same class sail it in the spring, would you expect to see more kids on one than the other? What about the new, improved Grand Princess - can I expect to see as many kids on it as the bigger Emerald and Ruby? I plan to sail in May no matter where I go and probably will sail in New England for my first cruise. The last thing I want to hear on any cruise ship is a fussy kid in the public areas.

Seriously, I don't think kids are the problem you think they'll be. Even before I got married and started going on cruises, any kids I would see would be involved with the kids' program. If the program is good, the kids will want to go.

And on my last cruise, which was during the holidays (when a lot of kids will be onboard), it was the senior citizens that everyone (including many of their peers) were complaining about. I'm not kidding about that. There was a flockful of teens onboard, including mine, but they tried to avoid being around the non-teens as much as possible.

Other than going when school is normally in session, and hoping that there aren't too many homeschooled kids going...I just wouldn't worry about this.

We were just on the Star in late April and even at that late date for spring break there were a small number of kids on board. Even with the lesser number of kids that were on board, the ones that were there were quite annoying at times and something we could live without. They do keep them busy but in the future we'll choose a date when there all in school. The last thing we want to hear is a non stop game of Marco Polo hour after hour when trying to read. May is a much safer time to avoid them.

Oh come now. It is fun to throw a random "Polo" into the game just to keep them on their toes.

On Princess I've found that the bigger the ship the more kids there are. The larger ships offer more than the smaller. It doesn't matter the route it's just when kids are in school. If you don't want lots of kids onboard go when they are in school. Keep in mind though it doesn't matter the # of kids there are, there can be a "melt down" in any public area no matter what.

I've been in Alaska 3 different times 1) Late Aug/Early Sept then I was 25ish not counting crew there were 4 people younger than me 2-23yrold honeymooners, 1 teen & 1 18 month old; 2) Early/Mid July lots of kids but nothing to complain about, 3) Mid/Late July- Not as many kids as cruise#2 but 1 kid threw a fit in the dining room 1 night.

Originally Posted by Cruise Princess

On Princess I've found that the bigger the ship the more kids there are. The larger ships offer more than the smaller. It doesn't matter the route it's just when kids are in school. If you don't want lots of kids onboard go when they are in school. Keep in mind though it doesn't matter the # of kids there are, there can be a "melt down" in any public area no matter what.

I've been in Alaska 3 different times 1) Late Aug/Early Sept then I was 25ish not counting crew there were 4 people younger than me 2-23yrold honeymooners, 1 teen & 1 18 month old; 2) Early/Mid July lots of kids but nothing to complain about, 3) Mid/Late July- Not as many kids as cruise#2 but 1 kid threw a fit in the dining room 1 night.

That would have done it for me- change to anytime dining ASAP

As I said above, there could be plenty of kids onboard and if the parents are supervising them (which has happened on all but one of my cruises...and the misbehaving kids were all from the same extended family -- and the parents decided to ignore their kids and hang out in the casino the whole time, letting their kids run around at all hours of the night, knocking on cabin doors, throwing things overboard, etc.), then you shouldn't have a problem.

On our last cruise, we were seated with a retired school principal who was complaining that this was the most rudest bunch of passengers she has seen on a cruise -- and she said they were all her age. Now my 13-yr-old was in a group of teens that did stay up late at night, but every time I went over to check up on her, if they weren't playing video games in the teen center, they were grabbing a snack in the Horizon Court, or hanging out in a circle by the pool, talking, once the last MUTS movie was over. She said some of the adults (she said older than us) were making nasty comments at them, even though they were trying to avoid the senior citizen crowd.

Originally Posted by Rich22

That would have done it for me- change to anytime dining ASAP

I was in Anytime Dining (that's the only dining I do).

Originally Posted by Cruise Princess

I was in Anytime Dining (that's the only dining I do).

That's a big advantage so you don't get stuck next to a noisy table for the whole cruise.

Deb and I just scoot our chairs over and join in!