Cruising with kids?

DH and I are thinking about doing this over the summer. Kids will be 11 & 8. We want to leave out of NY or NJ. Any advice for this newbie?

Best cruise line for families?
Best ships?
Is it necessary to book with a travel agent?
Any tips?

Re: Cruising with kids?

If there is a large group its better to call the cruise agents. I would check online to see the deals and also call the cruise line agents. Sometimes you can get credits and deals etc.

I like Royal Caribbean but I never did it out of NY/NJ. We did cruise out of NY on Nowergian Jewel and I really liked it. It was the one to Bermuda. The only thing about cruising out NY/NJ is there are more sea days. I am not a fan of too many sea days but its a preference. Some of the people we cruised with love the sea days more than the islands.

Great age for kids to go cruising. My son has been on cruises when he was a baby and at 6 yrs old. My stepson was about 12 and he had fun. We are actually going on one this year, kids ranging from 4-18. lol.

Message edited 1/21/2019 9:50:58 PM.

Re: Cruising with kids?

We did Royal Caribbean out of NJ. Their ships are great for kids. Tons of on-board activities. Our ship had bumper cars, rock climbing, iFly (parachuting simulator), a huge video game area. The bumper car area was also used for skating, and volleyball and dodgeball activities.
There is also a kids center, grouped by age, so you can drop your kids off for a couple of hours.

My DC were 10 and 13 at the time. They had a great time.

With the buffet meals, DC can always find something to eat.

The front of the top deck had an adults-only area, so adults could escape from the kids for a while... Lounge chairs, pool, bar, etc.

We booked it on our own, since it was just the 4 of us.

Re: Cruising with kids?

Thanks for the info!