Taking a cruise vacation is different from your usual vacation destinations. Are your kids tired of going to water parks or amusement parks? If this is the case then maybe your family is ready for a cruise. There are many family cruises available with all the major cruise lines and your entire family will be sure to find things they enjoy. A cruise represents a floating hotel, with fun activities, meals, entertainment, and nightlife all aboard and have become more and more popular over the past few years.Cruise ships offer hassle-free and easy on the budget family vacations. As families look to more kid-friendly budget vacations, taking a cruise fits the criteria perfectly. Included in what you pay for the cruise are your accommodations, meals, entertainment and activities. You will encounter few out-of-pocket expenses, which makes it easy on the budget. When planning for your cruise vacation you will need to decide on the options you would like included, which may have an affect on your choice of cruise line. In the planning stages of your vacation make sure to include your children's ideas to ensure there are activities they enjoy. Family cruises will allow you to spend quality time with your children away from your daily life pressures. Cruise ships will have age structured children activities with trained youth counselors and plenty of space dedicated to kids' areas. Most of the ships hold one or more activities in the evening, which would free up the parents for a romantic dinner, dancing, movies, and a trip to the casino if there is one onboard or just a stroll around the deck. Some of the cruise lines have pagers they hand out so they can be contacted if needed.
Here are 5 popular cruise lines highlighting some of the activities and creative elements for younger children and captivate restless tweens and teens.
On the Holland America Line they have a youth program called Club Hal that divides the youth activities into three age groups. For the age group from 3 - 7 they have story telling, arts and crafts, ice cream parties, and pirate treasure hunts to name a few. For the 8 -12 age group will compete in on-deck sports events, scavenger hunts, disco parties and golf putting and much more. For the teens 13 - 17 are treated special in two spaces created especially for them. From The Loft they will enjoy teen disco, karaoke sessions, video games, teen sports tournaments, card games, trivia contests, bingo, movies and videos. The Oasis is a teen's only sundeck. Here they can cool off in a 9-foot waterfall or wading pool, lounge in the hammocks or relax in deck chairs. (The Oasis is not available on all Vista-class ships).
On the "fun ships" of Carnival, the Camp Carnival program is divided into three specific age groups: Toddlers 2 - 5, Juniors 6 - 8 & Intermediates 9 - 11.Activities include story telling, finger painting, board games, outdoor fun, kids' dance parties, make-your-own-pizza parties and much more.
Circle "C" is the ultimate spot for kids 12 - 14. Cool activities, awesome facilities and lots of great new friends to add to their text-mail lists. The activities (think games, dance parties, outdoor movies and more) are supervised and created just for them.
For the 15 - 17 year old teens the place to be is Club 02. Teens can hangout with their friends and watch a movie, listen to the latest music, play video games or join karaoke jam sessions. They even set up teen-only shore excursions so your young adults can enjoy the sites and sounds of our beautiful ports with their peers.
Disney Cruise Line passengers ages 3 - 7 they will interact with Disney characters at the Oceaneer Club. Here they may dance with Snow White, play some of Peter Pan's favorite games, test your sleuthing savvy with Goofy's Gum Shoe Investigators, join Professor Goo to create a squishy green substance that looks like "Flubber!"
The Oceaneer Lab is for 8 - 12 year-olds. Discover a giant video wall with wireless controllers, private listening rooms with state-of-the-art equipment, flat-screen computers loaded with "family-rated" software, animation programs and activities you won't find anywhere else.
The Aloft is the ultimate hangout for 13 - 17 year olds on the Disney Wonder. Here is a place you can relax by yourself or with friends, escape with music or a movie, sing and dance, or talk and play. Teen-only spaces on Disney vessels have big-screen plasma TVs, video games, a lounge area, Internet cafe and more.
Princess Cruises offers youth and teen centers on nearly all of their ships. The exceptions would be the Tahitian princess and the Pacific Princess. Princess Pelicans is for ages 3 - 7 with activities that include arts and crafts, movies and cartoons, scavenger hunts, disco parties, pajama parties and so much more.
Shockwaves is for 8 - 12 year olds and the attendees are kept busy with arts and craft, talent shows, backstage tours, shipboard Olympics, scavenger hunts, kids dance parties, pizza and ice cream parties and more.
Remix is designed for teens 13 - 17 and offer a wide range of activities. Activities include sports competition, karaoke and lip-sync competitions, casino nights, late night movies, dance parties, hot tub parties and much more.
Royal Caribbean offers a five-tiered Adventure Ocean program that is geared to children ages 3 - 17. Aquanauts ages 3 - 5 take part in activities like story time, face painting, games and theater. They can even play with bubbling potions and become Certified Jr. Adventure Scientists!
The Explorers program is for ages 6 - 8 and is designed to blend educational activities with fun. Kids can join parties, make kites and masks, learn about local customs and even learn to make gummy candies.
The Voyagers program is designed for kids 9 - 11. Your favorite tweens can check out a range of activities that are cool and educational. They can take a backstage tour, play List-o-Rama, and even learn a new sport called gaga ball.
Teens ages 12 - 14 and 15 - 17 can check out allot of cool things onboard including games, sports, parties, and contests. And they have lots of places where you can go just to hang out, like there teen-only clubs and lounges.
Cruising has become very popular for families and as you see the cruise lines are cater to those demographics. Enjoy a family cruise on your next vacation!. by Doug Maxwell
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