Carnival or Royal Caribbean

[ldo]

I am so debating booking 8 day Carnival Conquest for next spring break--it goes to Grand Turk, La Romana, Curacao and Aruba vs. 10 day RCCL Seranade S. Carib. Same price. I think my kids will be bored on the Serenade for so many days. It looks like Conquest has outdoor Movies every night, which my teens would like. I am worried about the older cabins, food in MDR and the inappropriate non-family stuff on Carnival ships that I keep hearing about. This cruise is the same price as 5 day Wonder to Cozumel and CC, which we have been to several times. DD14 likes the idea of Curacao and Arbua. Do I go with an older, "iffy" Carnival ship? WWYD?

 

[tidefan]

I am so debating booking 8 day Carnival Conquest for next spring break--it goes to Grand Turk, La Romana, Curacao and Aruba vs. 10 day RCCL Seranade S. Carib. Same price. I think my kids will be bored on the Serenade for so many days. It looks like Conquest has outdoor Movies every night, which my teens would like. I am worried about the older cabins, food in MDR and the inappropriate non-family stuff on Carnival ships that I keep hearing about. This cruise is the same price as 5 day Wonder to Cozumel and CC, which we have been to several times. DD14 likes the idea of Curacao and Arbua. Do I go with an older, "iffy" Carnival ship? WWYD?

Have you looked at Princess? It is our favorite line outside of DCL...

 

[ldo]

DH and I went on a Princess in Europe 3 years ago and we loved the food and cabin, service, but were bored out of our minds. It was Europe, so we were dead tired each day, so it didn't matter. But, we kept saying how boring Princess would be for our teens. Have you had better luck for tweens/teens on Princess?

 

[tidefan]

DH and I went on a Princess in Europe 3 years ago and we loved the food and cabin, service, but were bored out of our minds. It was Europe, so we were dead tired each day, so it didn't matter. But, we kept saying how boring Princess would be for our teens. Have you had better luck for tweens/teens on Princess?

DD has always loved Princess. Bear in mind that activities will be different on a European cruise than a Caribbean cruise no matter what the line...

We found more to do on Princess than we did on Serenade...

 

[JimmyV]

DH and I went on a Princess in Europe 3 years ago and we loved the food and cabin, service, but were bored out of our minds. It was Europe, so we were dead tired each day, so it didn't matter. But, we kept saying how boring Princess would be for our teens. Have you had better luck for tweens/teens on Princess?

My teen daughter prefers Princess. Remember that teens won't be interested so much in organized activities. We sign her up for Remix (the teen club) with "come and go" privileges, and she (and the other teens on board) would generally just use that area as a meeting spot to get together and then leave to enjoy the rest of the ship. Teens are most happy shooting hoops, hanging out in a hot tub, sitting in a lounge, watching a movie, etc. We, as parents, might look at the list of organized activities and say: "Huh?" But the teens will always find a way to have a good time with one another just being away from the parents for a while. One of the great thing about cruising is the ability to give teens more freedom than they have at home. That, alone is a big deal to them. They don't need X-Box tournaments or Air Hockey tournaments to keep busy (thought Princess has those too!). My daughter would dine with us every evening and then meet up with her friends. We gave her a midnight curfew and she always found ways to have fun. She was never bored and constantly begged for a 1:00 curfew, but we never gave in.

 

[tidefan]

My teen daughter prefers Princess. Remember that teens won't be interested so much in organized activities. We sign her up for Remix (the teen club) with "come and go" privileges, and she (and the other teens on board) would generally just use that area as a meeting spot to get together and then leave to enjoy the rest of the ship. Teens are most happy shooting hoops, hanging out in a hot tub, sitting in a lounge, watching a movie, etc. We, as parents, might look at the list of organized activities and say: "Huh?" But the teens will always find a way to have a good time with one another just being away from the parents for a while. One of the great thing about cruising is the ability to give teens more freedom than they have at home. That, alone is a big deal to them. They don't need X-Box tournaments or Air Hockey tournaments to keep busy (thought Princess has those too!). My daughter would dine with us every evening and then meet up with her friends. We gave her a midnight curfew and she always found ways to have fun. She was never bored and constantly begged for a 1:00 curfew, but we never gave in.

Speaking of Princess, I'd love to see the new Regal Princess and the Fantasy duel horns.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2yBKskXuSb8