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One of the grandest creations in the field of hospitality services and the cruise ship industry is family-friendly cruises. Taking the family on a cruise ship rather than to a beach resort or theme park during summer holidays or winter breaks is a wonderful way to spend time together and build great memories.
Newer cruise ships launched recently have better facilities and more areas for entertaining infants, children and teens onboard. For about the same price as land-based holidays families can take family-friendly holiday cruises. While many resort hotels have some activities for children, many do not have trained and first aid qualified staff supervisors, as do family-friendly cruise ships.
Among the age-appropriate programmes there are activities for different age groups to hold the children’s attention and teach social skills for getting along with others. The ships have children’s pools with trained lifeguards and some offer swimming lessons for children. Large play areas and video and virtual reality centres provide hours of entertainment for older age groups.
Teens have lounges, clubs and teen oriented activities. One of the very special benefits on family-friendly cruises are the child-friendly menus offering the foods children love and will eat. While younger children enjoy their meal and teens have a pizza party, mum and dad can relax having a private meal, alone.
On days in port, some cruise lines and ships offering family cruising also offer on shore excursions for children. Many port cities have museum tours, theme parks, aquariums, zoos and other activities for children and teens. This gives mum and dad a chance to enjoy activities onboard or go sightseeing with other adults or alone.
When children and teens discover Royal Caribbean’s Adventure Beach for families with swimming pools and water slides they are elated. The Royal Caribbean ships invite families with children aged three to seventeen to join in the fun and excitement on ships offering activities supervised by a specially trained Youth Crew.
P&O Cruise Lines offers family-friendly cruises on ships for family cruising especially designed with children in mind. P & O Cruise Lines has four ships for family cruising with trained Youth Crews ready and willing to show children and teens the fun family cruising offers them. P&O Cruises family-friendly cruise ships offer all day activities for each of four age groups between 2 and 17 years of age.
P & O cruises involve each age group in age appropriate activities from colouring to playing games to singing and playing with cars, trucks and dolls. Older children and teens enjoy sports activities, computer games and even play acting in drama workshops. Children and teens love holidays spent on ships offering special meals. Child friendly meals are among the favourite things mums and dads love about family cruising.
The Cunard Line’s Queen Mary 2 offers a dedicated deck just for families. Everything children need or want is on one deck including pools and play areas. Cunard offers The Zone, a club for 7-12 year olds. Younger children up to age 7 are entertained and cared for by British nannies trained to supervise this age group. Cunard offers a special activities programme for teenagers.
The Kings Court is the dining area for children and teens with a special tea held just for them. Among the many activities for various age groups are scavenger hunts, which can be an exciting adventure for children in several age groups. The teens love the hot-tub parties and pizza parties.
Princess Cruises offers age appropriate cruise activities for children and teens. One of the favourite offerings is Off Limits, a special area just for teens. Shipboard Olympics provides challenging activities as do the karaoke and lip-sync shows, in which teens can show-off their talent. The Princess Pelicans (ages 3-7) and the Princess Pirateers (ages 8-12) have great activities as well. Princess Kids learn about marine life and the world around them in a specially designed programme to inform and entertain the different age groups.
Ocean Village ships for family cruising takes a different approach with activities of interest for older children and teens. The cruise line’s Action Ashore Programme and many onboard activities are not appropriate for younger children. When on board children can learn to play drums, fly the trapeze or attend Base Camp, an area with a pool and sports court. The teen lounge on the Ocean Village ships is a special place.
Go online to find these and other cruise lines and ships for family cruising holiday fun. Your children will reward you with smiling faces.
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