First time ever, we'll take the whole family to a cruise next month - with 2 toddler age kids, for 10 days. My mother thinks that would be too long and predicts that we will likely get bored with the 4 sea days. I don't know. My first time. My kid's first time. Hope not. We'll see.
We opt for an oceanview room to at least get some sunlight and view while waiting for the kids to nap. When we didn't have kids, we probably don't need the oceanview because we'll likely be in the room ONLY when we sleep. We'll be active and going to all places and doing lots of things. Things are just very different now that we have kids. Even the living room in our home gets so much more use/abuse over the last year then all 8 years combined prior to their arrival. If only the suites were not so prohibitively expensive, we would go for a suite just to get more space for them to run and play while we attempt to settle down and dress up. I so wish that they would give a better discount for kids as 3rd/4th person in the same room.
Anyhow, the first response that my husband get when he told his friends who had been to cruises before, was, "it'll be OK as long as it's not Carnival. Princess is good." From what I can tell on their promotional material, they pride themselves on a rather upscale sophisticated experience while not as expensive as some of those luxury ships
Good's
My experience so far with Princess Cruise is limited to telephone and website interactions. Their telephone customer service, aside from the long waiting time that averages about 10-15 minutes, was exceptional. With 2 young kids, I have lots of questions, and I mean, VERY detailed questions, as well as many special requests. I really appreciate the patience and understanding that you can tell from their voice, that's consistently displayed by ALL the agents that I've encountered over the phone. I'm also very pleasantly surprised that they can accommodate or address most of my concerns. I requested, and they confirmed the provisions, for 2 high chairs (I always bring my own coz some places just don't have them), 1 crib (many hotels don't provide cribs. I'm used to bringing 2 travel cribs.), a handheld shower attached to the normal fixed shower head so I can bathe the kids more easily (I was going to bring an inflatable tub as I usually do in all other trips) and baby food (you mean I don't need to bring baby food for this trip? Really?!). Milk is available 24 hrs in the restaurants or room service. My kids drink both milk and formula. So I only need to bring their formula portion.
"Bad's"
First of all, their website is unnecessarily difficult to use, and the graphical/logistical interface does not match up with its reputation. I had asked for the possibility to remove 1 of the twin beds in the room, so we can use a lower and an upper, plus the crib so we'll have more space to move around. They couldn't do it and I'm OK with that as that's quite a bit to ask for. I also inquired about the availability of kids books as they boast a library and a kid's center. Sadly they said there will only be a few of them in each location, and are for use in the location only. This means I will need to bring a small library for my eager toddler who tends to read several hours a day at home. Lastly, my youngest cannot use the swimming pools because she's still in diapers. I know that's the norm for most cruises, so I'm not exactly complaining, but I also know that she's not going to be very happy.
