sjbisanz1

My husband and I are traveling with our 5 year old and are not wanting anything too fancy, but not a party ship either on a 4/5 night cruise. Itineraries are not all that important, but the service provided, food available, and general shape of the ship are. If anyone has traveled either recently and has some suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it. I have been reading cruisecritic.com and other posts here, but was hoping for more specific answer to this. And we are traveling the end of March out of either Tampa or Miami depending on the shipe. (not ideal timing with Spring Break and all, but only time we can do it).
TIA!

nina

Do you mean RCL's Grandeur? I've cuised on the Grandeur and it was very nice, I've also cruised Celebrity (but not Zenith) and Celebrity is my favorite line.

Grandeur is a much bigger ship, with bigger kids facilities and smaller cabins. Zenith will have better food and service and will be less of a party atmosphere.

Zenith has also just been refurbished, I don't know when the Grandeur was last renovated.

It's a toss-up, depends on what's most important to you.

sjbisanz1

Nina; thanks, yes I meant RCL. They do tend to blend together when you are comparing them. My husband would care more about the food, but the childrens program is really important too. I don't want to just "dump" my son off, but I want him to have fun with other kids in an age appropriate setting. Everything I am reading points more toward RCL for that. Was your experience with Grandeur on a short cruise or a long one? I have heard that the shorter the cruise; the more the party atmosphere.
Thanks for the advice!
Shelly

nina

Grandeur was a 7 day cruise, and my kids had a ball, RCL has a very good kids program, the facilities for kids will be better on the Grandeur than the Zenith.

LPOWMACBACK

Definitely the Grandeur over the Zenith! Bigger (but not too big - where you have long lines and too many passengers) ship with MORE TO DO, MORE TO SEE, light and airy... great layout... (a larger ship is also better on the stomach - it is more stable than a smaller ship)...I also felt the food on RCCL was better than Celebrity (even though that's not what the marketing people will tell you).

Have a great cruise!!

Lisa

kfusto

Cruising with kids, I think Granduer is a better choice. She is a pretty ship with more open spaces than Zenith. I have cruised on both and while I prefer Celebrity overall (better food, better service, and fewer kids) I would suggest RCI for you.

LLindaC

Your son will disappear and you won't see him till dinner. He will have a ball. Grandeur was my first cruise and the sister ship, Enchantment, is very nice too. That ship has been refurbished recently. I think the party atmosphere does exist on short cruises. They are cheaper, and lots of times people win them as sales incentives, etc. Short cruises get a bad rep because generally they are older ships where staff are trained. There are some real tubs out there- my short Carnival trips have been pretty bad. (Imagine, more tattoos on women than men.) However, I think you'll like the Grandeur over a smaller ship such as the Sovereign. There will be many activities for all of you and there will be lots of families at Spring Break.

sjbisanz1

Thanks so much for all the helpful advice! From the brochures and from what I've been reading; it seemed like RCL might be more along our lines and they definitely have more for children going on. Thanks for spelling it out for me and sharing your personal experiences!