Austin

Only considering cruises out of Galveston or Houston. (Mex & Carribean). The ship choices are Carnival Elation or Celebration, RCCL Rhapsody, or Norwegian Sea.

Travel would be with 2 14 year old girls.

Question - Which is best overall, for:

Teen activities
Food
Room size
Casinos

kadao

We've been on the Elation, Rhapsody and are going on the SEA in June. The Elation at that time was in the Mexican Riveria. All of the kid's programs were okay. It depends on the personality of your kids and the others cruising. If you meet friends, everything is okay, according to my teenagers. (The Princess had the best one, but that is not one of your choices). All four of us will be in a room on the SEA and it will be very crowded. I have been warned!!! But I've shown my kids the pictures people posted on-line and they say they don't mind the small room. We are not in at all that much anyway. I've liked the food on all of the ships we've been on! I guess the least favorite was the Rhapsody, but things change from season to season. I think anything will be nice. Maybe go by which itinary looks best. Sorry I can't be more help. Let us know what you decide.

MauiMaui

For kids Carnival.

Austin

Kadao - Did you travel on the SEA in June? If so, how was it? (I'm assuming SEA is Splendor of the Seas?)

We nixed the cruise for this year due to various reasons, but it's on the agenda for next June. Would love to hear your report... I'll have two 15 year olds then (daughter plus a friend).

Thanks in advance.

paige

Austin, I just book on Princess out of Galveston for Spring Break 2005 with our 17 year old daughter and friend. I looked at Elation and Rhapsody but chose Princess because it's a much larger ship. We are getting two cabins, the cost is much more but I just can't stand the crowded conditions in one small room. You know how long two teenage girls take to get ready!! We've previously sailed Carnival twice but not the Elation. Also sailed Celebrity twice. Our daughter preferred Carnival, however, that was a Caribbean cruise and her older siblings were with us; the Celebrity cruise was to Alaska and she was just with Mom & Dad.

Just curious why you aren't considering Princess. Is there something I don't know about that? I posted for that ship out of Galveston and got no replies.

Austin

Not sure actually. I'll check it out. Which Princess is out of Galveston?

paige

I believe it's the Grand Princess. I had my travel agent check about the "Dive In" movies and Princess is in the process of adding this to all their ships. Hopefully the Grand will have it by the time we sail in March.

Austin - I assume you live in Texas (maybe Austin)? Just wondering when your Spring Break is in 2005. We are in Okla. and a couple of years ago all state schools went to the same spring break. I think many Texas schools have the same week, makes for crowded Colorado ski resorts and probably adds to the Galveston cruise load.

Austin

Yes, I'm in Austin. We plan an early June cruise.

I went to cruisemates and read some reviews of RCCL and Princess. I think there were overall better reviews of RCCL than Princess - the Grand Princess to be specific - but I need to look around more. We are also considering Carnival. Carnival has bigger rooms and better food, apparently, than RCCL and Princess. But that isn't our main goal. I'd definitely want something with Teen activities for sure.

Austin

Forgot to add, Spring Break here in Austin is March 14 - 18th. However, not all schools in TX have the same week off. I checked a few and found that some also have the week of the 7th and the 21st off for Spring Break. Austin, San Antonio, Dallas are off the week of the 14th. Houston the week of the 21st.

Hope that helps!

paige

I do remember that Carnival's cabins were larger than many other lines and they do tend to have plenty of kids and teens on board as the price is usually better than some other lines. We didn't use Princess to Alaska because we had our daughter sharing our cabin and I couldn't find a decent balcony cabin that would accomodate three on Princess without upgrading to a suite. Our daughter has never taken part in the teen activities. The first cruise (Carnival) she had her older siblings to hang out with and on the Alaska cruise (Celebrity) she just stuck with us. I think she was shy about meeting new people, if she'd had a friend on that cruise she may have been more receptive to going to the teen club.