Family fun……

Families looking for fun, value for money, knowing the children will be well catered for while parents take an hour or so out to enjoy luxurious pampering, or a romantic meal or a  few drinks in the bar, then a cruise is just for you.  Meals, entertainment and most onboard activities are included in the cost of your cruise.  Here is a little run down of what some cruise line offers you and your family.

Celebrity Cruises
Offers private babysitting in cabins aged 12 months and older ($19 an hour), or for older children (3 to 11) you can take them along to night-time slumber parties.  They have 5 different clubs to suit all age groups, under 3s take part in Toddler Time, Shipmates for 3 to 5 year olds, cadets for ages 6 to 8 and Ensigns for 9 to 11 year old.  Activities include games, sports, crafts, music, karaoke, treasure hunts, theme parties and movies.  Teen entertainment is also provided in the X club hangout zone.

Cunard
A night nursery for children aged 12 to 23 months is open from 6pm to 11pm.  The Play Zone, for 2 to 7 year olds and The Zone for 8 to 12 year olds are complimentary supervised areas, which offers activities throughout the day, and into the night.  The Teen Zone for children aged 13 to 17 offers table tennis tournaments, team games and deck sports throughout the day and pizza parties, discos, quizzes and bingo at night

MSC Cruises
Under 18s sail free when sharing with 2 full fare paying passengers.  The Fantasia-class ships have multiple pools, waterslides, 4d cinema and a Grand Prix simulator.  There is the Mini Club for 3 to 6 year olds, Junior Club for 7 to 11 year olds, then the Y-Team for 12 to 14 year olds and the MSC Generation teen club for 15 to 17 year olds.  Babies and toddlers aged 10 to 36 months are catered for at MSC babytime. A kids around the clock service is also available from 11pm to 2am.

Norwegian Cruise Line
There is a range of kids and teen clubs, and again are broken down into age groups.  The splash academy includes Guppies for 6 months to 2 years, Turtles for 3 to 5 year olds, Seals 6 to 9 year olds and Dolphin for 10 to 12 year olds.  The teen lounges cater for 2 age groups, 13 to 14 and 15 to 17 year old.  Air hockey, pinball and table football, as well as a video jukebox and large flatscreen tvs.  On the evening the Entourage transforms into a nightclub.  In addition there is group babysitting for ages 3 to 12.  NCL are also in partnership with Nickelodeon  so there is plenty of brand name entertainment.

P&O Cruises
The Azura, Ventura, Aurora and Oceana provide free onboard programmes.  All organised activities centre around The Reef,  Splashers cater for 2 to 4 year olds, Surfers for 5 to 8 year old, Scubas is for 9 to 12 year olds and the H20 for over 13s.  Clubs are open in the day, and then 10.30pm to midnight, a supervised night nursery is available for under 2s and a quiet slumber times session for 5 to 8 year olds.

Princess Cruises
All but 2 of Princess ships provide facilities for families.  Princess Pelicans for 3 to 7 year olds, Shockwaves for 8 to 12, and in Remix for 13 to 17 year olds.  Princess also runs a Junior Chefs at Sea programme together with Pyjama and ice cream parties, educational workshops and  special funfair.