8 Best Family Cruises 2024

Your kids will love: The action-packed AquaPark, with its two pools and five waterslides—including Free Fall (the fastest drop at sea), as well as the pirate-themed Kid’s Aqua Park for the littlest ones. The three-deck Sports Complex has a massive ropes course (a mini one, too) and the Spider Web climbing cage; daredevils can even walk The Plank, which extends eight feet over the side of the ship!

Kids' club: Norwegian’s Splash Academy. The name sounds active, and this club is, dividing kids into Turtles (3–5), who’ll participate in arts and crafts and treasure hunts; Seals (6–9), who’ll learn circus skills; and Dolphins (10–12), who’ll enjoy scavenger hunts and theme nights.

A Guppies Nursery (6–36 months) is available on Norwegian Escape, $20USD for two hours per day for the first child (plus $16USD for a sibling) and $24 USD for two hours at night for the first kid (plus $20USD for a sibling).

You'll love: The Waterfront, a nearly half-kilometre promenade lined with lounges, restaurants and boutiques, and the Illusionarium, a magic-themed dinner-theatre experience.

Family-friendly excursions: Enjoy a pre- or post-cruise Florida Everglades airboat ride, interact with monkeys at Roatan’s Gumbalimba Park preserve and animal sanctuary, and mix culture and adventure at Chacchoben Mayan Ruins and Maya Lost Mayan Kingdom water park in Costa Maya.

Insider tip: Getaway’s volume seems to be permanently set on loud—especially in 678 Ocean Place, the three-deck central atrium—so avoid mid-ship cabins on decks 5 and 9 if you’re noise sensitive. If your budget is generous, book The Haven, Norwegian’s ship-within-a-ship.