After spending nine nights sailing around Europe on the Celebrity Apex on a Celebrity Cruises family holiday with three generations of my family, I’m sharing my honest review of what it’s really like to cruise with young children on a multigenerational family cruise.
When I was a child we grew going on cruise holidays and I absolutely loved them. I have such fond memories of weeks on the cruise ship Oriana by P & O… not only did we get to visit lots of new countries but my sister and I had a brilliant sense of independence on the ship, making friends, staying up way too late and generally having a blast. I really wanted my own children to have that experience that we loved so much…
Something we’d talked about a lot was a big family holiday with grandparents too. A multi-generational extravaganza which ended up being a total of fourteen people from my father in law who turned 91 on the cruise down to 3 year old Noah. But what cruise line to chose? The mainstream family-friendly lines such as Royal Caribbean, MSC and Disney Cruises, though fun for our kids with waterparks, ice rink and loads of entertainment were not right for the older generation who were used to the ultra luxury cruise lines such as Crystal.
After doing my research I found that Celebrity Cruises seemed to give perfect balance between luxury and child-friendly and so we went ahead and booked.
In this comprehensive Celebrity Apex review, I’ll share everything you need to know about cruising with kids, with my honest thoughts on the design, cabin, food, kids club, entertainment. If you’re planning a European cruise with kids or considering booking your first Celebrity Cruises holiday, here’s everything you need to know before you sail.
What are Celebrity Cruises
Celebrity Cruises are a premium cruise line owned by Royal Caribbean, made to feel more like a boutique cruise line though not quite reaching the luxury ultra level of Crystal, Silversea and Seabourn. While the cruise line is primarily aimed at adults and is not family-focussed like Disney, it is family-friendly with plenty of facilities appealing to kids. Celebrity Cruises offer three main ship classes including Edge, Solstice, and Millennium. The Edge being the modern and innovative of the ship classes.
The Celebrity Apex and Our Cruise
Once I’d set my mind on Celebrity Cruises and the Edge Class ships it was time to find a cruise that would suit us all. The main factors being the availability the rooms that we wanted (more on that later), timings that would fit with school holidays and finally a preference to travel from Southhampton to make everything easier for older relatives.
This nine day itinerary aboard the Celebrity Apex was actually the only one of the Celebrity Cruises that ticked all the boxes.
With 14 of us booking on to the trip about year before… we had a long time to look forward to what was set to be an epic family holiday.
I won’t go into to much detail about the actual ports in this blog post but my one regret about the cruise was that we didn’t plan ahead and I didn’t see as much of these destinations as I would have liked. I will say, that I love travelling for Southampton, there is just so little travel and waiting around involved. For us, a hour and half journey and then straight on the ship!
The Retreat
The Retreat is a sort of ‘ship-within-a-ship’ on Edge Classes Celebrity Cruises, an elevated more luxury level.
Every room is a suite, we had a Celebrity Suite, and you get butler service, Luminae, the exclusive restaurant and VIP lounge serving complimentary food and drinks throughout the day, a private sun deck with pool which is much calmer than the main pool and allows you to escape the crowds.
(The Retreat Lounge)
(Luminae)
I loved the sundeck and we spent all our time there – compared to the main pool, it felt much calmer and was the perfect place to escape the crowds.
You also get the premium drinks package, premium Wi-Fi, priority embarkation and disembarkation, and reserved seating at the theatre plus other bits and bobs which definitely made the whole experience feel more seamless.
I loved the butler service.
He was always just a WhatsApp message away and couldn’t do enough for us from unpacking our luggage to helping with anything we needed throughout the cruise. He removed those holiday stresses that add up and it was someone looking after me for a change.
Embarkation was incredibly quick on the retreat and with all the paperwork and photos already done you can pretty much walk straight on. Retreat guests get a little waiting area with food and drink set up.
That said I didn’t really see queues anyway and most people just seemed to walk straight on. It was the same deal with disembarkation, we were walked off the ship and our luggage was there waiting.
The Vibe
The overall feel was modern and sophisticated and the atmosphere was relaxed and grown up but you won’t be out of place travelling with children. I’ve seen picture of cruises that are crowded, boozy or just over run with children – this was never the case on the Apex but it still had a fun atmosphere. Apex is a mid-size ship and actually looks quite tiny compared to some of the absolutely huge Royal Caribbean ships. The guest capacity is 2910 and there is roughly 2.5 crew members to every guest meaning great service and a not too crowded ship.
One thing I will say is that if you have very active children who need loads of activities, this might not be the ship for you. It doesn’t have the bells and whistles and waterslides of Royal Caribbean or Disney but it was fine for our younger kids who are happy with a pool!
The Design of the Celebrity Apex
Celebrity Cruises bought together world-class architects, interior designers, stylists, and landscape artists such as Patricia Urquiola, Tom Wright, Scott Butler and household name, Kelly Hoppen who designed the accommodation. Here are some of my favourite spaces:
Jouin Manku designed the Grand Plaza, a three storey venue with a giant chandelier that is not only home to restaurants, bars, cafes but is a focal point of the ship with the Martini bar being a central space for night life. Just walking in there gave me a true feeling luxury and took me back to my childhood walking into these ships!
Next the Rooftop Garden and restaurant by Tom Wright. This space was a stunner with gorgeous modern art installations that still didn’t detract the ocean views.
Eden is the most stunning restaurant space that blends, nature, design and huge floor to ceiling windows bringing in views of the sea.
I absolutely couldn’t write about the design of the Celebrity Apex without mentioning the Magic Carpet which is actually a cantilevered bar and floating platform on the side of the ship.
Of course, these are adult-focussed spaces but still totally thrilling to children, especially those new to cruising.
The Cabin
We booked into 11100, a Celebrity Suite in the forward section of the ship. Cruise ships are well known for being home to pokey little rooms and honestly I can’t be doing with that as a family of four. Our suite was a decent size and Kelly Hoppen has designed the accommodation to absolutely maximise space whilst keeping the room stylish. Though admittedly I wasn’t the biggest fan of the orange cushions.
Space is used very cleverly and there’s loads of storage including under the bed for suitcases. There was a sliding door between the bedroom and the living area to create separate sleep spaces – an absolute must for us! There sofa could be converted into a single bed and there was a trundle underneath to make another bed.
We didn’t end up using the cot as they don’t provide a mattress and Noah slept on the trundle. I felt like there was actually a bit too much furniture and the rocking chair was a bit in the way!
We loved our balcony and it wasn’t as nerve-wracking as I thought haven’t a balcony on a ship with two small children. Noah and I absolutely loved our breakfast at sea!
The bathroom was small but actually this is pretty good for a cruise ship as many just have what feels like a cupboard. I wasn’t a huge fan of the shallow baths though!
The doors were on magnets which made them harder to open but it did mean that they didn’t rattle which I’ve experienced before.
We also had a fridge stocked with beer and soft drinks, a safe and two televisions.
Activities and Entertainment
Our main activity during the day was swimming! Our kids loved the pool on the Retreat sundeck and dipping in and out of ‘hot’ and cold’ pool. We had a total of six kids on our trip so they had brilliant fun playing together.
There was also the option of the main pool, though we never actually ventured there! The main pool was quite crowded at peak times like sea days and sail away (though it was still nothing like the Disney cruise!) but calmer first thing in the morning and on port days. Even the Retreat Pool got busy at peak times!
There’s a full packed itinerary of activities during the day, it is adult focussed and things like wine tastings, shopping experiences and pilates are obviously best reserved for when the kids are in kids club but other things such as quizzes, game shows and kareoke parties where brilliant fun with the kids in tow. Evening entertainment was a hit too with singers, dancers, magicians and acrobatics in the main theatre, the Club and in Eden. For me the entertainment was good, but not a patch on the kind of shows we saw on the Disney cruise.
As mentioned above onboard the ship apart from swimming and kids club (which I will come to) there wasn’t a vast amount for kids to do on the ship. That’s fine with young kids like mine who are happy just splashing around in the pool but if your kids needs rollercoasters and water slides, Celebrity Cruises isn’t the cruise line for you.
Elsewhere there is an amazing wellness offering which is adult-focussed.
The Spa on Celebrity Apex is really beautifully designed and calm and offers massages, facials and thermal experiences.
The Solarium is adults-only and is a really beautiful spot with a warm indoor pool, and loungers.
The gym is well-equipped (Mr S managed to escape there a few times!) and has ocean views. They also offer fitness classes, yoga and pilates. Older children and teens can use the gym with parental permission.
There is also a small selection of designer shops with luxury watches and jewellery such as Cartier, Hublot, Bvlgari and designer fashion and accessories plus a regular souvenir shop.
Kids Club
The Celebrity Apex offers a Kids Club called Camp at Sea with supervised activities for children aged 3 – 12
Age Groups and Activities:
- Shipmates (Ages 3–5): Children must be fully potty-trained. Activities include arts and crafts, theme parties, and educational toys.
- Cadets (Ages 6–9): A nautical program the basics of sailing, navigation, and weather patterns, alongside scavenger hunts and smartboard games.
- Captains (Ages 10–12): Offers older kids more independent flexibility and they can sign themselves out with adult permission there a sports tournaments, video game challenges (Xbox), and trivia.
- Teens (Ages 13–17): A separate teen-only lounge featuring music, gaming screens, sports competitions, and themed late-night dances. There are flexible acitvities for teens on the main programme.
The kids club doesn’t run all day and is broken down into three hour blocks throughout the day.
I will say that when I walked into the actual kids club I was very underwhelmed by the space – it’s not a patch on the Kids Club on the Disney Cruise! However, the kids were absolutely begging to go in every day and while I know that had more than a little to do with there being an Xbox there, I also thought the staff were brilliant and I could see how much the kids were entertained by the games.
Everything is done very safely registering at the beginning and thorough checks so kids can’t leave without you. Every young child is tagged too in case someone is lost in an emergency sitatuation.
Food
I asked my readers what would interest them the most about a cruise and the resounding answer was the food. Celebrity Cruises are particularly popular due to the food offering so here’s what I thought.
First of all the basic cruise fare includes the four main dining rooms Normandie, Tuscan, Cosmospolitan and Cyprus. There’s a core menu that’s the same in each one and then there’s signature dishes at each one. They all have a different atmosphere and setting to it’s fun to try different ones and unlike the old-style cruising you don’t have a set table.
We tried Normandie and Cosmopolitan and to be honest the food here was hit and miss. We suspected some dishes were just taken from the buffets and served to us. The bread was very good though!
We had high expectations for Luminae, the exclusive restaurant serving the Retreat with a daily changing menu and featured dishes from Daniel Boulud, and that didn’t live up to expectations either. Again food was hit and miss we had some really good meals but also a few disappointments which really shouldn’t be the case in the more premium restaurant. Luminae served breakfast and dinner everyday but lunch is only served on sea days and something that really annoyed me was that breakfast finished at 9am so I actually ended up missing it a lot and either grabbing something in the Retreat lounge or the buffet.
The Ocean View buffet is also part of the inclusions and actually this was one thing that surprised me. It was actually really good. Lots of quality food, freshly prepared carvery and grills, salads and different specials often themed around the port. Of course the paella was never going to be as good as in actual Spain but it was decent and enjoyable.
Also complimentary were the Mast Grill by the main pool served burgers and hotdogs, the spa cafe and for Retreat guests also a pool side menu. At the latter I had a terrible caesar salad but a very good turkey wrap!
Retreat guests and Aqua class guests could dine a Blu which specialised in healthy and sustainable cuisine – we didn’t try it though.
Next comes the speciality restaurants these are extra… now before the cruise I thought we wouldn’t bother booking them as the cost would just add up but as we were disappointed in Luminae we did actually end up eating at most of them.
Raw on 5 – specialises in sushi and seafood. We ate here for lunch one day and really enjoyed it. Oscar tried his first proper sushi too. The restaurant is also beautiful.
Rooftop Garden Grill – was an absolute highlight! It felt like quite a once in a lifetime chance to dine on top of a cruise ship watching a sunset! Serving grilled meat and fish the food was quite simple but really good. Also I was worried it would really windy but it was fine!
Eden Restaurant – is a really beautiful setting with huge windows to the ocean. Here we were served refined tasting style dishes which we shared.
Le Grand Bistro – Served classic French dishes as well as sandwiches and salads. It was the only a la carte restaurant open on port days and we did end up trying it. I had underwhelming mussels but my mum liked her Dover sole. Grand Bistro also runs Le Petit Chef, an experience we tried in London with an animated chef, this is great for kids but ours were far more interested in playing than sitting down for a meal!
Else where we didn’t try Craft Social – a pub like space with a menu of snacks including mac n’ brie, Kobe beef sliders, and crispy glazed chicken wings. Fine Cut Steak House serving high level steak and seafood and finally the Magic Carpet also transformed into an open restaurant.
We had daily coffees from Al Bacio (the coffee was rubbish elsewhere!), parties at The Club (which was child-friendly not an actual club) but for us the actual cheat code was room service (which is included in the fare!) and we got the kids food in the room everyday before they went to Kids Club and we could have a relaxing dinner.
FYI on dress codes there are two main dress codes ‘smart casual’ and ‘chic’ which is different to the casual, informal, and formal that I was used to from my childhood cruises. People do dress up on chic nights but not many people go all out in ballgowns! They are strict on basic dress codes though such as no shorts in the restaurants.
Good To Know
The App – I found the Celebrity Cruises app vital before the cruise and during the holiday. You can check the daily schedule of events, browse the dining, add activities to you personal calendar etc. It also helped me keep track of what the time as it kept altering as we changed destinations!
The Hygiene – I think lots of people are worried about hygiene levels on a cruise but I was so impressed by Celebrity. There’s lots of hand wash stations and santisers plus automatic doors for minimal touch. The buffet (often a hive of germs!) was also really hygenic.
Tipping –  This is an awkward one, as Brits we’re not used to the tipping culture of an American cruise line so it’s worth being aware that if you don’t prepay, tips re automatically taken off you card with the amount depending on the level of your cabin and how many people are in it. Of course the staff absolutely deserve the tips but it can be a little surprising having them deducted on a delay basis.Â
Cruises have a bad rep for being cheesy, crowded and full of germs but when I started researching cruise lines, I realised they generally fall into three categories.
First, you’ve got the mainstream cruise lines. These are the big family-focused brands with enormous ships carrying thousands of passengers . Think packed pool decks, queues for restaurants, lots of entertainment, and an atmosphere that’s busy, high energy and commercial. Water parks, rollercoasters, ice rinks, laser tag, massive kids’ clubs etc. And then there’s Celebrity Cruises which sits right in the sweet spot. The ships are noticeably smaller and more stylish than most mainstream cruise lines, with modern interiors and a much more relaxed atmosphere. We had a brilliant time and though not intended necessarily for families, they work really well for them.
Great for Kids
Lots of different and exciting spaces to explore
Food that kids will love.
Kids club that our children love!
Great for Parents
Beautiful design both exterior and interior.
Spacious and well designed rooms.
Adults only areas for total relaxation.
PIN IT!!
