Pulaski Tickets & Tours

Your kids won’t believe what they can do on these ships

On big cruise ships, your kids will be anything but bored.

February 16, 2015

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​Ships are increasingly filled with family friendly attractions in addition to extensive kids' activities programs. Even hard-to-please teens will be hard-pressed not to find a lot to like – including opportunity to hang out doing stuff with other teens.

If your kids are giving you the "Aw mom" about your plans for a cruise vacation, run by them some of these shipboard activities.

Play sports: Hoops fans can play on outdoor basketball courts (college-sized on Norwegian Cruise Line's latest ships). Depending on the line, the courts also convert for soccer, volleyball or other sports play. Royal Caribbean's new Quantum of the Seas even has an indoor court. Rock climbing walls are another challenge, as found on lines including Royal Caribbean.

Meet a character: Disney Cruise Line has frequent appearances by Mickey and Minnie and Disney royalty and is adding Anna and Elsa and other characters from the hit animated movie "Frozen" to the lineup. On select Norwegian Cruise Line ships, kids can meet SpongeBob and other Nickelodeon characters, while Royal Caribbean hosts Shrek and Fiona and other DreamWorks stars (on select ships).

Tackle mini golf: Mini golf is a free ship activity, with courses on the open deck on most ships in the Carnival and Royal Caribbean, as well as on Norwegian Cruise Line's newest ships – a particularly cool, pirate-themed course on Norwegian Getaway, with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-themed course on the Norwegian Escape (coming this fall). Goofy is the theme on the Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy.

Go skating: Royal Caribbean's Voyager-, Freedom- and Oasis-class ships are equipped with ice skating rinks with unisex skates available to use on a complimentary basis. Hockey and figure skates are also available in adult sizes. Roller-skating, complete with a DJ in a floating booth, is an activity in the Quantum of the Sea's SeaPlex (where other activities include real bumper cars).

Try surfing and flying: Hang Ten on select Royal Caribbean ships on FlowRider surf simulators. In the freestanding, 40-foot wave pools you can try getting up on a board for free; private lessons available for a fee. On Allure of the Seas and Oasis of the Seas, the world's largest cruise ships, you can also fly on a zipline, and on Quantum of the Seas, older kids can experience simulated skydiving in a wind tunnel. Coming next year on Carnival Vista – cycle your way around a track above the deck on SkyRide.

Eat Green Eggs and Ham: Dr. Seuss's Sam-I-Am makes an appearance with opportunity to actually try green eggs and ham at a special breakfast ($5) on a dozen Carnival ships. Cat in the Hat and other literary characters are onboard too as part of the line's Dr. Seuss at Sea programming.

Get soaked on a watercoaster/waterslide: Fans of waterparks can scream and get soaked as much as they want (no extra charge) on AquaDuck, a real watercoaster, on Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy. Thrilling waterslides can also be found on ships including the Disney Magic (the AquaDunk is a feet-first plunge), select Carnival ships (the several hundred foot Twister slide at WaterWorks being a favorite) and the newest Norwegian Cruise Line ships (including on multi-story twin Free Fall slides).

Watch a movie in new dimensions: At the Thrill Theater on Carnival Cruise Line's Carnival Breeze (and debuting on the new Carnival Vista next year), you can experience in a small theater a 3-D movie/motion simulator experience that includes moving seats, blowing air and squirting water, as you watch films such as Ice Age and Speed Racer (a fee is involved). Also coming up on Carnival Vista, the first IMAX at sea (it's three stories high).

See first-run movies: Movie buffs can catch first-run movies even the same day they premier on land. Royal Caribbean screens first-run DreamWorks movies and Disney shows Disney and Pixar productions – all on a complimentary basis. Your kids will also enjoy the shipboard equivalent to drive-in movies, watching on a big screen outdoors, including on Movies Under the Stars screens on Princess Cruises ships.

Do video games: Game centers filled with the latest and classic games (air hockey, anyone?) can be found on most big ships – you pay with tokens or your onboard spending card. But there may be free play too – for instance, Norwegian has a deal with Nintendo of America that brings the latest Wii U systems and games to ships.