Kiddie Cruise

To Whom It May Concern:
Hello my name is Mary Jo and I bought the Kiddie Cruise… I must say I am very very
Upset.
My grand daughter, daughter in-​law and I, along with a friend and her daughter went on the cruise.
We arrived at the pier on Sunday August 25^th, and the first thing I noticed was the not dirty, but filthy windows. Said to myself this is for the kids keep an open mind.
As we aboard things did not go well. Once inside it was black dark and dirty!!!
Yes they had many activities for the little ones, and how excited they were.
We went for the arts n crafts first in the lower level. As they were doing arts n crafts I stood on a huge line for face painting (on one! Face painter for everyone). They ate lunch served in a brown paper bag, with nothing to wash done the food. had to purchase water for $ 4.00, unheard of to charge this amount after the amount they charge… As we were there they saw a puppet show, which they enjoyed very much. The face painting was indeed the best party she was amazing.
We left and went upstairs for more activity. Well we missed the dance, due to the long long line for the face painting. so we gathered and went up another level to see a malice show.
Who hired this man??? Talk about racist… he picked from the crowd of children to assist him four times. not once did he pick anyone other than African… I along with other moms and dads were quite upset… He did balloons for the, what a joke he only knew how to make a sword for the boys heart for the girls and a dog…
I would not advise anyone to go on this cruise, from the amount they charge, how dirty and not planed for everyone.
Sincerely
A very upset grandmother
Mary Jo

If I could give this cruise no stars, I would. To begin with, when you are giving a cruise during lunch time, you should be very forward with it being no lunch on board. When dealing with children, its not advisable to have a cruise during lunch time with no food, not even for sale.
Secondly, the «magician» was mediocre and unable to keep the attention of the children. He work old black jeans and a vest. He had a short magic show at the beginning. All of the children said they had already saw those magic tricks. The show lasted 20 min then there was no entertainment afterwards. No decorations, balloons, etc. For kids, the idea is good, but they have no clue what they are doing. The boat is outdated. All children and parents were ready for it to end before we made it to statue of liberty. Parents and children were sitting around with their heads down on the tables sleeping. The place was dirty and we begged them to go faster back to the port. BEWARE!!!

If you love your children and value your money DO NOT, DO NOT go on this cruise! I normally don’t write review but I had to on this one!
Pirate & Princess cruise sounds so cute & the idea of all the activities they promise sound like fun but this ship is DISGUSTING! It is FILTHY and NASTY!
Lunch is horrible and does NOT include a drink but the bar has $ 4 water bottles if you like. There is cranberry juice and soda but my 4yr old doesn’t drink either.
The story teller was okay, the puppet show was blah. The face painter were so/​so and all I saw the balloon guy do was swords. Arts & crafts was decorating a paper crown — no biggie, not special.
If you do bring an infant — there is no changing table. You can barely get yourself and your toddler in the bathroom stalls.
The staff is nice that I can say but that is all!
DON’T WASTE YOUR MONEY… HEARD DISNEY IS STARTING A CRUISE!

The good news — The kiddie cruise was fun and full of activities.
The bad news — The kiddies cruise was tooo much fun and full of toooo many activities all taking place simultaneously.
There are 3 floors of face painting, magic tricks, fruit, bagels, singing, sandwiches, juice, water, dancing, coloring, a perfect view of the statue of liberty, and this, and that, and more, and more and more and MOARRRR! This led to my son becoming over-​stimulated and losing his whole entire mind. Additionally, we went around noon-​1sh which is nap time for a lot of children and thus, there were meltdowns. Oh the horror! The humanity!!! Oh the hot sticky melting face paint!
Not the fault of the kiddie cruise but this is something parents should be prepared for and schedule around. I wish I had taken the time slot into consideration beforehand. Again, this was not kiddie cruise’s fault, but mine. I should have picked one floor, one set of activities and let my son focus on that.
4 stars for kiddie cruise for making a valiant effort to entertain small children while also trying to appease the parents. 1 star for me for not mapping out a better game plan = 3 stars.

We had a ball celebrating my child’s third birthday party. I would recommend for anyone who enjoys boat rides plus fun activities while on board. Only thing missing was a princess character and a Pirate. All was fun regardless. Sail away with kiddie cruise one day.

WE WERE ROBBED!!!
We opted for the «Super Heroes & Fairy Princesses» themed cruise.
What’s included:
Bagged Lunch: Sandwich, Individually Packaged Snack, Piece of Fruit, Unlimited Juice & Soda
Face painting
Balloon sculpting
Karaōke
Sing-​a-​longs
Magic show
Puppet show
Raffle prizes
Arts & crafts
Sounds awesome right? That’s what we thought. My husband and I decided to take our 2.5 year old son. A friend and her son joined.
We go to buy tickets: $ 45 per adult and $ 40 per child. For all the fun mentioned above? Sure, a little pricey, but what the hell!
We board the ship and are greeted by an overweight guy with a beard and earrings dressed in a cheap Batman costume at least 2 sizes too small. He is the only superhero on the ship. One fat guy in a cheap suit. Awesome.
On the upper deck all you can see is a rundown ship with literally NO DECORATIONS except streamers wrapped around 3 thin poles! I’ve been to & hosted themed parties. My husband has managed both theme parks and themed restaurants. THEMED means you create an environment, right? Nope. No balloons. No streamers hanging from the ceiling. Not even a Superman or Cinderella napkin to be found anywhere on the ship!
The DJ for this extravaganza is a woman with no make –up, her hair pulled into a messy bun and a princess dress over her t-​shirt. She is blasting Usher and Lady Gaga songs so loud that I have to literally scream to communicate with my husband who is right next to me. Keep in mind this is a cruise geared towards kids, NOT a booze cruise! Not Barney, Raffi, or Yo Gabba Gabba… Lady Gaga.
Next to the DJ is a woman in a Belle costume also too small on her… I know this because not even superman himself could have pulled the 2 sides of her unzipped dress together! She is trying to spur the children on board to sing into the microphone. Remember, most of the kids were under 5 years old. Needless to say very few kids even approached the microphone and the ones that did were the few 8 or 10 year olds.
Face painting and balloon sculpting «stations» we also set up on the upper deck. Our fat and bearded Batman also doubled as the balloon sculptor with a whopping ONE BAG of balloons. Needless to say most kids didn’t get one. It should also be noted that within the first hour, Fatman. I mean Batman… took 4 breaks. One of the breaks was to sing «Billy Jean» on the karaōke! It’s a 2.5 hour cruise for Christ sake! You really need a break– let alone 4???
Face painting was done by 2 women who’s only qualification for do so was that they were physically capable of holding a brush. I could have painted my son’s face better if I’d used my toes! They are dressed just like the DJ. Princess costume over street clothes that is sticking out. No make-​up. Hair in a sloppy pony tail.
We go to the lower deck to pick up our lunches… We could choose between a ziplock full of Cheetos or a ziplock full of pretzels. Apparently they ran out of lunches. SERIOUSLY!?! You don’t know what the capacity of the boat is and plan accordingly?!? It’s not rocket science. It’s posted on the wall– 220 people.
The «arts & crafts» area? It’s large sheets of paper taped to the floor and a woman in street clothes with fairy wings on holding a Tupperware full of crayons between her legs! Out coloring options? A Xeroxed picture of Spiderman. That’s it. And what’s the reward to coloring a picture? Ours was a sticker– a sticker of a HAUNTED HOUSE! Oh, kiddie cruise, nothing says fairy princess and super hero themed cruise like left over Halloween stickers! Well done!
The puppet show was terrible, but the guy running it was the ONLY person on the ship who seemed to genuinely put effort into entertaining the kids.
About 90 minutes into the cruise the lower deck princess announces that she has run out of ideas for entertaining the kids and would any of the parents like to give her some ideas? When no one offers advice, she turns to the group of children and says «ok. You down to play hot potato?» Way to keep things classy Snowhite! I’m sure that’s the way the princesses talk to the kids at Disneyland too!
OK– let’s go over that list again:
Bagged Lunch: Sandwich, Individually Packaged Snack, Piece of Fruit, Unlimited Juice & Soda– NOT FOR MY SON. HIS CHOICES WERE PRETZELS OR CHEETOS!
Face painting– YES BUT BAD
Balloon sculpting– NOT FOR MY SON
Karaōke– SURE– IF YOUR KID IS 10
Sing-​a-​longs– NOPE.
Magic show– NOPE.
Puppet show– YES.
Raffle prizes– NOPE.
Arts & crafts– YOU MEAN CRAYONS ON THE FLOOR WITH 1 PICTURE OPTION?
If you are thinking about going on this cruise. DON’T! It’s a rip off. Worst money I have EVER spent! Never again!