10 Best Cruise Lines for Families in 2025, From Mega Ships to River Boats

10.12.2024 - 23:11 / cntraveler.com / Royal Caribbean

Families come in all shapes and sizes—and luckily, so do cruise ships. The best cruise lines for families may feature itineraries that can entertain multiple generations, onboard babysitters and kids’ clubs, accessibility options for grandparents, or entertainment for fickle teens.

With whizzbang attractions like bumper cars, surf simulators, and roller coasters, the world’s biggest cruise lines know a thing or two about good old family fun. While many of the largest family-friendly cruises sail to the Caribbean, others ply Alaska’s dramatic coastlines, Australia’s golden shores, or the Mediterranean’s scenic seaside.

If taking your offspring to lesser-trodden locales and bucket-list destinations are more of a priority, the best family cruise for you might be a river or expedition voyage. These thrilling family trips run the gamut from Arctic expeditions led by expert guides to sojourns that trace storybook towns and enchanting castles along Europe’s legendary rivers. On a family river cruise to Egypt, your gang could be ogling the 4,600-year-old Great Pyramid of Giza and exploring the world’s largest archaeological exhibition at the newly opened Grand Egyptian Museum.

On a recent Iceland expedition with National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions, my family, including my then six-year-old son, witnessed the horizon glow orange as a volcanic fissure erupted in the Reykjanes Peninsula. We kayaked in the Westfjords, bathed in geothermally-heated sea baths in Husavi, and watched puffins frantically flapping above sea cliffs on Grimsey, a remote island in the Arctic Circle.

From big ship fun to intimate expedition adventures, there’s nothing quite like a family vacation on the water. Below, we've rounded up some of the best cruise lines for families and the itineraries to book in 2025.

Itinerary: Eastern Caribbean & Perfect Day at Coco Cay

Departures: Year-round

Experience: Royal Caribbean International’s 28-strong fleet of colossal ships (with more debuting in 2025) sail everywhere from Alaska to Auckland. Royal Caribbean also holds bragging rights to several of the world’s largest ships, including the 1,198-foot-long, liquefied natural gas-powered (LNG) Icon of the Seas that debuted in January 2024.

This Miami-based mega ship has so far lived up to the ballyhoo, making it a fail-safe family-fun Caribbean getaway that includes a visit to Perfect Day at Coco Cay, Royal Caribbean’s private island in the Bahamas. That said, this 5,610-passenger ship really is the destination, especially for families with wide-eyed kids in tow. Icon of the Seas boasts the largest waterpark at sea, a title it will soon share with sister ship Star of the Seas, launching in August 2025. Category 6 waterpark is home to six