Bring the kids and save some cash by shopping for available cruise deals

If you’re tired of hearing “I’m bored” when you vacation with your kids, maybe it’s time to try a cruise.

Some cruises excel at keeping kids busy and entertained. But which ones? Generally speaking, the newest ships have more perks for families. As for destinations, some, such as Alaska, are more kid-friendly than others.

Lines that have lots of kid-friendly bells and whistles don’t always offer discount prices for children, so you’ll need to do a little shopping to find lines that let kids cruise free or discount their fares when they share a cabin with their parents.

Nearly 24 million passengers will cruise this year, according to Cruise Lines International Assn., an industry organization, and many — about 2 million in 2013 — will have kids in tow. Many lines are fighting the boredom factor with features such as surfing simulators, elaborate water slides, outdoor movies, ropes courses, bumper cars and bowling alleys.

Couple that with prices and you may have the winning vacation formula.

“It’s not going to cost families a fortune,” said Rick Sasso, president and chief executive of MSC Cruises, a family-owned line that sails mainly in Europe and the Caribbean. “We’re making it easy with our ‘kids sail free’ program.”

With MSC’s offer, kids 12 and younger sail free as part of the line’s “anytime rates,” meaning it’s a standard rate that can be purchased any time children travel with their parents in the same stateroom. Kids 13 to 17 receive a discount as the third or fourth person in a stateroom.

Among MSC’s upcoming deals: a weeklong Aug. 27 Mediterranean cruise to Italy and Greece with rates that start at $2,278 for a family of four in an inside cabin.

A weeklong cruise from Miami, departing Nov. 12 for Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas and San Juan, Puerto Rico, starts at $1,898 for a family of four in a balcony cabin.

Among other kid-friendly cruise deals:

—Sail round trip from Seattle to Glacier Bay, Alaska, on Norwegian Cruise Line for $1,848 for a family of four.

—Save money by sailing from the Port of Los Angeles. Explore the Pacific Coast with a six-day Princess Cruises Pacific Wine Country trip to Vancouver, Canada, from $1,596 for four people.

—Try a Princess Cruises Sun-Drenched Deals special with fares from $499 per person on select cruises to destinations such as the Caribbean, Panama Canal, Mexico, Hawaii and the California coast. Add third and fourth guests (including kids) to the stateroom for fares that start at $199 a person.

Among the upcoming cruises included in the offer, which is in effect from fall to spring, is a seven-day Dec. 10 sailing from Los Angeles to Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico; rates from $1,496 for a family of four traveling in the same cabin.

NCL, Royal Caribbean and Holland America occasionally run buy-one-get-one-free or “third and fourth passenger” sales, with free or discounted fares.

In most cases, these sales apply to any passenger, regardless of age, but they can be used for children sharing a cabin with their parents. Not surprisingly, most of the deals are available when kids are in school.

Remember too that you may have to pay taxes and port fees. Those can range from 12% to 50% of the fare, depending on the line and the city and country visited, so make sure you read the fine print to find out whether those are included in the listed price.

High-end lines Crystal Cruises and Paul Gauguin also have deals for parents or grandparents sailing with children.

Crystal has two-for-one specials and offers kids-sail-free programs on some cruises. Paul Gauguin, which sails in French Polynesia, allows third and fourth passengers to sail free when sharing a cabin.

Combine these deals with the all-inclusive features that many cruise lines offer, and the advantages of packing and unpacking just once, and you have a holiday that may be as fun for Mom and Dad as it is for the kids. And affordable.

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