Help me convince the husband that a cruise will be safe & fun for kids aged 5 & 2.5!

We have vacation days booked the week before Christmas, and I want to go on a Caribbean cruise but the hubs wants a Hawaiian beach vacation. He says the kids will be too young (5 & 2.5) to enjoy the ports or the ship, we will be stuck eating at the buffet every night and in a tiny cabin come toddler bedtime, and it could be dangerous tendering, or on wet decks/stairs. I’m thinking of Carnival because of the kids club and the price point.

What ports or excursions are good for these ages?

Does carnival do after hours babysitting in cabin?

Is the kids club open during / after dinner time?

Can you choose to only dine wth your family?

Do most ports have piers or which ones do you need to tender?

Are the seas rough in December?

Thanks in advance!

Honestly, it depends on your kids. If your children are social and flexible they will love the kids club and never want to leave. Other kids (especially at 2.5) might be afraid of the kids club and might not go at all. The one advantage is that you can send the two kids together (2-5 year olds are in the same group) and you can tell the older they need to help the younger until the younger child feels safe and comfortable in the kids club since mommies and daddies aren't allowed in there. When our kids were little, we'd call the kids club after 15 minutes just to make sure they were okay.

On sea days, the kids club hours are 10:00am-1:00pm, 2:00pm-5:00pm and 7:00pm-10:00pm

On port days, the kids club hours are time of port arrival - 10 pm to allow parents to leave children behind in Camp ocean if they want to go on excursions without their children.

There are several options for dining.

According to Carnival's website: Camp Ocean provides supervised ‘Kids Only’ dinners every evening (6:00pm-6:45pm – time may vary) of the cruise except on the first evening. These dinners take place in the Lido Restaurant. Some of the menu choices include macaroni and cheese, pizza, fish sticks, chicken tenders, hamburgers, hot dogs, vegetables, fruit and Jell-O.

If you want to have dinner with your children, you can either feed the kids in the buffet from 5-7 pm, and then have a private meal with your husband at 7 pm or all eat together in the main dining room as a family. You can request a table for 2 or 4. You can reserve a table ahead of time at a fixed dining time each evening, or you can choose anytime dining (this might be a bit of a wait - I don't know if Carnival takes reservations for anytime dining since some cruise lines do and some don't).

Most ports don't require a tender. This information is clearly labeled on the itinerary for cruises because there are many passengers with disabilities who need to know how many ports are tender ports prior to booking.

In terms of excursions, that depends on your family. Many families take their children to the beaches in the caribbean and everyone has a great time. If you have a private tour, you may have a lot of options. I took my oldest on a Baltic cruise to St. Petersburg, Stockholm, Helsinki and Germany when he was 3. Our last trip was to Norway with a 2 and 6 year old. My children love to run around and explore, so they surprisingly have greatly enjoyed city tours including the Hermitage. If you are planning on actually touring cities and other historical destinations, you need a private guide and transportation so you can control the itinerary and stay longer at destinations your children are happy at, and stop and feed them when they get whiny and cranky. In the Caribbean, private tours aren't expensive and even a private tour for just your family is usually less expensive than a ship tour booked through Carnival.

Most caribbean ports have a ton of things for kids - my signature line has links to reviews of what we did in our ports, but honestly you have a ton of options in the caribbean and it might be more about where you and your husband would like to go (I was pregnant with my first child in Alaska, so all the other reviews include what to do with children on cruises).

My kids love cruises, and my oldest wants to go back to Norway and St. Petersburg. He might have to wait, since I'm having some difficulties since I'm pregnant with my 3rd an zika is knocking out the trip I really want to take to Cuba.

Thanks for your detailed reply! I looked on Carnivals website and can’t see info on gender ports vs piers. Does anyone know for the following ports:

Grand Turk

La Romana

curaçao

Aruba

Also, are there any babysitters that come to your cabin when the kids are in bed so mom and dad can go out?

Carnival does not do in cabin baby sitting. However, they do have 'night owls' in the kids club which costs extra after 10pm. It's group baby sitting and they do have mats where they can sleep if they want to. I do not believe anyof the ports you listed are tender ports. EM

Leave hubby home and go and have fun!.....just kidding...but he's being a "helicopter" parent. A cruise is but a vacation. The kids will have a blast, and so will you.

I'd advise a balcony cabin, so you and hubby have a "place to be" when the kids are down for the night.....you don't want to be stuck in a dark room at 8pm. A balcony is a great escape area.

As far as "excursions"...get a guidebook...rarely are "excursions" needed....but you must learn about the places you'll visit ! Libraries have guidebooks if you don't want to buy one.

You don't need to be stuck in the buffet...the dining room staff LOVES kids...and it's much easier to be served than doing "self-serve" with little ones. Definitely go to the dining room! Breakfast, too....so much nicer than the buffet! Very casual for breakfast and lunch.

Tender ports will be listed on your itinerary....most are docked. Tendering is NOT dangerous at all, tho....it's a HUGE "ferry" type boat....carries about 150+ people at a time.

Sorry, I was wrong. On most cruise lines the information about whether ports are tender or docked information is easily available. I think I found your cruise on the Carnival website but the website isn't very clear about that.

Of your ports, I've only been to Aruba, where you should be able to dock. Aruba is one of two ports where I didn't arrange a private tour ahead of time (the other being Bermuda) since it's incredibly safe and there were a ton of taxis lined up at the port. We rented one for the half day we were there. They gave us a nice tour of the island, and took us to Philip's animal garden, which is a lovely animal rescue organization. You can feed camels and lots of other animals and see peacocks running around the grounds. Then we went to the beach. Aruba is a lovely stop, and kids would greatly enjoy it. There are destination forums you can post to if families don't respond here about what you can do in the other ports.

I agree with the recommendation to use the dining rooms rather than the buffet. We thought the buffet would be easier with a toddler but it really wasn’t. Although we weren’t on Carnival. If they let you snag a table prior to getting your food, that would help a lot. Regardless, the dining room is great. Much calmer. Crayons. Their food comes out immediately. Etc.

P&O UK do Caribbean cruises with kids club from 2 years old and a US/Canadian booking facility http://www.poamericas.com.

Regards John

Thanks for your detailed reply! I looked on Carnivals website and can’t see info on gender ports vs piers. Does anyone know for the following ports:

 

Grand Turk

La Romana

curaçao

Aruba

 

Also, are there any babysitters that come to your cabin when the kids are in bed so mom and dad can go out?

1,3 and 4 have piers. Never been to La Romana.

We started cruising when our kids were 2 and 8, with Carnival. They loved camp. There are PLENTY of things to do in these ports - Grand Turk is a great beach day (walk to the left down the beach until you find the island tram tour for a few hours of fun). Our port days are always spent as a family having an adventure.

Honestly, this is the easiest way to travel with kids - our boys are now Platinum but we have also done amusement parks (Disney, Universal), national parks (Yellowstone, Yosemite, Sedona/Grand Canyon) and shorter city trips (Philadelphia, New York) so have a pretty wide range of experience traveling with them as they are now 14 and 20. Cruising is certainly the most relaxing way to go.

I would highly recommend connecting state rooms so that you have 2 bathrooms and the kids can have their own space. In the alternative, a balcony is a must.

On our sea days, we would take the kids to breakfast in the MDR and then drop them at camp for the morning to play. We would pick them up for lunch, and then give them the option of pool, putt-putt etc. Often they would choose some time with us, but also were just as likely to want more time in camp. We picked them up around 4/430 for mandatory down time; they had lights out, movie on and far more often than not, fell asleep. I would wake them at 530 for a quick shower and dress them for dinner which is always eaten in MDR.

The trick to MDR is 1)fixed early dining and 2) staggered meals. Having fixed dining allows you to request that the kids have milk ready, along with a fruit plate which kept them from filling up on rolls. When we ordered our meals, they had their dinners while we ate our appetizers and dessert while we had entrees. Then one of the adults would stay and order coffee and dessert for the adults while the other walked the kids to camp at 7. They stayed until 10 when we put them to bed. We had 3 hours to ourselves every night, and then a nice drink on the balcony once the kids were in bed.

The MDR is the absolutely easiest place to eat with kids!

Thanks A&J. We went ahead and booked but could only get anytime dining. I hope we’ll be able to eat when we want, nothing like waiting for a table with hungry kids. I guess if the wait is long we could go to the buffet as a backup but you’re right, mdr sounds way better.

Some lines hold dining reservations on board. You can to go to the MDR as soon as possible and politely request a change in dining, and hopefully they will be able to accommodate you.

Some lines will even pick kids up from the restaurant halfway through dinner and bring them to the kids club.

Thanks A&J. We went ahead and booked but could only get anytime dining. I hope we’ll be able to eat when we want, nothing like waiting for a table with hungry kids. I guess if the wait is long we could go to the buffet as a backup but you’re right, mdr sounds way better.

You could line up with the small herd at 545 and request the same staff each night - and set up the same deal with them - if you are unsuccessful at switching to fixed dining once you board.

MDR is MUCH more relaxing - it is bad enough having to fight the lido at lunch - not gonna do it at breakfast. Dinner has much fewer people on the Lido, but still, I don't want to be getting up every 5 minutes for something for someone! I do that enough at home!

Do know that kids have to be potty trained to go in the pools. We are dying to take the kids on a cruise, but definately want to wait until we know that they are fully potty trained.

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