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Excursion with a toddler


jworld
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First time cruiser here,

 

I will be traveling with a 18 months old in November for 7 day cruise to Mexico, stopping at Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. I’m looking at the city tours, the ones I like are all 5+ hours, is this a good option for a 18 months old? Is this too long? Daughter is currently taking 2-3 naps during the day, is a 5,6 hour excursion too much for them? Should I look into private van tours since we have 5 people and they aren’t much more expensive or just do short excursions?

 

Thank you all for answering

 

 

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Will you have a carseat with you? If not, that will limit you to walking or bus tours.

 

I'll be cruising with my 2.5 year old this summer, and I don't think I'll be brave enough to try an excursion over 2.5 hours. It just feels like you could be trapped and miserable.

 

I think we'll rent a car if we want to explore a bit. Otherwise we'll probably just do whatever is walkable.

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With a child that young, I'd opt for shorter "tours" or simply doing stuff on your own (a guidebook is a very helpful resource for DIY things!), so that if and when baby gets fussy or hungry or needs a change, you can exit what you're doing and tend to her.

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We cruised with our Granddaughter when she was 9 months old. We brought a stroller with us for her so that naps could be taken.

All the excursions we took were private so that if needed we could head back to the ship on a moments notice.

The islands are hot, the busses taken for excursions are usually uncomfortably warm. I would worry that someone so young would overheat on such a long day.

 

 

 

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Our kids started taking cruises at 24 months. We visited Cartagena and the Panama Canal and London with 24 month olds. Private tours were cruicial for us, as it took away the worry that our kid would melt down and ruin everyone else’s experience. That happened only once because we had to take a ship tour in Panama or else the Panama Canal authority wouldn’t let us off the ship. It was a nightmare - they dropped us off at the port and had no idea when we’d be able to reboard the boat. We stood there for an hour with a screaming toddler who needed to sleep. All of our private tours worked out really well, and my son spent about 4 hours touring Cartagena, which was about 90 degrees. Our kids were fine with mini naps in the car, and were so happy seeing new things that they were really well behaved on the tours (except when stuck in a port in Panama.) Go on TripAdvisor and find private tours. You’ll have a car to leave all your stuff and can control the itinerary and stop and take breaks and eat whenever your kids get cranky. That’s what saved us in St. Petersburg and let my 3 year old see all of the highlights of that city over two days.

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If you can take a body carrier or stroller for her to nap in you should be fine. My three year old was falling asleep in our arms on the shuttles between locations (we didn't worry about car seats because we did not want to lug one of those around). Another option is to book the private tours. We used Viator to book a private, customizable jeep tour on Cozumel and it was great. We skipped the tequila factory tour to do a Mayan experience and were able to tailor it to our family. This included beach stops where we could swim or relax. This may be a better option so that you won't be stuck with a predetermined route and other tourists.

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