Cruise Suggestions Needed

[beachybabey]

We're considering cruising next fall with our son who will be 2.5 years at the time. He'll be too young for the kid's programs, I believe, and it's doubtful that he'll be potty-trained, so no onboard pools for him.

 

Are there any cruises without sea days or maybe just one? We'd like to go on a Carribean cruise (preferably not western as we did that route for our Honeymoon.) I'm not picky about a line- being together and visiting new places is really the key.

 

Any suggestions? Thank you!

[busybusybusy]

We did the Golden in August - Southern Caribbean. We didn't sail out of San Juan until 11pm, and we only had one day at sea, which was the last. Princess has babysitting, which costs extra, but you could get in a nice anniversary dinner! They also have Personal Choice dining, which would be the way to go with a small child. The dining room is beautiful and serves exactly the same food as the main one, but you can eat whenever you like. Many families with small children do this, so you may be able to dine with another family like yours!

 

Enjoy your trip!:D

[cruisinqt]

Actually, there is a children's program that accepts 2 year olds- it's Carnival. Carnival accepts children as young as 2 years old into their kids program. And our kids love their program!:D Also, many cruise lines offer in cabin babysitting for a very reasonable fee. I know RCI offers it, but Carnival only offers group babysitting. Cruise Critic has several articles about family cruising that's very informative, you might want to check them out. They detail each kids program and what they offer including babysitting and the costs of babysitting.

 

Carnival and RCI have fewer ports than NCL and Princess. Our next Princess cruise has 4 ports in 7 days. My friends NCL cruise will also have 4 ports in 7 days. Carnival and RCI will typically have no more than 3 ports in 7 days. So if you want to go on a cruise line that offers more ports and fewer sea days you should probably stick to NCL and Princess.:)

[cruiseazle]

I would recommend the opposite kind of itinerary for your family!

 

Shore excursions are generally not geared for children, and a day on shore can be physically, mentally and financially draining for a family with itty-bitties. (A noted exception would be any location where you can take public transportation to a good beach.shopping, zoo, etc... and then leave when it is no longer fun.)

 

On the other hand, sea days can be fantastic. Pack some favorite toys/activities and some NEW things. If you have a portable DVD player or laptop, take it with all those Wiggles (or whatever) DVD's. Now...the most important thing....make a family plan--take turns watching the little one so that everyone has time to do something special on the ship.

 

Every child is different...at that age, mine were content to play quietly anywhere, as long as they were with me (or Daddy, or Granny, or Miss Sherri). I could sit on deck and read, and they would sit beside me and "read". It doesn't hurt to give it a try...

 

I would also recommend Carnival as the line for you...Camp Carnival starts at age 2 and is fantastic. (At least all our experiences with it have been fantastic.)

 

Regarding the pools and potty training...can you start using that as an incentive for your child? Let them know that if they can stay dry/clean in big girl/panties every day, then they can go in the kiddie pool? Again, that varies by child--it won't work for all, but you might get lucky!

 

One last tip--give them a disposable camera and let them click away. The little ones love it, and you will love looking at those "photos" in later years.

[cruisinqt]

Personally, I prefer to bring my kids with me while ashore. In fact, we've never gone ashore without bringing the kids along. We usually just go shopping and then hang out at a nice beach. The kids play in the sand building sandcastles while dh and I sit under a nice shadey palapas and sip on a foo-foo drink. Now that's my idea of heaven!:D

 

Every port I've been to ( and that's quite a few) have always had lots of family friendly shore excursions available. Like going to the zoo in Belize or the butterfly farm in Key West. While in Grand Caymen we went to the turtle farm and in Costa Maya we went to the monkey sanctuary. There's lots of tours that cater to young ones as well as adults. I wouldn't skip out on these wonderful ports just because of the kids. Don't stay on the ship, go out and have fun! :) As far as I'm concerned, the more ports the merrier! Good luck and have a nice cruise.

[Kuffam]

I know the board here bashed Disney, but we had good luck with DCL when our DD was 18 mos. They gear things for families. We did a three day cruise and never left the boat at Nassua. We slept in, saw a movie (They play all the first run movies from Disney, Pixar, MGM) in the theater. Plus there's a cartoon channel and movie channel on the TV), and played in the pool (at that time they were allowing swim diapers and rubber pants in the pool).:)

 

Castaway Cay is a nice beach resort to play in the sun.

 

+ Good shows, helpful crew, good size room

 

- Disney overload at times.

[merela]

We're considering cruising next fall with our son who will be 2.5 years at the time. He'll be too young for the kid's programs, I believe, and it's doubtful that he'll be potty-trained, so no onboard pools for him.

 

Are there any cruises without sea days or maybe just one? We'd like to go on a Carribean cruise (preferably not western as we did that route for our Honeymoon.) I'm not picky about a line- being together and visiting new places is really the key.

 

Any suggestions? Thank you!

 

I'm not sure where you are from, but I think the 7-day Mexican Riviera cruise out of Los Angeles is your best itinerary. You can even consider a pre-cruise or post-cruise stay in Los Angeles to go to Disneyland. Your 2.5YO would be free because kids under 3 are free at Disneyland.

 

The reason I like the Mexican Riviera cruise when you have a 2.5YO is that although you can't use the ship's pool facility, you can get off at Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas and find a local resort/hotel and use their pool facilities--some are free, but some cost $10pp which includes food and drinks (kids are free). I think it was great for my 20M old and 4YO to be able to enjoy pools that are only a foot deep.

 

Ships' pools are not that clean in my mind. After more than 2000 passengers have a dip, no matter how much they clean, it's still not that clean for a little child.

 

You can also stroll into these Mexican town and do your own sightseeing walk-about. Taxis are cheap and negotiable, unlike some Caribbean islands.

 

All the ships that goes to Mexican Riviera offers kids program. I know Norwegian cruiseline offer programs for 2 years and up (not sure if potty-trained is a requirement). I would recommend Princess because they allow kids under 3 to go into their kids' zone (with parental supervision) and play in their ball pits, play board games, do playdoh or legos, and/or any crafts that the 2.5YO child wants to do.

 

RCCL does not allow kids under 3 to go into their club even if they are accompanied by their parents.

 

Do not pay full fare for your child. There are always 3rd and 4th passenger rates available. I think once we paid $199 and another time $299 for 7-day Princess cruises. You can easily find deals to Mexico for less than $100 per person per day.

 

Disney Cruise Line sounds great, but you do pay a lot more per passenger. I can't really bring myself to shell out over $1200 for a 7-day cruise.

 

Although there are 3 sea days on the Mexican Cruise, but 3 beach/pool days within a space of 7 days will tire your child out, especially in really hot climate. Remember the cruise you pick will be for the parents too, so you might as well pick a cruise you enjoy and if the price is right, it will be the easiest vacation you'll have with a 2.5YO. At least you never have to worry about where and what to eat for the entire 7 days! My children are picky eaters and going on a cruise is truly a vacation for me because someone else is doing the cooking for me!

 

I think potty training before 3 years of age is very traumatic for parents and the child. Not only do you have to deal with unnecessary stress and the clean up after accidents, unless the child is mature enough, going on a cruise will disrupt what you have accomplished at home. Having said that, I have a 37M old DS which I specifically potty-trained for our upcoming cruise next week. Basically he was old enough and I had the incentive to train him! Dr. Phil has a program where you can potty-train your child in 1 day (but I think your child has to be old enough for it to work). It really works!

 

I know you are considering the Caribbean itinerary. We are heading off on a Eastern Caribbean itinerary next week and what I found in research after I had booked the cruise was that most Caribbean islands' beaches are only accessible by taxis (not within walking distance of the ports) and there are no resort hotels nearby where we can use the pool facilities. Taxis cost $5-10pp one way which would mean for our family of 4, it would cost $50 roundtrip to go to a beach. We are happy that one of the stops is Princess Cays where the beach is the highlight of that stop.

 

I think Norwegian cruiseline has a 9-day Southern Caribbean itinerary which you can consider. We were thinking about this cruise because of the different ports of call, but it was fully booked when I looked up the dates that were convenient for us.

 

The key is to pick an itinerary that the adults will enjoy. Your 2.5YO wouldn't know the difference if you had gone to Venice, CA or Venice, Italy. Unlike my 5YO who is voicing her opinions of what she wants to do on the cruise. I'm more $$ conscious at this stage, so if we can get the biggest bang for our buck, we'll try it. I think Sept/Oct/Nov is a great time for bargain cruises and take advantage of the fact that your child is not in school yet. Once they start kindergarten, you won't be able to take your child out of regular school schedule as easily as you would like (although not impossible). Consider repositioning cruises, either to LA or to Fort Lauderdale via the Panama Canal. I think this usually takes place end of September/early October. You can probably get good deals there too.

 

Ask different boards on their opinions of different cruise lines (or specific ships) once you have decided on an itinerary or ship.

 

Good luck in finding a great cruise.