What to do? Young Kids

[Rob_Jen]

What to do?

 

We have a 5 year old and a 3 year old (to be). Last year we went on the Disney Magic and loved it. We are thinking about another cruise. We will have about 2 weeks of vacation in November again. We are thinking of a week cruise and a few days before/after the cruise. We are not planning on any Disney parks this year.

 

We are looking into other cruise lines but do not know if they will work. On the Disney ship even the shows had characters so the kids were entertained. On a RCCL/Carnival ship the kids would probably go nuts in the shows out of boredom.

 

The kids camps may be OK but I do not know how they are compared to the Disney ship. The Disney camps were opened until midnight and it looks like the RCCL camps close at 10. This will not give us allot of time to ourselves to enjoy a show or similar unless we fork out more money for baby sitting.

 

Any recommendations? Also if not a cruise then any other ideas?

[Onessa]

. . . The kids camps may be OK but I do not know how they are compared to the Disney ship. The Disney camps were opened until midnight and it looks like the RCCL camps close at 10. This will not give us allot of time to ourselves to enjoy a show or similar unless we fork out more money for baby sitting.

Yup, after 10pm RCCI continues the kids programming but does charge for participation.

 

My DD (now 14YO) and my niece (now 6YO) have both stated that they liked RCCI's Adventure Ocean programming more than Disney's. We did a Disney cruise with DD when she was 6 or 7YO and she spent most of her time with us -- for the RCCI cruise we took eariler that same year we could not pry her out of AO. Her response was that AO was "more fun" (she's always a wealth of information :D)

 

DN, has done NCL, Princess, Disney and RCCI -- her evaluation was that RCCI was the best. Now she will talk your ear off, her opions was that on the Disney cruise there were too many activities where older kids would be there as well -- and she did not like that because "the older kids push and shove and do not let us little kids have any fun!" She also liked the specific activites -- RCCI seems to focus on a theme and has scheduled activities where as Disney was a bit more relaxed. DN is definately into organization and order and so is/was my DD - don't know about your kids.

[cb at sea]

I don't think the kids would be bored in the production shows...the lights and action...they'll watch, even without "characters" to entertain them.

The larger, newer RCI ships would probably have more to do for the older child than some of the smaller ships....

However, you sound like you REALLY liked Disney, so why not stick with what works for you?

[scrappinheather]

If you don't do a cruise, I would highly recommond Beaches resorts. We did the one in Turks and Caicos and Jamaica and loved them. They have babysitting at all hours, I think about 8 pools, a huge waterpark, 14 restaurants, scuba diving included, snorkeling, boats and all the Sesame Street characters. They have stage shows every night, a parade, and during the day the kids can do baking with cookie monster, story time with Elmo, dancing with Zoe, etc. Your kids with love it. They would love a cruise too. Have fun choosing.

 

Heather

[jam82]

If you don't do a cruise, I would highly recommond Beaches resorts. We did the one in Turks and Caicos and Jamaica and loved them. They have babysitting at all hours, I think about 8 pools, a huge waterpark, 14 restaurants, scuba diving included, snorkeling, boats and all the Sesame Street characters. They have stage shows every night, a parade, and during the day the kids can do baking with cookie monster, story time with Elmo, dancing with Zoe, etc. Your kids with love it. They would love a cruise too. Have fun choosing.

 

Heather

 

How was the food at Beaches? Any better than a cruise? We have done Club Med and LOVED it. There was great child care. It was nice because you signed up for the week so you knew you had a spot. They did so much with the little ones. The parties and activities were great! There aren't any characters or water park, but we've had a great time there. We've done Punta Cana and Ixtapa. Liked them both for different reasons. We might have to try Beaches for Turks because the Club Med there is an adult only one.

[scrappinheather]

I thought the food was definitely comparable to a cruise. It was pretty good, sometimes really good, but it was enjoyable. They had smoothy stations at several places, you could get icecream, milkshakes, sundaes, etc. all day, tons of different places open at different times. I think it makes a great vacation. Plus if you go in the off season (Sept through Nov) it's really affordable. We went in October, had great weather, and really good prices.

 

Heather

[RoadTripFanatic]

DD started cruising at age 2. She has loved Camp Carnival, HAL kids club and NCL's kids club. She did her first Disney cruise at age 7. She liked it but she has never once said Mommy Disney's kids center is the best. Can we go back? In fact she keeps asking us to take a RC cruise because she thinks they look cool. LOL! She has never complained about being bored on the other cruise lines since we went on a Disney Cruise. I personally felt she had more attention from the kids center workers on the other lines than she did on Disney. Disney was just too packed for any individual attention. I will say I don't take my DD to many of the productions on Carnival. Most of the time she wants to go play with the kids in the kids center. We do early dinning and go to an early show. By 10p I'm dead after excursions, sun and dinner.

[Rob_Jen]

We are looking for other cruises do to the price. Disney ~$5,200/week RCCL ~$4,000/week for an inside room and charges on board and air fare.

 

I would love to go to Turks & Caicos Beaches but they are $ - $6,000/week in November and that is not Thanksgiving week.

 

We also want to probably go away for ~10 days.

[Julienatul]

My DD has LOVED trhe production shows on Carnival since she was 18mo. She is now 4.5yrs. She loves the singing, dancing, costumes, props etc. I doubt your DD's will be bored with it. My DD also loves the kids camp. She begs to go every minute. They have alot of fun activites for them. Try another line, you may be pleasently surprised at how similar the cruises are. There is also "funship freddy" that is a character on Carnival. He comes for visits, leads dance parties and hands out lots of goodies for the kids.

[imsulin]

If you don't do a cruise, I would highly recommond Beaches resorts. We did the one in Turks and Caicos and Jamaica and loved them. They have babysitting at all hours, I think about 8 pools, a huge waterpark, 14 restaurants, scuba diving included, snorkeling, boats and all the Sesame Street characters. They have stage shows every night, a parade, and during the day the kids can do baking with cookie monster, story time with Elmo, dancing with Zoe, etc. Your kids with love it. They would love a cruise too. Have fun choosing.

 

Heather

 

Heather, we scrapped the Disney cruise we'd planned for this summer (me, DD and SIL and 3 1/2 and 1 1/2 year old grand kids. We're now looking into booking Beaches T&C for next year, as we all think the kids (and adults) will enjoy it more. I know this is a cruising forum, but think we'll be doing Beaches this time. Now....about that winning lottery ticket! Thanks for your post.

[Rob_Jen]

We are now looking at the Liberty of the Seas - Western Caribbean. We have not been to Belize or Costa Maya so that is a plus. We may end up driving to Orlando after the cruise for a few days so the kids get their Disney fix or just find a Hotel on the beach and hang there.

[CruizinMom2c]

I ditto the fact that they won't be bored with the shows. Sometimes they even do a magic show..which the kids would find interesting.

[Rob_Jen]

We are still debating on what to do this fall.

 

Carnival Dream (Mixed reviews)

Disney Magic (Spend the life savings)

RCCL Liberty (spend some money but in Miami so the cruise will be the whole vacation)

Go to a resort somewhere. (Beaches we would love to do but not worth $6,000 for the week).

[williamson_ja]

If you can wait until later to take your trip, the Disney cruises get much more affordable. With the kids sail free discount they have right now (Jan.-March 2010), it's not costing us any more than carnival would. Probably less. Disney is a much better fit for our family. Carnival just doesn't work for us. I'm glad they have carnival for the people that like that style of cruising though. Having lots of options is good for everyone.

[victoriasmommy]

just cruised for the first time with my just turned 3 y.o.

I chose NCL because of the freestyle dining...

So the first day we hung out at the kiddie pool, there was only 1 other little girl there and DD and she had a great time, then we went to dinner at 7 and DD loved the 9 oclock show. lotsa music/dancing.

the kids club was great.

DD is not in daycare and has never been left with strangers but she saw all the toys and other kids and asked everyday to go.

also they had things like lego family play time, face painting etc throughout the day... then the second night we felt like eating earlier... enjoyed the flexibility.

 

We love Disney and I booked the NCL because it was cheaper... but I was thinking DD might not have gotten to enjoy the Disney nights show because she was so obssessed with going to kids club...

 

i recommend Atlantis if not a cruise... water play area for the kids. dolphin petting, and the Dig exhibit is pretty cool. also some other interesting things to do in Nassau.

[Rob_Jen]

If you can wait until later to take your trip, the Disney cruises get much more affordable. With the kids sail free discount they have right now (Jan.-March 2010), it's not costing us any more than carnival would. Probably less. Disney is a much better fit for our family. Carnival just doesn't work for us. I'm glad they have carnival for the people that like that style of cruising though. Having lots of options is good for everyone.

 

If we were going to do a Mexican Riviera cruise than this would be good. We are in NY. The flight costs to fly to LA would negate the kids savings.

 

We are looking to go out of Florida.