Family Cruisers....come in please!

[Sunshine101]

Hi all,

 

Bit of background: After taking several (selfish) cruises ourselves, I have finally convinced DH to take our girls on a cruise. They will be 7 and 4 at cruise time. DH and I have sailed the Explorer 2x, Navigator 3x, Brilliance 1x and our last one was the Freedom.

 

So....to all you family cruisers, give me your best tips. What ship do you prefer for young families, what kind of cabin do you book and where do you all sleep (we usually book a balcony cabin...but I have no clue, does the sofa couch fold out??), have you used a childcare minder on board, tell me about the Adventure Ocean (would the girls be able to get a group together, or no because of their age diff?), where do you usually dine.....everything!

 

As much as DH and I feel we are experienced cruisers, we are a little clueless on the family cruising thing, so any tips or help would be wonderful.

 

Many, many thanks! :)

[cruisenfever]

Have you been to the Family Cruises Forum?

[firefly333]

I would look at connecting cabins for such young children and put them in a cabin next door. Older kids ok for a cheaper inside across the hall, but I think at their age connecting is nice if you can afford it.

 

Some cabins have upper bunks. would you be comfortable with them in bunk beds? You could all sleep 4 in the same cabin, but the cabins are small as you know by now.

[G&TQ]

Sunshine101.

DH and I have also been selfish. Our DS (6) has stayed with Grandma. Cruising has been couple time. We have bopked or first family cruise for next spring. We cant wait!! We have booked an outside quad. I would check out the family board but I also like he idea of a cruise line specific thread for families also.

 

Happy cruising!

[Grannycb]

Connecting cabins are great for family travel. They give you an extra bathroom and some privacy.

[crusinmama06]

Have you been to the Family Cruises Forum?

 

Yeah that! :D We have our own place so come on over! ;)

 

Adventure Ocean pages are at the link in my signature.

[jamesr3939]

Been there, done that. First cruise we took the kids we got great advice from our travel agent who had kids. Obviously, Disney would be good. We have never put our kids in another cabin. We got larger cabins and kept them with us. I can see if you can afford it an ajoining cabin would be great, but I don't think necesary.

 

We just did a cruise with our kids and grandkids and put them in a junior suite (2 adults, 1 four yoa and 1 almost two yoa) and they were fine. Of course we were in a GS on the other side of the ship, so who am I to talk!

 

Great thing about the FOTS JS was the huge walk in closet that made a great place to stuff toys, etc to get them out of the way. I was skeptcial of "walk in" but really it was huge. They had plenty of room for sleeping with the fold out couch (I think my son slept on it) and the pull down bunk.

[jamesr3939]

FOTS had great programs for kids. The 4 YOA grandson wouldn't leave when we went to pick him up.

 

Big thing I would look at is the config of the balcony. I'm not sure I would want a four YOA or seven YOA to have access to a balcony without me being therel. Sliding door are heavy and latches are strong, but I'm just being "grandpa."

[trixietx]

We are doing our first family cruise during Christmas. We have booked a JS for son, DIL and 3 and 6 year old grands, the JS next door for us and a balcony stateroom for our daughter.

I wanted either our son and us or him and my daughter to have adjoining rooms to make it easier for the grandsons and their parents, but couldn't get it done. We will be next door and our daughter is three doors down.

 

Jamesr, I agree. DH and I have already talked about making sure that balcony door is locked at all times. I don't think the 3 year old could open it, but the 6 year old could. We are going to have a long talk with them.

[BethCarp]

I don't know how easy it is to get an adjoining cabin. Our kids were 3 and 6 when we went. We had a Junior Suite and it suited us just fine. That was on Enchantment and a pretty small JS, compared to the newer classes. Plus I like to get a double cruise credit with the JS and priority check-in. With the JS, you have a double sofa bed. If it doesn't work to have your kids share a bed, look into getting a roll-away or bringing a blow-up bed. My kids would love the pullman beds now, but unfortuately I've never seen them in a JS. We didn't have any issues having the balcony with the kids.

[darrelltwo]

Freedom Of The Seas - My kids really enjoyed this ship, naming it in their top 3 vacations of all time. They've been everywhere, Disney World, Disney Land, Cedar Point, Aruba, the Keys, New York, various canyons, motocross parks, beaches, theme parks etc... they are not easily impressed, and are well traveled. I say this just to say if they had such a great time, and with ages ranging from 9-19, girls and boys, then FOTS must being doing something right. The kids program is split and grouped by 3 year ranges so that younger kids aren't holding older kids back from fun and younger kids aren't being ignored just to keep older kids entertained. Middle to older age kids can also have the option of signing themselves in and out, so they control how much they're "stuck" there if they wish to go do something else.

 

The ship wide scavenger hunt for the older kids was pretty intense on our cruse. I'm sure to some degree audience participation is a factor in how much fun this is, but on our cruise, it was a 1/2 day even that even the parents became vary involved and competitive with.

 

They also extend their children's program onto their private island, btw. I think Disney is the only other cruise line to take their kids program off ship and into an excursion.

[jonesy111]

We just returned from our first cruise and had our 11 year old dd with us. She loved it! We had a regular stateroom with balcony and the couch folds down into a bed, it was a huge bed and could easily fit two kids no problem. So if money is an issue you certainly could go that route, it might be a bit tight with 4 people (during the day)but plenty of sleeping room. My dd didn't spend a lot of time in the Adventure Ocean but she did enjoy the time she did spend there, it helped that there were two other 11 year old girls on the cruise that she made fast friends with. Her age group was 8 - 11 years so that makes me think that the younger one may be 4 - 7 and your girls would be together.

 

We ate all suppers in the main dining room and dd loved that as well, but she is older and able to sit longer than younger ones can. You could always mix it up a bit and not eat in the dining room every night.

[sailawayjack]

Hi all,

 

Bit of background: After taking several (selfish) cruises ourselves, I have finally convinced DH to take our girls on a cruise. They will be 7 and 4 at cruise time. DH and I have sailed the Explorer 2x, Navigator 3x, Brilliance 1x and our last one was the Freedom.

 

So....to all you family cruisers, give me your best tips. What ship do you prefer for young families, what kind of cabin do you book and where do you all sleep (we usually book a balcony cabin...but I have no clue, does the sofa couch fold out??), have you used a childcare minder on board, tell me about the Adventure Ocean (would the girls be able to get a group together, or no because of their age diff?), where do you usually dine.....everything!

 

As much as DH and I feel we are experienced cruisers, we are a little clueless on the family cruising thing, so any tips or help would be wonderful.

 

Many, many thanks! :)

 

:cool:We took two cruises when the girls (2) we that age. A balcony is a good size for that. Sofa pulls out. Just get DH dressed and out b4 girls get ready for dinner. Girls are too young to be next door by themselves. Eat at early sitting. 8:30 is too late. Adventure Ocean is just right for them.. They may be in different age groups. Never used a babysitter, but some are available. We did our two at that age with another couple with girls the same ages. Give them buddies to hang out wth. Eat in MDR for breakfast, windjammer for lunch by pool. ENJOY:cool:

[cruiseguy1016]

We have taken our kids on a couple of cruises with us. The first time money was a little tight so we all shared an oceanview. It was very tight but we made it work. We spend very little time in our cabin. The only time it was an issue was when we all had to get ready for dinner. DS and I would get ready first and then DW and DD would.

 

On our second cruise with the kids, money was not as much of an issue and we had connecting oceanview rooms. For us, this is the best solution. Everyone has a lot more room, we have a second bathroom and Mom and Dad can have alone time without the kids in the room.

 

We are taking the kids with us again next year and have booked separate cabins again. The kids are older now, late teens. We have DD and her friend in a cabin, DS and his friend in a cabin and DW and I in another cabin.

 

As for which ship, I have never been on Freedom or Oasis class so I don't feel I should comment on those. We have been on Sovereign class, Vision class, Radiance class and Voyager class and have been happy on all of them. The Voyager class, being the biggest of the ones that we have been on, obviously has the most to offer. But, all of the RCI ships have the Adventure Ocean program and that is what will keep the kids happy throughout the cruise. Make sure you sign them up and that they go on the first night. The first night is when they will meet everyone in their age group and they will make friends to do stuff with for the rest of the cruise.

 

I would not base my decision solely on what the ship has to offer. You will not be on the ship all the time. Another factor in the decision should be the itinerary. Make sure to find things for the family to do at each of the ports.

[njmomof2]

At 4 and 7, I think you need to have them with you. We have done a JS on Liberty which was lovely. Larger cabin with a bigger bathroom (which was important as our younger DS was not taking showers at that point...only baths so the bathtub was a great thing). I think with younger kids, you are also fine in a D1 balcony with the sofabed. They are small enough to share a bed and it's really a queen size when opened so that is also a good option and less expensive.

 

We love the Freedom class ships, but we have also taken my boys on the Mariner as well. My older son missed the flowrider and thought the promenade was shorter (which it is) but they had a good time on it as well.

 

As for ages in AO, the breaks are 3-5, 6-8 so your kids would not be together.

[Sunshine101]

You folks are fabulous, thanks for all the wonderful info!

 

I'm debating between a JS and a D1 category cabin. DH and I have always been in a D or E balcony cabin, so I'm not sure if it would be beneficial to move to a JS? Is the price diff quite hefty? Oh, and what cabins have the pullman beds? I'm embarrased to admit I have no clue what those are (teehee!)....are they single beds that pull out of the wall or something?