Carnival Destiny - Ideas for 6 yr old needed

[lds26]

Has anyone travelled with a youngster to the following ports? Half Moon Cay, Grand Turk and Nassau? I am travelling with my 6 yr old and want to give him an amazing experience. I would like to hear from anyone who has had a great time with their child in any of these ports and what I should look into for my son. This will be his 2nd cruise but 1st with just the 2 of us. Last trip he spent lots of time on the ship instead of port visits as I had taken all my kids and took the teenagers into port on excursions which were too advanced for my lil man.

 

Thank you all!

[crusinmama06]

Half Moon Cay is an easy one - that's your private beach day. So no need to do anything extra there.

 

Nassau - my kids LOVE two places in Nassau - Atlantis (that's one VERY expensive option) and Blackbeard's Cay - swimming with stingrays (not as expensive, but would your child get freaked out?)

 

At Atlantis, you have the waterslides and it is only worth it if you are spending the entire day in Nassau (not leaving at 2pm). The day passes are expensive. Did I mention expensive? As in $110 for an adult, $80 for a child (the last time I checked). And if you go through the ship, they are MUCH more. I think $154. :eek:

 

Blackbeard's Cay Stingray Excursion - you also book it with the ship - it's a private island. The water is zero entry so he can walk in and out if he gets eeked out. On one side, you feed the sting rays (and snorkle with them). On the other side, you have your own private beach.

 

For Grand Turks - I have personally never been there (none of our ships have gone although I am dying to go) -- for me, that would be another beach day.

[cyntil8ing]

I've done all of these ports with my kids over the past few years. They're now 8 and 5.

 

My 8 year old still talks about HMC. It was just a perfect day. We brought along some sand toys from the dollar store and we spent the whole day in the water. Baby powder fine sand and no waves to speak of make this my favorite beach anywhere.

 

In Nassau, we just walked around the port area, including the straw market. My son was, at 4, still a bit young for the slides at Atlantis, and we really didn't want to pay all that money when he'd likely be too scared to try anything. At the market, the kids liked playing with the toys that the vendors were quick to put in their hands. I would not recommend doing this unless your son can easily give the toys back or you'll be buying lots of junk.

 

In Grand Turk, we rented a golf cart and just tooled around the island. The kids loved it at first, but it got old after a few hours. In retrospect, we should have returned to the cruise port earlier and checked out the pool. They liked seeing all the animals -- horses, cows, donkeys, etc. just wandering around everywhere. We also stopped at Governor's Beach for a bit. It was very nice and very empty as most people never left the cruise port.

 

But really, my best advice for ports with young kids is to not make too many plans. Everything takes longer than you expect it to and if you try to see or do too much, you end up stressed yourself or with a cranky kid. And finally, most important, don't forget to feed them every few hours.