Toddler Excursions, RCI vs NCL & Aspergers

[JBCall]

Hi there,

 

I was hoping to hear from some of you have had experience taking little ones cruising with you. I am wondering what you typically would with an active toddler on a port day? Our youngest will be 3.5 for the cruise we are thinking about taking (his brothers will be 5.5, and 9). My DW and I typically want to tour on a port day but I am thinking it would be too much for an active toddler. Do you typically go to the beach, a private tour, or something else?

 

Also, do you have any thoughts on RCI vs NCL for young kids (3, 5, 9)? We are looking at W.Caribbean in Feb on either the MarinerOTS or the Norwegian Star. We are also looking at the Freedom OTS or Disney. My DW and I have been on Hal Maasdam, Celebrity Summit, and Disney Wonder (with our oldest DS) - 3 day. If the price was not so high we would probably go back to Disney as we loved how they treated our then 6 year old. We hVe also enjoyed MDR and I am not sure how NCL dining will work.

 

Do the kids clubs have experience in dealing with kids with Asperger's? My oldest is very high functioning but has some definite quirks.

 

Thanks in advance.

[crusinmama06]

If you like service and how your kids are treated, then go with Mariner. I haven't tried NCL Freestyle yet (going in October) - but with Freestyle, I know they won't know my kids by name like they do on the RCI ships. I have accepted that. ;) I am going to see how I like it. :) My kids asked to go to Bermuda (Gem) and then begged to do Epic. So I am blaming it all on them. :p

 

But NCL charges for kids club port days so if you want an option to keep your 3.5 year old in a kids club for those days, then go with RCI Mariner. And I know how good RCI can be with kids who have special needs. My youngest daughter has some issues and has always has the best success with Adventure Ocean.

 

And for excursions for an active toddler, you said Western Caribbean, so that's usually Cozumel, we always do Paradise Island with RCI. Its the only way to get there by catamaran. Its an all inclusive private island. They have kayaks (free) to take out. It's a perfect Oasis for KIDS. You won't find rowdy drunk adults pouring bottles of tequila down their throats. They have a playground on the sand. They have a water trampoline. And if the currents are bad then they set up a real trampoline in the sand. They have plenty of shade and hammocks.

[Essiesmom]

There was a recent thread on the NCL board about cruising with autistic kids, and several comments were made about how the kids lost some of their quirks/mannerisms while on the cruise, almost as if the 'motion of the ocean' calmed the inner them. EM

[Mom2B&Z]

Hi there,

 

I was hoping to hear from some of you have had experience taking little ones cruising with you. I am wondering what you typically would with an active toddler on a port day? Our youngest will be 3.5 for the cruise we are thinking about taking (his brothers will be 5.5, and 9). My DW and I typically want to tour on a port day but I am thinking it would be too much for an active toddler. Do you typically go to the beach, a private tour, or something else?

 

Also, do you have any thoughts on RCI vs NCL for young kids (3, 5, 9)? We are looking at W.Caribbean in Feb on either the MarinerOTS or the Norwegian Star. We are also looking at the Freedom OTS or Disney. My DW and I have been on Hal Maasdam, Celebrity Summit, and Disney Wonder (with our oldest DS) - 3 day. If the price was not so high we would probably go back to Disney as we loved how they treated our then 6 year old. We hVe also enjoyed MDR and I am not sure how NCL dining will work.

 

Do the kids clubs have experience in dealing with kids with Asperger's? My oldest is very high functioning but has some definite quirks.

 

Thanks in advance.

DS2 had just turned 3 when we last cruised. We did excursions that we knew would interest him, that had acceptable forms of transportation (read: either a water taxi or something I could strap a car seat into!) but not always the beach or private tour. Our boys love museums, so Coral World in St. Thomas was just up our alley. You're not just limited to the beach :)

I have to disagree with cruisinmama06, even though NCL is freestyle, most of the crew on the Sun knew my boys. The fact that there were 26 kids aged 2-5 on the cruise probably helped, but I can't tell you how many times crew said "Hi B" or "Hi Z" and I had NO IDEA who they were...at first it freaked me out, after a while I found it quite comforting! It was the same at the kids club, in fact all the counselors said goodbye to B when he left on the last day. Z didn't get the same reception because he only stayed once for an hour...but that's just the way he is :rolleyes: In the dining room you can request the same servers every night, you'll just move around the dining room. We didn't, and honestly I think we will this time just because I never realized I could have this option. I did like the flexibility of everything on NCL, with the ages of our kids it took a lot of stress out of the whole vacation.

[sacway]

we just got off the Norwegian Star after a week in AK with our three children. they all had a very positive experience in the NCL kids club. one of the crew members even said hi to them by name in port midweek (despite 10,000 cruisers from four ships in town and the staffer having only a few hours off for herself...) this was a big thrill for the kids.

 

our #1 solution is find the nearest playground and/or a hopefully interesting (children oriented in places) museum. a good coffee house with comfy sofas and a tasty treat between parks and shopping also helps. I think your idea of beaches is a good one, too.

 

port day charges for our three children would have been $14 per hour, not unreasonable, but we chose instead to bring them ashore with us.

[crusinmama06]

B&Z's Mom and Sacway - I am SOOO happy to hear that we won't have to give up the one thing that we LOVE on RCI. :D So thank you! I am HAPPY that you disagreed with me!!!! :D

 

I was already looking forward to our next two NCL cruises, but now even more so. THANK YOU!

[mjkacmom]

If you like service and how your kids are treated, then go with Mariner. I haven't tried NCL Freestyle yet (going in October) - but with Freestyle, I know they won't know my kids by name like they do on the RCI ships. I have accepted that. ;) I am going to see how I like it. :) My kids asked to go to Bermuda (Gem) and then begged to do Epic. So I am blaming it all on them. :p

.

 

I have 5 kids, and we've done DCL and NCL, and prefer NCL, because we can eat when we want. I found DCL stressful when it was time for dinner, having to be at the MDR at 6 pm, regardless if we had an excursion or not. I have a child who has celiac, so we were always recognized (as her meals had to be planned in advance), so it was a win/win. Just a FYI, you can request traditional dining if you like. We were a party of 9, so DH would head down ahead of time, and make a reservation. If you find a server you like, or you want to have the same server each time, you can request (not guaranteed, based on the schedule, but they will work with you).

[zazou]

I brought my daughter who is high fonctional last year (10 at the time) on NCL Dawn and everything works fine. Like you, she has 'quirk' that needed to be resolved for her to be happy. She really loved the kid club. Everybody there call her by her name the next day. I don't know with your oldest, but mine can be particuliar with food (texture and not looking like home). She found it very reassuring to be able to go to the buffet if she cannot eat someting in the MDR. Also, in the MDR, the server was very accommoding to made her something that was not on the menu because she was not able to find something that she liked.

 

We will be going to the Med next summer and we choose again NCL because of the freestyle giving us the option to organize or day in function of her needs.

[jayteeoh]

We just got back from a cruise on the NCL Pearl. Our son really liked the kids club. He is on the spectrum but very high functioning. We had very few issues. Like others have said, all the counselors knew his name. Even random employees knew his name, which was a little weird at first. They split the kids up into age groups (2-5 years is the youngest), so it's not like they have a million kids in any given group.

 

The one thing I would say that did give me pause is that they say the kids club is an "adult free" zone. So they wouldn't let us even look in on the kids. If we happened to peek our heads in and see him, great. Otherwise, it was kind of a big deal for them to call down and make sure he was doing all right. It sort of made me wonder if they were having them sew sweatshirts in the back room (kidding).

 

The other thing is that the first day when I picked him up, they basically took him out in the middle of the game they were playing with no preamble at all. My son is definitely a child that needs some prep before transitions, so that was very jarring for him. He complained about having to leave in the middle of the game for the rest of the day. The next day, I pretty much made them let me talk to him before he left so I could tell him, "After this song is over, we're going to go." That really helped. I think if you explain your situation to them, they will be flexible.