Sleeping and Children

[ILMommaof2]

My husband and I love cruising (been on 6 cruises), but haven't been since having children. We're thinking about our first family cruise; kids will be 22 months and 4 years old. Looking at NCL Epic, or RCI Allure. I wondered, though, what do you do at night with the kids? Our 22 month old will certainly go to sleep earlier than we do; our 4 year old can stay up a little later-- do parents just sit in the cabin and read/watch TV? OR, have parents found their little ones will stay up later because of all the excitement? Trying to decide if we wait for the 22 month old to get just a bit older and more flexible in her sleeping schedule.

[cb at sea]

This is where a balcony cabin comes in handy....you'll have someplace "to be" when the children are down for the night (or nap!). Sometimes, parents will take turns going and doing things at night.

 

Most ships offer some sort of babysitting...whether in cabin or in a group setting...there's usually a fee attached, but it's worth it once in a while! Check out each cruiselines policy before booking.

[ehough]

Ditto the balcony! We put the kids down and then hung out on the balcony for a bit. It was also very helpful for naptime since the other option was to sit in a darkened room for 2 hours! We did find that they stayed up later, since they napped. They'd nap from 2-4 and then be awake and happy until, at the earliest, 9pm.

[askimdog]

Yep, kids NEED sleep for sure. They stay up late and all day your hauling around a crabby one. We have a 7 year old whose bedtime at home is 8. On our last cruise and the one coming up next month we do the following.

 

She is tired after walking in Port all day, uon returning to ship it might be a little pool then early dining then back for homework brought from home. If she does it in the morning, she can play an extra hour after dinner with her cousin on board or at Camp C ( though she is not a big fan of it all the time). By 8:30 or 9 because it is vacation she is in bed with both or one of us. We are normally in bed at home by 9, so no biggie here. Sometimes she'll fall asleep then one of us might want to go out for a show, but this rarely happens. Once she is asleep I turn on a booklite and read an hour more. Balcony is out of our budget, so that isn't an option.

 

So for us, things don't change that much from home. I do know from experience I won't keep my 7 year old up on ship past 9PM...I know what I'll get the next day.

[B_Mc]

Balcony! Dh and I took turns tag teaming the room, one out enjoying the balcony while the other explored the ship. And honestly, DS was still up waaaay too early so most nights I was ready to crash with him!

[Mom2B&Z]

Another vote for the balcony :) Our first vacation with children was when the boys were 4 and 2 yrs respectively, we spent many an evening sitting on the balcony reading or talking. At least on the cruise you have the sound of the waves! Sometimes one of us would go out to an event, but usually we crashed early.

We do let the kids stay up a bit late on vacation, bedtime at home is 7:30pm, but they will often stay up until 9pm. We balance it out by sleeping in a bit later than usual, with the occasional nap for both boys (now 6.5 and 4 yrs) in the afternoon. Whatever you do, don't let the kids get over-tired. That's not fun for anyone.

[The Canuks]

Just like the OP, my wife and I are taking our first cruise sine having kids. DD's are 2 years and 4 years old. We had searched for cruise lines that offer a kids camp that would appeal to both ages.

 

We booked the Carnival Dream, January 14, 2012 sailing.

 

We chose this for the fact that Camp Carnival takes kids from age 2 and up, and even provides diaper changing! The Camp goes to 10:30pm, and you pay an additional $6/hour for extended service till 1am. The kids are able to camp out/"slumber" during this time, allowing Mom and Dad the opportunity to explore the ship together.

 

For nap time we chose to go with the balcony option, as I would hate to sit in a darkened room, with no sound for 2-3 hours. At least my wife and I can sit out on the balcony, have a drink and have some alone time, and listen to the waves, as they splash against the ship.

 

The Caunks

[TheCalicoCat]

We sat outside of our room - the weather would not have allowed for sitting on the balcony if had one...

 

(When we tried to stay in the room with him, it was a game.)

 

Also we had to remove the bulbs from the light fixtures...

[ashmac8]

For naps one of us napped with him (he was 4 at the time). The other got some quiet time at the pool on sea days. He skipped naps on port days.

 

At night, I usually volunteered to stay in the room with him. He was usually ready for be around 9pm (8pm is his normal bedtime). Husband gambled and hung out while I read quietly in the room.

 

As another mentioned he gets up early so I was ready to crash. Plus I enjoy my quiet time.

 

We had an oceanview room so no balcony to escape to but had no problems.

 

Good luck

[cantw8togo]

When our kids were your ages, I would take the youngest back to the cabin to get him to sleep while DH would take our eldest exploring for an extra hour. That was the trip that they discovered the games room and our eldest learned how to play checkers. It also made our eldest feel more grown up than his little brother because of the special time with daddy. When they go back to the cabin, I would go out exploring while DH would put eldest to bed and then he would often watch tv for a bit and then fall asleep unless there was something special that he wanted to see. Sometimes if the kids were well rested, we would all catch the early show. We would sit in the back row incase we needed to duck out.

 

Family cruises are certainly different from couples cruises, but they are still enjoyable and worthwhile.

[flowerboy]

Pretty much the same thing we do as a land based vacation.

[Almost Packed]

balcony vote here!

 

also, i think the kids mostly have to be 24 months (over two years) for the camps (at least on Carnival I believe)

 

So i would certainly wait until that time but hey, that's only a couple of months away.

[chipmaster]

Any vacation with young ones is a juggle whether land or ship. In a hotel one can go to the lobby, ditto for a ship. We sometimes did that tag team when ours were young. Mostly when ours were young we still took vacations usually just used the time to spend quality evening time with the kids and catch up on sleep, ha ha. It mattered little whether it was Las Vegas, Hawaii or Disney Cruise it was time with them and we stayed with them. We'd be up bright and early with the kids, after all it was about quality time with the kids not some escape. In a few years you'll be wishing for that time again as they get older they really will want less and less of you. Different stages have different joys, enjoy this time and worry less about having fun adult time, those times were before and will come later.

[parrotthead]

If 22mo old is a heavy sleeper or a go with the flow baby, put little one in a stroller and let them sleep and just wheel them around with you...

Thats our plan when we go in Feb with our (then will be) 8mo old. Hes very go with the flow...sleeps anywhere, (he has no choice, we have been traveling with him from the get go)

Regardless you will have fun.

(if you do choose RCI, check into their RoyalBabies program...its speciffically for the Under 2 set)

have fun, take lots of pictures.

[dc-snoopy]

When we went on our cruise in 2006 we went with a couple who had their 2.5 YO son with them. We were all signed up for late seating. Around 6:00, the dad would go up to the WJ and get dinner for son. He would bring it back and mom and dad would sit with son (or takes turns while the other was getting ready for dinner) while he ate his dinner. They made arrangements to have one of the ship staff members babysit in the cabin. She would arrive by 6:30 and would be there with him. His bed-time was something like 7:30. He would get ready for bed and they would be able to leave whenever they wanted with the sitter there. Sometimes they were there until he fell asleep. Sometimes we have pre-dinner plans (we were all there for the wedding of a good friend). And they would be with their son until essentially he fell asleep or close to it. And they had a nice relaxing dinner with the other wedding guests. Worked out great. I think it's something like $8/hr. It's about 3-4 hours depending on when the sitter shows up and when you get back from dinner, but they loved it and their son loved it. At the end of the week, he asked if the sitter could come home with them!

[mymollysue]

I would definitely get a balcony. I would also pick a ship that has a nursery or babysitting on board. RCL's nursery was fabulous and they were open till midnight I believe. They would put our DD to bed in the nursery and then we would transition her to the room without much difficulty.

[kellylw]

I think it depends on how heavy your kids sleep. We had a balcony, but didn't use it much at night (it gets windy out there sometimes!). Once my son was asleep we were able to watch movies on portable dvd player or tv, read books, talk quietly all with the low lights on. DS stayed up an hour later than usual, but woke up at the same time. With the early mornings we weren't too interested in going out after he was asleep anyway, but would have gone one at a time.

 

While we have always cruised with balcony cabins, they aren't a necessity for us. I use it, but my husband never does and when they are in direct sunlight I have found them rather uncomfortable. I think in the future we will pick oceanview unless our next child is a really light sleeper.

 

As someone else mentioned, some lines have in cabin babysitting that you can use if you don't want to be confined to the cabin at night.