Baltics with a 6 year old? Weigh in, please.

[alj1208]

We want to do a Baltic cruise with our soon-to-be-6-year-old DS. We would be traveling with extended family. Is this realistic? How do we make it work? Which cruise line?

[cb at sea]

Don't know why it wouldn't be realistic! A cruise is a cruise.....sure, some have a different "feel" to them, but the vacation will be the same...same activities onboard. If it's the excursions you're worried about, research your ports. After all, kids live there, too! A guidebook can help you with child-friendly points of interests.

[Kerry's Girls]

What I've read here on the family board is usually that families like this itinerary more than many European routes because the ports are close to the cities/sightseeing and pretty child-friendly. I had been on the roll call for a Baltic cruise this June (had to cancel), and there were 4 families just on our roll call that had 6 & 7 year olds.

 

You might do a search of these boards under "Baltic" and read reviews from others who have taken young children.

 

Best,

Mia

[Essiesmom]

I think this area has great attractions for kids...In Oslo, the Viking Ship museum and Kon Tiki; Stockholm has the Vasa Museum; Tivoli in Copenhagen...and most places are very walkable. EM

[boulders]

While you're in the Baltic, I'll be on a cruise in the Med with my 6 year old. ;)

 

My kids love cruise vacations. It's a fabulous way to travel with kids.

 

I had planned a Baltic cruise before I found a great deal on my Med cruise. I would recommend Celebrity (fabulous itinerary on the Eclipse), Princess, Royal Caribbean and HAL, in about that order. HAL is not known for being kid-friendly, but we'll be on one of their ships for 24 days this summer.

[lmg1230]

We cruised the Baltics when my younger daughter had just turned 6 and loved it!

 

Lisa

[onthelake]

We did a Baltic cruise when DS was 7 and until we did a South Pacific cruise, it was our family favorite. As already mentioned, sites like the Viking ship museum and Tivoli Gardens are great, affordable and easy to reach. I think it is a much more family friendly itinerary than most Med cruises.

[Britchic4]

We did a Baltic cruise last year with our 9 and 6 yr olds. They loved the ports, although St Petersburg was pretty tiring (for all of us!).

Here's what we did:

 

Copenhagen - we got the HOHO bus but spent most of our time at Tivoli Gardens. We got wristbands which was expensive but this was something fun for the kids to do.

 

Stockholm - we got to the Vasa Museum early to beat the queues and were really glad we did, the queue was about a mile long when we came out. We thought this one would be for DS(9) really but DD(6) loved it just as much. Definitely something for everyone here. Then we walked around the area a bit and got a boat over to Old Town where we had some proper Scandinavian lunch and discovered DS really likes pickles.

 

Helsinki - We walked towards the cathedrals and found the market by the river, the kids were fascinated. DS even tried reindeer meat (:eek:) and tiny fish which were like whitebait. There were lots of souvenir stalls here with some stuff a bit classier than the usual tourist tat. We found the bridge with lots of padlocks and hearts on, saw the cathedrals, had a drink in a cafe and went back to the ship - it was wet and grey here so we weren't inclined to hang around. If I asked the kids which was their favourite bit they'd definitely say the market.

 

St Petersburg - we booked a private tour with TJ Travel with another family. This was definitely the best solution for us as we could tailor it around the children. They loved the fountains at the Peterhof and parts of The Hermitage but did get bored with that, and the crowds and heat. Their favourite parts were the market opposite the Church of the Spilled Blood, the shops where the chose their Russian Doll and amber and the pancake house we went to for lunch!

 

Tallinn - our favourite port. The Old Town is great and I can thoroughly recommend the Medieval restaurant which I believe has its own thread on here. DS ate wild boar here among other exotic things! There are lots of people dressed in medieval costume (trying to entice you into their restaurants and shops) and lots of unusual little shops. This was the children's favourite port too.

 

Zeebrugge - we were tired by now and didn't want to make the trip to Bruges so just stayed in Blankenburg but if I weren't going to be coming back any time soon (we're Brits so have been to Belgium quite a few times) we'd definitely have gone to Bruges which is lovely.

 

Our children would go back in an instant, don't have any hesitations about a Baltic itinerary. The time zone changes do make this a tiring cruise from the UK (3 changes), particularly when combined with St Petersburg which is heavy on the feet, but our kids managed fine.

[nothriver]

We're doing UK highlands and Norway fjords with my daughter, turning 7 during the trip. We've booked some private tours, in case she is fussy, she'll only be bothering us. We walk regularly, she can easily walk 3 miles without getting tired, if only my mother could walk as far, we'd be in good shape!

 

We'll also be traveling with a 3 generation group, and have booked connecting cabins so that if I want to go "out", my mother will be in the next connecting cabin to "babysit". We've chosen an extremely port intensive cruise however, and we are all early to bed, early to rise to see the sights travelers so I don't anticipate needing much adult time, and wouldn't hesitate to travel with my kids without extended family.

 

We are also sailing HAL, chosen strictly for the itinerary. As a previous poster noted, HAL is not known for family friendly but as far as I can tell, I believe it will be perfect for our family, they have very family friendly policies, low rates for 3rd/4th passanger, etc.

 

My only concern is what to dress her in. She's already chosen formal wear for the "party nights" as she calls them, and now wants a whole new "cruise casual" wardrobe. Sounds like she'll have twice as much luggage as the rest of us!