Family Cruise with 4 and 7 year old

[nowhook18]

We are interested in taking a cruise with a 4 year old girl and 7 year old son in February/March 2013 and have not done this yet. Typically my wife and I enjoy port intensive cruises and our kids would probably enjoy the same. Does anybody have any good advice on ports, ships, excursions, etc... for a 4 and 7 year old? The ports we probably will need to leave from is either New Orleans, Tampa or Port Canaveral. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Friend100]

This 14-day itinerary below on the Ryndam from Tampa in Feb 2013 is very "port intensive" .... but

 

 

 

... I'm not sure about the kids. The more popular options for kids at that age will be the Carnival Dream, Freedom of the Seas, Disney Dream (3 or 4 days) or Disney Fantasy from Port Canaveral, and the Navigator of the Seas from New Orleans. NCL and Carnival also have ships sailing out of NOLA.

[nowhook18]

Thank you very much for the reply. The 14 day cruise sounds perfect for the wife and I but the kids would probably want to jump off the ship if we did one that long :). I am looking at the Carnival and Norwegian out of New Orleans now. Price concerns me a bit with Disney.

[Cheryl H]

When our son was 3 1/2, we did the New England cruise out of Boston. He loved it! He especially liked the tours we picked that were on big motor coaches. He loved riding on the buses. We took a drawer full of toys with us, but he seemed more interested in playing "making soup" with the ice bucket. We let him pick out a toy at a couple ports. Some of the tours we did were exploring a Lewis & Clark fort at Astoria, plus a light ship (similar to a light house). We went inside the Carleton Martello tower in Saint John. We explored the Citadel in Halifax.

 

The portable DVD player was great for delayed flights. He watched Wonder Pets and Max & Ruby in the airport, and also in our room during the cruise. We booked the family oceanview which was a large room with a bay window. It had a separate room off to the side with 2 beds, a dresser, and his own closet. I think it had a curtain to pull shut. That was on the Jewel of the Seas.

 

We tried to select tours that were 3 hours or less. Also for the New England cruise, they had 2 times per day that children were allowed in the adult only indoor pool. (Jewel of the Seas).

 

Then we took him again last summer. We did the Radiance of the Seas to Alaska. He was 6. Loved it even better. He enjoyed the Adventure Ocean each evening. About 3 nights, the staff even took him to dinner and then onto the kids activities. Also they had family time at the indoor pool again. I think they must do that for all chillier weather cruises.

 

Haven't taken him on a carribbean one yet. But we are planning one when he is 8.

 

Have fun planning your cruise.

 

Oh another thing we did was we let our son bring his DS with his headphones on the tours. He enjoyed the tours, but 3 hours of whale watching was a bit much to expect from him at age 6. He enjoyed seeing them, and then he amused himself with his DS. He was happy and we were happy.

[nowhook18]

Thank you Cheryl H for the input. Greatly appreciated.

[Sunnyshine64]

We are taking our children ages 8 and will be 6 on their first cruise in November. I realize Miami wasn't on your list, but we are going on the Eastern Carib. which includes Half Moon Cay. I'm pretty sure this is the first week in Feb next year. We feel the ports are good for children, two of them being beach days. I'm taking kid sand toys and kid snorkel set. Camp carnival is the draw for us, winning out over Disney World. Similar prices for cruise but gives us some parent time. HMC has a nice children's play area as well. San Juan has carriage rides.

 

Anyway, that's what we chose for children of similar ages.

[Stratus22]

We are going on RCCL with our 3 year old and 6 year old. Heard great things about RCCL so we will be giving it a try. I have this feeling that we will be repeat customers though. Adventure Ocean has great reviews.

[Curise4me]

We are heading to Bermuda (RCI 6 night) this May with our 4 & 7 yr old boys. We selected this cruise due to the fact that it is in port for 3 days. This way, we are not confined to being on the ship and the rush of different ports.

[LOVINCRUIZIN]

RCCL is excellent for kids - don't discount them:)

[Mom2B&Z]

We are interested in taking a cruise with a 4 year old girl and 7 year old son in February/March 2013 and have not done this yet. Typically my wife and I enjoy port intensive cruises and our kids would probably enjoy the same. Does anybody have any good advice on ports, ships, excursions, etc... for a 4 and 7 year old? The ports we probably will need to leave from is either New Orleans, Tampa or Port Canaveral. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

We did a western Caribbean itinerary through NCL in January out of Tampa with our boys who were 6.5 and 4 yrs at the time. It was on the Star, but I think they have a different ship on that route now. The ports were fantastic, we climbed pyramids in Belize (yes, we took them on a 7 hour long excursion and had a great time!) spent a day exploring Roatan and basically hit the beach in Costa Maya and Cozumel. Our boys love the NCL kids club and even though I am a very picky person about who spends time with my children, I think very highly of the kids club staff. What we liked most is that we could mix in some fantastic learning opportunities and experiences with laid back beach days too.

[askimdog]

I make up worksheets and coloring pages for each port we visit and my daughter (7) and I work on these before the cruise ( she usually has take along school homework on the ship~ so don't bring these along!).

 

Each port we try to visit the local town on foot and find things the worksheets mentioned, eat local food and always try to visit a local school or orphanage. At times she will buy a little reminder gift from the town.

 

This past January on the Legend highlights included:

 

Grand Cayman: swimming with turtles, eating turtle and seeing the different kinds which we had a worksheet on.

 

Cozumel: we LOVE the uncrowded side of the island and walked a long ways on unspoiled beaches finding shells and treasures. She brought her beach identification worksheet. And visited a school.

 

Belize: wandered the city and she played a bit with some local kids and walked around a local school. Then ate gibnut chatting with a local elder.

 

Roatan: played at an orphanage with some of the kids. Met a girl on the street her age playing a make shift drum with her pet white rat. Priceless fun.

[Krisco420]

We have been on Carnival and RCI both 2 times but never with our kids.The carnival cruises were before the kids were born and the RCI were both this year and last year. We check out the AO program while we were there and other kids really loved it. They kept them busy. We are actually going on the Liberty in Jan with our 7 year old and 4 year old. I think this will be a good age.

[rebeccalouiseagain]

There really are no bad cruises. I have had fun on all 28+ I've been on. Most were with kids.

 

4 and 7 are great ages to cruise. Pick the itinerary you are interested in. All have kids programs.

[Warm Breezes]

We did a Disney Cruise when our DS and DD were 7 and 4. IMHO it was the perfect ages to spend the premium on a Disney Cruise. I would not do it now, when they are 18 and 15, but at 7 and 4 the Disney experience was well worth the cost.

[rebeccalouiseagain]

Watch out for college spring breakers! They are horrible.

 

I assume your oldest is in school. Are you intending to take the 7 year old out of school? If so I'd do February rather than March because the colleges do take their breaks in March usually.

[cruising_w_kids]

Hi Cheryl. I'm going on a cruise with my family including my 2 1/2 yr old nephew, 7 yr old niece, and 10 yr old niece.

 

I was wondering, based on what you wrote, did they require you to put your son in a booster seat when he was riding the bus / motor coach?

 

We will be going to Alaska and even staying for a few days in Vancouver and I'm getting mixed information that we need (or are required) to bring these safety items - car seat/booster seat - when traveling with kids. But other people who have cruised before say that it's not needed and that there is no way that these could be installed or used on buses / motor coaches.

 

I just don't want to tell my sister to bring a booster seat and then not use it when we get there because it's not actually needed.

 

Your help/advice will be greatly appreciated! :)

 

When our son was 3 1/2, we did the New England cruise out of Boston. He loved it! He especially liked the tours we picked that were on big motor coaches. He loved riding on the buses. We took a drawer full of toys with us, but he seemed more interested in playing "making soup" with the ice bucket. We let him pick out a toy at a couple ports. Some of the tours we did were exploring a Lewis & Clark fort at Astoria, plus a light ship (similar to a light house). We went inside the Carleton Martello tower in Saint John. We explored the Citadel in Halifax.

 

 

The portable DVD player was great for delayed flights. He watched Wonder Pets and Max & Ruby in the airport, and also in our room during the cruise. We booked the family oceanview which was a large room with a bay window. It had a separate room off to the side with 2 beds, a dresser, and his own closet. I think it had a curtain to pull shut. That was on the Jewel of the Seas.

 

We tried to select tours that were 3 hours or less. Also for the New England cruise, they had 2 times per day that children were allowed in the adult only indoor pool. (Jewel of the Seas).

 

Then we took him again last summer. We did the Radiance of the Seas to Alaska. He was 6. Loved it even better. He enjoyed the Adventure Ocean each evening. About 3 nights, the staff even took him to dinner and then onto the kids activities. Also they had family time at the indoor pool again. I think they must do that for all chillier weather cruises.

 

Haven't taken him on a carribbean one yet. But we are planning one when he is 8.

 

Have fun planning your cruise.

 

Oh another thing we did was we let our son bring his DS with his headphones on the tours. He enjoyed the tours, but 3 hours of whale watching was a bit much to expect from him at age 6. He enjoyed seeing them, and then he amused himself with his DS. He was happy and we were happy.

[Precious68]

We are interested in taking a cruise with a 4 year old girl and 7 year old son in February/March 2013 and have not done this yet. Typically my wife and I enjoy port intensive cruises and our kids would probably enjoy the same. Does anybody have any good advice on ports, ships, excursions, etc... for a 4 and 7 year old? The ports we probably will need to leave from is either New Orleans, Tampa or Port Canaveral. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

In Feb 2012 we went on Carnival Magic out of Galveston on a Western Caribbean to Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Montego Bay. We don't do shore excursions but the kids (4 and 2 at the time) loved getting off the boat and seeing different things. They really enjoyed the tender process in Cayman, seeing all the other ships out there too. As far as kid's program, they never wanted to leave Camp Carnival! They even ate dinner with them every night because they didn't want to go to the MDR. We are going on another in Nov on the same ship, because we know they will enjoy it. Hope that helps! :)

[Athankfulheart]

We cruised Carnival Dream in 2012 ( Western ) and loved it. We are taking our children on the same ship/itinerary in January. Its 7 night and 4 ports (Cozumel, Belize, Roatan & Costa Maya). We are planning cave tubing in Belize, beach and zip line in Roatan, shopping and beach in Cozumel and a ship day for Costa Maya. You could even get some educational tour in there, but we did a lot of that with them on Hawaii cruise and wanted this one to be more fun than functional.

 

We are taking 3 first time cruising families with us on this next one :)

[cb at sea]

On a bus, you will not need a child seat....there's no way to attach it, anyway!

[Keith1010]

The kids are going to love the cruise and when it comes to an end will want to stay so don't worry about the length of the cruise.

 

Keith

[SadieN]

When our son was 3 1/2, we did the New England cruise out of Boston. He loved it! He especially liked the tours we picked that were on big motor coaches. He loved riding on the buses. We took a drawer full of toys with us, but he seemed more interested in playing "making soup" with the ice bucket. We let him pick out a toy at a couple ports. Some of the tours we did were exploring a Lewis & Clark fort at Astoria, plus a light ship (similar to a light house). We went inside the Carleton Martello tower in Saint John. We explored the Citadel in Halifax.

 

.............................

 

I know it's probably a typo but don't want anyone looking for the Lewis & Clark fort on an East Coast cruise. Fort Clatsop is in Oregon.

[Hozhoni]

We've cruised with our 5 kids for 10 years...they Love Royal Caribbean's ocean adventure club! Now they are 21...20...18...15....& 9...have Fun :D all the ports have family friendly adventures.