Please help me pick our next cruise!

[Sparkygirl]

DH and I have seriously caught the cruising bug.

 

2012 - we cruised with our 18 month old on 4 day NCL Sky.

2014 - cruising with 3 year old, 11 year old and 13 year old on 7 day Western Caribbean, NCL Dawn

2016 - we want to cruise June-August, Kids will be 5, 13, 15 on this trip.

2018 - we again want to cruise June - August, Kids will be 7, 15, 17 on this trip

 

Due to the summer months we prefer to avoid the Caribbean during this time.

 

What itinerary would you recommend?

 

We're thinking Baltic, Mediterranean or Alaska. We will probably repeat the trip in 2016 at a later point in time when the littlest is older.

[boulders]

I've done Alaskan cruises twice with kids and Mediterranean cruises twice with kids. I love them! Alaskan cruises are easier though and have more kid-friendly excursions. As a history buff, I believe everyone should visit the historical sites in the Med. The Med is more exhausting. While you can have a great Alaskan excursion in 3-4 hours, in the Med, it can be 12 hours.

 

I would suggest doing Alaska first, in 2016 and then the Med in 2018.

[Sparkygirl]

Thank you for the input, I hadn't even thought about the excursions and the times. We are doing 3-4 hour excursions on the Western Caribbean mostly to historical mayan ruins. That will be a good judge about what level of excursions to advance to in 2 years.

[Keith1010]

I would go with Alaska and then the Mediterranean. I don't see where you need to repeat it.

 

I would not go with a Baltic cruise as that tends to have less interest with the Baltics.

 

By the way you can do Med excursions that are in the 4 hour range and I think it is important on a Med cruise not to do 12 hour tours each day because after a couple of tours/days even the adults are exhausted.

 

Keith

[Scrapnana]

I would do the Alaska cruise first. At 5, 13, and 15 they will love the "outdoors" aspect of animals and scenery. For the next one I would pick the Baltic. Summer in the Med is really hot.