Cruising w/ 7 year old DS

[RealityCheck]

We are taking our first cruise with our DS 7 and I was just wondering what advice anyone can give me. Our DS loves stuffed animals and sleeps with 10+ a night. I know I cannot bring that many with us on the trip. Any other suggestions? Or general advice on cruising with a 7 year old. I have cruised 6 times w/o kids but this will be the first time with one.

[hftmrock]

We are taking our first cruise with our DS 7 and I was just wondering what advice anyone can give me. Our DS loves stuffed animals and sleeps with 10+ a night. I know I cannot bring that many with us on the trip. Any other suggestions? Or general advice on cruising with a 7 year old. I have cruised 6 times w/o kids but this will be the first time with one.

 

 

tell her there will be a secret friend waiting for her every night after dinner (towel animals) and she can look forward to that each night. My children were always excited to what the room steward created.

[Caronrick]

We are taking our first cruise with our DS 7 and I was just wondering what advice anyone can give me. Our DS loves stuffed animals and sleeps with 10+ a night. I know I cannot bring that many with us on the trip. Any other suggestions? Or general advice on cruising with a 7 year old. I have cruised 6 times w/o kids but this will be the first time with one.

 

We brought our 7 yo DS with us last month for his first cruise. If its in the budget, the camp carnival held a build a bear session with the kids. Our little man loved this and still sleeps with it! my big advise is to be flexible.. he might love the kids club and want to spend all his time there, he might not care for it at all... flexibility is key.. go through the dailies for the ship and the kids club schedule before hand to find things that might interest him. It's his vacation too, let him have some say in acivities or event that your guys do during the holiday. Other than that, I'll be happy to answer any direct questions about our experience. :D

[ILUVCRUIZN]

We love taking our 8 year old with us. He always has such a great time. He loves Camp Carnival, he loves the water slides, he loves the arcade and we all enjoy the Seaside theater in the evenings. There is always something to do. I am not sure what ship you are on but he also loved the ropes course.

 

We usually take a couple of card games like Uno, Go Fish, etc. They are portable and do not take up a lot of luggage space, plus I think that the ship has some games in the library? He usually does not take any stuffed animals with him but he always ends up bringing 3 or 4 home. That seems to be a popular souvenir choice for him. He does have his own backpack that he takes on the plane with things for him to do and we always take our portable DVD player for his movies and that works out great.

 

Enjoy your cruise!!!! :D

Edited April 22, 2014 by ILUVCRUIZN

[Caronrick]

Another bit of advice, for us, there was very little value to going to the kids club meetingébriefing on embarkation day.. We signed up our son prior to boarding, so the had all his information and any specific questionséconcerns we had were well answered the following morning. IF you think your son might go, I suggest signing him up as part of your on line check-in. The meeting was packed with people signing their children up and there was a very long wait. We were able to get a phone that night, but this could have been easily done the next morning at the kids club also.. YMMV

[SUSIEK]

Hi, Our son is 8. He has been on 11 cruises so far beginning at the age of 3. He really enjoys the kids clubs on all of the lines we have sailed.

 

He carries his backpack onboard with some small toys.....lego's, cards, books. Our last Carnival cruise was on the Breeze. I ordered a kids gift pack from Carnival prior to sailing. It was a teddy bear and some other toys (sunglasses, beach toys, etc). He was so excited to have the gift waiting for him in the cabin when we arrived.

 

Carnival is a great choice for kids. Very family friendly. Our son loves the water slides too.

[francina]

She is going to be so busy during the day, (especially if you enroll her in camp) that she will be to tired to notice.

 

 

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[lady_cruiser]

tell her there will be a secret friend waiting for her every night after dinner (towel animals) and she can look forward to that each night. My children were always excited to what the room steward created.

 

Just wonder, what happens if you get a cabin attendant that doesn't make a towel animal every night?

[hftmrock]

Just wonder, what happens if you get a cabin attendant that doesn't make a towel animal every night?

 

I would tell him/her up front so they would know. if they didnt at that point.. I might be upset.

[j&tcruiser]

Just wonder, what happens if you get a cabin attendant that doesn't make a towel animal every night?

 

I have never seen them not make a towel animal

My son was 6 on his first cruise and he couldn't wait to get to the room to see what animal was made that night. He would sleep with them

 

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[RealityCheck]

Caronrick I would love to hear more about the kids club. Your son's likes & dislikes about the club. Some of the activates? Anything else that you think might be helpful. Thanks.

[lady_cruiser]

I would tell him/her up front so they would know. if they didnt at that point.. I might be upset.

 

OK thanks. One of my former my coworker told us they had a cabin attendant who didn't leave a towel animal for her grandkids every night. And she the type not to ask people for anything extra. Afraid to put them out.

[Tapi]

We purchased kid's sized rollaway bags for our kids. Told them that they could only bring what fits in them, so not 10 stuffed animals. Even with all the fun things going on aboard the ship, the kids will be happy to have some of their favorite toys when they're having some down time in the cabin. And it's nice for them to "pack their own bag". Makes them feel like they are part of the cruise preparations.

 

 

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[mousey]

Our DS was 5 when he went on his first cruise with us. We took him on a 4-night cruise to see how he would like cruising. He loved it and loved the kid's club. At age 9, we took him on spring break cruises almost every year. From the age of 9 on, he did not like the kid's clubs and never went to them. He is an only child and was around adults a lot so he was more mature than a lot of kids his age. He thought the kid's clubs were for "babies". He would head to the game arcade as soon as we got on board the ship and always made a new friend within 15 to 20 mins. It became a game between the DH and I as to how long it would take him to make a new buddy.

 

Your DS may or may not like the kid's clubs. You know him better than anyone. If he likes playing kid's games and interacting with other children than he'll probably like the kid's club. You might want to go onto the "family" forum on this board. I read on a post somewhere that they are updating the kid's clubs and are making them even more fun for the kids. I read something about a new Dr. Seuss theme. Check it out.

 

I hope your son's first cruise is as much fun for him as our DS's was for him, and that like our DS, your's will develop a love for cruising. He's 18 and still wants to cruise with us this summer.:D

[mayabean]

My 8y old twins went for the first cruise at 7 and next six months later at 8....they didn't like the camp on NCL but probably because they had such a large kids zone in aft of ship with 4 pools, 2 slides and own hot tub lol.....They loved some activities at Camp Carnival...They would look at the list of daily activities in the morning and would chose what they wanted that day.....plus between the 0n shore things, some shows in the evenings, and pool they were kept busy! They both brought a little carry on with some toys but never really looked at them besides one stuffy at night. Hope that helps and enjoy!

[Barbluvstocruz]

My boys (7 & 8) each have a small rolling suitcase for travel. Once their clothes are packed they are allowed to add whatever toys will fit. My youngest son managed to get 10 of the little angry bird stuffed animals in there for our last cruise.

 

My best advice for cruising with kids is to roll with the punches. I've always had high hopes that my kids would like the kids programs and want to spend some time doing the activities, but so far they have not. On our last cruise they didn't step foot in there. My husband and I just had to change plans. There were no romantic dinners, no casino time together... but there was loads of great family time!

 

Our next cruise is in June and I have no idea if the kids will participate in the programs or just hang with us. Either way we'll figure it out and have fun!

 

Enjoy! :)

[Caronrick]

Caronrick I would love to hear more about the kids club. Your son's likes & dislikes about the club. Some of the activates? Anything else that you think might be helpful. Thanks.

 

Hi! While I can not remember too many of the activities, he did really enjoy the theme parties and events they held a few of the nights. He loved the build a bear activity. He did not really enjoy some of the afternoon structured activities. He felt much of it was too childish and boring.. Casualty of him being pretty independent and mature for his age I suppose. For the most part, he wanted to spend more of his time playing in the water, so his lack of major interest in the kids club wasn't a big deal. Whichever way your kid goes, the best thing to do is just roll with it and be flexible. Let him bring a few of his own toys for those times when you need some quiet time in the room, encourage him to try new things within his own comfort level, and accept that he may want to spend all, some, or none of his time in the club and have a great time no matter what he chooses! :)

[CatlinSTJ]

Our youngest daughter went on her first cruise last year and we warned her that she could take ONE friend with her. She, of course, picked one of the largest critters she owns. (I have some cute pics of her pulling her suitcase behind her with a giant pink cat strapped to it.) By the time she came home she nearly needed another bag to hold all the animals the had collected - I'm pretty sure we added something everywhere we went! Our cabin steward got a kick out of her and her collection and arranged it for her on her bunk every night.

 

 

Next cruise: Carnival Breeze June 2014

[RealityCheck]

Thanks everyone for the thoughts and advice. We are very good at going with the flow. If he wants to spend time at Camp Carnival then we will let him, if he wants us to play putt-putt with him a bunch then we will. I was just looking for some thoughts and advice from those that have traveled with a 7yo ish in the past and what worked or didn't work for ya'll.:D

[momonthego17]

Check out this thread for more ideas

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2030272

 

Have a great cruise!

[Warm Breezes]

We are taking our first cruise with our DS 7 and I was just wondering what advice anyone can give me. Our DS loves stuffed animals and sleeps with 10+ a night. I know I cannot bring that many with us on the trip. Any other suggestions? Or general advice on cruising with a 7 year old. I have cruised 6 times w/o kids but this will be the first time with one.

My kids packed small stuffed animals at that age...like Ty babies. In fact I think they still make their way into their lugguge and my kids are now 17 and 19 :eek::D. We have a lamb and a reindeer that have been on all 10 of their cruises and have the pictures with them and the towel animals to prove it. My rule for the kids are that they get 1 carryon bag to bring any "extras" with them and they are in charge of carrying and taking care of it. The bag is usually a back pack for DS and a Shoulder bag for DD.

[Warm Breezes]

We love taking our 8 year old with us. He always has such a great time. He loves Camp Carnival, he loves the water slides, he loves the arcade and we all enjoy the Seaside theater in the evenings. There is always something to do. I am not sure what ship you are on but he also loved the ropes course.

 

We usually take a couple of card games like Uno, Go Fish, etc. They are portable and do not take up a lot of luggage space, plus I think that the ship has some games in the library? He usually does not take any stuffed animals with him but he always ends up bringing 3 or 4 home. That seems to be a popular souvenir choice for him. He does have his own backpack that he takes on the plane with things for him to do and we always take our portable DVD player for his movies and that works out great.

 

Enjoy your cruise!!!! :D

 

We've been doing this for years for every vacation we take. We've got about 6-7 different card games that get rotated when we travel. It's a favorite thing for all of us...especially pre/post cruise when we stay at Embassy Suites during the Managers Reception and during the cruise either on the Promenade or Lido deck depending on the weather.