Gem for young kids

[riddle]

My dd and sil and 2 kids, 20 months and 3 years are hoping to accompany me on the gem in nov. Will there be enough to keep the kids occupied or will this be a big mistake considering their ages? Anyone with similar experience can you give us feedback? Thank you.

[lisa928]

My dd and sil and 2 kids, 20 months and 3 years are hoping to accompany me on the gem in nov. Will there be enough to keep the kids occupied or will this be a big mistake considering their ages? Anyone with similar experience can you give us feedback? Thank you.

 

My twins have been sailing yearly since they were 18 months old. In December they will have just turned six and it will be their 5th cruise. The third on the Gem. The kids will have enough to do, I think the question is more are the parents prepared. There are a lot of things that you just cannot do with kids that age. It is not that you cannot but believe me it just will not work and instead backfire. An example is sitting for a 90 minute dinner. Cruising before kids and after kids is very different.

 

The 3 year old can go in the kids club (my kids love it) but the 20 month old cannot. As long as the parents are adaptable and understand their vacation may be more work that being at home I say go for it. Kids at that want to run so you need to find places for them to do that such as the walking decks.

 

Be prepare as I brought lot of new things to keep my kids busy at the dinner table (no, nothing electronic). More like Crayons, Wiki Sticks, stickers, etc.

 

Oh yeah, the BEST thing is having friends or family especially in an adjoining room to help.

[lzybeanie]

I was just on the Gem w. my 5 yo & 3 1/2 yo. They weren't old enough to do things like the rock wall or bowling & we had to go down the water slide w. them (they were just under the 42" req.). The family pool says it is 4'11" at the shallowest but I'm 5'6" & it was a struggle to stand & keep both me & the girls above water especially w. how crowded it gets & they complained about the salt water stinging their eyes a lot! They weren't overly fond of the kids camp (& they have to be 3 yo & potty trained to go by themselves) so they were w. us pretty much all the time. We spent a lot of time in the family hot tubs b/c they could stand by themselves but they did get crowded. There were various kids activities scheduled throughout the day & a small enclosed play area by the pool w. a small ankle deep pool & slide for kids 36 months & younger.

 

We were w. our family of 15 w. kids ranging from 3 1/2 to 11. My H & I said it would have been a very different vacation if they were older - esp. the age when they can wander a bit on their own or at the very least swim solidly. My nieces & nephews got more out of it b/c they were old enough to enjoy the demos & arcades.

 

They were fine at dinner. We ate in the MDR every night & they had their cousins to keep them entertained. We brought them to the magic show & a movie one afternoon. The most non-pool fun they had was on the dance floor in the Spinnaker lounge when it wasn't crowded & there was a live band.

 

Sleeping was great - the Pullman bed had a rail on it & the girls got a kick out of sleeping up high. They took turns w. one of them sleeping on the cot on the floor.

 

All this is not to say we didn't have a good time. Quite the contrary. But the Lisa is right that it's not a breeze & it takes a lot of supervision at those ages b/c they're not in their own environment where they can go off & play safely on their own. We had a great time but we just weren't as relaxed as the rest of our family members w. older kids or kids who enjoyed the kids camp!! :) The girls LOVED being on the ship & got a huge kick out of the whole trip. I would do it again in a heartbeat w. those ages but it's just not a kick back & relax kinda vacay.

 

Hope that helps!

[Tam25]

Hi, Lisa928

 

I saw a post that you traveled with twins. I am in a mini-suite on the NCL Gem.

My twins will be 15 months at sailing.

 

How did you fit two pack n plays in the room? Ideally I would like them to be on the side of the curtain near the balcony, but the coffee table is bolted to the floor. Any ideas or suggestions would be so helpful! We are using the other side with twin beds. Trying to maintain some privacy and have them sleep soundly without disturbing them.

 

Thank you in advance!!

[ClarkBHM]

They weren't overly fond of the kids camp (& they have to be 3 yo & potty trained to go by themselves) so they were w. us pretty much all the time.

 

Yeah, we had the same issue when we were sailing with our then 5 and 3 year old kids. We thought they would love the kids club, but they didn't. They preferred being with us. So we limited their exposure to a few hours in the evening so that we could have a nice dinner together. The rest of the time, they were with us which, while not a bad thing, did not constitute the super relaxing vacation that we had had in mind.

 

Of course, YMMV.

[mjkacmom]

Keep in mind there is no pool or splash area for kids boy potty trained.

[lisa928]

Hi, Lisa928

 

I saw a post that you traveled with twins. I am in a mini-suite on the NCL Gem.

My twins will be 15 months at sailing.

 

How did you fit two pack n plays in the room? Ideally I would like them to be on the side of the curtain near the balcony, but the coffee table is bolted to the floor. Any ideas or suggestions would be so helpful! We are using the other side with twin beds. Trying to maintain some privacy and have them sleep soundly without disturbing them.

 

Thank you in advance!!

 

Sorry I just saw this now.

 

I am not too sure what type of room has the table bolted to the floor as in all of my cruises I have not seen that. Any room that would have 4 people would need the pull out couch thus the table could not be bolted.

 

To be honest I do not think they will give you two pack'n'plays in one room. We were traveling with my parents so we assigned one to each room so we got both but used both in our room. We hade a mini-suite and they were end to end parallel to the pull out couch which stayed closed. I forget what we did with the table (maybe outside or tucked under the table with the chairs outside). It was enough for us to get past to get to the balcony but they loved to play with the curtains.

 

I hope that helps.