Best Cruise Itinerary for a Toddler

[leongcpa]

Hi,

 

We are pretty seasoned cruisers (10+ cruises - mostly to Europe), but this will be the first with a toddler (14-15 months old by the time of cruising). Due to timing, we are considering several cruise itineraries, and I'm curious to see which itinerary you guys think might be best with a toddler:

 

(1) 7-Day Caribbean with HAL: FLL, Key West, Cayman/George Town, Ocho Rios, Half Moon Cay, FLL

(2) 7-Day Caribbean with HAL: FLL, Grand Tuk, San Juan, St. Thomas, Half Moon Cay, FLL

(3) 7-Day Caribbean with HAL: FLL, Half Moon Cay, Falmouth, Cayman, Cozumel, FLL

(4) 10-Day Caribbean with HAL: FLL, Bonaire, Willemstad, Orangjestad, Amber Cove, Half Moon Cay, FLL

(5) 10-Day Panama Canal with HAL: FLL, Half Moon Cay, Oranjestad, Willemstad, Panama Canal, Cristobal, Colon, Cristobal, Panama Canal, Gaun Lake, Puerto Limon

(6) 7-Day Caribbean with NCL: Miami, Roatan, Harvest Caye, Costa Maya, Cozumel, Miami

(7) 10 or 11 Day Australia/NZ with NCL: Sydney, Fiordland, Dunedin, Akaroa, Picton, Willington, Napier, Tauranga and Auckland

(8) 11 Day Caribbean with HAL: FLL, Phillipsburg, mount Peleee, Fort-de-France, Bridgetown, Castries, Soufriere Bay, Antigua, St. Thomas, Half Moon Cay, FLL

(9) 10/11 Day Europe/Canary Islands with Cunard: Southampton, Brugges, Funchal, la Palma, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Lisbon, Southampton

 

A little more about us: We've done a couple of Southampton cruises before so we have done trains, buses, and private cars to and from Southampton, but we've never done a Canary Islands cruise. We haven't done any Caribbean cruises before so those are all new ports for us. We've never done an Australia/NZ cruise before, but we have driven all over New Zealand and Australia and have been to almost all of the ports on the NCL Australia/NZ cruise, but we love NZ so we don't mind going back. Probably looking to do something fairly relaxing and less adventurous; we would want a fairly easy itinerary traveling with our toddler. (Part of the draw of the NZ cruise is the ease of planning - we know exactly how to get from Sydney Airport to Circular Quay, and exactly how to get from Auckland's airport to downtown Auckland and Waiheke Island). What do you guys think? Which itineraries would you choose? Which ports are pretty easy to do with toddlers? 

 

Edited July 27, 2019 by leongcpa

[Essiesmom]

Well, you don't seem to be considering any line that has child care for a toddler the age of yours.  You don't say where you are from, but I think you need to consider the long flights to get to Australia with a toddler - hopefully not a lap child...  EM

[jbethel11]

I agree with what @Essiesmom says. A long flight can be daunting in itself, but with two toddlers? If I had to chose any itinerary by themselves, it would be the NZ cruise. One benefit for you would be the ability to easily navigate that country by car, and the ease of planning, but once again, long flights if flying in. 

Edited July 27, 2019 by jbethel11
Grammatical/typographical errors

[mjkacmom]

If it matters, there will be no childcare or splash pad for a child that age on those ships.

[soozles]

Where are you from? Flights are something else to consider... I would not want to fly a super long distance with a toddler. My son is younger than your child, but personally I feel a very port intensive cruise or a cruise to places you haven’t been is not the way to go for a first cruise with a toddler. You don’t know how they’ll react. My friend just took her 18 month old on his first cruise and he threw up several times from motion sickness. We are doing a Bermuda cruise (not one of your options) but it seems perfect for us for now since the ship just spends 3 days in one place, we don’t need to stress about trying to see everything in a few hours or rushing to catch the ship. 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

4 hours ago, jbethel11 said:

I agree with what @Essiesmom says. A long flight can be daunting in itself, but with two toddlers? If I had to chose any itinerary by themselves, it would be the NZ cruise. One benefit for you would be the ability to easily navigate that country by car, and the ease of planning, but once again, long flights if flying in. 

why 2 toddlers? OP only mentions one toddler.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

12 hours ago, leongcpa said:

Hi,

 

We are pretty seasoned cruisers (10+ cruises - mostly to Europe), but this will be the first with a toddler (14-15 months old by the time of cruising). Due to timing, we are considering several cruise itineraries, and I'm curious to see which itinerary you guys think might be best with a toddler:

 

(1) 7-Day Caribbean with HAL: FLL, Key West, Cayman/George Town, Ocho Rios, Half Moon Cay, FLL

(2) 7-Day Caribbean with HAL: FLL, Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Thomas, Half Moon Cay, FLL

(3) 7-Day Caribbean with HAL: FLL, Half Moon Cay, Falmouth, Cayman, Cozumel, FLL

(4) 10-Day Caribbean with HAL: FLL, Bonaire, Willemstad, Orangjestad, Amber Cove, Half Moon Cay, FLL

(6) 7-Day Caribbean with NCL: Miami, Roatan, Harvest Caye, Costa Maya, Cozumel, Miami

 

We've only done Caribbean cruises, but DS was 3 when he started cruising....

There is a question of a car seat... Will you use a car seat in all of the taxis, or will you not be bringing one with you at all?

 

I am going to assume that you will be flying from Europe.

 

Both FLL and MIA airports are fairly close to the ports, but you'd still need a car seat in a taxi, or you will need to be on a bus shuttle to avoid using a car seat. Do search this board - a question of baby transportation in FL has been discussed a lot.

WIll you be able to swing by a Walmart and pick up a $40 Cosco Scenera NEXT?

 

As far as the ports go... As long as you are ok taking a taxi everywhere - you should be fine with a toddler. Which brings us back to the car seat question...

 

Number 4 and 6 would be pretty toddler friendly if what you are looking for is beach time. That's what we do - we are not into city excursions or Mayan ruins, and having a small young kid prevented us from doing cave tubing or white water rafting, etc.

 

I am also very biased because our most favorite itinerary is ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao), so I'd pick this one in a heartbeat.

 

If you click on my signature links, you will see brief descriptions of the beaches we've been to recently. Also, head over to the Destinations board for more info on every single port.

 

Falmouth is the most useless and underwhelming destination ever. And the beaches in Jamaica are not as good as Panhandle Florida, IMHO.

Ocho Rios is only good if you are doing active stuff like ziplining or climbing the Dunns River falls. Also, imho. So, we did that before we had the kid or left the kiddo with grandparents at home.

 

Grand Cayman has nice public beaches by taxi. What we loved doing in Grand Cayman before the baby was the Stingray City excursion. Now we only do a beach until DS is big enough to do Stingray sandbard and snorkeling.

 

We've only been in San Juan for a couple of hours, and the timing was odd - arriving at 4 pm, so we just walked over to the old fort and walked around for a couple of hours (very tiring). If the kid is good in the stroller or being worn, and you are into historical stuff - that is good.

 

Roatan is lovely (not the port itself) if you can do a 30 minute taxi ride. Look in my signature about the Infinity beach trip.

Harvest Key is just beach time (or a pool), no taxi required. It's kind of like a private island.

 

Costa Maya and Cozumel have nice beaches if you can do a taxi ride. In Cozumel you could actually walk over to a hotel (depending on which port you are in - there are at least 2) and do beach time there, or you can walk through the mall and have a meal at the restaurant. 

 

Costa Maya has lovely beaches, taxi is $3 pp or you can take a $3 pp open air taxi which is like a hayride being pulled by a tractor. No a/c and stinky, but no car seat is needed for this. The port also has dolphins and a pool so no need to go anywhere.

[flippergirl]

3 hours ago, mjkacmom said:

If it matters, there will be no childcare or splash pad for a child that age on those ships.

Personally I would look for these amenities. That as well as ease of getting to port (shorter flight, less plane changes,  port closer to airport) are more important than the itinerary to me with a toddler. 

Others had good points re: the car seat. We also use a cosco scenera for travel. 

ETA: the NCL Escape has a nursery so if the last cruise is on that ship you would have childcare. 

Edited July 27, 2019 by flippergirl

[kitkat343]

Our first cruise with our oldest son was on Princess, a 10 day Panama canal cruise, which was amazing with kids.  But honestly I am pretty disappointed with the HAL 10 day itinerary, as it is missing one of my favorite stops - Cartagena.  Cartagena isn't necessarily the best port for a toddler (although my 2 year old really loved running around there) because it's quite hot but it is absolutely gorgeous but I'd really hate to go all the way to the Panama canal and skip Cartagena so you can visit the Bahamas.  

 

Each family is different  - on my honeymoon I met a family at Angkor Watt who was happily traversing the world with a toddler and 6 year old - but for my family we needed to consider making vacations as easy as possible with children.  We have taken many interesting cruises with our kids (you can look at the cruise reviews in my signature line below all of the reviews except Alaska were done with kids (I was pregnant with my first on that cruise) - I'd say that my children's favorite cruises were the Baltics, Norway and Panama Canal, which we did with 2 and 3 year olds).    For my family, it is possible to take an interesting port intensive cruise, but we do need child care on the ship after that (although you might not need that).

 

Towards that end, please bear in mind the following childcare options:

 

All new and most refurbished Royal Caribbean ships, all Disney ships and the NCL escape all have drop off nurseries for babies aged 6 months- 3 years for a fee.

 

Cunard and Princess allow children under 3 to attend the kids club with parental supervision (the kids club staff on princess were excellent about helping my 2 year old when he was in the kids club since we sailed during the school year where there were very few children on board, and they had time to help him).

 

Cunard and Carnival both allow drop off care in their regular kids clubs starting at the age of 2.  There used to be a drop off night nursery from 6-10 pm on Cunard and this may still be existence, although when you search their website the link for it is broken so you would want to call the cruiseline to confirm that this hasn't changed prior to booking, although the Cunard kids club personnel were the weakest of all the kids clubs we've utilized (Princess, HAL, NCL)

 

In terms of ports with children:

 

Ocho Rios has a very nice animal exploration place called dolphin cove, where you can touch a dolphin, swim with stingrays, feed lovebirds out of your hand and interact with lots of animals.  It is located right next to Dunn's river falls.  I wouldn't bring a small child to dunn's river falls, but you can have the adults take turns and visit the falls.  we had an excellent lunch at Scotchies, which is a chain across jamaica and had delicious jerk chicken.

 

Grand Cayman - stingray city is wonderful, but I wouldn't take a small child there.  They have a great turtle farm.

 

Roatan is great for kids - they have an iguana farm, and Victor Bodden provides private transportation all over the island.  His home has monkeys and other animals you can play with.

 

Costa Maya - Our 3 year old loved the Mayan experience with Native choice.  You visit Mayan ruins, then have a cooking lesson and eat an authentic Mayan meal.

 

 

Not on your list:

 

Alaska, and my kids also really liked our visit to Rio Dulce in Guatemala

 

 

Edited July 27, 2019 by kitkat343

[leongcpa]

All,

 

Thanks for the information and input! To add more: We will be flying from California. We will also be booking a second cabin and airfare  for my mother-in-law (grandma for toddler) to come with us to give us some breaks during the holiday. She takes care of our toddler a couple days a week for us, which she loves to do (only grandchild). This will be her first ever cruise. Thus, we are not in need of babysitting/nursery services provided by the cruiseline. We would love to take a cruise to Alaska, but unfortunately, due to timing of the toddler's shots and my work schedule, the Alaska cruise season will be over by the time we are able to take time off for a holiday. We also have a Cosco Scenera NEXT from Walmart, a light travel stroller (mountain buggy nano), and a travel crib (the Lotus), which we will bring on this trip, so we are covered there. We will also bring an inflatable yellow rubber ducky tub that our toddler can play in with water (if need be). We will also use it to bathe him. A Mexico cruise from California would be easiest for us, but having been on one before, which was a bit of a booze cruise, it's not really our speed.

 

Thanks!

[leongcpa]

2 hours ago, kitkat343 said:

 

 

Kitkat343,

 

Many thanks for the information and excellent cruise reviews. We are actually considering a Norwegian Fjords cruise on the QE in the farther future, so that review is quite helpful. I actually thought about a Northern Lights cruise on Cunard (which I think is on the QE) but I think it might be too cold and rocky for our toddler (roughly the same timeframe and passes the same area as the Virgin cruise that came too close to shore and had to be evacuated by helicopter). We were actually on the NCL Star on the same  Baltics itinerary in August 2013, and more or less had the same itinerary (floatplane museum/old town in Talinn - loved the submarine, also used Alla in St. Petersburg, etc.); I think you are right: that is an itinerary that would be great for kids as most of the ports are pretty easy to plan. We will definitely consider it.

Edited July 27, 2019 by leongcpa

[flippergirl]

So in your situation personally I would choose among the Florida departures (less travel time to get there) and pick the itinerary you (and the other adults) are most excited about. They all have some nice beach ports and your kid is young enough to enjoy most any activities she can participate in. 

[kitkat343]

10 hours ago, leongcpa said:

Kitkat343,

 

Many thanks for the information and excellent cruise reviews. We are actually considering a Norwegian Fjords cruise on the QE in the farther future, so that review is quite helpful. I actually thought about a Northern Lights cruise on Cunard (which I think is on the QE) but I think it might be too cold and rocky for our toddler (roughly the same timeframe and passes the same area as the Virgin cruise that came too close to shore and had to be evacuated by helicopter). We were actually on the NCL Star on the same  Baltics itinerary in August 2013, and more or less had the same itinerary (floatplane museum/old town in Talinn - loved the submarine, also used Alla in St. Petersburg, etc.); I think you are right: that is an itinerary that would be great for kids as most of the ports are pretty easy to plan. We will definitely consider it.

 

 

Norway is truly spectacular, and much of it is quite accessible for children.  The two issues to note are that Norway will be requiring all ships visiting UNESCO fjords to be zero emissions, which not all ships are so your options on the 7 day cruises to the fjords may change (our favorite stops were Geiranger, Flam and Olden) and at least the first two will be affected by the changes.  Also, if we could do it again we would arrange taxis far in advance, since cabs on the street cannot take kids without car seats so we sometimes found ourselves stuck (which people who take ship tours or tour buses wouldn't encounter but we usually travel independently)

 

Since you are in California, would a one way Panama Canal cruise work?   I haven't researched the stops on a one way Panama canal cruise since we're from the east coast so the 10 day roundtrip is perfect for people from here, with a lot of great stops for kids.  A one way Panama Canal cruise  would save you one long flight, and if you sail Princess, your mom can bring your child to the kid zone and the counselors would take care of your child while your mom is in the room, so she can read a book and everyone gets a break.

 

My oldest was 3 when we visited the Baltics, and he keeps saying he wants to go back so his younger siblings can see St. Petersburg (I got pregnant in Copenhagen with my second on that trip, so none of the others saw anything!) 

 

If you think it might help to look at pictures, feel free to email me at jaclyn343@yahoo.com .

[cb at sea]

A toddler really won't care where you are!  But, I would be finding a ship with some sort of nursery (if you desire any "alone" time).  Otherwise, anything YOU want to do, you should!