Is a "culturally enriching cruise" a bad idea with kids?

[dltaeg]

We love to cruise and have always wanted to visit China and Japan. So imagine my delight when I find a great cruise, for a great price with RCI. 

 

However after looking more into a "culturally enriching cruise" I not sure if to book or find another way to visit. 

 

We will have 3 children with us who will be 12, 10 and 7 at the time, while we do always try and immerse ourselves in the local culture when visiting new places we are worried about the food options and also the language barrier if we go on this type of cruise. 

Has anyone done this time of cruise with children or done one altogether and offer some advice. I've read a few blogs/reviews online but nothing from anyone with children. 

[Biker19]

6 hours ago, dltaeg said:

I've read a few blogs/reviews online but nothing from anyone with children. 

All of the features of the ship will be available to the kids - Spectrum would be great for those ages. Not sure they would care much about the "culturally enriching" part, though talking to Chinese kids might be tough.

[Sail n Snow]

7 hours ago, dltaeg said:

We love to cruise and have always wanted to visit China and Japan. So imagine my delight when I find a great cruise, for a great price with RCI. 

 

However after looking more into a "culturally enriching cruise" I not sure if to book or find another way to visit. 

 

We will have 3 children with us who will be 12, 10 and 7 at the time, while we do always try and immerse ourselves in the local culture when visiting new places we are worried about the food options and also the language barrier if we go on this type of cruise. 

Has anyone done this time of cruise with children or done one altogether and offer some advice. I've read a few blogs/reviews online but nothing from anyone with children. 

We sailed Quantum of the seas at Christmas out of Singapore and it was great.  We have a 9 and 14 year old.  The cruise was quite diverse (probably because of Being the holidays). 
 

We’re booked on a cruise out of Shanghai in August on Spectrum and a short cruise on Voyager in Jun. 
 

With a "culturally enriching" the food has more Asian options but still has Western options as well. If you sail from Singapore everything is in English.  I’ve been told the China cruises will have announcements in both Chinese and English. 
 

I think as long as you understand that the primary audience is Chinese these cruises can be a lot of fun.  I would also consider going with a suite or above if sailing on Spectrum.  They have made the solarium a silver and gold only area and have their version of Costal Kitchen (one for silver and one for gold suites). I hear it’s also good for getting away from the crowds.  Diamond + members also have access to the silver areas on Spectrum.  

[FlotheFloof]

Not a cruise, but we did a family trip to Europe last summer.  Our youngest was 12--about the typical "kid age" on the trip, but the youngest child was 8.  This was an itinerary designed for families.

 

I have to be honest--the 8yo struggled.  She was a good kid, and a real sport about trying things, but she did have some issues.  She got bored on some of the tours, and also got tired and cranky.  No worse than your average 8yo, but at least one parent had to sit things out a few times.  She was the youngest of 4, which is why I suspect they brought her at that age.  

 

On the good side, we had no language or food issues.  But, I'd be concerned about the youngest needing to sit out an excursion last minute--that would be disappointing and pricey.

 

Good luck, whatever you decide.

 

P.S.  We're doing a Baltic cruise this coming summer, and my youngest will be 14.  I have zero concerns about him at this point (I did have some on the Europe trip, but he did fine).

[3monkeys4me]

We haven't done one of these cruises but I totally would go for it. You know your kids and if they are generally pretty flexible and open to new things they will likely be fine.  The nice thing about the cruise is there should be at least some familiar settings for them. We have traveled a fair amount with our kids (primarily in Asia the last few years) and so far we have run into very few issues with the kids, they are 10, 14 and 16 now. They were 6, 10 and 12 on our first Asia trip. Our oldest was born in Italy and we started traveling in Europe when they were very young.

[cb at sea]

If you're giving your kids the gift of traveling...then go for it!  They will love you for it.

 

[dltaeg]

8 hours ago, FlotheFloof said:

Not a cruise, but we did a family trip to Europe last summer.  Our youngest was 12--about the typical "kid age" on the trip, but the youngest child was 8.  This was an itinerary designed for families.

 

I have to be honest--the 8yo struggled.  She was a good kid, and a real sport about trying things, but she did have some issues.  She got bored on some of the tours, and also got tired and cranky.  No worse than your average 8yo, but at least one parent had to sit things out a few times.  She was the youngest of 4, which is why I suspect they brought her at that age.  

 

On the good side, we had no language or food issues.  But, I'd be concerned about the youngest needing to sit out an excursion last minute--that would be disappointing and pricey.

 

Good luck, whatever you decide.

 

P.S.  We're doing a Baltic cruise this coming summer, and my youngest will be 14.  I have zero concerns about him at this point (I did have some on the Europe trip, but he did fine).

Thanks for the reply. I don't think that would be a huge problem for us. Our kids have been travelling and crusing since the oldest was 4 and the youngest was born. They have been all around Europe and seen lots of America and the Caribbean too and excursions and days out have never been a problem. 

 

Hell, they usually end up coping better than the adults with the long days and many miles we walk 🙂 

[The_Big_M]

If the children are fine with travelling and tours, then I'd say it shouldn't be an issue. 

 

The only other downside that comes to mind is the kid's club, if they're into that. Given the diversity of cultures and there often aren't so many families on them as well, it's not the same experience as they'd be used to. If they're not fussed about that though, then not so much an issue.

 

As for food, as mentioned they do have western food onboard, but it's more limited, and the Asian food isn't great either. (One memorable experience on Ovation out of China I had was ordering sweet and sour pork, and then just getting the topping, but no rice. I questioned why that was and was told they only served the rice to Asian guests???... The pork and sauce itself was terrible as well. And yes I know sweet and sour pork isn't an Asian speciality in any case, but it was just what seemed most appealing from that night's menu.)

 

OTOH, you'll have great Asian food when you're ashore, and there's still enough to find something suitable onboard. Plus you'll have lots of differences to observe over the whole trip.

 

Language definitely isn't an issue as they have Western CD, with Asian assistant and announces are translated as needed. Depending on numbers there are usually some dedicated Asian/western staff, and they cater for that mix well.

[FlotheFloof]

3 hours ago, dltaeg said:

Thanks for the reply. I don't think that would be a huge problem for us. Our kids have been travelling and crusing since the oldest was 4 and the youngest was born. They have been all around Europe and seen lots of America and the Caribbean too and excursions and days out have never been a problem. 

 

Hell, they usually end up coping better than the adults with the long days and many miles we walk 🙂 

 

If you think your gang would do fine with this, go for it!  It will be an amazing experience.  I only bring it up because I know this young lady sat out a couple of tours--for example, a walking tour of Rome.  She and a parent caught up to the group by taxi at Piazza Navona.  That would be trickier on a shore excursion.  

 

I have 4 kids, and they have varying levels of interest/energy/tolerance of heat and crowds.  On the good side, my most challenging one (DS22, has Asperger's) is looking forward to the Baltic cruise, although he's doing a couple different excursions from his adventure-loving siblings.  And that's fine--he didn't even GO on the Europe trip.

[SRF]

I traveled to China in 1983.  VERY few people spoke English.

 

We were at a school on tour, and they were playing a game that was like pool, but instead of balls, it had like checkers pieces.

 

I expressed interest and they taught me how to play, and let me play a game.  All without words.  And this was high school students, and my in my late 20s at the time.

 

Kids will find a way to communicate.  Heck, your younger ones will probably come back speaking some Chinese. 😄

 

 

[bearette]

My son said.goodbye in Italian for a month after our Mediterranean cruise. They don't need to speak the language to play. They find a way to.make it  work. As long as you keep their interest in mind, they will do fine. Stop at a park for them ( I have visited almost every zoo or aquarium in every country I have visitd, too). Have fun.

[3monkeys4me]

45 minutes ago, bearette said:

My son said.goodbye in Italian for a month after our Mediterranean cruise. They don't need to speak the language to play. They find a way to.make it  work. As long as you keep their interest in mind, they will do fine. Stop at a park for them ( I have visited almost every zoo or aquarium in every country I have visitd, too). Have fun.

 

Honestly I think this is key when traveling with children. Instead of doing an all day tour we plan our own things. We might do something like a hop on/hop off bus, but we try not to keep strict schedule. If we are visiting a site they might not enjoy as much in the morning, we do something in the afternoon they would enjoy. We stop at parks, grab ice cream or other treats through out the day.  We haven't had an issue with the language barrier. Frequently kids from the countries we have visited have been eager to practice English (especially in Thailand and Souther Korea) and our kids have enjoyed learning new works too. My teens speak a bit of Mandarin and that has helped some too though. 

 

And sometimes kids surprise you. We spent almost 3 weeks in Japan recently. We visited Tokyo Disney and Universal Studios Japan, fed the deer in Nara, went to the Robot Restaurant and the Samurai museum. When the trip was done all three kids agreed their favorite day was the day we spent in Hiroshima visiting the Peace Memorial Park and Museum, which was something my husband and I really felt was important but we expected it to be too heavy of a day emotionally for them. They were 15, 13 and 10 at the time.