what were your favorite cruises with young children

[kitkat343]

As we are (hopefully) on the road to recovery, I was wondering if people wanted to post links to their reviews of cruises with children or say which cruises or ships they've sailed with young children and would recommend to others.  My dream is to visit Cuba, but I'm not sure if that will be an option when cruising returns and am hoping to find some alternatives.

 

My kids have loved the cruises they've been on and the reviews of my cruises with my kids are in my signature line if anyone else is interested in ideas.    Please  note that the cruises my family did to the Panama Canal and the Baltics were really wonderful for kids if you have children who like to travel and explore new places.

[Onessa]

Our DD was 5YO for her first cruise - RCCI Radiance.  Just a three day out of Seattle to Victoria and Vancouver to see if she'd do ok at sea (she had motion sickness issues)  No problem cruising and she loved it all -- kids club, exploring the ports, eating at the "fancy" restaurant
Next we did a round trip AK cruise out of Vancouver -- great time hiking, dog sledding on a glacier, doing the Jr Ranger program at Skagway, totems, witnessing a rescue at sea.
Over the years we done about a cruise a year.  Other memorable were HI (snorkeling with sea turtles, watching land being created from the lava flow from sea at night).  Various Med and Baltic cruises (ancient ruins, medieval ramparts, fancy shopping districts, running a race at Olympia, Pompeii, gondola rides, art museums, etc.)  
Through the kids programs, she has met kids from all over and still keeps in touch with several.  Loved having dinner in the dining room every evening having participating more and more in conversations with the adults, charming the waiters, trying dishes she never would have tried back home.

 

[RSLeesburg]

ah...what a good topic.  

 

Our first adventure into the world of cruising was when our son was 3.  We took RCI Grandeur out of Baltimore for 6 day to Bermuda.  Our son loved being on the ship, the kids club, the small pool - just about everything.  My wife and I also enjoyed the ease of travel - we drove to port, walked on ship, and just relaxed.  It kicked us off on a new way to travel, and up until Covid, we took one cruise every year thereafter.  After our last Christmas cruise, we knew we needed some new itineraries, and as our son was soon going to age out of the kid's club, we wanted to start to explore other parts of the world.  In 2020, we were supposed to be sailing in South America over Christmas, but that cruise was pushed off a year and then eventually cancelled when Celebrity switched ships on us.  And summer of 2021 we were supposed to be sailing to Norway from Southampton, but we moved that cruise to 2022, as we need to move this summer when we were supposed to be cruising.  Will be so happy once things return to some semblance of normalcy...

 

 

 

[kitkat343]

My kids were 2 and 5 when we went to Norway and it was amazing!  The only thing I'd note (which won't affect you since yours are bigger) is that Norway doesn't allow young children in cabs without car seats.  There  isn't much public transportation because the ports are so small.  Since we usually explore independently we were stuck more than in other places with kids when it would rain and they didn't want to walk.  That trip started in London, and in London when we got caught in the rain and the kids got tired of walking, we'd hop in a cab, go get the kids food and wait out the rain and then they'd be ready to tour again, but in Norway it was a little harder to reset like that.  But all of the ports were amazing, and very easily accessible for children.

 

And I'd love to go to Hawaii - we've never been and I'm sure it's amazing.

Edited March 3, 2021 by kitkat343