Young Children on a Princess Cruise.

[tempvariant]

Hi All

 

We're considering taking the 23 day cruise from Vancouver, Canada to Auckland, New Zealand in September.

We're a family of three, two Adults, one 3 year old.

 

The idea of travelling slowly home to Auckland is appealing to us but we are worried about 23 days on a cruise ship with such a young child.

 

Has anyone here been on a Princess Cruise with a child and can talk to this?

Will there be other kids in the discovery center or will my child be alone?

Does the discovery work much like a daycare?

 

Disney doesn't do the same route unfortunately, its Princess of flying.

 

Thanks

 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

when mine was 3, he wanted to go home after just a couple of travel days. However, he is a homebody.

He does love cruising and started at 3 (a couple of months shy of his 4th birthday), but it was no longer than 7 days at that age. He was very routine oriented at that time.... Also, he got constipated on each cruise. Also, DS doesn't do kid's club. Ever. Does not want to. You know your kid best, so you will most likely know what his likes and dislikes would be.

 

Having more than a couple of sea days in a row may be a bit boring for the kiddo that young. Or he may enjoy the hot tubs and pool. Is he day potty trained?

Which princess ship is it? Does Princess allow 3 yo's on 23 day cruises with N sea days in a row? I remember there is a limit for kids under 12 months, but I haven't looked at the age restrictions in a long time.

 

There may be very few kids on a TA/TP cruises of that length.

 

A good board to check out: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/28-family-cruises/

 

Also https://community.babycenter.com/groups/a10635/traveling_with_children

Edited January 31, 2023 by Itchy&Scratchy

[tempvariant]

Thanks for the reply.

 

Yes Princess allows for children of any age on the 23 day cruise but their day-care type thing starts at 3 years old. Our son will be three by then. They have a facility called 'The Tree House' which caters for children 3-7. I'm trying to gauge how many kids would likely be in attendance. 

 

He is good without routine and has travelled well when we go camping or visiting another city. He loves being around other children and loves going to day-care, so I'm hoping the ship will have a vibrant day-care like space with other children near his age.

 

[Cruiser_1977]

Have you looked at the roll call for your sailing? Might give you a bit of an idea of cruise makeup. 

[tempvariant]

Hi JennyB1977

I didn't know there was such a thing. I looked everywhere obvious on the Princess Cruise planner but didn't see such a thing, though I wasn't looking specifically for roll call.

Is this something I'll find on the Princess website or elsewhere? Apologies, complete noob. We've put down our deposit we have members access, the child situation is our only doubt with the cruise at this stage. We're relocating to Auckland to live, so we'll need to end up there one way or another.

 

 

Edited January 31, 2023 by tempvariant

[Rick&Jeannie]

Welcome to CruiseCritic! My DIL sailed witha 1 year old on another line, but it was a short 7 day cruise.

[Rick&Jeannie]

2 minutes ago, tempvariant said:

I didn't know there was such a thing. I looked everywhere obvious on the Princess Cruise planner but didn't see such a thing, though I wasn't looking specifically for roll call.

This is another section here on Cruise Critic.  Go back to the page where you select Princess Cruises and scroll down just a bit.  You will see the Roll Call section.

[tempvariant]

Thanks Rick.

 

I'm going to assume that went well considering you didnt mention anything specific 🙂 At 3 years old our kid is a bit past the infant stage. 

[Lady Arwen]

Hi!  For your roll call just go to main page of Cruise Critic and scroll down to roll calls and choose Princess.  The next page you will choose your ship and then you can scroll down to find your particular sail date.  Join in the conversation, just like you did here.  Easy, peasy and lots of fun!  You’ll talk with fellow passengers and gets lots of information.  Enjoy!

[Rick&Jeannie]

6 minutes ago, tempvariant said:

Thanks Rick.

 

I'm going to assume that went well considering you didnt mention anything specific 🙂 At 3 years old our kid is a bit past the infant stage. 

Hah! Yes, sorry...I guess I did leave you hanging there a bit!  There were very few kids on that particular cruise and even fewer of that age range.  (I don't recall what that itinerary was...but it was on either RCCL or Carnival). That being said...the "club" staff were always very happy to see our young one come in because she was always a very good baby...fun to play with.

[tempvariant]

Thanks Everyone. Scarily I see no mention of kids in the role call. But then, only ~20 people have announced themselves and the ship takes thousands.

[Rick&Jeannie]

1 minute ago, tempvariant said:

Thanks Everyone. Scarily I see no mention of kids in the role call. But then, only ~20 people have announced themselves and the ship takes thousands.

Be sure and post your question there...don't just read on a Roll Call.  You never know; there may be others in the same situation as you and just have not spoken up.

[tempvariant]

Thanks. Ill do that.

 

Still looking for any personal experiences with the treehouse daycare if anyone reading has had any.

[jeromep]

We did a 10 day R/T Vancouver California Coastal with a 22 month old many years ago now.  I admit that there is a big difference between a 22 month old and a 3 year old.  We had also booked a suite, so we had lots of room for a playpen/porta-crib we brought along (not a Pack-n-Play, too bulky, but something from a different company meant for travel like flying).  She was still in diapers at that time and we packed twice what we felt we would need just in case.  A baby or toddler in diapers really limits you on what you can do.  If they are not toilet trained pools, hot tubs and kids clubs are all off the board.  If they are toilet trained and not in diapers, then your options open up a lot more, including kids clubs and being able to take them to the pools.

 

Be prepared to bring nearly everything with you that you think you'll need, especially in the form of OTC kid medications.  You aren't going to find any in the shops on board, and good luck with finding stuff in port, depending on what ports you are visiting.  If the cruise hits Hawaii on the way home, you'll find that in some of the ports there is shuttle service to Wal-Mart so you can re-provision there, if necessary.

 

We never found food on board to be an issue.  The MDR was great at preparing food for our daughter that she liked.  Every night for her was off menu, but also not a huge problem for them to fulfill.  She was perfectly happy with a chicken strip, some diced fruit and some fries.  It isn't the most balanced meal, but she did ok.  Her meals are still not very balanced and she is much older now.

 

Be mindful of your cabin selection.  The more room the better, and a balcony is a must.  You'll need someplace you can retreat to during nap time and that may end up being your balcony.  We found that having a suite was beneficial.  Again, room to separate ourselves from a napping child, plus we had laundry service, and boy did we use that.  We had a pile of kid and adult laundry every day and it would have cost us a fortune to pay for it out of pocket in other accommodations or we would have used up a number of hours on a given day to do the laundry ourselves in the coin-op.  Another benefit of the suite that we used at least a couple of times was MDR menu room service.  There were some night where we just couldn't leave the room and being able to get a full MDR meal delivered to our cabin was a godsend.  We could bathe and put our daughter down for the night in a dark part of the cabin while we had dinner.  Lots of really good reasons to book suites when you are cruising with kids.

 

I'm not sure I'd call the Treehouse a daycare.  I suppose it could be.  The staff is engaged with the kids and they have a lot of programming, crafts and activities.  The older the kids are, the more they will determine if they want to be there or not.  On a sailing as long as what you are planning, I'm not sure how many youngsters will really be there.  Your child may get a lot of attention and one-on-one because of the length and nature of the sailing not generally attractive to young families.

 

Like others have said, find the roll call entry for your sailing and introduce yourself.  You may find others that are doing similar as you who just haven't mentioned it yet.

[arizonaperson]

 Try  looking and/or posting on the family cruising section of cruise critic. This is a sample from somebody’s cruise from the treehouse for ages 3 to 7 to give an idea of what activities are available for that age range. How exciting a move and taking a ship to do so. I think just bring plenty of your child’s favorite things and go with the flow. Maybe sometimes they will want to go to the children’s program ,maybe sometimes they’ll like to be with you .but What a great way to travel either Way in my opinion. We started out our son traveling international at eight weeks  of age and many more trips throughout his childhood. He is Now in his 30’s.

 You might get more responses from people that have actually done a long cruise with children under the family section. But I doubt that there will be very many children on your cruise,but that can be ok in my opinion.

 I know you said your child is not three yet but will be when you cruise ,just be mindful that your child must be three and toilet trained to participate in the program without you being there. 

Edited January 31, 2023 by arizonaperson

[tempvariant]

@jeromep @arizonaperson

 

Thank you for the great replies. I had not even considered the laundry situation, foolish considering its 23 days.

I will head over to the family section tomorrow when I'm not working and ask there.

 

 

[arizonaperson]

6 minutes ago, tempvariant said:

@jeromep @arizonaperson

 

Thank you for the great replies. I had not even considered the laundry situation, foolish considering its 23 days.

I will head over to the family section tomorrow when I'm not working and ask there.

 

 

Princess also has self-serve laundries on board ( on most if not all decks) so consider that as well ,it’s a great feature. About three dollars to wash and  $3.00 to dry and if you bring your own soap with you ,you save on that expense. 

[nattie]

We have traveled with DS on princess and other cruise lines since he was 1 yo. Princess has been his favorite for various reasons for almost 13 years now.

Looking back at when he was 3 yo, DS LOVED kids club on Princess but he is also used to daycare type of situations. Does your 3yo go to daycare normally? If yes, they will be used to daycare routine and rules. I am saying this because a friend of mine thought her kid would magically love kids club when she has never been away from her mom before. Giant fail there. Anyway, in my personal experience Princess kids club stuff is "head and shoulders" above the stuff on other lines we tried (That list does not include Disney). They truly bond with the kids and (it might have changed) most of them have some type of child development degrees (at least in younger programs).

Now for possible negatives. This is a LONG cruise, be prepared for mostly retirees on board. Ie almost no other kids. Might be a plus if your kiddo likes interacting with adults (mine did) but also may be a huge minus. We only did 7 days way back when DS was that young. Also, in some cases when fellow passengers are expecting a "kid-free" cruise they might get grumpy when kids inevitably "act up" by actually being kids (personal experience from 14 day circle Caribbean here).

Also please keep in mind that Kids club has a mandatory break for lunch and dinner daily unless in port.

I did not see what ship is sailing that itinerary, but some Princess ships have more to offer for kids, ie "hidden" kids pool on Caribbean Princess.

 

[nattie]

Just now, arizonaperson said:

Princess also has self-serve laundries on board ( on most if not all decks) so consider that as well ,it’s a great feature. About three dollars to wash and  $3.00 to dry and if you bring your own soap with you ,you save on that expense. 

If you do spring for Suite for space reasons, laundry is included. Just FYI.

[rjack22]

This is only a guess.  But I doubt there would be many kids on a cruise that long.   I hope you can find out more.

[Human Tripod]

Was on the 28 day Hawaii and Tahiti cruise last November, there was only one child aboard…..around 3 or 4 years of age.   

[tempvariant]

@rjack22  @nattieI suspect you'll be right there, just a few kids would make him extra happy. He's a happy kid who is very familiar with daycare setups so I'm not to worried. He also interacts with adults really well so that bodes well. 

 

 

Edited January 31, 2023 by tempvariant

[cnd crsr]

I would think the best thing would be to call Princess with your questions.

Because the cruise is 23 days and probably not one most couples with small children would be considering, the Kid's clubs may be different than what would be normal on a short cruise with many children. Example would be if there were under 10 children between 3 and 12 years,they might put them all in one group. There are usually 3 groups -- little ones, a middle  group and teens (can't remember the exact age groups)

 

It has been years since we cruised with little ones so I have no advise but I will tell you what we found then. The kids club was open during the day but the kids had to be picked up  by parents for lunch and dinner.They did have an evening session (can't remember the hours) but we didn't use this as it was too much time in a day care situation for our little one. We didn't try a cruise longer than a week at that time.

I would certainly rather cruise home to NZ  than fly, and you can do it, just check the options of what will be available for your little one. Others have supplied good advice on laundry, diapers/supplies. I know meals will not be a problem as Princess are very good at adapting menu for all and you might even find your  son is spoiled by all the staff -

 

[tempvariant]

@cnd crsr Thanks, we've spoken to Princess and they don't really have any answers for us. They do have the kids treehouse (ages 3-7) on our ship but they don't have much else to say. The people we spoke to have no idea how many kids will be on this cruise either. 

[cnd crsr]

5 minutes ago, tempvariant said:

@cnd crsr Thanks, we've spoken to Princess and they don't really have any answers for us. They do have the kids treehouse (ages 3-7) on our ship but they don't have much else to say. The people we spoke to have no idea how many kids will be on this cruise either. 

It s what it is, and there is treehouse. You just have to hope there are other little one as that will make it more fun for  your son. As someone else advised ask about kids on your roll call.

What ship will you be on?