children on med cruise

[luvdasea]

I would love to go on a Med. cruise with my family: husband, and 2 kids ages 11 and 13. Do you think they would enjoy it? Are you too rushed on a cruise ship to see the sites?

[eab]

They would love it. We did it last year when our children were 10, 12, and 17. We did all the major sites, but used a driver in 3 ports (Rome, Florence and Amalfi area) instead of using cruise excursions. We did cruise excursions in Kusadasi and Istanbul because we weren't quite as comfortable there, and did others on our own (Marseille, Athens, and Mykonos). See everything, but don't expect to sit and read every monument. Experience it. We have used lots of information learned last summer in class projects this year as they have just accidently been assigned by teachers. Cruise was a great way to go instead of having the kids haul their suitcases from town to town on a train. When the day was complete, we could come back to ship to the pool and a nice dinner.

[Bruin Steve]

I would love to go on a Med. cruise with my family: husband, and 2 kids ages 11 and 13. Do you think they would enjoy it? Are you too rushed on a cruise ship to see the sites?

 

First as to the kids...it really depends on your kids...We cruised Europe with our kids when they were teenagers and they seemed to enjoy it...I know when I was a kid, I would have been in heaven...Of course, I may have been an atypical kid...I was always into history and archaeology and architecture...

 

There are lots of things to see that are steeped in history and that SOME kids would find cool...

 

But, of course, that's not ALL kids...Only you know yours...

 

As to the notion that you are somehow rushed while on a cruise and don't have time to see things, I've always disagreed with that notion...

 

Sure, you don't have time to see EVERYTHING...Of course, you don't have time to see everything no matter what sort of a trip you take...Rome wasn't built in a day...it also can't be toured in a day...or really in three or five or in three weeks...The amount of stuff there is to see and do in some of these ports is incredible...Rome, Florence (Livorno), Naples, Athens, Istanbul...pretty much you are going to have to pick and choose...But you can fill a day in ports with highlights and feel pretty satisfied...

 

But, it would be the entire same picking and choosing if you did a land tour...unless your land tour concentrated on a particular city or region...

 

Say you have three weeks for vacation and want to go to Europe...

 

You could book a 14 night cruise that goes from, say, Venice to Barcelona...Book a few extra nights in Venice and in Barcelona and hit about 8 or 9 ports in between...You will end up aseeing a considerable amount of Venice and Barcelona...and you will get full days of sightseeing in those other ports...All of your logistical time--the travelling from city to city--will be happening while you are sleeping or eating or watching a show...Your sightseeing days are full days...

 

Or, you can book a land tour--either an organized tour or one "on your own"...Assuming you are trying to get to a good number of different places, a good deal of your time, you will be travelling by bus or train or car from one city to another...you will be waiting around at bus stations or train stations...you will be checking in and out of hotels, packing and unpacking...So, when it comes down to it, your actual sightseeing time on each day will likely be shorter...

 

Or you can choose to tour only a limited region...You can see Rome...or Tuscany...or an island or two in Greece...or the French Riviera...or Catalan...in depth...but you will not get the variety you will get with a cruise...

 

So, there are choices...there is give-and-take...but you are certainly not getting shortchanged on a cruise...You are getting full days in a fairly good variety of ports--different histories, different cultures, varied sights...

 

If there is any place you want to see in depth, you can always come back to it...or you could arrange that pre- or post-cruise to visit there (For example, when we did a British Isles/Norwegian Fjords cruise in July 2005, we flew into MAdrid first and spent several days there before getting a short flight up to London to meet the cruise in Dover)...

 

Good luck...

[mahdnc]

luvdasea,

 

we will be taking our 11 and 14 yr old kids along on our Med cruise in June, if you are still interested, how they enjoyed it.

[Summertimescallingme]

We have taken our children the past two summers and are going again this summer. They are now 9 & 14 so they were 7 & 12 on the first cruise overseas. Our kids have loved it. Yes, they were got tired of seeing so many churchs by the time we were in Estonia at the end of our cruise two years ago and yes, last summer in Venice we were very hot in July, but the experiences and memories they have far exceed any complaints. My advice is try and pick what is most important to you to see and then choose other points of interest for the kids. The things they remember from the trips are amazing. My oldest son participates on a Quiz Team at his school and he knows so many answers from our travels, that I'm sure he would never remember from simply reading about it in a book. This summer my youngest son is so excited about riding a camel at the pyramids in Egypt and he still talks about the Picasso paintings he saw in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg and almost drinking vodka at lunch because he thought it was a glass of water! It is a wonderful gift to give your family if you can.

[kestrel]

My kids (9, 12, and 14 at the time of cruise) enjoyed the trip. But they complained the weather was too hot.

 

We tried not to over-schedule, and we did manage to see all the sites we wanted to see.

[CruiseKidz]

We are cruising on Emerald Princess Rome to Venice in September from Rome with 9 & 7 year old girls.

We will fly from Australia and have 4 nights pre cruise in Rome and 3 nights post cruise. Our kids have flown to Europe before and are experienced travellers.

CruiseKidz

[gourmetgirls]

Our girl's first cruise was on HAL to Alaska two years ago. They were 11 and 14 at the time. We all loved the cruise experience, so we have planned a western Mediterranean cruise on HAL this summer. We will spend two days in Rome at the beginning and one day at the end. I think that cruising will be a great way to introduce our kids to Europe. The key will be keeping a nice balance between ship time and excursion time.

 

A big help for us is traveling with my sister-in-law and her family. Their boys are about the same age as our girls and they all get along great. We have done several trips together. We adults agree that there is a lot less sibling rivalry and whining (ie: "I'm bored") when the two families are together. We also agree that travel is a great way to keep the cousins connected as we live six hours apart.

 

Of course, we will also be having a pre-cruise talk about keeping an open mind about new experiences and realizing that not everything is going to be as exciting to you as it might be to others. With two teenage girls, we just need to figure out how to leave all hormones at home!

[luvdasea]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I think it would be a great oppurtunity, not only for the kids, but also for me, as I have never been to Europe. Now I have to convince the cousins to come along!:) Please post your experiences. I am not planning on going until 2008, so I have to live vicariously through everyone else until we go!

[scottishwee35]

My kids (9, 12, and 14 at the time of cruise) enjoyed the trip. But they complained the weather was too hot.

 

We tried not to over-schedule, and we did manage to see all the sites we wanted to see.

 

 

Oh no, what month did you all went??

 

As my husband and I are bringing our children 10 and 7 to medi. disney Cruise on 18th July 2007 and hope the kids will enjoy themselves as first time longer cruise.

 

Scottishwee35

[kestrel]

Oh no, what month did you all went??

 

As my husband and I are bringing our children 10 and 7 to medi. disney Cruise on 18th July 2007 and hope the kids will enjoy themselves as first time longer cruise.

 

Scottishwee35

We went in early/mid August. My kids are used to the San Francisco cool summer weather. Though we tried to do sightseeing in the morning, and go to museums or rest in the afternoon, they still complained. We had to constantly "bribe" them with gelato and soda.

 

However, don't let the hot weather stop you. It is really a great experience for the entire family!

[fendere]

We're headed on the Carnival Freedom early June for the mediterranean with our 5 and 7 year olds. Although we've never done a med cruise with them, it will be their 7th cruise. I love that after a day of in the port, you can come back to your home base, have dinner and the kids can go to their kid's programs and the adults get some adult time together.

[SelectSys]

We have been on two European cruises with our kids and have booked a 3rd for this summer. The first was the med cruise from Barcelona and the 2nd was a Baltic cruise from the UK. Our kids were 9 and 11 for the med and 10 and 12 for the Baltic. Both the kids and my wife and I enjoyed the med better because the weather was so much better. This year we are going on another med cruise departing out of the UK (kids now 12 and 14). We have always attached a side visit either before or after the trip which has been great. Both previous trips were 12 days and the kids enjoyed being on the boat the entire time.

 

In terms of being rushed, we never try and see too much when we go on cruises. All shore visits are only long enough to get a quick look at each destination.

[luvdasea]

fendere, We are booked on the Freedom for 2008. Please let me know how it is. I really like the ports of call that that ship is sailing to.:)

[sunnydreams]

We are taking our kids to the Mediterranean July '08 and I am really excited! I have traveled a lot with our kids- 4 and 8. We've gone to Mexico, Ireland and the Bahamas. I find that it is important that you have realistic expectations about what you will be able to see. But, I must add that some of my favorite memories have been when we "slowed down" for the kids. I ended up soaking in much more local culture than when I sped through places trying to see all the "adult stuff".

[Peanut Patricia]

fendere, We are booked on the Freedom for 2008. Please let me know how it is. I really like the ports of call that that ship is sailing to.:)

 

We too are going on the Freedom this July on the Grand Med itinerary. Check reviews later this summer. We are taking our daughters ages 13 and almost 11. I have read that requesting the early seating is the way to go but as we are going with a group we have requested late seating. We will spend 3 days in Rome prior to the cruise. Airfare from Newark was VERY expensive. We are very much looking forward to this trip of a lifetime-- I have researched intensively. I think being prepared helps tremendously when travelling with children. Will let you know!

[CARIBBEAN01]

This will be on the Freedom July 24 this year with a 14 and 18 year old, they are great travellers but we go over alot of rules with them and have warned them this is going to be different then the Caribbean alot of touring and go go go.....

[I&MsMom]

Fendere: We'll be on the Freedom Eastern Med. in April with a 4 and 8 year old. Is this your itinerary, or are your on the Western? I hope to post a review on our return.

 

Everyone traveling in the Med. with children: Hope everyone has a great cruise!

[Miss Jolly]

Our girl's first cruise was on HAL to Alaska two years ago. They were 11 and 14 at the time. We all loved the cruise experience, so we have planned a western Mediterranean cruise on HAL this summer. We will spend two days in Rome at the beginning and one day at the end. I think that cruising will be a great way to introduce our kids to Europe. The key will be keeping a nice balance between ship time and excursion time.

 

A big help for us is traveling with my sister-in-law and her family. Their boys are about the same age as our girls and they all get along great. We have done several trips together. We adults agree that there is a lot less sibling rivalry and whining (ie: "I'm bored") when the two families are together. We also agree that travel is a great way to keep the cousins connected as we live six hours apart.

 

Of course, we will also be having a pre-cruise talk about keeping an open mind about new experiences and realizing that not everything is going to be as exciting to you as it might be to others. With two teenage girls, we just need to figure out how to leave all hormones at home!

We are also travelling on Hal in September with our teenagers. We are on Rotterdam from 10th August-18th September. Which cruise will you be on?

Jennie

[betonic]

I took my 6 year old last year to the Western Med and I'm taking him again to the Eastern Med in September. Last year I researched activities that were "kid friendly" and hired private drivers where I could. My son is a particularly active kid but by mixing up the activites and keeping him busy it was a great trip. He also slept every time we got in the car.

 

In Barcelona I took him to the Chocolate Museum which was fantastic!

[mahdnc]

betonic,

 

The Barcelona chocolate museum sounds like a good idea. Any other kid friendly finds that you can share?

[betonic]

What ports are you going to???

 

I also bought a book called "taking your kids to Europe" which was helpful.

[mahdnc]

We will be at Venice, Dubrovnik, Santorini, Athens, Naples, Pisa/Florence, Rome, Villefranche, and Barcelona.

 

I will look into your book as well.

[vacationhappy]

We took our 10 and 12 year old on a Med cruise in August and they loved it! We are planning on going again in 2008. Since there is alot of sightseeing, I think it is important to break it up with kid-friendly activities. We went on Princess - Greek Isle Itinerary - it really helped when we went to Mykonos, Rhodes and Corfu becasue we spent those days at the beach and casualy wandering around the port towns. At all the other stops we toured all day long. We spent 3 nights in Rome pre-cruise and two nights in Venice post-cruise.

 

The kids liked Santorini (for the shopping and uniqueness), Mykonos for the beach and Venice for Venice. They loved Pompeii, wandering around Rome, Pisa as well as some of the smaller villages that we visted - St. Paul de Vence, Volterra, and San Gimignano. They didn't care for Athens or Katakalon.

 

In the evenings, they kids watched movies or swam in the pool...they just relaxed. We never rushed to dinner (Personal Choice dining) so sail away was always a treat and a relaxing time for all of us.

 

I think the trip will be successful if you plan enough but not too much and give the kids some down time so they are not too tired. On tour days, there were no complaints because they knew something relaxing and fun was coming up for them. Corfu has a great family waterpark if you want ot unwind.

 

Both of my kids ended up using photos and their journals in school for World Civ projects and Latin classes. The recorded the info they learned on the tours in their journals and it came in handy in school the following year - both received extra credit for the newly found insight.

 

It was a family trip of a lifetime - can't wait to do it again.

[vacationhappy]

One more thought - having done the cruise I would be hesitant to do a full Europe tour by land with pre-teen or teens. In fact, the thought of it makes me shudder!

 

Being able to sleep in the same bed each night and having access to other English-speaking kids as well as English-speaking TV and movies, hamburgers and pizza was key to the overall success of our vacation. Full immersion in each culture would have been too overwhelming for them at these ages.

 

As adults I would prefer to stay in certain cities and really explore them in-depth but with the kids the "cruise sampler" was perfect. It was enough for them to see the highlights and wet their appetite for travel but not too much to overwhelm them.

 

After touring Rome for three days, the kids were ready to board the ship. My husband and I could have spent a least 3 more days just touring the Vatican!!!