Anyone cruise the medit. or northern europe with toddler & infant?

[valpal319]

We are a military family currently stationed in Sicily and would like to make the most of our time here. My husband has some time off coming up this late summer/fall and we'd like to take a cruise. I'm thinking it'd be better to stop in ports and see different towns rather than carry 2 kids, luggage, & baby gear around Europe on planes/trains,etc.

 

At the time we will have a 2 year old and an infant (about 5/6 months old). I'm having issues figuring out if it's worth it to go with them at this age.. they aren't really old enough to enjoy the ship, go swimming,etc. (well the 2 year old can go to c.carnival but unfortunately that cruiseline doesn't have the dates/ports that interest us as most of them end up in Sicily where we live and it's not worth thousands of $!).

 

Is it hard to keep a 2 year old entertained on a Royal Carribean or Norwe. ship? They seem to be our best 2 options as far as either a northern european cruise or mediterranean.. any tips? We'll need to go prob at the end of August thru October sometime.

 

Thanks!!!!!

[Florida_cruisers]

I am glad you posted this because I am wondering the same thing. We love to travel and even though people think is a waste of money to bring our son with us, I am not doing it for him, I am doing it because we love to travel, he is part of our family and I will not leave him behind for weeks at a time.

 

I will tell you that on our last cruise (I was pregnant then) to the Mediterranean there was a couple with a 7 month old baby and they said that their baby was doing wonderful. Of course, it is much easier to travel when they are infants and cannot crawl than when they are toddlers. They said that they had taken him everywhere already - Mexico, Canada, and different parts of Europe.

 

We will be sailing in a few weeks on our first cruise with our son for only 5 days to test the water and see how he does with his naps while in ports and the seat down meals. So far I can tell you that he is a good traveler, but we have only done land vacations so far. If he does well with this cruise, then we will book a European cruise for next year on this cruise to take advantage of the onboard credits.

 

I am curious to see what other CC advice though. Thanks for posting this question.

[Bababooey Land]

hi.

 

We are sailing a 12 night Med on Celebrity with our 19 month old end of May. I can let you know how it goes! We put ALOT of thought into this as well..as it is not an easy decision. We were deciding between RCL, disney and Celebrity. These were our thoughts:

 

1) He is too young to go swimming on the ship (so we didnt do a Carribean cruise) We only have 2 days at sea, so not swimming is not a big deal for us.

2) We are taking private tours in most of the ports. It is expensive, but we plan on bringing our car seat. I think that is the only way to do many of the ports with young kids. I cant see being on a bus for a 90 min drive from Livorno to Florence. There are alot of other positives as well for doing private tours.

3) i THINK our son can handle a long day at port.

4) i would think its easier to travel with a baby that crawls vs runs.

5) Most of the camps on board start at 3 years old..so that doesnt really pertain to us. Celebrity allows the parents to bring kids that are under 3 into the kids play area. just so they are supervised by the parents.

6) We will probably just eat in the dining room a few nights, so i am not sure how he will last through a 2 hour meal.

7) we have already taken our son to disney and lots of kids things. so we decided to book a more adult oriented cruise, as he is not old enough to do alot of the things they offer on the ship for young kids anyway. disney offers a GREAT cruise for kids..but it is geared for older kids.

 

i think a cruise is a great way to travel since you only have to unpack once. even though there is not much to do on Celebrity for him, he will have a great time just checking out the ship, etc,etc. If you plan on having alot of sea days, then you are probably better off with a more kids friendly ship. i hear great things about the RCL and Disney Line.

 

if you are interested, we will be back June 6th from our cruise, i can let you know how it went. it requires alot of planning! Good Luck!

 

Larry

[MechTeach]

Well, we haven't cruised on the mediterranean yet (we will be doing that with a 3.5 yo and a 10 mo at the end of May), but we have cruised the Caribbean with a 5 mo and a 3 yo, and had a great time. Our 3 yo spent a lot of time on sea days and in the evenings in Camp Carnival - she loved it, and would beg to go back when we took her out for some family time. Our infant loves watching people, so the cruise was perfect for him. He was easily entertained during meals by chewing on a piece of bread and looking all around, and he loved tagging along to the pool, shops, and daytime events.

 

It went so well that we decided to do the aforementioned cruise around the eastern med this summer. Our reasoning was very similar to yours - the biggest pain of traveling with 2 kids is the repeated hauling/packing/unpacking of all of the gear. We are going on Norwegian this time, and while we clearly haven't experienced it yet, I've heard lots of good things about their kids program. I don't know if your 2 yo is potty-trained yet, but if not, you can still put him/her in the kids camp - they just give you a beeper to come and change the diapers.

 

Cheers!

[Florida_cruisers]

How do you plan on incorporating your toddler's nap time while in port in Europe??

that is my biggest concern at this time as my toddler does not nap in his stroller.

[Bababooey Land]

Florida,

 

We have thought about the same thing. Our son does not sleep in the stroller either. He will be in his car seat for alot of driving..especially in Rome, Florence, Naples ,etc....so i think he will get some nap time during the drives..will it be perfect? no. might only be 30 mins at a clip.

 

There have been days where he has gone without a nap and he has been fine. (of course he has a cranky period!). i think every toddler is different. Take your son/daughter on a full day trip somewhere...see how they react without a nap. i think that will give you a good idea.

 

good luck!

 

Larry

[MechTeach]

I completely agree with Bababooey that we will be relying on car travel for much of my toddler's napping. We did this on our travels when she was 2 yo as well. It isn't optimal, and can result in some crankiness, but you can make up for it with longer naps on sea days and/or earlier bedtimes on port days. We have found that the excitement of seeing new places offsets a lot of the crankiness that we would see if she just skipped a nap at home. Cheers!

[Florida_cruisers]

Bababooey,

 

We took that same cruise a few years back and also hired private drivers (best decision ever!) and I can tell you that most of the drive will be from the ports to the cities. But once you are in the city, you won't be in the car much as the sites of interest are all very close together.

 

DH and I have considered going on another European cruise, but this time with our child. But this is my biggest hesitation, the naps during port days, especially with such port intensive cruise. Believe me, we are very close to doing it but every time we think about it we back out.

 

I cannot wait to hear about your experience though.

[Bababooey Land]

Florida,

 

im glad you had a good experience with the private drivers! yes, the drive into the cities is longgg. no way i could have my son sit on a bus seat for 90 mins! aside from it not being safe. I will report back in June once i get back. it should be interesting!