Cruising with kids

[Tanijean]

Hi all,

 

My husband and I are thinking of taking our 2 children (3 and 7) on our first cruise (on the Sun) and have heaps of child related questions.

 

1) With the kids clubs, our boys will be in the two different age groups. Will the 7 year old be allowed to stay in with the younger one (is it Turtle Cove??)

2) Is the babysitting at night time still in the separate age groups or would they be in together?

3) I've read a lot on this site about the children's dinner at night but I'm not really sure what it means. Does that mean we don't get to eat with the kids and if not where do they go when we eat?

4) I'm not 100% sure my 3 year old will stay by himself in the kids club, so is there enough to keep him occupied on sea days? Is the pool child friendly?

 

In general, how have others found cruising with young kids?

 

Thanks very much for all the help. :)

[jingles83]

Hi there,

 

Can't really help with your questions as I am yet to cruise with my children. I have heard that they are pretty strict on the ages in the kids clubs but saying that have heard of the older ones being able to stay with the younger sibling some times. T/A and P&O told me it was all up to the captain on the particular cruise. For me I decided to wait until mine could go in to the same club (ie next year when they are 7 & 9).

 

If you do a search on this forum you will find heaps of answers to your questions, can't believe no-one has given you any replies yet either. There are quite a few regulars on here who always have the answers to everyone questions as they are so seasoned. Good luck with it all and I'm sure either way you will all enjoy your time.

 

Cheers

Jingles

[Brossy]

Hi all,

 

My husband and I are thinking of taking our 2 children (3 and 7) on our first cruise (on the Sun) and have heaps of child related questions.

 

1) With the kids clubs, our boys will be in the two different age groups. Will the 7 year old be allowed to stay in with the younger one (is it Turtle Cove??)

2) Is the babysitting at night time still in the separate age groups or would they be in together?

3) I've read a lot on this site about the children's dinner at night but I'm not really sure what it means. Does that mean we don't get to eat with the kids and if not where do they go when we eat?

4) I'm not 100% sure my 3 year old will stay by himself in the kids club, so is there enough to keep him occupied on sea days? Is the pool child friendly?

 

In general, how have others found cruising with young kids?

 

Thanks very much for all the help. :)

 

Hi there

In answer to some of your questions -

1 & 2. They will allow 7 year olds into Turtle Cove (but not the other way around) especially at night (my 7 year old stayed with my 5 year old on the 1st night) but it would proabably need to be pre-arranged with the staff- who are great by the way and will really look after your children.

3. I'm not sure about the dining options on the Sun because it might have changed since last year, but we had 1st sitting dinner and you had to take the kids to that. You eat with them. There was a children's buffet but i'm not sure if that exists anymore. Turtle Cove used to close for 45mins during dinner time on the Sun but on the Dawn it remains open (once again not sure if it's still the same).

4. On sea days the pool can be quite rough. There is a childs pool at the back of the ship but we only used it when in port. Children are allowed to use the spas. There is a minimum height on the slide and they are strict with the height,I think it's about 120cm but you might need to check this with P&O (my then 6yo wasn't tall enough :().

My kids love crusing and had a wonderful time. The kids clubs are excellent and have a lot of different activities each day to hold their interest.

There are activities that the kids can do during sea days with their parents like competitions eg golf putting etc, watch some of the games ie survivor challenge, ice carving, trivia. Just to name a few.

I hope this helps a little. Let me know if you need any more info.

Happy cruising

[LouLou28]

Hi all,

 

My husband and I are thinking of taking our 2 children (3 and 7) on our first cruise (on the Sun) and have heaps of child related questions.

 

1) With the kids clubs, our boys will be in the two different age groups. Will the 7 year old be allowed to stay in with the younger one (is it Turtle Cove??)

2) Is the babysitting at night time still in the separate age groups or would they be in together?

3) I've read a lot on this site about the children's dinner at night but I'm not really sure what it means. Does that mean we don't get to eat with the kids and if not where do they go when we eat?

4) I'm not 100% sure my 3 year old will stay by himself in the kids club, so is there enough to keep him occupied on sea days? Is the pool child friendly?

 

In general, how have others found cruising with young kids?

 

Thanks very much for all the help. :)

 

Hi Tanijean

 

I can't answer all of your questions ... but will have a go at the ones I can ... as background my children are now 8 & 11 - they were 6 & 10 when we first cruised - so I had one in Turtle Cove and one in Shark Shack.

 

1) Our first cruise was on the Pacific Star - and the two kids clubs were interconnected - they did allow the older (Shark Shack) siblings in to 'check' on their younger brothers/sisters ... but I do think this is dependent on who's in charge at any given time! Get the know the staff --- they'll bend over backward to help you - so it wouldn't hurt to ask the question. You'll get given a pager when you have a child in Turtle Cove and they can page you any time/anywhere if your child needs you. (PS: Turtle Cove and Shark Shack are currently on different decks on the Pacific Sun - so not so easy for them to check in at the other club).

 

2) I can't help you with this one, as I never used the babysitting after the normal 'closing' time for the kids clubs. The kids clubs on the Pacific Sun are quite a distance apart (different decks) - so I can't imagine them combining them prior to closing time ... they may do so after for the 'paid' babysitting ... someone on here will surely know!

 

3) I've heard in the past, on cruises where they've had lots of children (school holidays perhaps) they've had 'children's dinner' --- I've never been on a cruise where this was offered. I think Aussiedisneyfan may have??? From my (somewhat poor) recollection, they had it early - in the buffet - a parent was needed to supervise their child/ren - they they went back to their respective kids clubs while the adults ate. We've always had first sitting and our children eat with us (my daughter usually returns to the kids club before we finish!!!)

 

4) Again - not having cruised with one quite that young - I'm not the best one to answer this ...

 

Hope you have a great time when you go ... our children LOVE cruising! My youngest (the daughter) absolutely adored Turtle Cove and Shark Shack and spent most of her waking hours (when it was open) happily there! She made some lovely friends - and it was certainly more preferable to her to be there than with her boring parents!