mediterranean cruise nov. 2008 with kids

[mutiger720]

We are taking our two boys (5 and 2) on our cruise with us. There were maybe a couple things my husband and I wanted to do on our own and didn't know about leaving the kids on the ship. The oldest in the Royal Carribean Child Watch and the youngest with a babysitter. We will be on Voyager of the Seas. Please give me any advice with regards to leaving kids on the ship and using a babysitter on the ship. I really wonder what the babysitter does with the kids (do they stay in the room?) while we are gone.

 

Thank you in advance.

[kitty9]

My best advice is to stick with the ship's tours. Depending on your itinerary, you could be more than 90 minutes from the port on your tours, and if you miss the ship, you have a huge problem. Also know that for the best tours in Rome and Florence, they can run 9 to 10 hours long and that may be a little long to be off the ship without the children.

[scorpiomum]

hi. we were on brilliance med tour last nov and it was fantastic. it was my 1st cruise so i was hesitant leaving my children 5 & 9 on the ship and my dh and i going ashore on our own. so in the beginning the kids came along but we never had long days as i was very aware of making it fun for them...and keeping it manageable. but by the last 2 ports, we were confident enough in the AO staff and how much the kids loved it, to leave them there while we went ashore on our own. and my boys loved it.

 

we never left until 10am and we were back by 2.30pm so i figured if they were starving (which they never were) we would come on the ship and take them straight for food. they always begged us to drop them straight back to the AO. we are going on Navigator in October and i plan to do this again...some ports they will come with us and experience things, for example Athens is a must, but in Istanbul for example, i would rather they stay on the ship and have fun. now i know there were other kids including quite small ones who were left the whole day in AO and seemed fine. but i will be keeping the hours reasonably short again. that way we are all having a great cruise. i agree with the other poster, taking ship tours is a always good as they will never leave without you if you are back late.

[boulders]

I took my DS2 on a RCCL cruise a few months ago and left him a few times with a babysitter. You will need to sign up for babysitting at the purser's desk as soon as you board, giving them a list for all the times you want. It is possible to do it later in the cruise, but you are more assured of getting a babysitter the sooner you sign up.

 

The babysitter offered to take ds on walks, but ds didn't want to leave the cabin without me, so they stayed in the cabin. We had just bought a portable DVD player and he watched his favorite DVDs on it.

 

There's not a lot for a 2 year old to do on the ships that are sailing the Med in Nov. They can't go in the pools - unless they're potty trained. They can't go to Adventure Ocean either. There's a 45 minute play session in the mornings.