New to Radisson,New to the Med- questions about children

[awatt]

Santa surprised me with a family a trip to the Med on the Diamond 7/9/05. This includes our 6 and 8 year old. They have been on a number io Caribbean cruises and know how to behave when travelling.

 

I am unsure however if this is too young for the Med as that trip will be more port intensive. We would not leave them in the kids club all day.while we go exploring,but rather would do half day tours. Any thoughts on the best age for kids in the Med?

 

Also,I was looking at deck plans and did not notice a childrens club facility. We use this mainly after dinner to have some adult time. Does anyone have any experience with the childrens program on teh Diamond?

 

Thanks for your input.

[Judith02]

Read the thread "Diamond has been sold" and keep looking at updates. Hopefully, your cruise will not be affected.

[awatt]

Yes,I read that thread,and realize this may all be moot.

 

But until we know for sure, I was trying to figure out whether or not our trip is a good idea to begin with, or should we wait a couple of years.

[dixiechick]

Sorry to say there is no "kids club" on the Diamond and no children's activities when we were on our cruise last September. However, I remember a number of reports last summer where there were alot of kids on the Diamond during the months when schools were out for the summer (June through August). I am not sure if the Diamond offers kids programs during that time or not. In alot of the ports you can do half day tours with no problem.

[rparisi]

Although you didn't mention your itinerary, from the calendar it looks like it's Rome to Monte Carlo. We were on the Diamond with our family, grandchildren's ages 10 and 13, last August, Venice to Rome. We found the Mariner Club (kids) to be a welcome asset for them. It enabled them to meet up with other children on the cruise and to pick and choose activities. They could participate in one activity and skip everything else. We never left them on the ship when we went touring, but took them along. We were careful to choose things that we thought would interest them. Some did, some didn't, but the overall experience was enriching and positive. Their parents made sure there was lots of time to use the swimming pool.

 

We found the entire Diamond staff to be respectful of the children, very accomodating when they called for room service, which they did a lot. The woman who runs the Mariner Club is a teacher during the year and very good with children.

 

The children are divided into two age groups. There were about 15 kids on our trip and they did things like having lunch or dinner together, baking cookies in the galley with the chef which were then displayed in the dining room that evening, board games, signature hunts, scavenger hunts, using playdough -- all very simple, but engaging activities. One of the children made a playdough replica of the Diamond that the Captain prominently displayed on the bridge

 

IMHO, it's never too early to introduce children to the finer things in life, and a Med cruise on Raddison certainly fits that category. I would do this trip again in a heartbeat.

[awatt]

Thanks rparisis for the input. That helps.