Sailing with Children

We will be travelling with a 7 year old boy next April. Anyone sailed with children recently? How are the kids’ programs? Also, if we need to take a cab in San Juan and/or St. Maarten, are we going to need a car seat/booster seat for him? Is it required in a taxi? Since we will be flying to Miami I do not want to bring anything extra unless we really have to. Thank you.

We will be travelling with a 7 year old boy next April. Anyone sailed with children recently? How are the kids’ programs? Also, if we need to take a cab in San Juan and/or St. Maarten, are we going to need a car seat/booster seat for him? Is it required in a taxi? Since we will be flying to Miami I do not want to bring anything extra unless we really have to. Thank you.

MSC has one of the best kids Clubs in sea. You don't need a car seat on islands or in Miami by the law .

We were on two MSC cruises in the Mediterranean Sea with our little Boy (on the first cruise he was 7 months and on the second he was 14 months old) - soon we will be on a MSC cruise from Geneva to Martinique (our son is currently 19 months). So we cannot 100 % compare it to your situation but all the crew members are very very kind to all kids, and there is a big playground with anymation for kids. So you can expect a really nice cruise with your son.

We've generally had great experiences with the MSC kids club. It is definitely a higher level than Carnival, where we cruise most often.

However, I suspect you're looking at Divina for April 1st or April 15th. We're looking at April 1st since it is spring break week for our county in GA (and apparently many others). That week there are many kids on the ship and they tend not to run the regular kids club activities. I don't mention it to dissuade you, but because it's just not the same experience as what we had when the kids were younger and there were a handful of kids in the club at any one time. In that situation they got tons of attention, came out with a craft many days, won prizes, etc. When they are overloaded it is just not the same experience, though that is probably true of all cruise lines during the spring break weeks.

If you do go with MSC, they have a cool program where the camp folks will come pick up the kids in the MDR like an hour after dinner starts. You can have dinner with the kids, but they relax and have some adult time and conversation for remainder of the meal.

Florida car seat laws:

http://www.dmv.org/fl-florida/safety-laws.php

We will be travelling with a 7 year old boy next April. Anyone sailed with children recently? How are the kids’ programs? Also, if we need to take a cab in San Juan and/or St. Maarten, are we going to need a car seat/booster seat for him? Is it required in a taxi? Since we will be flying to Miami I do not want to bring anything extra unless we really have to. Thank you.

They have a nice kids program.

We've generally had great experiences with the MSC kids club. It is definitely a higher level than Carnival, where we cruise most often.

 

However, I suspect you're looking at Divina for April 1st or April 15th. We're looking at April 1st since it is spring break week for our county in GA (and apparently many others). That week there are many kids on the ship and they tend not to run the regular kids club activities. I don't mention it to dissuade you, but because it's just not the same experience as what we had when the kids were younger and there were a handful of kids in the club at any one time. In that situation they got tons of attention, came out with a craft many days, won prizes, etc. When they are overloaded it is just not the same experience, though that is probably true of all cruise lines during the spring break weeks.

 

If you do go with MSC, they have a cool program where the camp folks will come pick up the kids in the MDR like an hour after dinner starts. You can have dinner with the kids, but they relax and have some adult time and conversation for remainder of the meal.

 

Florida car seat laws:

http://www.dmv.org/fl-florida/safety-laws.php

Thank you for your response and the valuable information. :-) We will be on the April 15th cruise, which is the week right after Easter.

Ah, maybe you'll get to do the egg hunt! We got to do it 2 or 3 years ago. They made large (full sheet sized) paper eggs, and then hid them around the ship. There were probably 40 or 50 and kids that found them got to pick a wrapped prize. DS got a lego kit and DD got a small DoReMi plush, so not totally cheap stuff either. We found one in one of the art niches and the other under a seat in the main theater.

I guess if you've got 200+ kids on the ship, that's one way to entertain them. :D

We also got some small collapsible Easter baskets, so the Easter bunny was able to find the kids on the ship. ;) We double dipped a bit by putting mostly activity type stuff in those baskets.

MSC is really good with kids, their program is quite adjustable.

My son is five and he's been on three cruises, two with MSC and he loves cruising.

He was not very fond of the kids club because of the language barrier (he only speaks Portuguese), but we keep trying and I hope that on this next one he'll be more open to it. But we always have lots to do with him.

During our past cruises I saw children that were completely “hooked” on the kids club, and want to spend all their time there.

We have been in San Juan and in St Marteen, and there's no need for kids car seat, but I can tell you this... taxi in St Marteen can be quite an adventure... as in transportation modes (communal vans…) as in time of transportation! We were there in 2004 and there was only one road that went through the Island and the traffic was huge, it was the only time when we arrived running to be on the ship on time! Boy... what a thrill!!!

Even if you don't need a boost seat by law but your child would be more comfortable, you could take a BubbleBum inflatable/travel one.

Taxis in some countries can be a bit of an 'experience'....

our families are on the 4/15 cruise as well, with three teenagers, 15,15 and 13. I've read where those ages groups are together in the graffiti teen club and I've also read there are 2 separate teen clubs. Which is accurate? Thanks

Unfortunately travel/inflatable boosters are not approved in Canada. I cannot even order it from the States as those will not be shipped here. We will bring his own booster with us. It is the smallest possible, backless which I will either carry on on our flight, or gate check it. We do not plan to take a cab in St. Maarten, not sure about San Juan, it depends on where the ship docks.

Unfortunately travel/inflatable boosters are not approved in Canada. I cannot even order it from the States as those will not be shipped here. We will bring his own booster with us. It is the smallest possible, backless which I will either carry on on our flight, or gate check it. We do not plan to take a cab in St. Maarten, not sure about San Juan, it depends on where the ship docks.

Our DD cruise since she is 1 year old .We never took booster or car seat I always could find a way to avoid it. Plus don't count too much on belts in those cars on islands:p Very possible your taxi will not have any so your car seat is useless. what are you planning to do on San Juan? If it's only city tour so you don't need taxi they dock in DT.

My 7 year old DD LOVED the MSC clubs, she even prefers their club to DCL's.

We are not planning on taking a cab in St. Maarten, maybe the water taxi only. In Puerto Rico, I am not sure yet what we want to do. We also may need his booster in Miami. It is not a big one, not even heavy, so we should be fine. 

Ah, maybe you'll get to do the egg hunt! We got to do it 2 or 3 years ago. They made large (full sheet sized) paper eggs, and then hid them around the ship. There were probably 40 or 50 and kids that found them got to pick a wrapped prize. DS got a lego kit and DD got a small DoReMi plush, so not totally cheap stuff either. We found one in one of the art niches and the other under a seat in the main theater.

 

I guess if you've got 200+ kids on the ship, that's one way to entertain them. :D

 

 

We also got some small collapsible Easter baskets, so the Easter bunny was able to find the kids on the ship. ;) We double dipped a bit by putting mostly activity type stuff in those baskets.

This is awesome, we'll be on the Splendida in Europe during Easter time, I hope my DD gets to experience this.