lmg1230
-
Posts
370 -
Joined
Content Type
Forums
Store
Blogs
Downloads
Events
Gallery
Posts posted by lmg1230
-
-
Hi there,
I wrote the blog post that trosebery posted above so just wanted to chime in with my thoughts. It has been several years since our cruise in the Baltics but it was a great experience and definitely one of our favourite trips. Our older daughter was 12 at the time but our younger daughter had just turned 6 a couple of weeks before the cruise. It was our first trip to Europe with the girls and it was a great introduction. We went on a Mediterranean cruise two summers later and in terms of overall experiences, the Baltics was much easier with young kids.
We started and finished our cruise in Copenhagen and loved the city! Copenhagen is a very walkable city, however, we took a hop-on hop-off bus on our first day to get around to some of the sights efficiently and get our bearings in the city (after that we walked everywhere). We saw the Little Mermaid statue, toured Amalienborg Slot (Palace), played in the garden at Rosenborg Slot (Palace), went on a canal cruise, walked around Nyhavn (my 6 year-old loved the colourful buildings), and went to Tivoli Gardens both pre and post cruise. The main shopping district, Stroget, is pedestrian only and there's a LEGO store there that was fun - also street entertainment.
The ports of call on our cruise were: Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Tallinn, Gdansk, and Oslo. Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallinn and Oslo we toured on our own. We hired a private tour guide for our two days in St. Petersburg and we booked a ship's tour for Gdansk. Gdansk was the only day on our cruise which did not go well. In the cities we toured on our own, we were docked right in the city and were able to walk off the ship and go about our day. We were docked a fair distance from Gdansk and I had read that traffic was often brutal so we booked a ship tour to avoid the worry of not making it back on time. It was raining that day and both kids hated being on a group tour which involved spending far too much time visiting amber stores so others could shop.
For Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallinn, and Oslo, I researched ahead of time to find activities that would satisfy everyone in the family. Due to time constraints we sometimes had to miss a must-see attraction but 6 year-olds can't generally be rushed from place to place! For example, in Stockholm we chose to visit Junibacken (the Astrid Lindgren/Pippi Longstocking museum) rather than the Vasa museum. Some day I'll get back to see Vasa but I thought it more important for my 6 year-old to have fun that day and leave with a positive impression of Stockholm. (I have articles on my website about all of the ports we visited if you're interested in the details of what we did in each city.)
My overall advice would be to tour most ports on your own or book a private guide who will design a family-friendly tour for you. We have found that it is often the case that hiring a private guide is no more expensive than booking 4 or more people on one of the ship's tours. If you are more comfortable taking a ship's tour then try to find one that is described as family-friendly.
Our Baltics cruise was on the Emerald Princess and we have sailed Princess two other times - the Diamond Princess in Alaska and the Crown Princess in the Caribbean. My younger daughter in particular loved visiting the kids club on our Princess cruises. There were lots of activities but there were not so many kids on the ships that the facilities were crowded. She enjoyed seeing the same kids every evening and on sea days and developing friendships.
A bit long winded but all to say that I think your entire family will enjoy the cruise in Northern Europe. Just be sure to plan ahead so you know what you intend to do in each port. Don't try to see everything as that will just exhaust everyone - go at a slower pace to accommodate the little ones and focus on having fun. 🙂
Happy to answer any questions.
Lisa
-
We went on a Baltic cruise when our younger daughter had just turned 6 and had a great time. We booked a private tour in St. Petersburg and went on a ship's tour in Gdansk because it was a long distance from the port into the old city but other than that we did all of the ports on our own and had a great time. We started in Copenhagen and also stopped in Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallinn and Oslo. Enjoyed all of the ports and they were easy to do with the kids.
Lisa
-
Hi Holly,
We went on a Baltic cruise a few years ago with our two daughters who were 12 and 6 at the time. We booked a 2 day private tour for the four of us and they hung in for the duration although we planned shorter days for touring so as not to exhaust them.
We didn't see a lot of "kid-friendly" sites per se but we did hit the highlights. The first day was devoted primarily to Peterhof and Catherine's Palace as they are a fair drive from the city and there was traffic. They enjoyed the gardens at Catherine's far more than the crowded atmosphere inside and loved the fountains at Peterhof.
Day two we spent in the city and spent some time shopping first thing as my daughter's both wanted nesting dolls. After shopping we visited St. Nicholas' Cathedral and then the Hermitage. The Hermitage was crazy busy and we had to escape to a less crowded part of the museum - skipped some of the best-known pieces and browsed the impressionists which we enjoyed more anyway. We cut our visit short and opted to spend more time walking outside. We visited the Church of our Saviour on Spilled Blood and St. Isaac's Cathedral and then our tour guide just took us for a walk and we were able to see the Bronze Horseman statue.
St. Petersburg is beautiful and there's far too much to see in 2 days but if you're touring with kids then you will need to slow down the pace a bit so that you don't exhaust them.
Lisa
-
We have sailed Disney twice in the Caribbean and Princess three times (Alaska, Baltics and Caribbean) and my kids prefer the Princess kids club. The primary reason being that they were able to make good friends on Princess because of the smaller number of kids using the facility whereas Disney has so many kids aboard that it was rare to see the same kids again.
Lisa
-
My younger daughter was not quite 4 when we cruised in Alaska. The ports were Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway and we did a 5 day land tour to Denali and Fairbanks post-cruise. We took grandparents with us and it was a once-in-a-lifetime cruise for them so we were most concerned about picking excursions that they would love. My youngest was already well-traveled by that age and easygoing so we were fairly certain that she would be fine regardless of what we chose but might need some entertaining.
In Ketchikan, we explored the town and attended the Lumberjack show which she loved - she insisted on having her photo taken with them after the show.
In Juneau, we went on an excursion that included whale watching and Mendenhall Glacier. She lost interest in the whales after the first few sightings but was happy enough on the boat especially after they started serving smoked salmon. Back in town we took the Mt. Roberts tramway - she didn't care for the ride but was happy enough to explore at the top.
We took the White Pass Yukon railway and she was fine. The excursion was bus in one direction with a couple of stops. On one of the stops we did a go-kart ride with sled dogs which was thrilling! She wasn't interested in the scenery on the train but we brought colouring and stickers and she was happy enough to play while the rest of us enjoyed the view.
When we were in Denali we visited Jeff King's ranch to meet sled dog puppies and both of my girls loved it - anything that had to do with sled dogs was a huge hit when we were in Alaska!
Lisa
-
We have done both Alaska and the Mediterranean with our daughters and loved both!
We cruised on the Diamond Princess out of Vancouver to Alaska followed by a 5 day cruise tour when the girls were 10 and almost 4. Our ports of call were: Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway. We did Ketchikan on our own and went to the Lumberjack show. In Juneau we went on a whale watching cruise, visited Mendenhall Glacier and took the Mt. Roberts Tramway to the top. In Skagway we went on a White Pass & Yukon Route Railway excursion. Both girls loved anything to do with wildlife and sled dogs. Our cruise was the last week of June and there were about 120 kids on board if I remember correctly.
Our Mediterranean cruise started in Rome and we spent a few days there first when the girls were 15 and 8. We cruised on Celebrity Equinox and the ports were Santorini, Athens, Istanbul (overnight), Kusadasi, Mykonos and Salerno (for Naples and Pompeii). This cruise was in August and I would say that the majority of people on board seemed to be extended family groups and there were many Europeans and Australians as well as North Americans. We went on a shore excursion for Santorini in order to get to Oia easily; booked a private guide in Athens; booked a private guide for the first day in Istanbul and then on the second day went on a Bosphorus cruise and then wandered on our own; booked a private guide for 4 hours to take us to Ephesus in Kusadasi; did Mykonos on our own; and booked a driver to take us to Pompeii where we had a private guide waiting and then drive us to Sorrento for a pizza making class and back to the ship via the Amalfi Coast. Alaska may be easier with younger kids but there's no reason that you can't do the Mediterranean with them - you just have to adjust your expectations of how much you can see accordingly.
We have also cruised in the Baltics once (ages 12 and 6) and in the Caribbean three times. We have cruised on Princess, Holland America, Celebrity and Disney. My kids have had a great time on all the cruise lines and in all of the locations.
Plan to spend a few days pre-cruise in the embarkation port so that your family can explore a bit and recover from the jet lag before boarding the ship. I'm sure that you will have a great time whatever vacation you choose!
Lisa
-
We also visited Coki Beach and Coral World when we were in St. Thomas with our kids. We booked our Coral World tickets directly and took one of the large open-air taxis there. My daughters were 12 and 5 at the time. My older daughter and my husband swam with sea lions which they loved and they also did a sea turtle encounter. My younger daughter and I just enjoyed the aquarium. We played at Coki Beach after finishing at Coral World - it was a great way to spend the day on St. Thomas.
Lisa
-
I'm sorry Ashland but I don't recall - it was 4 years ago. We googled and then called places until we found one that had seats available for that purpose. It was a passenger van which had plenty of room for 6 passengers and all of our luggage.
Lisa
-
We sailed on the Equinox in the Mediterranean summer 2011 with 14 year old and 8 year-old daughters. The teenager didn't care for the Celebrity teen program but my 8 year-old loved her program. She enjoyed the activities and made great friends (and has kept in touch). She spent most of the last evening in tears because she was so sad that the cruise was over and didn't want to say goodbye to her friends.
We checked her in and out at the desk as well. We were able to tour the facilities during the open house on the first day and we were also allowed in on the last night to collect crafts and say goodbye.
We have sailed on Princess (twice), Celebrity, Holland America, and Disney (twice) and my kids have loved the kids programs on Princess, Celebrity and Holland America. My younger daughter was only 2.5 on our first Disney cruise but 9 when we sailed with them during the holidays last year and the kids program was just too crowded for her. We have found that the lines that have fewer kids and smaller facilities work better for us. My daughter is all about making new friends and that is harder to do when the kids program is crowded.
Lisa
-
When we cruised out of Vancouver to Alaska, my younger daughter was still in a car seat and we weren't bringing one with us. We were also traveling with 6 people and luggage (my husband and me with our two kids and my husband's parents with mobility issues) so we called around until we were able to find an airport limo company that would supply a car seat when they picked us up at YVR.
Lisa
-
We are taking our 9 yr old and 6 yr old on an Alaskan cruise in a few days!!! We have cruised w/Carnival and Royal Caribbean before. We are sailing w/Princess this time since we heard Princess was the way to do Alaska! The kids have always loved the kids clubs on the other ships so hopefully they will also love Princess. I am a little worried that there won't be as much to do (family/kid activities) on board as the other cruise lines...I can let you know when we return!
Don't worry - you are going to have a wonderful time! My kids have been on Disney, Holland America and Princess twice. Both of them loved Princess and my oldest was 10 when we went to Alaska. The kids clubs are great on Princess - what they don't have are waterslides, skating rinks, climbing walls etc. If it was up to my kids we wouldn't sail any other line but since I get some say too we are going to try Celebrity in Europe this summer.
Lisa
-
It has been four years since our family has cruised to Alaska but we had a fabulous time on Princess. At the time my daughters were 10 and almost 4. We sailed from Vancouver and our ports of call were Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway and we did a five day tour afterwards to Denali Park and Fairbanks. We also had one set of grandparents with us so our age range was 4-75. We had a mini suite on Princess which had a pull-out sofa and a pull-down berth so each of my daughters was able to have her own bed. We used Princess' "Anytime Dining" so that we could eat when we wanted to and had only our family at our dining table.
This was the first trip where either of my kids went to a kids club and they loved the program on Princess. I particularly liked that there was an educational element in that they did Alaskan-themed activities and had a Park Ranger on board in the kids club area while we were sailing in Glacier Bay. Any of the excursions involving animals were a big hit with my kids - whale watching was a lot of fun and meeting sled dogs was probably the thing that they enjoyed most and still talk about.
I have a complete description of our trip to Alaska in my family travel blog (link is in my signature) and you are welcome to look at it. I would also be happy to answer any questions you have about what we did in Alaska or what the kids liked and didn't like.
Lisa
-
Both times that we sailed on Princess with our family we have chosen Anytime Dining so that we would have the flexibility of changing the time that we dined if we needed to. However, on both occasions we made a standing reservation for 6pm in one of the Anytime dining rooms and requested that we have the same table each night. Our request was accomodated without any problem and we felt that we had the best of both worlds - we had the same waiters every night who knew what we wanted but if we were late getting back to the ship then we could change the time of our dinner.
Lisa
-
We were on the 10 day Emerald Princess Baltic cruise in August with our two daughters who were 12 and 6 at the time. We spent three days before and one day after the cruise in Copenhagen which allowed us a great deal of time to explore this city although we were a bit disappointed that we didn't have time for a day-trip out of the city. We took a HOHO bus on our first full day which included stops at the Little Mermaid, Amalienborg Palace, and Rosenborg Palace - these were all hits with my girls. We also walked across Stroget - a pedestrian shopping area. The second day we went on a canal cruise from Nyhavn which was also a lot of fun. We spent late afternoon and evening at Tivoli despite light rain and discovered that it is far less busy in the rain and the girls were able to do the same rides over and over again without waiting in line. The also liked the Wheel of Copenhagen (an enclosed ferris wheel similar to the LondonEye) but I think that it is inCopenhagen on a temporary basis.
Our ports of call were Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersberg, Tallinn, Gdansk, and Oslo. We never left the girls on the ship as they were eager to see all the ports as well but we knew that we would need to sightsee at a slower pace and accept the fact that we would not necessarily see everything that we wanted to. Our objective was to have fun in each port so that they would have positive memories of each place.
In Stockholm, we took the HOHO ferry to Djurgarden and went to Junibacken (the Pippy Longstocking museum/play place) as we read the book before we left. My older daughter thought it was crazy busy but the younger one loved it (apart from the Storybook train which has one rather scary story). We skipped the Vasa museum because the lineup was huge and it was very hot outside. Instead we took the ferry to Gamla Stan and walked around and shopped there. Stockholm is a beautiful city that we all loved and would like to return to.
In Helsinki we wandered around Senate Square and up the steep steps to the church at the top which the kids thought was kind of cool. We also took a ferry to Suomenlinna fortress and wandered around the fortress. Back in Senate square we got a HOHO bus to take a city tour including a stop to see the Sibelius monument (which was really just a run around the park for us) and a stop at the Rock church which my older daughter thought was cool and the younger thought was BORING!
In St. Petersberg we hired Anastasia Travel for a private 2 day tour for our family and never regretted it for a minute. We had a fabulous time - we had beautiful warm sunny weather the two days and our guide, Anna, and our driver, Anton were amazing! Both daughters loved St. Petersberg and the younger told Anna that she was going to visit her again in two years b/c she loved Russia so much. We had a city tour spread over the two days and on the first day drove out of the city to Catherine's Palace and to Peterhof Palace to see the fountains. Both big hits! The second day we went to the Hermitage as well as The Church on Spilled Blood, St. Isaac's and the park where the Bronze Horseman is etc. We also did some shopping for Russian nesting dolls which was a priority for both girls. We did not spend a lot of time in the Hermitage as it was extremely crowded and not very pleasant for a 6 year old. Our guide did an excellent job of showing us some of the highlights and then getting us into a quieter part of the museum where we could see some of the impressionist art that appealed more to us.
In Tallinn, we walked from the ship to the medieval area and it is not a difficult walk at all. We just wondered around the town, took photos and had a snack at a pretty little cafe. And more shopping (my girls like to shop)!
Gdansk was the one port where we took a ship's tour as we docked in Gdynia and I was worried about missing the ship. The old town of Gdansk is very pretty but it was rainy the day we were there and we didn't enjoy being on a tour with a busload of people and having to traipse after the tourguide when we would have preferred to stop and see more. Glad we took the tour though b/c we were more than an hour later than expected back at the ship b/c of the traffic.
We loved Oslo but didn't have anywhere near enough time there. Definitely a place that we will return to and maybe do a fjord cruise and spend time in Oslo as well. We docked at 7 but our family didn't manage to get off the boat until 8 and we needed to be back on at 12:30 so we rushed the entire time. We took the HOHO bus to get to Vigeland Sculpture Park - it was beautiful - we could have easily spent a couple of hours there - the girls wanted pictures of everything - but we only had about 40 minutes. We also went to the Nobel Peace Centre as that was a priority for my husband and I. We also had a look at the Palace from the outside and wandered through Akershus Castle on the way back to the ship.
Overall, we had a fantastic time. I know this was a very long-winded reply but if you have any questions I would be happy to answer.
Lisa
baltic cruise with little ones
in Northern Europe & Baltic Sea
Posted
Hi, sorry for the delay in responding. We used Anastasia Travels for our two days in St. Petersburg and had a wonderful time. Our guide was great at keeping the girls engaged and adjusting our plans a bit depending on what they were enjoying. My younger daughter adored her - there were a few tears when we had to say goodbye at the end of our second day! This is a summary of all that we did while we were in St. Petersburg - they were happy to discuss what we wanted to see ahead of time and created the itinerary that we wanted. https://www.gonewiththefamily.com/gone-with-the-family-adv/st-petersburg-russia.html
Lisa