Advantages of doing the longer cruises with kids ( with few other kids on the ship)

I thought I would make a post for other cruisers that some may find interesting , as cruises longer than a week will have much less kids on the ship and can have both positive or negative aspects, depending on your view.

Some unexpected advantages of doing the longer cruises with my twins (Son & Daughter), with few other kids on the ship:

1) After the first day or two, most of the crew, and even many of the passengers, will know my twins by name and stop to chat& give them high 5’s.

2) As my wife dresses them to the 10’s in the evenings , we always have so many passengers wanting to take photos of them , and want to talk and ask them about all the exciting things they have done so far.

3) My twins love to say good morning to the passengers and crew . It seems to make many of the passengers real happy when they walk into the elevator or a deck and see a cute ,young, excited smiling face say to them “Good Morning ! How is your day ?”

4) Many of the crew have left their own young kids behind , and will talk about their kids to us and will develop a nice camaraderie with us and our twins. I remember on one cruise , on our last night as the twins were saying goodbye and giving hugs , an officer had tears running down his cheek . He had told us early in the cruise how my son looked and reminded him of his own son that he had not seen for 5 months. He always said or did something special when he would see our twins every day.

The very first cruise we did (pre kids) was for 12 days on the Celebrity Mercury, and we found we loved the longer cruises. So it was never even about lack of kids or anything , but just about what we enjoy.

We (including our twins) are the active type, and like to do and see as much as possible on each cruise and all the ports .

So I just feel a short cruise would be over by the time you get into the swing of things , even my twins on our last cruise , said to me after 7 days ….. ”Daddy can we stay for 100 more days ?”

I told them, we can’t stay for 100 more days , but we can stay for 7 more !

Also , they will never be full at Splash Academy, and will have the kids pool area to themselves. Some of the ships like the Dawn , have a kids pool area with a hot tub that the parents can use as they watch the kids .

Love your post! We’ve only done 7 day cruises with our kids but we are looking at longer itineraries for next year. Our kids are older (11 & 15) and we think all of the experiences/memories we have made together are priceless.

My twins are now 7 years old , and are getting ready for their 4th cruise next month. It is a 21 day cruise from New Orleans To Seattle (via Panama Canal) with 5 days in New Orleans pre-cruise to start the trip .

They are good swimmers now , and looking forward to snorkeling for their first time , so will be fun for all of us to do it together .

The others cruises they have done (with their ages at the time) :

Alaska (1.5 years old )

Vancouver to Hawaii to California (2.5 years old)

Atlantic Canada / New England (5 years old)

We are good with taking them out of school during their Pre-High School years , as they will learn so much on the cruise and ports about other places and cultures etc . And Yes, the memories we make are priceless.

Plus at this age , Daddy is still their favorite person to hang out with in the whole world........who knows how many years longer that will last ...LOL

This is great to hear. I am taking my 12 year old on a panama canal cruise in September and I suspect he will be the youngest person on the ship. I also suspect I will be the second youngest! Hopefully there are at least a few teens for him to hang with. Very worried he will be bored. I'm with you. Had to do it this year because this is his last year before high school when it is probably not a good idea to pull him out of school for 10 days!

Lucky kids!

Wonderful family times.

I enjoyed reading the OP's comments. Uplifting thoughts, to be sure.

On my recently completed cruise to South America/Antarctica on the Zaandam, I was surprised to see the number of children aboard for this 22 day sailing. Their presence helped to make our holiday sailing seem like such. And, on Christmas morning, after Santa's arrival and during the distribution of gifts to the young ones program, our Cruise Director will never forget, nor will I, the answer one teenager gave to the CD's question: "What would you like Santa to bring you this year?"

...on Christmas morning, after Santa's arrival and during the distribution of gifts to the young ones program, our Cruise Director will never forget, nor will I, the answer one teenager gave to the CD's question: "What would you like Santa to bring you this year?"

What did the teenager say in response?

What did the teenager say in response?

Something not appropriate to put on a public message board.

A few thoughts from the first cruise my twins did , when they were a 1.5 years old.

1) Outside by the jogging track we found a huge chess set , and the kids were dressed in black and white that day and enjoyed moving the chess pieces around , & many pieces were taller than the kids.

Many people walking or jogging would stop in their tracks, & watch the chess pieces moving themselves LOL. Then they would make some comments , chat , take photo's or video's .

2) I was walking with my daughter on the main deck , with my wife and son about 50 feet behind us. I turned around, and was surprised to see my son on the lap of a jolly elderly lady riding her mobility scooter !

He was all happy and giggling, as he sat on her lap & held the handlebars like HE was the one driving . She told me that as she was driving by him, he had put his arms up towards her & she could not resist his cuteness and long eyelashes batting at her. She looked at my wife and got the OK nod , then pulled him up for a spin on the scooter with her.

3) The twins only said a few "real" works at the time, but would have full half hour long, animated discussions with each other with lots of emotions and hand and arm waving etc. But in a language , only they could understand.

Other passengers that were watching and listening to them, would ask me what language my kids were speaking , and that it was great that I was teaching them a second language at such an early age....LOL

They seemed to love talking in the lounge with the water enclosed multicolored glass front , with bubbles constantly blowing up the water.

We did a month long vacation in April including a 3 week Panama cruise , and have now booked a 10 day cruise from Miami of the eastern Caribbean. We have never been to Florida before ,so plan to spend a week to 10 days in the state before the cruise.

My kids loved the 3 week cruise they did this year and are already excited to see Florida, Disney and the cruise next year.

They spent more time in Splash Academy (per day) on the last cruise than ever before , and loved all 21 days on the ship, and were sad to leave the ship and its great crew.

My Wife & I had the UBP for the first time , and as an unexpected bonus the kids could order specialty drinks as well. The twins loved all the drinks they could try and order like us adults. My son would say to the bartender "Could I have a Greyhound please, without the alcohol" and my Daughter loved the virgin mudslides etc.

Are you home schooling your kids? Just wondering how you fit in school and long cruises.

Are you home schooling your kids? Just wondering how you fit in school and long cruises.

We don't home school in the traditional sense , but we did start to teach them to read at a very young age, and that skill has always been more advanced than their peers at school.

Of the 4 cruises they have done , only the last two were they old enough for school.

We took them out for 3 weeks in Kindergarten , 4 weeks in Grade 1 . Next year they will be taken out for about 3 weeks of grade 2.

Currently , we do have them do math 1 hour each weekday, during the summer , at a place where they love going. My daughter is also more advanced in her math skills and is real good at teaching her (by 2 minutes) "younger" brother. I feel that if they can "get" math , it will make understanding and learning it more intuitive and easy as they get into more advanced levels.

My parents also teach them second language skills , when they stay with them . And I have them read and print every week .

During the summer months I also take EVERY Friday off from work, and that way every weekend , we can go camping, road trips, long bike rides, hikes, swimming, etc as every weekend is 3 or 4 days long for me. This way we do not neglect their physical activities .

When we do hikes or bike rides with older kids , I do realize that my twins stamina & strength is way more than most other kids.