New Year's Eve Cruise on Imagination with Kids- Advice?

Hello Fellow Cruisers!

Thanks to many posts on this board, my wife and I finally decided to go on a Carnival cruise last summer (2016) to Ensenada and Catalina Island. Then, because we had so much fun, we took another in December (2016) to the Western Caribbean. Wow! What great trips. So, we decided to include the kids on a trip this New Year's Eve. We will be be going again to Ensenada and Catalina Island for a short four day cruise.

Do you seasoned cruisers have any advice for cruises with kids? Their ages range from 13 to 16. Do you recommend taking advantage of the on board activities for kids? Are those well run? We will be going with Carnival again.

Any and all advice is welcome. Thanks to all posters for your great stories and recommendations.

Scott

Hello Fellow Cruisers!

 

Thanks to many posts on this board, my wife and I finally decided to go on a Carnival cruise last summer (2016) to Ensenada and Catalina Island. Then, because we had so much fun, we took another in December (2016) to the Western Caribbean. Wow! What great trips. So, we decided to include the kids on a trip this New Year's Eve. We will be be going again to Ensenada and Catalina Island for a short four day cruise.

 

Do you seasoned cruisers have any advice for cruises with kids? Their ages range from 13 to 16. Do you recommend taking advantage of the on board activities for kids? Are those well run? We will be going with Carnival again.

 

Any and all advice is welcome. Thanks to all posters for your great stories and recommendations.

 

 

Scott

We started taking two boys with us on cruises when they were younger (10-12) and we kind of just kept them with us the whole time. Once they hit older than that, we had them join in on the kids clubs activities and they loved it (and so did we :) ). We just had established guidelines as far as we took them to the activity and found out what time it would be over and told them we would meet them there and pick them up and they were to wait until we did. We also explained that just because it is a ship, doesn't mean they should be unsafe. No going with strangers, etc. We kind of put the fear of God into them that someone could take them to a part of the ship we can't get to and we would never see them again - seemed to work as they followed the guidelines we set.

They do a lot of fun things for the kids. Of course on excursion days and meals, etc. we were all together.

Be prepared to have some extra spending cash budgeted for the kids as they will most certainly find things (like the arcade) they want to do. Also, the bottomless bubbles with all the free soda and juice they can drink is great and I found saved money versus paying for all this one can/drink at a time.

You will also need to decide if you want to give them charging privileges with their sail and sign card, which means they can buy stuff as they want to or not. We gave our kids spending privileges and told them they could spend up to $10 per day on whatever they wanted to (gift shop stuff, candy in Cherry on Top, special treats at the coffee bar etc). This is subjective though for you and you will need to decide if you can trust them with the freedom to charge at will lol! Mine new better for sure, $10 meant $10 lol! if they didn't spend it all one day I would add it to the next day and they could spend it then so they "banked" it.

Thank you for the advice. We want this cruise to be a good one so the kids will want to go in the future. This will be the kids' first cruise- and they are excited!

:)

Thank you for the advice. We want this cruise to be a good one so the kids will want to go in the future. This will be the kids' first cruise- and they are excited!

 

:)

Look into the Carnival Hub Ap too... It is new so we never used it, but I think there is a way you can 'chat' or something on that with others on the ship so you would have a way to stay in contact.

:champagne-toast:Kids are handy on a New Years cruise. They will keep you awake until midnight.:D