Crown Princess British Isles (12nt, 10ports)

[mary_228]

Has anyone taken this Princess cruise? We are bringing our 14 and 11yr olds on what will be their first European trip and I am wondering if it is too overwhelming. Planning on two days pre-cruise in London to get over the jetlag. It is a late June sailing, so the pools onboard will be a good stress reliever at the end of the day.

[kitty9]

It's very port intensive which can tire and bore the kids, but I don't see any reason why you can't do this. I know when I recently did a Med cruise on RCI, the teens on our tours were constantly griping about having to spend another day sightseeing. For the life of me I cannot understand why so many kids aren't appreciative of the wonderful gift of a cruise. It's a fantastic experience. Yes, some of the days can get pretty long, especially for tours in Rome and Florence (it's about 90 minutes from the port to these cities), but the time is well worth it.

[boulders]

I'm taking my dd11 and ds14 on their first med cruise next summer. My one recommendation would be to arrive more than 2 days early. I find that it takes at least 4 days to get over a6 hour tome difference. There's so much to see in London too!

[Kerry's Girls]

I tried adjusting to the the time difference for two days with my girls (who were toddlers at the time) and finally just decided to embrace sleep in later/stay up later. Of course, that means no early morning siteseeing, but we didn't want to do 8 hours of sites anyway.

 

My suggestion is hop on/hop off busses where possible so you can go at your own pace, or private tours, for the same reason - you can go at your own pace and see more of what is interesting and entertaining to your family. For our upcoming Med cruise, we're doing private tours that are less about museums and cathedrals and more focused on seeing towns/parks/bazaars and experiencing the areas. My girls are helping choose what we want to see, which has made them SO excited about this trip (and they're learning at the same time). The private tours also end up costing less than paying for 4 admissions to a ship tour. You can find lots of recommendations for reliable tour operators at the ports of call board here. The one thing to remember is the ship doesn't wait for private tours, so you want to leave yourself plenty of time to get back to the ship :rolleyes:

 

I took cruises with my family when I was a teenager and I those trips fondly - but we never did full-day city tours, which can make me whiny even as an adult. I think pacing and cherrypicking what to see is most important.

 

I think it sounds like a great family adventure for you - have a great time!

 

Best,

Mia

[Ula]

Your kids are a great age and will have the trip of a lifetime. My folks drug me on vacations once a year and we saw every historical site mom could find. Was not thrilled at the time, but now I am so happy they did. Mom would say you will appreciate this when you are older. She was right. Just do not tell her that.

Ignore the complaints, if any. Your children will be seeing wonderful things and will have memories for life.

[mary_228]

Thanks for the advice and perspectives. My oldest is quite excited, but my youngest will probably enjoy it more. He's big into castles and battles! Now for the history of the UK. Good thing I have eight months to get it done.

 

My biggest dilemna will be at Le Harve, where my husband and son will want to visit DDay sites (as do I), but DD will want to see Paris. My FIL fought at DDay so it will be really special to be there.

[junglejane]

We did the Crown Princess British Isles cruise this past July with our 2 DD's who were 8 and 12. We spent an entire week in London pre-cruise and still felt we didn't get everything done. Once on the cruise, we mostly did private tours. In Le Havre, DH did the Princess tour to the Normandy Landing Beaches but I just wandered around Le Havre for a while with the kids. We were going to go to Honfleur but when the time came we were too tired and decided to do something more low key. It was a wonderful trip! Very port intensive but great fun. We did a Med cruise with the kids the previous summer, and this was even better. For one thing, it wasn't hot and of course it's nice to speak/read the language!

 

Let me know if you have any specific questions about the ship or ports. I have the Patters from our cruise. We're leaving on Saturday for the Mexican Riviera on the Sapphire Princess, but I'll do my best to answer.:)

[brazilgirl]

I have gone on 2 very long , port intensive European cruises with my kids (on to the Med , the other to the Baltics).The first was a 12 day cruise and the second 14 days. We tacked on 5 pre cruise days in Paris (plus an overnight in a little English village near Harwich) and 3 post cruise days in Londonwhile on the Baltic cruise.A long trip!

 

My kids were 4, 8 and 11 on the Med cruise and 5 ,9 and 12 on the Baltic. They were never bored. I say this with one hundred percent honesty. They are typical kids , certainly not "perfect" , but they LOVED both cruise experiences and complained very little (surprisingly!) during the whole trip.

 

Some tips:

 

I concur with previous ops who suggest private tours rather than ship tours. We have never been on a ship tour. Why? First...price-with 5 , ends up cheaper. Second, flexibility.Really key! We have often changed our plans on the private tours -stayed in a place we were enjoying a bit longer , visiting some "surprise" places etc. Plus , there are no other adults to give the kids dirty looks (LOL).

Third , the guides tailor the tours to the kids´needs and interests and end up giving them special attention . It´s important to look for guides who enjoy kids (correspond beforehand to get a feel for the guide)

 

The most important thing in making the trip enjoyable for all , imho , is lots of planning. Read lots about each port and try to "vary" the kinds of activities .

While on our Baltic cruise , we visited a zoo , castles , an amusement park , a puppet museum , a battleship , 2 river cruises , a "living history" farm and lots of other things. My kids enjoy art and we visited several wonderful museums , but we spaced them out during the 22 days so they wouldn´t be overwhelmed.

 

One thing we did that really worked out well on both cruises was renting a car ( we did this in Denmark , Germany and Santorini). We went to a little grocery store , bought food and had picnics. Having a car was great and the kids loved it.

 

2 diffferent days on the 14 day cruise we opted to go ashore withut the kids. The first time was because we had had 5 ports in a row and we were going to do a lot of walking.The second was that we wanted one "adult day". The kids had fun staying on the ship and it reduced the "tiredness "level. Both ports were ports that the activities were close to the ship , with no risk of missing the ship and leaving the kids!.

 

Lastly , the kids enjoyed having a bit of money to choose a special something in each port (we are talking simple things). We also studied up on each country before leaving and looked at the art work we were going to see in books and online before our trip. That makes the "seeing" exciting.

 

Have a wonderful trip and be sure your kids will have very special memories.I am jealous!I am dying to go to the British Isles (on my list)

 

Kim

[mary_228]

Such wonderful advice! I'm so glad to hear how successful this type of vacation can be.

 

JungleJane: I will definitely be picking your brain about the activities you chose at each port and the private tour operator if you'd recommend them. Thank you for offering!

Have a good time on your Mex Riviera cruise. We sailed on the Sapphire on the same itinerary and we had a great time! I'm sure you have your excursions arranged, but thought I'd mention that the ship sponsored Deer Island excursion in Mazatlan is really nice, with sea kayaking and hiking. Also there (on another sailing) we went riding with Randi's Happy Horses which was unforgettable (and the massage afterwards onboard that was required to stop my back from spasming!). Ziplining was good for DH and our oldest but the Margilante Pirate Ship and Beach party was a highlight in PV!

 

Brazilgirl: I never thought a Baltics cruise could be appealing to kids! Who knew? I admire your planning skills. I guess if you are coming all the way from Brazil you have to get the most out of your time there. Here in the US, it is hard to take even two weeks off work a one time. Hence the measly two day pre-cruise London plan.

[brazilgirl]

Mary 228-

 

We are fortunate in Brazil- EVERYONE in the whole country gets a month paid vacation. It is the law. We also get 4 months paid maternity leave (all women , no matter what your job).

 

The Baltics are very kid friendly. I´d even venture to say that they are moreso than the Med (the Med requires longer drives to get places).

 

I´d really recommend buying a good guidebook that focuses on kids (there are lots of books like "London for Kids etc.) Also , tripadvisor/Frommers/Fodors websites are great for planning . There are some wonderful forums full of information and people are very helpful.

 

My kids loved , loved , loved London. We had lots of fun on the London Duck Tour , which is neat way to get a general tour. You need to book it quite a bit beforehand (you can book it through their own website or through viatour).They also loved Madame Tussards and feeding the squirrels in Hyde Park. St. James Park is right by Buckingham Palace and is gorgeous- a good place for a picnic.

 

One thing I forgot to mention is that it really pays to book tickets to popular places (like Madame Tussards) online ahead of time. We would have been in line for over 3 hours if we hadn´t done this.As you know , waiting in line is a great way to irritate kids! The kids also loved more active type things-in Italy we rented bikes to explore(might be great in the British Isles).

 

If you have any questions , feel free to ask.

 

Kim

[SelectSys]

...

My biggest dilemna will be at Le Harve, where my husband and son will want to visit DDay sites (as do I), but DD will want to see Paris. My FIL fought at DDay so it will be really special to be there.

 

This really shouldn't be to big a deal. Our family has split up for the day from time to time when interests in on shore activities differed. You'll have two weeks together as a family. A day apart is no big deal.

 

 

BTW - anything you can do to extend that two day visit to London would be very worthwhile. It is a long way to go and the extending your visit would be time well spent. The London has many, many activities and sights for families.

[junglejane]

Mary 228 -- email me at mmaryart@yahoo.com and I'll send you more details on the private tour operators after I get back from the Sapphire. It's not too soon to start researching and reserving those. In some ports, especially in Scotland, there aren't that many private tour operators and the good ones book up very fast. We found others on our Roll Call to share with in some of the ports. Here's a quick run down:

 

Guernsey -- we were unambitious here, having just finished a week of heavy duty sightseeing in London. We just rode the city bus around the island for 60 pence.

 

Cobh/Cork -- we joined a tour arranged by a Roll Call member with Butlers Buses www.butlers-buses.com . We had a very comfortable mini-bus that easily held 10 of us with some seats to spare. It worked out to 31.50 Euros each for a full day tour of Blarney Castle, Blarney Woolen Mills, Charlesfort, Kinsale (lunch), St. Colmans Cathedral in Cork, and lots of sightseeing. You can work out the particulars of what you want to see with your driver.

 

Dublin - we took the Princess shuttle which drops you off near Trinity College. We had arranged a two hour walking tour with a young man named Ronan Westlake. www.dublinwalkingtour.com .

 

Liverpool -- At this stop, DH joined up with 2 other Roll Call members to do a full day Beatles tour -- the perfect one for the serious Beatles fanatic. Meanwhile, the girls and I joined another tour arranged by a Roll Call member that went to Wales. The tour company was Simply Nice Tours. There were about 10 of us and we had a delightful full day tour. www.simplynicetours.com

 

Belfast -- This is a great port for a private tour, because you can do twice as much as a ship's tour at a lower per person price. We used Paddy Campbell of Belfast Black Cab Tours (warning: he's great but we were a bit squished having four of us in his cab). He gave us a fascinating tour of the Murals and a history of the Troubles, followed by a stop at the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge (we had time to walk out across the bridge), a visit to Giant's Causeway, and a photo stop at Dunluce Castle. http://belfastblackcabtours.co.uk/

 

Glasgow -- Here we used Gordon Ross of Great Scot Tours. Gordon is awesome. If you want him, check immediately because he books up a year in advance. We joined up with another mom and daughter from our Roll Call and toured the towns of Luss and Callendar, Loch Lomond, the Trossachs, and Stirling Castle. We also asked Gordon to get us back to Glasgow in time for a 1 hour stop at the Kelvingrove Museum -- we wanted to stop there because they had a Doctor Who Exhibition and our older DD is a major Doctor Who fan. http://www.greatscot-tours.com/

 

Invergordon -- Here we used Graham Hercus of Inverness Tours. This was our most expensive tour and had to be paid in advance, but was worthwhile. We saw Loch Ness, Urquhart Ruins, Cawdor Castle and Culloden Battlefield. Again, we shared the cost with 4 from our Roll Call and saw twice as much as anyone on a ship's tour. http://www.invernesstours.com/

 

Edinburgh -- you can do this port on your own, and can find lots of info on the Europe board. We used a private driver/guide, Sylvia Power. She took us on an excellent tour of the Castle and the City, but it's certainly one you could DIY. http://www.guidepower.co.uk/

 

Le Havre -- DH took the Princess tour to the Normandy Landing Beaches and enjoyed it, but it was very expensive and I didn't think the girls would enjoy it. I was going to go to Honfleur with them, but the taxis were very expensive, so we just took the shuttle to Le Havre and wandered around. Frankly, by that point we had been on vacation 3 weeks (counting the week in London) and were beat.

 

All in all this was a fantastic cruise. One comment is that it is cool and overcast. We lucked out in not getting rained on too much. But I wouldn't count on a lot of time at the pool! If you have more questions, email me and I'll catch up with you after my Mexico cruise. Good luck!