Europe with 10 year old?

[Maggie 3]

I would like to take my 10 year old granddaughter to Europe next summer. She has been on a few cruises in the caribbean so we want to try Europe. Tell me what you think, I am looking at Rccl, Princess or Celebrity. Will there be alot of kids on the ship for the sea days? I want to do a 7-10 day cruise. We would stay 2-3 days in the port we start in and fly home after the cruise.

Thanks

[jerin]

I think that 10 is a great age to do this sort of thing, they're getting to the point then when there's so much more that they appreciate (my 9, 10 and 12 year olds would love to cruise Europe). There will be other children on whatever cruise you go with, but the kids' clubs won't be jam-packed like they are on some Caribbean sailings.

[onthelake]

We have done a number of cruises in Europe with our son - now 16 - starting when he was 3. All went very well. Talk to your granddaughter about what she would like to see and discuss which ports will be most appealing to both of you. My favorites would include Venice and Dubrovnik. But, the Baltic is wonderful as well and the ports and major sites are much nearer each other. The Greek Islands are magical. There are low-cost airlines in Europe so on our last trip, we bought round-trip airfare to Paris, spent a week in Paris and then flew down to Barcelona to join our trip for only 32 euro each. We disembarked in Athens and used a different carrier to fly back to Paris for our trip home. You really have a lot of options.

 

It is all about the ports! Also, look at 12 day cruises and if the ship is overnight in any of the ports.

 

There will be plenty of young people from around the world. Don't worry about any of the kid's clubs.

[UKBayern]

Holidays in Europe might be at a different time than for your kids. If you want lots of other children on the ship, make sure you sail during those times. On our last Med cruise, it happened to be Thanksgiving. Don't bet on any kids being on board then....

[Mikiejag]

Which area? We did ours from Venice, Greece, Turkey and they loved it. The biggest issue we had was that we lived in Italy and the boat was pretty mulitnational, Germans, Austrians, etc and the many different languages kinda freaked the kids out for the kids area, but the med is too good to pass up.

 

We did Costa and the ship was fantastic. Depending on the kids, that age should be perfect, old enough to appreciate, young enough to follow along.

[chipmaster]

I took my kids 7, 11 and 14 a few years back and they loved the experience. They enjoyed the ship but the ports and excursions believe it or not even the long driving ones are still what they remember best, climbing Pisa, the wild cats and public toilets of Ephesus, and the boring churches too.

 

10 at least for my boys was an interesting age. Getting old enough that they didn't enjoy the kids club much after they past that age and were picky and too quick to judge the crowds there. My daughter seems much more open and can get alone with anyone and anyone.

 

One word of caution is that even on an US based line like Princess we found more than 1/2 the kids in kids club were not US speaking. Heard lots of Spanish and German spoken. If you go during traditional holiday there will be many kids.

 

I'd pick the cruise based on ports and history you want to visit, then select the cruiseline / ship with best schedule than amenities last. The best amenities without the best ports would be having priorities backwards IMHO.

 

Good luck!

 

I would like to take my 10 year old granddaughter to Europe next summer. She has been on a few cruises in the caribbean so we want to try Europe. Tell me what you think, I am looking at Rccl, Princess or Celebrity. Will there be alot of kids on the ship for the sea days? I want to do a 7-10 day cruise. We would stay 2-3 days in the port we start in and fly home after the cruise.

Thanks

[lmg1230]

We cruised the Emerald Princess in the Baltics last summer when my daughters were 12 and 6 and they loved it! I think as long as you are cruising during school holidays there will be lots of children on board. Many of the children on board spoke multiple languages which my daughters found fascinating and it encouraged my older daughter, in particular, to work hard on her French studies and she is also going to start Spanish as a third language in September. It's great for kids to be exposed to lots of different cultures. I'm sure your granddaughter will have a great time wherever you take her!

 

Lisa

[junglejane]

We took our 2 DD's to the Med in June 2008 when they were 7 and 11 (Celebrity Summit), and to the British Isles in July 2009 when they were 8 and 12 (Crown Princess). We were told there were 330 kids on the Med cruise. I never heard a count on our British Isles cruise, but I would guess around the same. We are going back to the Med in June 2011 on Celebrity, when the girls will be 10 and 14.

 

It's true that many of the kids are not English speakers, but that didn't seem to be a problem at all as far as I could tell.

[Onessa]

Holidays in Europe might be at a different time than for your kids. If you want lots of other children on the ship, make sure you sail during those times. On our last Med cruise, it happened to be Thanksgiving. Don't bet on any kids being on board then....

 

We've cruised a variety of Med cruises the past three American T-givings and have a a decent number of kids on each cruise (RCCI and X). Many Americans working in Europe have time off for the "American holiday" - particularly government employees - and if their kids are going to American schools in Europe, they will likely have the whole week off!

 

DD (who is now 14YO) has always met at least three to four girls her age and has had a blast. She still keeps in touch with several of the girls (facebook)

[Onessa]

To the OP -- if your GD is "into" some of the popular fiction that takes place in Greece (Percy somebody springs to mind) she would flip over a Med cruise. Or if she's been studying ancient cultures in school, she'll really appreciate Italy, Greece or Turkey. Baltic cruises also have great history or literature tie ins (Lois Lowery Number the Stars comes to mind -- but its been a while since DD has been 10YO).