Taking kids on their first cruise! WooHoo!!

[Joaljoe]

We can't wait... now that Christmas is over we are counting down the days to Feb!! It just can't come soon enough, especially with all the snow we got last month. We're going down a couple of days early and "surprising" the kiddies with a day at Magic Kingdom. We've booked a couple of nights at Pop Century and then we sail the Dream. Yay!! :)

 

Is there anything that all you wonderful people wish you packed for your kids that you didn't? Or vise versa?? Other than the obvious... dress clothing, regular clothing, swim suits, crayons, books, hats, sun block etc etc.... Anything specific or unique that I may not be thinking about? They are almost 8 and 10.

 

Hopefully this month won't be the slowest ever!!

 

How early do you start packing?? haha

[kiraryker]

I did have one of those over the door shoe holders and it worked great to keep everyone's lotions, bathroom supplies, jewelry, toothbrushes, small items off the counters and out of the way. That way the kids just grabbed what they needed and put it back - no mess

 

We also had mugs they carried around and filled it with the free punch or juice while we sat by the pool.

 

It's a great experience for the whole family. Have a great time.

 

Oh and on her first cruise my 9yo daughter started a journal and she is taking it again this year - at night before bed (if she wasn't dead tired) she would journal about her day, and what she had seen and did and it is really a nice thing to look back on.

[rjcortinas]

Great thread! We are taking our four boys on their first cruise in a week and a half. They are 5, 7, 9, and 12. Can't wait!

[camorelli]

How exciting! We took our kids (4 and 6) on their first cruise in October and they begged to go again asap. We're going in February again! :D Sorry, I can't think of anything I wish our kids had brought along other than beach toys, but yours are older than mine. I was glad that I brought along water shoes for the kids. They used them at the beach (some rocks/shells in the water) and on the hot pool deck when using the waterslide.

[PAcruiser25]

Do they like beach toys? We brought a bucket, shovel, little molds to play in sand with

[Javacruiser]

They are the same age as my wifes kids when we took them on their first cruise 3 years ago. The one recommendation I have is that you do assigned dining and hope you get as lucky as we did with our waitstaff. If you are on Your Time, you can make it work but it will take a little effort to have the same servers each night.

 

Our kids loved everything about the cruise but what really stood out was our MDR dinner every night. The staff, especially our head waiter, fawned over them and made them feel so special. He would cut the 8 year olds steak for her (She didn't ask..... He asked her if he could), he had their drinks for them each night, he would recognize them during the day & call them by name...... They were so impressed by him. On debark day the one thing they both insisted on was that we had to find him and say goodbye. We did find him and we had their picture taken with him. Thats the one thing they talk about more than anything.

 

Thats a great age & they'll have a blast.

 

Bill

[L_K]

My son never leave without is Nintendo DSi.

[soccersharon]

My son never leave without is Nintendo DSi.

 

 

Hi L_K,

 

Nintendo DSI's and IPods are a parent's form of insurance against boredom. I will not cruise without them, either. Good for the plane and "down" moments on the cruise. I'll let you know after my son actually takes a cruise, but know this already from experience.

 

Bonne annee!

[L_K]

Hi L_K,

 

Nintendo DSI's and IPods are a parent's form of insurance against boredom. I will not cruise without them, either. Good for the plane and "down" moments on the cruise. I'll let you know after my son actually takes a cruise, but know this already from experience.

 

Bonne annee!

 

Bonne année à toi aussi !

 

My son always bring the Dsi (5 th cruise for him in 17 days ! ), he brings it when at the pool (fun to see him hide under the towel to avoid sun in the screen) and in the MDR (keep him busy between the services).

[soccersharon]

Bonne année à toi aussi !

 

My son always bring the Dsi (5 th cruise for him in 17 days ! ), he brings it when at the pool (fun to see him hide under the towel to avoid sun in the screen) and in the MDR (keep him busy between the services).

 

 

Exactly...little boys can get impatient, especially waiting for food! Keep in touch!

 

Bon cruising :)

[Crazy4Koko]

Exactly...little boys can get impatient, especially waiting for food! Keep in touch!

 

Bon cruising :)

 

 

I have the same problem with my husband..... ;)

[Joaljoe]

Thanks for all the responses! Some really great idea's I didn't think about. Definitely like the journal idea... not sure how interested my oldest will be in writing but I'll give it a try for sure. :)

 

DSi's are a must!!! My daughter doesn't play too much but I'm sure they'll play at the airport and airplane a lot. lol

 

Javacruiser - That sounds like an awesome experience!! I only hope that our waitstaff is half as nice. Last cruise we went on we had a great waiter... I wish I could request him for our next cruise. haha

[boopie1026]

besides all the stuff already stated I always bring snacks to take for in port and ziplocks- moms ALWAYS need ziplocks!!!

[jolyroger]

We can't wait... now that Christmas is over we are counting down the days to Feb!! It just can't come soon enough, especially with all the snow we got last month. We're going down a couple of days early and "surprising" the kiddies with a day at Magic Kingdom. We've booked a couple of nights at Pop Century and then we sail the Dream. Yay!! :)

 

Is there anything that all you wonderful people wish you packed for your kids that you didn't? Or vise versa?? Other than the obvious... dress clothing, regular clothing, swim suits, crayons, books, hats, sun block etc etc.... Anything specific or unique that I may not be thinking about? They are almost 8 and 10.

 

Hopefully this month won't be the slowest ever!!

 

How early do you start packing?? haha

 

We went on the Dream Last April and our girls who 7 and 10 had a blast (more so than when we went on the Disney wonder a few years ago!) I would suggest getting either a few disposable cameras or getting a digital for them(they gone down in price so much)... We got some great pics that they took..I also invested in a good Digital underwater camera (for myself LOL)..I got some great video that our oldest took on the waterslides with that camera on the dream!! WE also did lke you about going to Disney, but we did it after....God forbid we go to Orlando and not visit our Second home!

 

Oh god almost forgot...Nintendo Dsi....Those things are a life saver!!!!! And they take some not too shabby pics!

[djmaine]

How exciting. We also are taking our first cruise with my daughter, SIL and our 10 and 4 year old grandaughters. I cannot wait.

[seashinesunshine]

You kids are at the perfect age for a cruise!!! They will have a greaet time!

Buy your kids each thier own camera. You can get cameras for a reasonable price, just make sure they are an auto focus, not a fixed focus. Let them take as many photos as they want of whatever they want. Bring extra memory and batteries, we download our photos onto cds at night with our laptop.

You will be surprised at what your kids think is worthy of a photo, it;s like seeing the trip thru thier eyes. They will also love to show grandmas grandpas friends etc "thier" photos of the trip and will love explaining what is in the photos. We have photos of 72 different alligators from the Everglades, and a beetle from the sidewalk, and just a plain old photo of a sidewalk that my son thought was cool, among many other photos he took.

It is helpful if the camera has a strap so they don't set it down.

We bring a backpack so that when we go off ship anythiing we need to take with us goes in there, we have a camel back to carry water in, it keeps the hands free and you are less likely to set down a back pack and walk off without it than you are a bag.

You can go on You Tube and check out other peoples vidoes of some of the places you will be going to, or search them on Google Earth to show your kids what they may see. Just keep in mind all You Tube Videos are not PG rated, preview them.

Have fun and create many memories.

[Joaljoe]

Funny, both my kids have camera's. My oldest got one 2 years ago and we just bought one for our son for Christmas with the cruise in mind. He loves taking photos! I also have an Olympus waterproof camera and we just bought another for our collection. The new Canon 2Ti... it's AMAZING!!! Can't wait to use it on vacation! Good think we just bought a 32GB card for it. haha

I've never gone on vacation with 4 camera's before. LOL

 

Box of Ziploc bags is on my list!! Great idea! :)

 

I hope doing Disney first is not a bad idea. But in 2006 hubby and I did Universal after our cruise and we were exhausted and didn't enjoy it as much. lol The rain made it worse!

[Joaljoe]

How exciting. We also are taking our first cruise with my daughter, SIL and our 10 and 4 year old grandaughters. I cannot wait.

 

Hope you all have a GREAT time!! :))

[seashinesunshine]

Funny, both my kids have camera's. My oldest got one 2 years ago and we just bought one for our son for Christmas with the cruise in mind. He loves taking photos! I also have an Olympus waterproof camera and we just bought another for our collection. The new Canon 2Ti... it's AMAZING!!! Can't wait to use it on vacation! Good think we just bought a 32GB card for it. haha

I've never gone on vacation with 4 camera's before. LOL

 

Box of Ziploc bags is on my list!! Great idea! :)

 

I hope doing Disney first is not a bad idea. But in 2006 hubby and I did Universal after our cruise and we were exhausted and didn't enjoy it as much. lol The rain made it worse!

 

So glad that you have cameras for your kids, my husband is a professional photographer so our kids have grown up with a camera in thier hand. We have been looking at the Canon T2i for my son, that way he could use all my husbands lenses etc, only problem, son has saved only 500$ for a camera and well, he can't get a T2i for that. He will have to keep washing dishes to earn more $$

Please make sure that even though you have a 32 GB card that you back up your stuff every night. Every cruise we have been on and some regular vacations, we have talked to someone who lost all the memory, either the camera was lost/stolen, memory got erased, lost the card etc. It is so sad when that happens. We bring a long a laptop and down load to dvds, wouldn't it be nice if the photo shops on the ship offered the service to download peoples photos to cd!!! Or maybe they do. Seems like no matter how much memory you can always use more. :D

Have Fun!

[MIcruizeadict]

I was going to suggest the ziplocks... but you guys beat me to it! We collected shells and a small amt of sand @ the beaches...don't forget to label the baggies! We also have a backpack with a small insulated (cooler) area on the bottom. Worked great for our beach bag. We also brought a small pair of goggles for the kids as they didn't care for the salt water.

 

We did take homework with us on the trip and did it at the airport during layovers and in our cabin when we needed downtime. Took the kid cameras and journals too.

 

Individually wrapped snacks, like granola bars and crackers were nice to have when touring the islands...

 

Hope you have a wonderful trip!

[Naomi John]

It is so sad when that happens. We bring a long a laptop and down load to dvds, wouldn't it be nice if the photo shops on the ship offered the service to download peoples photos to cd!!! Or maybe they do. Seems like no matter how much memory you can always use more. :D

Have Fun!

 

I know the ships have a "kiosk" (i don't know what else to call it), in the photo area you can put your memory card into and print pictures for a price, (I think about $0.20, but I can't remember). I'm not sure if they offer to burn to a DVD.

 

Thanks for all the responses! Some really great idea's I didn't think about. Definitely like the journal idea... not sure how interested my oldest will be in writing but I'll give it a try for sure. :)

 

What about a "photo journal", she takes the pictures, you can print them as stated above, then have her write about the photo(s).

[jolyroger]

Funny, both my kids have camera's. My oldest got one 2 years ago and we just bought one for our son for Christmas with the cruise in mind. He loves taking photos! I also have an Olympus waterproof camera and we just bought another for our collection.

We bought an Olympus for our cruise as well...LOVE IT!!! I don't know how many times I'd beeither in the pool, hot tub, or at the beach in the ocean an someone would say " oh miss your camera, its in the water ".. Them I would tell them its waterproof....So nice though that their are some concerned people out there!..

 

Yeah I'm kinda a camera junkie.....We bought a Nikon D60 couple years ago....yes its not exactly pocket sized...But god I love it!

[MamaParrotHead]

My kiddos were 6 and 10 last year on their first cruise. They each packed a backpack, and were responsible for lugging it. They each had a book, a journal (one of those little photo album "brag books" with note cards in every other page. then when we had our pictures printed from the trip, they slid one picture in the page opposite their journal entry. It will be a great momento PLUS we were asked to do it by the kids' teachers as part of their assignment for make up work from being absent from school), DS, iPod, pad and colored pencils, and ONE ziploc bag of small figures/toys. They honestly didn't even touch the toys until the last sea day, it was raining, and DH and I were in our connecting cabin packing to go home.

 

It's so much fun with the kids...different, but in equally good ways as travelling as a couple. I find it to be the best, least stressful, most "bang for your buck" way to travel as a family. And now both my kids are hooked as well, lol.

 

Have fun!

[ljslight]

I was going to suggest the ziplocks... but you guys beat me to it! We collected shells and a small amt of sand @ the beaches...don't forget to label the baggies! We also have a backpack with a small insulated (cooler) area on the bottom. Worked great for our beach bag. We also brought a small pair of goggles for the kids as they didn't care for the salt water.

 

We did take homework with us on the trip and did it at the airport during layovers and in our cabin when we needed downtime. Took the kid cameras and journals too.

 

Individually wrapped snacks, like granola bars and crackers were nice to have when touring the islands...

 

Hope you have a wonderful trip!

 

I have found that the best shell bags are the plane barf bags. They keep smells and wettnes in the bag. It's a great thing to have. You could always put it in a plastic zip lock and it will also help to protect the shells from getting broke.

[seashinesunshine]

My kiddos were 6 and 10 last year on their first cruise. They each packed a backpack, and were responsible for lugging it. They each had a book, a journal (one of those little photo album "brag books" with note cards in every other page. then when we had our pictures printed from the trip, they slid one picture in the page opposite their journal entry. It will be a great momento PLUS we were asked to do it by the kids' teachers as part of their assignment for make up work from being absent from school), DS, iPod, pad and colored pencils, and ONE ziploc bag of small figures/toys. They honestly didn't even touch the toys until the last sea day, it was raining, and DH and I were in our connecting cabin packing to go home.

 

It's so much fun with the kids...different, but in equally good ways as travelling as a couple. I find it to be the best, least stressful, most "bang for your buck" way to travel as a family. And now both my kids are hooked as well, lol.

 

Have fun!

I love that your teachers used the journals as part of make up homework! Wish our teachers would do that. Can you believe my kids Gym teachers made them make up missed gym classes??? I guess a day of snorkeling or hiking does not equal 30 minutes of dodgeball:mad: Oh well, we have fun and that is the most important part!:D