5h tour, how to feed kids?

[foxesden1]

I just booked us on a5 hour day tour with RCCL inSpain. They offer a 15min break for shopping in the market. My question is how on earth do I feed my five year old and keep her happy? We are doing a two week TA from Miami to Europe. We can't board with drinks,lord knows if snack type food is allowed.. You can't take fresh food of the ship.. So how do i don this? Thoughts? Hints?

 

Thanks!!!

[cb at sea]

You can bring your own drink bottles...fill them before you leave the ship with water, juice...whatever. You may bring boxes of cereal off the ship...nice finger food. You can bring sealed snacks (granola bars, peanut butter crackers, cookies, etc...) onto the ship if you wish. And, many folks with kids will bring juice boxes onto the ship...that's allowed, no worries!

Eat a large breakfast!!! There will most likely be snack food in the marketplace....

[cinanina]

I just booked us on a5 hour day tour with RCCL inSpain. They offer a 15min break for shopping in the market. My question is how on earth do I feed my five year old and keep her happy? We are doing a two week TA from Miami to Europe. We can't board with drinks,lord knows if snack type food is allowed.. You can't take fresh food of the ship.. So how do i don this? Thoughts? Hints?

 

Thanks!!!

We went on a long tour with Celebrity cruises and since it was a 12 day cruise and our 4 yo son was getting a bit tired of all the archeological sites we left him at the kids club. This was an Ephesus, Didyma and Miletus trip, which included lunch... we thought our child wouldn't really enjoy it that much, he did enjoy Pompeii and visiting the Acropolis in Athens but this one seemed like a bit to much for him. If you go with a tour organised by the cruiseline and there is any delay, the ship will wait for you. This worked for us, although we only did it once and did feel a bit guilty about leaving him on board but in his case he was happy to stay at the kids club and really loved it, so he was all for it. You just kind of feel like if anything happens to him (like falling or getting hurt on any activity on board) you will be far from the ship and although they do keep your mobile you won't be able to come to the ship like for some hours... of course this can also happen when you leave your kids at grandma's home or something...

[Kerry's Girls]

We never do ship tours (I prefer private tours with kids so we can go at our own pace), but snacks and drinks are vital to keeping kids happy for any tours. It's hard to give up suitcase space to snacks, but it's worth it. Cereal bars, granola bars, trail mix, fruit snacks, etc., and, yes, treats, all go in my backpack any time we get off the ship so I can pull something different out any time they're hungry or bored. I bring reusable water bottles, but you could buy one water bottle on board and keep refilling it from the tap throughout the cruise. If your child won't drink water, bring little kool-aid type packets to mix into the water.

 

Spain is a fantastic place for kids - we were there for my twins 5th birthday and it's still their favorite place on earth - even more than Disneyland. Have a great time!

 

Best,

Mia

[gerif]

If you go with a tour organised by the cruiseline and there is any delay, the ship will wait for you.

 

Unfortunately, this is a common misconception. They will not necessarily wait for you (often, they just can't). However, they will be responsible for getting you to the next port at their expense and pay for hotel/meals. If you miss the ship on a private excursion, the expense is yours.

[cinanina]

Unfortunately, this is a common misconception. They will not necessarily wait for you (often, they just can't). However, they will be responsible for getting you to the next port at their expense and pay for hotel/meals. If you miss the ship on a private excursion, the expense is yours.

This was not the case, it was very clearly stated to us that the ship would in fact wait for us. The condition to leave the kids in the kids club was that you showed them the cruise tour ticket for that specific day, in your name. And if you were leaving on your own, you cannot leave the children in the kids club, precisely because the child may risk being left on the boat without his parents because they missed the ship for any delay.

 

The tours are organised with plenty of time to come back and they ensure that there is no possibility of risking to miss the ship, unless a majour accident can happen but in that case your child may be lucky to have stayed at the kids club and unfortunetly this can happen when you're at home as well.

 

In any case, this was clearly explained to us, without any doubt, but I have never heard of people being left ashore because a tour was delayed - except in case of an accident, and still in this case the ship waited for one night or even maybe 2 nights and just left behind those who were seriously injured and could not leave the hospital, they missed one port on that trip, it was maybe last year in Morocco, dreadfull accident with tourists from Portugal who said that after the bus turned over lots of Moroccans entered running into the bus, with people injured and dead, they thought they were coming inside to help them but instead they just stoll everything they had, from clothes to cameras... and even, in this case, I'm not sure the trip was organised by the ship but the ship did wait for one night. The other cruisers did not complain, they just all said their holiday was ruined by a tragic event and that they felt awfull about what happened (people on the board who had lost their family members, I dont remember the details). But I'm sure the ship waited for at least one night and almost sure the trip was not even organised by the cruiseline.

[Mack2]

We can't board with drinks,lord knows if snack type food is allowed.. You can't take fresh food of the ship.. So how do i don this? Thoughts? Hints?

Thanks!!!

 

Fresh fruit/non-packaged baked goods are not allowed off the ship (customs), but you can take those cereal boxes from the breakfast buffet. You might find that you'll be served lunch food that may be out of your child's "comfort zone", but they will manage (Rice and Beans can be found everywhere in the world in one form or another).

 

Bringing along some of your child's favorite packaged foods might be a good idea as well... Like Kerry's Girls had posted, customs and the cruise line won't stop you from taking along your child's favorite packaged snacks and drink mixes (Kool-Aid)... and after a hard day of touring, it's always back to the ship for decadent desserts, pizza, ice cream, and chicken fingers!

[foxesden1]

Miss em loves water, so a non issue for us. Thanks for the tips everyone!

[Cheryl H]

Is there a place in the market area to buy some sliced bread? You could pack some "Jif to go". It comes in pre-packed little cups. Throw in a plastic knife and you could make a peanut butter sandwich for her.

 

If not maybe you could take some packaged crackers and dip them in the peanut butter.

 

We do that for our son on vacation.