Do YOU cruise with children??

[Frankiesmom]

Wehave taken them on 2 of the four we've on. We are taking them on 1 more out of the next 3 we have booked.

[Onessa]

I love my children more than anything in the world , but I also love my husband just the same and want some time with him. I believe it's great for your marriage to do this every once in a while.

 

DD is 9.5 YO. DH and I have been together for 24 years. We've got a great marriage primarily because we really enjoy each other's company (and that of our daughter). It's not a "he says, she says" or "us against them" mentality in our household - it's a "we're all in this together" attitude and I can't imagine a vacation that I'd want to experience that I would not want my daughter to experience. That's just the way we are.

 

My parents traveled without my sister and I when I was growing up. I'm also a scout leader and volunteer with several other youth groups. I can tell you that while some kids don't seem to mind their parents' taking a vacation without them, there are some that are deeply affected (I'm going to stand by that, as my sister's excuse for growing up so "weird" :D ).

[stretch]

I already voted once, but can I vote for Folgy?????? We often share the same ideas on this particular subject. :D

Stretch

[lrovnan]

DD is 9.5 YO. DH and I have been together for 24 years. We've got a great marriage primarily because we really enjoy each other's company (and that of our daughter). It's not a "he says, she says" or "us against them" mentality in our household - it's a "we're all in this together" attitude and I can't imagine a vacation that I'd want to experience that I would not want my daughter to experience. That's just the way we are.

 

My parents traveled without my sister and I when I was growing up. I'm also a scout leader and volunteer with several other youth groups. I can tell you that while some kids don't seem to mind their parents' taking a vacation without them, there are some that are deeply affected (I'm going to stand by that, as my sister's excuse for growing up so "weird" :D ).

 

More power to you sister!!!

[Cruiser Forever]

I have always cruised with my daughters. On our first family cruise my kids were 5 yrs & 9 yrs. old. And they still come on cruises with us now. They are now 19 yrs old & 23 yrs. old. They have 8 cruises under their belt. :D

 

 

[Nliedel]

Why this is such an issue. I have been on enough cruises to know there are kids who are jerks and there are adults who are jerks as well. Most people are great, most kids are as well. When I was young I traveled the world, my Father had a job that allowed it. I was well behaved, as my kids (usually) are.

 

This is not the issue. The issue, to me, is accepting responsibiltiy for your own kids and the lines for enforcing their own rules. Don't have rules you will not enforce. As a parent that is rule number one.

[Shanafan]

My husband and I took our first cruise without the kids to celebrate our 10th anniversary and again this past February. 6 years later we have 8 under our belt and one more scheduled.

 

Our kids are of an age where we don't have to keep them by our side the entire time. We enjoy cruising with them. It is a good vacation where everyone can do what they want to do.....other than if we go into port, we all go.

[New2RCCI]

Yes I do......:)

[Dlynn]

We didn't take our kids on the weekend cruise we went on. They were babies at the time. We did take them on our Mariner cruise and they loved it!:D My kids were 10 and 11. They were with us or in Adventure Ocean. They were not allowed to run around the ship. We sat at a table for four. There were not many kids on our cruise. All the kids I saw were very well behaved. Our next cruise is on the Navigator Easter week. I know there will be a lot of kids that week.

[theodoru]

I have cruised with other adults, by myself, and with my grandchildren. The best cruises have been when I had the little ones with me (4 and 9 now). I treat the cruise as "their" cruise and all excursions are for them. I love seeing the world through the eyes of children. Adults have lost the wonderment that they had when they were younger. I do get plenty of time to relax and enjoy myself while they are in the children's programs.

[herb]

Our daughter is now 23, but has cruised with us MANY times as a pre-teen, and as a teen. I can confirm that she did not hang out with groups of kids sitting in the stairwells, pushing all the elevator buttons, and taking over all the front row seats during a show! She stayed with us most of the day and by the end of the night, we were all tired and went to sleep!

 

I can also assure you, had she done any of those things and I had been made aware of it, she will have wished she hadn't!!

[ald3114]

As a family, we do family things together. Family vacations is the one week or two weeks are all together focused on family and fun without interruption from school and work and other things. I do cruise with my children. However, we don't fly with our children. Nor do we take them on our weekend romantic getaways. Cruising is the only way they will get to the islands.

[vijoge]

We took our youngest son, then 11, on our first cruise. He hasn't had any desire to repeat the experience so we haven't taken him on any others. He has told me he's thinking he might want to take a cruise the summer after he graduates from high school in 2007, but he's not sure yet.

[mumofsons]

We have cruised with our kiddos and this June 2 we will take a short four day without them. Then we have a week booked in January with both our boys and my DM. We are waiting for the prices to come out for Alaska for 2006 because we will go again. I love to cruise and I think it is great for them since they have some family time and some kid time and the adults can have family time and some alone time. I think it is a great family vacation.

[JerseyGirl23]

Cruising with kids here! 2 daughters, ages 14 and 8.

 

If I didn't take them along, they'd never speak to us again! :eek:

[hstrybuf]

No, I don't. Our kids are both in their 20's now and have never been on a cruise. They also got tired of the land vacations we took when they were younger. DH and I usually choose to cruise when fewer kids will be aboard the ship. This doesn't mean I don't like kids, but I've raised mine. It's time to relax!

[redhead9]

We take our kids! My kids are on a year-round school schedule, so we get to vacation 'off-season'. We took our first cruise very spur-of-the-moment after 9/11 and got a week-long Carnival cruise (Western Caribbean) for a STEAL!! They were 10 and 7 at the time, and STILL talk about that trip! They both loved the kids' club and spent a lot of time with their friends, yet we also had great family time, including all meals and excursions. We don't have any family closeby, so leaving them isn't even an option, but we also have decided that they are 'ours' for so short a time, let's take advantage of it. So, cruising truly is the best of both worlds--great family time and memories, yet plenty of couple time!!

 

We just scheduled our second family cruise for May 1 on the Mariner since this is their last-ever 'track-out' (quarterly break from the year-round school schedule), as they will be reverting to a traditional schedule in the fall (there are no year-round high schools). My kids are now 14 and 10 and are as excited as we are. We know it won't be much longer that they'll want to vacation with us at all, so we are enjoying every chance we get!!!

 

I am a stay-at-home mom, yet I still enjoy my kids' company! As they grow and come into their own, they are becoming more and more fun. I just won't give them a room key as there is no telling what mom and dad might be up to while they are in their kids' programs on those afternoons!!! :)

[herrbeeb]

first of all, we are one of those families, you know, we waited a long time to have children and we never considered traveling without them.

 

second, we consider it part of our reponsibility as parent to show our children as much of the world as possible and, in fact, we enjoy doing so.

 

third, cruising is the best family vacation. everyone can chose their own activities including sleeping all day. i don't have to make any decisions re: entertaintment, activities, eating, etc. the children always find a nice group of teenage passengers to hang with and we all eat dinner together to talk about or day.

[Folgy]

Hmmmmm, Let me think about this ....

 

 

NO/NOT/NADDA!

 

 

 

 

 

;)

[deanna77]

my husband and myself are going on our frist cruise in june. our 4 kids are not going with us. this is going to our frist honeymoon we been married for 8 year but did not have money to take a honeymoon when we got married. we do take 2 summer vacations a year with the kids. i see nothing wrong with taking a cruise without my kids. they will be with my mom safe and sound and having alot of fun.

[cruiseky]

We have taken our kids on all of our cruises. They were 5 and 8 years old when we went on our first and they will be 10 and 13 this year when we take our fifth cruise. This works out great for us. There is so much for the kids to do that we get a nice balance of "quite time" away from the kids and "family time", all during the same vacation.

[msquinn0908]

This is our first cruise and we are taking our 11 yr old DD with us. I think she is as excited as we are and could not imagine going on a cruise or any VACATION without her.

[ckrobyn]

Hmmmmm, Let me think about this ....

 

 

NO/NOT/NADDA!

 

 

 

 

 

;)

 

 

LOL :D

[KimiCLAS]

We've never previously taken our kids. However, we will in Jan. 2006 - 2 DS's 20 & 15 at that time. DD (22) won't be able to go. That's why we've decided that we should take the DS's - they're growing up too fast & we want them to go with us at least once. (I know the soon to be 15 yo will want to go with us every time in the future after his 1st cruise :rolleyes: )

[TheBeachBears]

DH and I did our first cruise (Voyager 8/03) without DD as she was only 3 at the time and we were traveling with my DB and SIL and friends. Second cruise was 1/04 on Majesty for the weekend. DD stayed with pregnant SIL and DB as me and DH needed some time alone. But this year we are taking DD on her 1st cruise on Jewel in December. She will be 6 and we think this will be a good age for her to start cruising. We did Disney this past September, which she loved, but she wants to go on the "big boat"with us. I have never had a problem with little ones on the cruise-usually it is the preteens/tweens who have been behaving poorly because there was no parental supervision or control. But again there are plenty of adults who act like children. We asked for a 4 top in the DR just because we do not want to "impose" on other pax who may be trying to enjoy a week without their own kids. And as many others have said, we get so little time with DD that we want to have as much family time as possible when we go away. Not to say that she will not be spending some time in AO, but we don't plan on leaving her there all the time. As she is our one and only, we feel blessed to be able to take her with us to other countries and experience other cultures/foods/languages. AND **GASP*** we even take her out of school to travel ( I cannot take off school vacations from my job as they are some of the busiest weeks we have).

 

Counting the days till we sail again...........Jewel of the Seas 12/11/05

 

Voyager of the Seas 8/03

Majesty of the Seas 1/04

 

~~~A bad day cruising still beats a good day working~~~