Cruising with children and grandchildren

[Bridge Maven]

When you cruise with your children and/or grandchildren, what do you do differently than when you cruise with just your spouse/partner or another couple?

[gelo7]

Not much...

[BethV114]

We cruise with a family member - Prior to having DD (who is now 28 months), I would typically either cruise with DH or with my twin sister, but not with both. Now that we have DD, we learned that we can't do it on our own and we need help!

We book a larger cabin - Prior to having DD, we splurged once on a grand suite for our honeymoon on Royal. Other cruises we booked no larger than a junior suite (Royal) and went down to an Aqua Class (Celebrity) on one occasion. When DH and I took DD on her first cruise, we tried just a standard balcony cabin on Allure becuase we couldn't afford to go larger and we regretted it. I didn't like Allure and we were just so on top of each other the whole time that it was incredibly frustrating. My sister was kind enough to take us on a second cruise with DD a few months later and booked a Celebrity Suite. That was a much better idea! The separate room to put DD down for a nap or to bed while we stayed up and relaxed on the balcony or watched a movie was invaluable!

We do Select Dining - The times for fixed seating just don't work that well with DD's typical dinner time and we prefer to have the ability to go a bit earlier or later to dinner based on what we're doing and how DD is feeling.

We don't really go to shows - We don't really have time now. After dinner, we typically will head back to the cabin for DD's bath and bed. Then we relax on the balcony a bit and watch a movie. We've taken to having dessert delivered to our cabin after dinner so that we can take more time enjoying it and not feel rushed by DD.

We get babysitting - Sign up for it on your first day and they will do their best to get you help. We did this on the Eclipse for two evenings and one afternoon. We'll probably try to cut back to one evening and the afternoon of our one sea day next month. The price is quite reasonable and it's well worth it to have a bit of adult/relaxation time!

[Hflors]

When you cruise with your children and/or grandchildren, what do you do differently than when you cruise with just your spouse/partner or another couple?

 

I chose another cruise line. One that catered to young people (RCCl) and had all the bells and whistles. DD, SIL and grand son loved it. With hubby we cruise Celebrity or HAL.

 

just my opinion.

 

Helen

[hubofhockey]

When you cruise with your children and/or grandchildren, what do you do differently than when you cruise with just your spouse/partner or another couple?

 

We'll go on Carnival or Royal Caribbean when we're with our kids (teens) and Princess or (would like to try) Celebrity when going with only adults.

[Cruiser 4 Life 66]

I don't walk nude around the cabin.

[BethV114]

Another thought to add to my original post...

We switched to Celebrity. We sailed Royal almost exclusively, with the exception of one Solstice cruise, until DD. Our first cruise with DD was last December on Allure and it really just wasn't much fun. For a cruise line that supposedly caters to families, we felt unwelcome in a lot of places with DD. The following March, my sister took us on the Eclipse and we just had a much better time. We were all treated so much better and were never made to feel unwelcome anyplace we took DD. I know that part of that was being in a suite, but I think that only goes so far. The staff on Celebrity were just so much more professional and personable. That's why we chose them for our cruise in January! :D

[Sail Girl]

When we cruised with DS, DDIL and Grands, we switched to NCL to take advantage of their Children's program.

Grands never attended - enjoyed being with their parents and grandparents!

NCL is a good choice for DS and DDIL as they prefer to be very casual and like being able to sail out of both Boston and NYC.

[miched]

.

 

Easy answer!

 

We don't take them.

 

We worked too hard to enjoy a cruise.

 

When our children were young cruises were not as popular as they are today so we would go to Disney World evrery 3 years and had a tent or travel trailer. We also traveled across the nation and been to all of the 48 states, every amusement park, national park, attraction and tourist trap.

 

Now at this stage in our life we don't need to have the grandkids along as anchors plus we don't want our children to miss out on the "joy" of traveling with their kids.

 

 

.

[Leeroy-Jenkins]

When you cruise with your children and/or grandchildren, what do you do differently than when you cruise with just your spouse/partner or another couple?

 

Nothing.

[scarlett81]

Ok, I haven't taken a cruise yet with the kids, but we'll be taking our first one this May. Ordinarily we wouldn't be cruise people, and we probably wouldn't take the kids to Europe for something like this.

However, its my parents 50th anniversary and we gifted them with a trip to anywhere in the world they wanted to go. They picked the Mediterranean, and they want the kids with us. This is likely the last trip my father will be able to take, so that puts in all in perspective. My point is that sometimes in life, the extra work (some would say hassle or pain) that is bringing the kids along is warranted.

Our kids though young have flown alot, 6 month old baby has a good temperament, and daughter, 5 has flown 30+ times and been to many upscale hotels/restaurants. If I hadn't had experience with that, and with her being used to sitting still, using her quiet voice...etc, I'd hesitate more.

 

In our case, this will be a cruise to Turkey, Greece and Italy. I've chosen an itinerary that goes at an easier pace. If it were me without kids, I'd want to go faster and port every day, but in this one we port, then have a sea day, then 2 port days, then another sea day, etc.

Another thing I've done was spend extra for a bigger cabin. Having read extensively here about cruising with kids, people say 9/10 times that getting a suite was worth it, or they regretted not getting one. Hubby needs to have privacy, he'll just be cranky without it.

Also, we are arriving in Italy 2 days prior to embarking, to get settled and get the kids used to the time change.

Don't know what age kids you are talking about, but I'm also taking advantage of a diaper service. They will send all the baby items you need to your hotel or location pre-cruise, so you don't have to lug a suitcase full of diapers and wipes to Europe.

[cruising teacher]

This Christmas Eve our five grandchildren opened up T-shirts that say "Santa said that I have been very good this year so I can go on a cruise with Grandma and Boppa" We are taking the entire family on the March 24 Eclipse. They are ages 4 to 9. There will be tons of kids because of Spring Break. Can't wait:):):)

[Redtravel]

We travel frequently. Land, cruise, etc. We cruise just as a couple and have fun. We cruise with the kids and grandkids and also have fun. We really enjoy each other. We get along well. For us, there are a few differences. We try to get connecting cabins or cabins close. We make it a point to have many meals together. We have a table at the traditional early time. That way everyone knows when and where to meet. We also have highchairs/boosters in place. We also try to spend time alone with the grandkids during some portion of each day. Their parents need some time alone as a couple. We also love the time we get to be with the grandkids. On a few evenings, we will put the kids to bed while their parents enjoy their evening.(connecting cabins work great for this) We also have our time alone at a specialty restaurant at least one evening. We don't plan to spend everyday activity together. We may end up at the pool together by chance. We don't plan excursions together. We are very comfortable traveling as a family. One of the key ingredients is that we are respectful of each other. We understand that everyone deserves to enjoy their vacation. Be flexible, smile, and have fun. The best part of cruising together is when you get back.....and the kids ask when we can do it again. Also, my kids insist on paying their fare. I do not dictate when and where we go. I am not pushy. I believe it's who you are with rather than where you go that counts. We are lucky.

[junglejane]

When you cruise with your children and/or grandchildren, what do you do differently than when you cruise with just your spouse/partner or another couple?

 

We have been cruising with our kids since 2005 but this past February we went on a short cruise on the Queen Victoria without them. I've thought back about what we did differently on that cruise. Mostly the answer is "not much" because we feel that one of the attractions of a cruise vacation is that our kids can enjoy themselves without us in the kid and teen programs.

 

But the main things I could come up with are that we (1) we were able to sit at a table for 8 with other adults and try the whole "tablemates" experience, and (2) didn't feel the need to keep checking in on the kids to see how they were doing and where they were at the moment. It was just a bit more carefree.

 

I suppose the other obvious difference is the effect on our budget. If we were only paying for two instead of four (airfare, cruisefare, shore excursions, etc.) then we would probably book nicer cabins, more exotic itineraries, and probably try out smaller but more luxurious ships like the ones on Seabourn.

 

Our kids are now 15 and 10. We are older parents, so my mother is too elderly to travel with us. My in-laws are like one of the posters above, and viewed the grandkids as anchors. Now my FIL is too sick to travel so his wife travels without him and we travel without him and he sits home with his oxygen. When our time comes to be grandparents, I definitely hope to try out cruising with the whole extended family -- just hope our finances and health permit that.:)

[georgesken]

When you cruise with your children and/or grandchildren, what do you do differently than when you cruise with just your spouse/partner or another couple?

 

 

I would be in the kids club for time to time to drop off/pick up the kids which i wouldn't do if we were travelling without kids.

[Travel Travel Travel]

We travel frequently. Land, cruise, etc. We cruise just as a couple and have fun. We cruise with the kids and grandkids and also have fun. We really enjoy each other. We get along well. For us, there are a few differences. We try to get connecting cabins or cabins close. We make it a point to have many meals together. We have a table at the traditional early time. That way everyone knows when and where to meet. We also have highchairs/boosters in place. We also try to spend time alone with the grandkids during some portion of each day. Their parents need some time alone as a couple. We also love the time we get to be with the grandkids. On a few evenings, we will put the kids to bed while their parents enjoy their evening.(connecting cabins work great for this) We also have our time alone at a specialty restaurant at least one evening. We don't plan to spend everyday activity together. We may end up at the pool together by chance. We don't plan excursions together. We are very comfortable traveling as a family. One of the key ingredients is that we are respectful of each other. We understand that everyone deserves to enjoy their vacation. Be flexible, smile, and have fun. The best part of cruising together is when you get back.....and the kids ask when we can do it again. Also, my kids insist on paying their fare. I do not dictate when and where we go. I am not pushy. I believe it's who you are with rather than where you go that counts. We are lucky.

 

Great advice! We're getting ready for a multi generational cruise to Alaska and you really put things in perspective well!

[cdbaum]

We have cruised on X both with our daughter (now 6) and without. The only things that change would be the trips to the kid's club three times a day and the fact that we don't BOTH go to the casino after 10:00 PM.

 

We do have a slight modification to dinner since I take her to the kid's club after the main course before she has a chance to get bored. This is timed to the opening of the kid's program in the evening and works well as the carrot at the end of the stick for her behavior.

 

The kid's club on X is actually her favorite program among the cruise lines.