best European itenerary with kids?

[goobz]

3 kids ages between 7-12, first time to europe

 

10-12 day cruise

 

Baltic, Eastern Med, Western Med, other ?

[Keith1010]

I would go with either Western or Eastern.

 

Our first one when the kids were the ages of your children was Western and I think that one worked very well.

 

Keith

[CruiserBruce]

Keith has some good points. Other things to consider are what are the interests of those involved? We don't know you, so that is hard to say. But, generally the Eastern Med is all about great and famous historical sites- Rome, Athens, Naples (Pompei), Olympia, all that sort of thing. Plus some great scenary, like Santorini or Mykonos.

 

Western Med is a lot more relaxed and focused on hip things like Barcelona (and Gaudi- spelling?), Monte Carlo, beachs and that sort of thing. Pisa or Florence is typically on a western Med.

 

Rome is the common (but not only) start location for both East and West Meds and of course, Rome is a fantastic historic city with a long list of wonderful sites.

 

So, you have to make the decision based on knowing your family.

[Essiesmom]

I would go with the Baltic, because I think there are more things in port there that would appeal to kids...Olso, the viking Ship museum; Stockholm the Vasa Museum; Copenhagen - Tivoli Gardens...I don't think young kids are much interested in ruins and churches...or museums...And you don't go to the Med to go to the beach...and the beaches are nothing like the white sands of the Caribbean. EM

[Keith1010]

I just wanted to add to what CruiserBruce said. In the end you do have to know your family.

 

For our kids when they were your kids ages we felt that the Baltics were not a good option for them. Part of the reason was the weather. Many of these ports can be on the cooler side and often rainy and cloudy and for the time we were on the ship we wanted them to enjoy the amenities inside and outside the ship which the Mediterranean was a big plus.

 

We also booked for hour tours and that worked very well. We didn't take them to museums and we found many nice choices for them in the Med.

 

Again, you know your family and we don't.

 

Good luck on all of this.

 

On a related note, we found that Princess worked very well for both us and the kids at that point in time. Princess to me has the best kids program after Disney so I think it helped to provide good balance for everyone.

 

Finally, some of the Italy ports were just perfect. Ours included Venice and that was just lots of fun for everyone. They loved the Gondola and even places such as the Glass Factory. And the water taxi was great as were taking them to a restaurant for lunch. And in other ports things like a little snack for them such as a Galato worked well. You can really make this a fun experience for them.

[chipmaster]

We did a 12 day with kids 7, 12, and 14 at the time. I think it comes down to what you "the parents" want to get, I'd not pick the port line up with kids in mind. At that young age they will hopefully get something out of any cultural and historical vacation.

 

I'm a little biased as I did think hard about the suggested baltic..

 

For me how can that compare to Athens and Acropolis, Rome and its too many to list treasures, Venice and its special canals, Florence/Pisa and its history, or Istanbul and its combo of history, perhaps Naples and Pompeii etc. etc. Med wins hands down!

 

3 kids ages between 7-12, first time to europe

 

10-12 day cruise

 

Baltic, Eastern Med, Western Med, other ?

[grand isle joe]

I vote Western Med. out of Barcelona. Barcelona is a great city...easy to get around with kids and a "young" city. We did Disney 10 day med cruise in 2007 when our daughter was 8 yrs. old. Disney " perfect" between all the information about the ports written in kids speek that was great to get her excited to the excursions that were geared for families and included the kids in the tour. Also they have excursions that take the kids and give the parents time to tour. My daughter has made pizza in Sorrento, a mosaic in Tunisia (2010) and toured the Sistine Chapel in a private group of 60 after hours. Also on the ship they have lots of kids' activities to keep them busy. We have cruised Disney in 2007, 2010 and we just booked for 2013 because we feel they do such a good job for our daughter. Hope you have a great cruise which ever you choose.:)

[cruisemom42]

i have done both the Baltics and the Med with my son (when he was in his early to mid teens). While he liked St. Petersburg and the couple of days we spent in Copenhagen, he didn't in the end know that much about a lot of the Baltic cities. On the other hand, through school he did know a lot about Rome, Pompeii (Naples), Athens, and Venice. For that reason alone, I think he enjoyed the Med cruise more.

[GoVikes]

I think it is about what you as the parents would enjoy most. We just did a 9 day Baltic with kids of ages 6, 9, 15. It was our first time to Europe. We chose the Baltic basically because I do our vacation planning and that is where I really wanted to go. ;)

That being said, the kids had a great time. Being from TX, we all enjoyed the cool weather! They enjoyed the changing of the guard in Copenhagen, the Vasa museum, and the beauty of St. Petersburg. My 9 y/o told me her favorite parts of the cruise were learning about Sachsenhausen, and all the jewelery in St. Petersburg. The 6 y/o thought the WWII artillery displayed in St. Petersburg was awesome, as well as the bullet holes in various buildings in Berlin:confused:. The one thing they disliked was the 2 hour visit to the Hermitage and viewing all the artwork.

 

We are planning a Western Med cruise for next summer, and I will attempt to avoid any art museums as part of our excursions!