Cruising with small children....why?

[CruiseAddict1982]

I love kids' date=' have had a few, and am still surrounded with scads of neices, nephews, grandkids but have NEVER cruised with any youngster under the age of 12. Vacations with the younger ones (6 to 12) have always been vacations of the kids type...Disneyland, beach trips, national parks. Anyone under 6 has been left home.

 

 

 

I frequently see families with babies (and I mean teeny weeny babies), a couple still in diapers (that can't be fun on vacation) and a preschooler or two. Mom and Dad (and the Grandparents if they are roped into coming along) spend all their time feeding, watching, running after, disciplining, cleaning up after, etc. their brood and don't seem to have any Mommy Daddy time, or adult conversation.

 

 

 

Most children don't remember what they did in life before the age of 6 and don't care about a lot until they are 12 as far as "doing" something different on vacation. So why do parents do it? Just wondering....and I'm not complaining as long as they don't cry in my ear, make stinkies during dinner, or don't knock me down as they are running as fast as they can to get away from Daddy. They are someone else's headache, not mine.[/quote']

 

 

I brought my 1 year old on a cruise and I won't ever do it again. It was just as much work as it was being at home, if not more. We did what we could on the cruise, but obviously we couldn't do everything.

 

 

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[kkelle17]

Have to agree with OP. When we cruise it is to get away and relax surrounded with peace and quiet. Really don't want to see diapers, strollers, crying babies, kid running in halls, playing elevator games, sitting for hours at the bottom of stairways, leaving mounds of clutter under the buffet tables, jumping into the pool, sitting in the adult pool Jacuzzi, my advice to the OP would be to book only cruises 8 days or longer, travel off season, and stay away from Carnival. Leave the mayhem behind..

 

 

HA! We are talking our DD who is 23 months on her third NCL cruise for 11 days...you can't escape it ;-)

[Warm Breezes]

And did you know that ahead of time, or did you just get lucky?

 

I guess I'm in the minority here, because I don't equate peace and quiet with simply NO KIDS. There's a lot more that needs to factor into it than that for me. I've been on cruises where the rowdiness and loudness came from partying adults, and the kids were hardly noticed.

 

Nope I didn't know it ahead of time because I wasn't particularly looking for a cruise with fewer kids. But if I were looking specifically for a cruise with fewer kids that is the kind of cruise I would have been looking for. Kids on vacation don't bother me. We were sailing in October because it was our 25th Anniversary. It was actually our first cruise without our kids...who are now old enough to stay home on their own (they were 16 and 19 at the time) and they both could drive themselves wherever they needed to be without relying on us. It was something we did notice once we were on board. There was a very noticeable lack of kids on that cruise...much less than we have been used to on the school break cruises we have taken with our kids. I'm not saying the kids were loud or rowdy on those cruises either....there was just a lot more of them. I personally, after 11 cruises, have never been on a ship that was overrun with loud and rowdy kids or adults...I tend to avoid the areas were those type of people hang out and find the quieter, peaceful areas of the ship to hang out.

[taglovestocruise]

HA! We are talking our DD who is 23 months on her third NCL cruise for 11 days...you can't escape it ;-)

 

You cant escape it, but you can sure reduce it.