Panama Canal with 10 & 7 yr olds on Thanksgvng Week

[vamom2003]

We have just booked an 11-day partial-transit Panama Canal cruise on the Coral Princess leaving the Tuesday before Thanksgiving 2013.

We picked these dates in hopes that there would be a few more kids aboard than other cruises around these weeks.

This is the first cruise for our family. (We had our last cruise cancelled a few weeks before departing because of a fire on the ship.)

I would love to hear back from other families that have done this trip with kids in similar ages. I would like to get ideas on excursions and activities on board..

I have been wondering what activities are available for kids in the evenings?? Are the shows and MUTS for general audiences??

I am sure I will have loads of questions as the time of the cruise approaches..

[cb at sea]

The shows are for everyone...if there is an "adult" show, it will be clearly stated in your daily newsletter.

There are kid's club activities...both your kids ages are prime to enjoy that.

 

The best thing would be to research your ports...get guidebooks from the library and decide what things in each place interest your family...then, you can figure out the best way to do those things.

 

You will have a great time!

[sbhdmh]

We just got back from the same cruise on Island Princess (Coral's sister ship) over Christmas. We had 350 kids on board and my DD (who turned 8 during the cruise) had a fabulous time. I don't know if you will have quite as many kids over Thanksgiving but it should be more than on a typical Princess canal cruise.

 

One excursion I HIGHLY recommend is on Panama Canal day - take the kids to the authentic Embera village. This is an all day excursion that requires you to travel up river in a dugout canoe. There is another one that visits a closer village but it is really a "demonstration village". Real Embera but they don't live there - they come for the day to entertain the tourists and then go home. At the authentic village the women are bare chested and the men wear a sort of loin cloth. They dress more modestly at the demonstration village. This was probably the best experience I have ever had traveling. Who knows if this way of life will still exist when DD is an adult - so glad she could experience it.

 

Also in Costa Rica check out the Jaguar Rescue Center. It is an amazing place that rescues, rehabilitates and returns injured and orphaned jungle animals. You can hold and interact with baby monkeys, learn about sloths, etc. Princess didn't offer an excursion there so we arranged a private guide. Everyone really seemed to enjoy ziplining too. We didn't do it, though, because we were traveling with my mother.

 

The kids club (Fun Zone) was great. The staff was good and my DD had a good time. 7 and 10 year olds will be in different age groups but they will be right next door to each other and neither will have too many kids. My DD loves, loves, loves the shows on cruises and this was no exception. She was totally enamored with the singers and dancers and they sort of adopted her too. The dancers' costumes were much more conservative than on Carnival or MSC. There was a variety of movies offered for MUTS - one night the kids club activity was to watch a movie up there with popcorn and blankets.

 

My DD is crazy about Teddy Roosevelt and already knew a lot about the Panama Canal before we made the trip. There are a lot of lectures and documentaries about it on board. I would suggest you give your kids a bit of background before the trip so they know what they are looking at.

 

Hope this helps - I'd be happy to answer any questions.

[vamom2003]

Thanks sbhdmh!

Good to hear your daughter enjoyed the trip.

My daughter will have just turned 10 a week before the trip.

We had originally looked at a trip where she would spend her birthday onboard, but after reading some of the posts about the lack of kids on this trip we decided to switch the dates.

She is also a fan of Teddy Roosevelt and did a report about him last year.. I will look for some children books about the canal as we get closer to our travel dates, but it is good to know that they will have presentations on the ship..

Both excursions trips also sound fun. I will make notes to do more research. How did you find a private guide in Costa Rica??

[sbhdmh]

The 2 best ways to get info on the ports and hiring guides are the Ports of Call section here on Cruise Critic or to go through Tripadvisor. Unfortunately there is no real stand out private tour guide for Costa Rica and I wouldn't really recommend the company we used, Okey Dokey Tours. If you haven't visited the Roll Call section for your cruise that is also a great resource - you can combine with others from your cruise and share the costs of private tours.