Black Sea Cruise with a Kid?

[alj1208]

Hi... We're considering a Black Sea Cruise (with ports in Ukraine and Russia). There's one scheduled in 2014. Our son would be 8 at that time. We travel with him quite a bit including international travel. He does well and is used to it, but he's still a kid. Would we be the only ones with a kid on a Black Sea cruise? We are looking for a larger ship rather than a small luxury ship so our son would be welcome. Our son could stay with relatives while we go, but we really like to bring him along and expose him to the world when possible. Thoughts?

[finzup-kt]

Hi... We're considering a Black Sea Cruise (with ports in Ukraine and Russia). There's one scheduled in 2014. Our son would be 8 at that time. We travel with him quite a bit including international travel. He does well and is used to it, but he's still a kid. Would we be the only ones with a kid on a Black Sea cruise? We are looking for a larger ship rather than a small luxury ship so our son would be welcome. Our son could stay with relatives while we go, but we really like to bring him along and expose him to the world when possible. Thoughts?

 

I can't answer any of the specifics about black sea cruises and how many kids will be there, but I would say bring him. It's awesome you guys want to include him in your travels... It's more work probably, but in the end, worth it to expose him to different cultures, etc.

I'm sure as a teen/adult he will look back fondly on your vacations :)

 

Plus, at 8 I don't think they've gotten to the "not wanting to be seen with mom and dad" phase :D

[Essiesmom]

Not all lines have their itineraries out yet for next summer/fall, but Celebrity has Constellation doing several cruises there in Sept. and Oct. Princess has one of their smaller ships, Ocean Princess there also. The rest are luxury lines with smaller ships or German lines (Phoenix Reisen & AIDA). CJ

[alj1208]

Great info, Essie's mom! Thanks. The Constellation is the one we're looking at. We have taken our son on Celebrity in the Caribbean, and it was a great experience. We're figuring a full-sized ship would have the kids club, even if school is in session. We would take our child out of school on the logic that this would be a wonderful "education." We wouldn't leave him in the kids' club a lot, but just as one of many options. We have also found private tours to be a good option for family travel, as they are flexible to our needs.

[rebeccalouiseagain]

First of all- your son would probably have a wonderful time on the cruise. I'm not a fan of taking kids out of school for that amount of time at the beginning of the school year though. I probably wouldn't do that.

 

I'm sure the Black Sea cruise would be really interesting but you might want to do a summer cruise instead to Greek and Turkey and that way your son wouldn't miss school.

 

I love Celebrity and have sailed Constellation and all the Millenium class ships and the youth program is fantastic.