Toddler Friendly Excursions??

[trnmba]

We are traveling Western Caribbean on the Carnival Valor 9/4/05 with our 2 three (3)year olds and would like to take them on some of the excursions. Any suggestions are toddler friendly excursions?

[HHW]

My husband and I are taking our 22 month old daughter on the Stingray Catamaran excursion on the Buccaneer in GC, and have arranged a tour with Ivan in Costa Maya, and the Dolphin swim in Cozumel. We haven't made plans for Belize yet....will you be going there? If so, please let me know what you decide to do, if anything. I have spoken directly with Ivan in Costa Maya, and to Cap't Bryan's Buccaneer staff about having a toddler, and they have all stated that they often have families on their excursions...there is no charge for under 2yo, so it may be worth asking for a discount for your two.

 

 

Hope this helps....

[JackieH]

This is a good post. Im interested in the same thing. Although we are not traveling until Aug 2006 on the Valor. Our Youngest will be 2 yrs old when we cruise. We also have an 11 and 6 yr old. I was wondering what some good excursions would be with the little ones.

[kimjay72]

Yes, this is a great post. I'm going in November to Nassau, St. Thomas and St. Maarten with my toddler, so I would like to know if anyone has suggestions on excursions for the Eastern Caribbean.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Kim

[I&MsMom]

In St Thomas we took a tour with Godfrey. We scheduled an 11 am pick-up, as I knew I wouldn't get much shopping done with the kids. I had e-mailed him that we would have our 2 year old with us. He made arrangements for us to ride in the back seat of the cab of his truck, not the open-air portion, as it was obviously safer for DD. She was fine with the tour and loved the beach afterward.

 

We ended up in St. Martin/St. Maarten instead of the scheduled Aruba, so I had not done any research/made any plans for this port. We ended up going to Orient Beach. We had a great beach day, complete with a little bar with a playground in the sand for the kids (it was shaded too!) Afterward, we had lunch at a great place on the water with outside tables.

 

Have never been to Nassau, so can't help there! Enjoy your trip!

[CabinForFour]

Haven't been there in a few years, but Chankanaab Park in Cozumel is a nice place to spend the day with little ones. They have walking trails and a nice, shallow sandy kiddie beach. You can see the dolphin swim area from children's beach, which is fun to watch. They have bathrooms, changing areas/showers, and refreshments nearby. You can take a taxi from the pier for a few bucks, and it's only a few more to enter. Just be sure to take some insect repellant, just in case.

 

In January 2002, we took then 2-yr-old DS to Sapphire Beach at St. Thomas. We originally headed to St. John but missed the ferry and didn't want to wait for another. It was beautiful, and a wonderful place to spend a day. Afterwards, we rode the tram up the mountain for a breathtaking view of the harbor. There are some parrots and other animals up there that DS enjoyed seeing.

[flashdog_1]

FYI

The ships have babysitters available if you can't find an appropriate excursion. Just ask and they'll arrange it for you so you and your spouse can go where YOU want to go.

 

My children tell me they do not remember a single minute of the places I took them before age 5 or 6, even when I have photos or even movies o those events.

 

Although it is a wonderful sight when a parent sees a child react to something for the first time. It's up to you. The tours you've potentially decided upon sound like good ones that would not distract other paying customers if a baby cried out with glee! Everyone will be crying out with glee! You know what I mean. They are not tours where a tour director will be lecturing and the child is bored and talkative! Good selections.

[serene56]

Not all cruiselines have sitter services.

 

Grand Cayman has the Turtle farm.

http://www.turtle.ky/video.htm

 

cabinforfour---welcome back to the boards. Ya planning your next cruise?

[estherhead]

Personally, if you are going on a cruise to relax with your family and you are taking toddlers, I have discovered everyone will be a lot happier if you just go to a beach that has amenaties and chill out for the whole day. I found the big excursions stressful, but the day we just went on a boat to a private island to snorkel (in Belize) and the day we went to Cozumel and just were at a beach with a bar were the best days. The days we ran around "doing" stuff were exhausting.

[kevinsmom]

Personally, if you are going on a cruise to relax with your family and you are taking toddlers, I have discovered everyone will be a lot happier if you just go to a beach that has amenaties and chill out for the whole day. I found the big excursions stressful, but the day we just went on a boat to a private island to snorkel (in Belize) and the day we went to Cozumel and just were at a beach with a bar were the best days. The days we ran around "doing" stuff were exhausting.

 

i totally agree! we cruised w/my son last summer (then 16 mos) on the Norwegian Dawn and the best excursion was the one where we got to use the beach and the hotel facilities for the day. it was very relaxed, my son could go in the pools and play in the sand. we had access to food and drinks and a clean bathroom!! it worked out very well. so this time, we go in aug on RCL Explorer, i am sticking to the beach themed ones as well. rather than get myself and my son cranky ;)

Have fun,

Gina PS: we also did some cruising b4 my son was born and it is a totally DIFFERENT experience...but if you bear that in mind and change your expectations, you will be fine. heck, LIFE is totally different now w/a child, so i guess it would stand to reason that vacationing would be as well :)

[HHW]

Yes, this is a great post. I'm going in November to Nassau, St. Thomas and St. Maarten with my toddler, so I would like to know if anyone has suggestions on excursions for the Eastern Caribbean.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Kim

 

I will plan to write a review once we get back- our cruise is 9/11-9/18. Feel free to contact me if you have questions- this board has helped me tremendously so far!

 

Heather:)

[kimjay72]

Thanks Heather, that would be so great.

 

Have fun too! :)

 

Kim

[spenceandme]

Some of the fun places that we have gone to while cruising with our little boy are..

 

Barbados - The Boatyard. A beach with water toys, restaurant, bar. Very nice and safe. Close to the port.

 

St.Thomas - Took a ferry over to the island of St. John. Loved it! This is one of our all time favorites. Very pretty, relaxing, clean, quiet...

 

We also have been to Chakanaub in Cozumel before we had our son. We will be cruising their in Nov. and will take him there then. We feel it is a nice and safe place for children. Although, the swimming is a bit scary as it is hard to get out of the water. No gradual slope in, you have to climb stairs to get out and if it is wavy this is very tricky.

 

Any suggestions for Belieze?

 

Thanks!

[anubian]

In St Thomas we took a tour with Godfrey. We scheduled an 11 am pick-up, as I knew I wouldn't get much shopping done with the kids. I had e-mailed him that we would have our 2 year old with us. He made arrangements for us to ride in the back seat of the cab of his truck, not the open-air portion, as it was obviously safer for DD. She was fine with the tour and loved the beach afterward.

 

OMG, I just booked a reservation with Godfrey. I am glad you liked him. I have 6 kids, but the youngest is 3, will be 4 by the time we go. How long were you at the beach? My kids love the beach. Did you go to Coki Beach, and did you have to pay the entrance fee?

 

Thanks

[palmtre2]

kimjay - In St Thomas you may want to consider Coral World - they have exhibits for children and even a touch pool, with your admission you get a wristband that allows you in/out privledges and you can use the clean restrooms and changing room. Just a short walk down the boardwalk to the left of the entrance is Coki Beach, it's a protected cove and shallow for a ways out. Coki Beach gets crowded early so I would go get a chair & umbrella before going in to Coral World leave some towels and let them know what you are doing or they WILL re-rent your chair!!!

In St Martin a great toddler friendly beach is Dawn beach, again it's a shallow and protected cove.

[idjaffe]

Any thoughts for Belieze or Roatan?

[serene56]

for belize:

www.coralbreezelimited.com

 

http://belizecruiseexcursions.com

 

http://www.greendragonbelize.com/cruise_shore_excursions.html

[kimjay72]

Thanks Palmtre2, your ideas sound great. Hopefully my family will all have lots of fun together. :rolleyes:

 

 

Kim

[kimjay72]

Thanks Palmtre2, your ideas sound great. Hopefully my family will all have lots of fun together. :rolleyes:

 

 

Kim

[thunderbird1]

FYI

The ships have babysitters available if you can't find an appropriate excursion. Just ask and they'll arrange it for you so you and your spouse can go where YOU want to go.

 

Just my $.02, but I'm way too paranoid to get off the ship and leave my kids onboard. Stuff happens, and I can't imagine if the unimaginable happened and my dh and I literally missed the boat and the ship sailed with our kids onboard.:eek:

 

Like one of the other posters said, life is different once you have a child, so travel should be, too. Not worse, not better, just different. I love the suggestion of just going to a beach and hanging out. We're considering either Grand Hyatt hotel day passes or the turtle farm for Grand Cayman, and either Paradise Beach or Chankanaab for Cozumel. I know that in just a few short years they'll be old enough for some of the more exotic excursions (if they even still want to do excursions with us ;) ), and not too long after that we'll be back to a cabin for two :( :D , and then we can do whatever we want, whenever we want.

 

Have fun whatever you end up doing!

[I&MsMom]

Hi! Just to add a few of our experiences in other ports.

 

In Cozumel we went to Paradise Beach and had a great day. The water there is gentle, the people are friendly, and there's lots of sand to play with. Even a resident parrot (I think it was a parrot) that DD was fascinated by.

 

In Belize, we took the water taxi to Caye Caulker. It was our first cruise, and I didn't realize it took such a long time to tender in. We just missed the first taxi by a little while. So, we had to wait for the next, which cost us a lot of time at the island. The ride over was beautiful, but it takes about an hour. In the end, we only had time to walk around a little and have lunch. It was very nice to get "off the beaten track" though. If we were to find ourselves in Belize again, I think I'd try the Geoff's Caye excursion through the ship - they pick you up at the ship so you avoid the whole tender thing, and apparently it's a nice island. A family with a young girl did that and they really enjoyed it.

 

In Progreso, we hired a cab and went to Dzibultchuan (sp?) ruins. Just the right size for little legs and they have a cenote there you can take a dip in The one end is really shallow, although the other end is VERY deep. But a toddler could easily enjoy the water with close parental supervision (on that note, DH and I have found that it's best if one is in the water and the other out of it. If she gets out and makes a dash for the deep end, by the time one of us gets out to follow, she's too far away to grab.) Then there were some nice restaurants on the beach - we found one that even had a wood playset in the sand about 6 feet from our table!

 

HTH...Happy cruising!

[thunderbird1]

Almost forgot to list the excursions dd did enjoy. Glass bottom boat tour in Nassau was a hit when she was 15 mos, as was the Atlantis (?) submarine in Cozumel when she was 5 (though that one has age and/or height requirements because you have to climb down a ladder to get into the sub). Both had lots of "fishies," and neither one was too long.

 

The ones she didn't like were anything that said "bus tour." In Nassau it wasn't a bus, it was an un-airconditioned mini-van and both of the bus tours we took were way too long and had very little of interest to small children (i.e., there were a lot of long stops so people could shop <yawn>).

 

Good luck!

[PelicanBill]

When we give her choices, our 5 year old daughter almost alwyas choses beaches... little kids love beaches.

 

I also recommend you plan 1/2 day tours only - stamina for little kids in the sun, heat and humidity -- well you know.

 

But the suggestions of Cahkanaab in Cozumel and Coral World in St. Thomas are good ideas, too.

 

Caution on boat trips, dolphin encounters and such - many do not allow small children. Dolphins tend to misbehave around small children. At Seaworld's Discovery Cove, during my wife's group in the water when our daugter was 2, I had to take her farther away to watch becuase the dolphin was distracted and misbehaving at the sight of a small child. Boat tour operators don't like the liability of small children along.

 

In Belize, when our daughter was 5, we chose a 4 hour boat ride to Goff's Caye, where you can choose to snorkel or not, and spend time on a one acre paradise in the middle of the barrier reef. On the way back to the ship, riding in the tour boat, she said "Let's go on another cruise to somewhere we've never been before!"