Excursions & kids

[mulls]

Hi

We are new to cruising and have booked a med cruise next year on ncl epic.

Our children will be 11 & 13 and not sure they will want to do the city tours every day ( Rome, Florence etc ). Does anyone have any experience on whether they can opt to have a day off in a kids club? I've just been looking at the tours and they look to quite long at c8 hours so might not be possible.

Thanks

Steve

[Keith1010]

I can't comment on NCL but that is what we did on Princess.

 

Someoene else will comment but I did just want to share some thoughts.

 

Even adults can get overloaded with tours if you are doing tours each and everyday.

 

I would recommend prioritizing your tours.

 

Do tours in some of the places. Try to limit them to four or five hours with kids. Maybe one do a full day tour if that is very important to you. Do a couple of ports on your own. And yes, give the kids a day or two on board the ship.

 

Keith

[ladygal4.4]

The 11 year old yes, the 13 year old...not sure. But NCL will charge you to feed your children if you're off the boat

[cb at sea]

I don't know of any cruise line (mass-market, anyway!) that doesn't keep the kid's club up and running on port days.

[notentirelynormal]

The 11 year old yes, the 13 year old...not sure. But NCL will charge you to feed your children if you're off the boat

 

At 11 and 13 I would think they would be old enough to get themselves food.

[jocap]

Hi

We are new to cruising and have booked a med cruise next year on ncl epic.

Our children will be 11 & 13 and not sure they will want to do the city tours every day ( Rome, Florence etc ). Does anyone have any experience on whether they can opt to have a day off in a kids club? I've just been looking at the tours and they look to quite long at c8 hours so might not be possible.

Thanks

Steve

Welcome, Steve...:)

Check what's on shore for your teens...in Civitavecchia, there's an aqua swimming centre, although I haven't been, but it only looks a short taxi ride away. There's also a swimming beach one train stop away called Santa Marinella and I believe that there's a town beach in Civi itself, just round the harbour. The trip to Rome is too long from a cruise ship...I'd save it for a cheap Easyjet weekend! ;)

If nothing else, just strolling round the harbour area and having a bowl of pasta may be enough in that port....

Choose your trips with care, because the children may want to see some of the historical sights, such as Pisa from Livorno, but be open to their pleas if it gets too much.

Edited August 27, 2015 by jocap
old age

[john watson]

Hi

We are new to cruising and have booked a med cruise next year on ncl epic.

Our children will be 11 & 13 and not sure they will want to do the city tours every day ( Rome, Florence etc ). Does anyone have any experience on whether they can opt to have a day off in a kids club? I've just been looking at the tours and they look to quite long at c8 hours so might not be possible.

Thanks

Steve

 

Are you thinking of disembarking and letting the children stay on the ship and in this respect attend the children's club while you are ashore on tours? This is not allowed on some cruise lines such as P&O but allowed on others such as Princess. I have no idea on what NCL's policy is but if this is what you want you just need to find out whether it is permitted and how it is organised on board. Hopefully someone can advise what the set up is on NCL.

 

Regards John

[taglovestocruise]

Port Play

Norwegian offers Port Play when the ship is docked in port which is a complimentary group-sitting program for children aged 3-12 years old. A minimal fee ($6 per child/per meal) is charged during meal times. Port Play is run by the Youth Staff in the Splash Academy Facility and parents are advised to sign up in advance due to limited places.

 

Hours of Operation are:

 

Port Day: Arrival into Port – Departure from Port

Overnight In Port: Arrival in Port – 8 pm

I believe at 13 NCL allows kids to be on the ship by themselves ..

[SuiteTraveler]

With a Med cruise, there are all sorts of great opportunities for you to bring history to life for your children. For example, I'd show them the movie Gladiator and then take them to see the colosseum and do the full regular tour as well as the underground tour. The more you know about what went on there, the better you can describe it for your kids and there are usually men dressed as gladiators to have their photos made with.

 

In Naples, I'd show them the movie Pompeii and take them to see the real Pompeii.

 

In Monaco, I'd take them to see where the Monaco Grand Prix is held and have a taxi drive the race course. Also show "Never Say Never Again" James Bond movie where he goes into the casino - the kids can't enter, but they can certainly see if from the outside.

 

If you are around Livorno, then get a tour to San Gimignano. You can stop and have the "World's best Gelato" at the Gerlateria Di Piazza - they won for Gorgonzola, so I'd start tasting with that and then move on to other flavors as well - the Gorgonzola is DIVINE! and then take your kids in the Medieval Criminal and Torture Museum just down the hill.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g187901-d246532-Reviews-Medieval_Criminal_and_Torture_Museum-San_Gimignano_Tuscany.html

 

There is a lot of shopping and wonderful views and photo opportunities from San Gimignano. On the same trip you could take your kids to Volterra - Volterra is featured in the Twilight books - don't know if boys are into Twilight, though. But if they were, they will recognize Volterra for sure. Iin Volterra, you buy marble items such as marble grapes, lamps, urns, etc. Most of all it is a very cool medieval village.

 

Another way to tour Italy with kids and keep it relevant is to base it on a series such as "The Borgias." Now given, this series has a lot of adult subject matter, but your kids may be mature enough to see it. if your kids see this, you could actually do your tours themed around walking in the footsteps of the Borgia family and the people they likely knew. For example, outside of Rome in the countryside, there is an amazing Rennaisance garden that most Americans know nothing about. The approach via private car from Civitavecchia goes past ancient Roman Aquaducts. Then you enter the Town of Bomarzo. The garden is called Monstri Parc - it is amazing and was built in the early Rennaisance by a prince who grieved for his young beautiful wife who had died in childbirth. Take a look at these photos: http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-monsters-of-bomarzo

From this garden, go to Villa Lante, which is the best preserved of all Rennaisance gardens. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Lante

 

Then have lunch and round out the day at Lake Bracciano - a great place for a lovely day in the sun and swimming.

[Cruisin' Chick]

I remember never paying to let my daughter stay in the kids' club on port days (on Carnival and Princess) but since then, maybe that's changed. On Princess, you just had to sign up at least a day ahead so they will know how many kids to plan for (that was back in 2004 and 2005). No matter the cruise line, I would imagine the current info is listed on their website or at least, should be.

 

For planning a port trip with kids, it's probably best to be flexible, especially for younger kids or the hard to pleased ones. When we did the RT Hawaiian cruise (she was 13 and 15 on the second and third of those), I gave my daughter the brochures for the ports and some post-its and let her help plan our ports. I also showed her where the shore excursions were listed, and on our last cruise, she selected one for one port, I selected another one for another port, and the three of us discussed possible activities and sights.

 

If the kids are school-aged, remember that they are truly working at school nowadays (at least I know how it is in our school district) and it's their vacation, too

[ladygal4.4]

At 11 and 13 I would think they would be old enough to get themselves food.

 

 

Lol, I agree. But Unless the 11 year old has been given signing out privileges from the kids program, the workers will take the child to lunch...and then charge you six dollars.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mulls]

Thanks everyone for taking time to reply, some really helpful information and ideas on how to make the most of our trip. It sounds like there will be options to give them some time-off, which I think they will appreciate. We can mix this with some wisely chosen excusrions.

thank you

[Pat n Carol]

When are you on? We have 4 girls (all 12 years old) and I'm trying to plan an itinerary for them as well. I don't think I want to leave them on the ship.....

 

Are you on the same ship?

[kitty9]

The only thing I would stress is if you're going to leave the kids on the ship, make sure to take ship excursions to ensure you get back to the ship before sailing. I've been on more than a couple sailings where parents didn't make it back to the ship in time, leaving kids alone until the parents could meet the ship at the next port. Lots of things happen, especially when the port is far away from the city center like in Rome and Florence. Traffic, accidents and whatever could delay you and could cause you to miss the ship. At least with a ship tour, they almost always wait for delayed tours. But they don't wait for private tours.

Edited February 12, 2016 by kitty9

[Quilting_Cruiser]

My daughter is now 20 so this is no longer something I think about, but she's been cruising with me since before she was two years old. When she was about six, I started involving her in planning what we'd do in port, and that made it more exciting for her. Since she had a say in it, she was excited about it. Just thinking that might be a possibility for you for a port or two. :)

[Essiesmom]

Get a copy of Rick Steves' Mediterranean Cruise Ports and read up on what there is to do in your ports. He will tell you what there is to do in the time you have, and how to do it on your own. Let the kids read about the ports and decide what would interest them. EM