Overwhelmed and Unsure

[LUCINDA574]

Hi all. We just got back from a Disney Land vacation and just started planning next years vacation. I KNOW I want to cruise, as do the kids, but just am overwhelmed and honestly unsure of what to book through who.

 

I am mom to 3 wonderful children, 2 girls who will be 12 and 10 when we go and a wonderful son who will be 7, who is autistic, medicated, but is mainstreaming in public schools at this time. I am 48, hubby will be 55.

 

We are looking on a tight budget and have been looking towards Carnival since we can do 5 in an OV or 2 insides within our budget. We need to keep our cruise cost below $3500 ( not including travel and tips). We are open to cruise from November through 1st week of January. Hubby is a truck driver and that's their only slow time he can take off.

 

We are hoping to do a 7-8 day cruise. We have only cruised once before, 2008, Disney Magic Western Carib. when my kids were little. Disney is out of our budget for this trip and honestly, after two weeks there last month, I am Disneyed out.

 

I am looking for something in budget, willing to do most of the southern departure ports with a great kids club so me and hubby can have so very much needed time alone. Something we have had rarely since Wyatt was born. We are not really worried about ports to visit, taking our son off ship to ports would definitely be a chore, he doesnt adjust to change well and enjoys structure. Would love to hear suggestions, help, ways to get deals etc. I have been perusing CC for a couple years now, this time we are definitely ready to book...I tentatively put a hold on a Southern cruise on the Magic already, but not sure about it. THinking we do want Southern or Eastern though. Tia!

Edited December 29, 2015 by LUCINDA574

[Sooner-Cruisers]

I think the Magic is a great ship for kids, lots of fun stuff to do. Water slides, splash area, ropes course, mini golf, etc. when we were last on the Magic an autism group sailed with us, sorry I don't remember their official name, but maybe you can do a search and find reviews from them. It was April 2015.

[LUCINDA574]

I think the Magic is a great ship for kids, lots of fun stuff to do. Water slides, splash area, ropes course, mini golf, etc. when we were last on the Magic an autism group sailed with us, sorry I don't remember their official name, but maybe you can do a search and find reviews from them. It was April 2015.

thank you!

[kitkat343]

I would strongly recommend that you avoid sailing during school breaks so the counselors have more time to help your son adjust. There were only 11 children on our cruise to the Panama Canal in January, and I believe there were 150 the previous week during the winter break. With only 11 kids, the counselors had a lot of time to work one on one with my son so he could enjoy his time in the Kid Zone (my son was only 2, so he needed a lot of support to participate in the activities with the much older children. Since there were so few kids, they just combined all ages and did whatever the kids who were there wanted to do). Sailing against school holidays will also help keep your costs low.

 

I can't personally vouch for this, but it appears that Disney has very large age groups combined in their kids club, and other forum members have reported that the kids clubs at Disney are more unstructured than the other lines that have smaller age groups. I cannot personally render an opinion on that and would defer to those who have sailed on Disney if their experiences were different.

[blondietink]

Both of my sons are developmentally disabled and although they are now too old for the kids clubs, Carnival has been wonderful in accommodating them and their needs. People have spoken highly of the services they get through Autism on the Seas, although we have never used them. You can google it and find the website. It seems the prices they quote are the same as you can book online. Good luck.

[MamatoJack]

I took my son on the Carnival Liberty when it was out of Port Canaveral and we had a lot of fun. He really enjoyed the kids club. I think we would have preferred a ship with a water works though (like the Magic or Breeze). We went in February so it was a quieter time, there were not a lot of kids in the club, but he enjoyed that more. I think the cruise you have chosen looks great, nice ports if you want to get off, but more sea days so you can relax. Carnival will keep the kids in the club if you want to get off when in port. On the first day you get a schedule of activities going on in the kids club so you can go through and see when they want to go. They have the Dr Seuss stuff too, we participated in a parade through the ship then a fun reading of story. We missed the Green Eggs and Ham breakfast as we woke up sea sick that day (rough seas! Even the crew commented) but we then did a family scavenger hunt that was a lot of fun. We will be doing another Carnival cruise (though our next one we are going to try RCCL just because it fit budget and timing). It sure is hard to choose though :)

[A&Jfamily]

Hi all. We just got back from a Disney Land vacation and just started planning next years vacation. I KNOW I want to cruise, as do the kids, but just am overwhelmed and honestly unsure of what to book through who.

 

I am mom to 3 wonderful children, 2 girls who will be 12 and 10 when we go and a wonderful son who will be 7, who is autistic, medicated, but is mainstreaming in public schools at this time. I am 48, hubby will be 55.

 

We are looking on a tight budget and have been looking towards Carnival since we can do 5 in an OV or 2 insides within our budget. We need to keep our cruise cost below $3500 ( not including travel and tips). We are open to cruise from November through 1st week of January. Hubby is a truck driver and that's their only slow time he can take off.

 

We are hoping to do a 7-8 day cruise. We have only cruised once before, 2008, Disney Magic Western Carib. when my kids were little. Disney is out of our budget for this trip and honestly, after two weeks there last month, I am Disneyed out.

 

I am looking for something in budget, willing to do most of the southern departure ports with a great kids club so me and hubby can have so very much needed time alone. Something we have had rarely since Wyatt was born. We are not really worried about ports to visit, taking our son off ship to ports would definitely be a chore, he doesnt adjust to change well and enjoys structure. Would love to hear suggestions, help, ways to get deals etc. I have been perusing CC for a couple years now, this time we are definitely ready to book...I tentatively put a hold on a Southern cruise on the Magic already, but not sure about it. THinking we do want Southern or Eastern though. Tia!

 

Since it sounds like you will be spending a lot of time on the ship, then I would pick Southern (more sea days already), and the ports (usually Aruba, Curacao and Grand Turk?) are easy to explore on foot, leaving your son aboard. Aruba has a lovely market/restaurant area right on the pier. Curacao has the converted fort and swinging bridge to town. And Grand Turk is just a beach day, so you could take your son ashore easily and see how he did.

 

I would look at one of the newer ships like Carnival's Magic, Dream or Breeze, with Sunshine being my first choice as they have the most variety to offer. They are most likely to be the most cost effective.

[LUCINDA574]

Thanks

Think we are going to go with the Nov 12 Magic.

Thanks for the help