What’s the most exotic itinerary you have done with young children?

[Tennant]

We love to cruise and want to do something else other than the Caribbean with our young 18 month old son before baby #2 comes along. What cruises have you done with toddlers? Successes? Failures? Would you do it again? And what cruise lines do you prefer? Thanks!

 

 

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[mikesteg]

I don't know what your definition of 'exotic' relative to cruising to various islands in the Caribbean. :confused: That's about as exotic as it gets with the big cruise lines, and probably most of the smaller ones also.

 

We have done Alaska when our kids were 7, and they loved it. However, they're able to get something out of it at that age. I am a big fan of cruising and travelling with kids, and we do so frequently. However, at 18 months there is really no point in taking your son somewhere unique and special. At least not on his account, but if you and the wife want to do something special (and he gets to come along) that is great.

 

In my opinion, at 18 months there should be minimal concern about the destination since it's difficult to do an excursion and make a nice day of it with kids at that age. Pick a nice ship on a cheap week (because the cheap weeks will go away once your son starts school), and enjoy the glorious sensation of an empty ship when most everybody else is in port.

 

If you cruise/travel regularly, there is plenty of time to take them places when they'll tolerate it better and get something out of it. Make these cruises about you and DW getting a relaxing vacation. My 2 cents.

[labrugnoli]

Check out lines with smaller ships for more exotic locations, like Oceania, Star Clipper, Azamara, or even cruises: Tauck and AMA have good reps for children. But I doubt many (or any) of these would have childcare for a two-year old, or much kid programming at all. Most of the exotic itineraries I've looked at (viking homelands, ancient empires, dalmation coasts, Pacific Islands) recommend children be at least 4, because there is no special programming for them, and parents are expected to entertain them.

 

Some of the larger cruise lines do the Med and Northern Europe; more mainstream itineraries, and port intensive, but with an 18-month old you won't be able to lounge around much anyway. And the larger ships often have an option of paid child care, if you need it.

[labrugnoli]

I meant to say, "even river cruises" :)

[Tennant]

The itinerary would be for DH and I to enjoy. We would not be picking an itinerary based on our 18 month old.

 

 

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[onthelake]

A Baltic Cruise is great because the ships usually dock very close to everything you would like to see so it is easy with a little one and not a hassle getting back to the ship if the day is not going well.

 

There is Tivoli Garden in Copenhagen for the little one and adults too. St. Petersburg is lovely to visit. Stockholm interesting just to walk around. In other ports we visited the Viking Ship Museum, the northern most zoo in the world reached by ferry, bought a reindeer pelt (ok, that was a mistake!). Anyway, a memorable trip and probably the least stressful we ever took when our son was small.

 

A couple of years ago, we did the Canary Islands. Awesome. I do not know why we do not hear more about how diverse and picturesque they are. Certainly a stand out for me.

 

I do not know what you look for on a cruise but Celebrity is a favorite of ours along with Princess. If you truly just want to relax, a Cunard crossing is excellent. RCL is fine but a little more night club/activity based so not generally as relaxing and we enjoy but do not feel ‘special’. It really is an individual choice.

[kitkat343]

We took our oldest to the Panama Canal at 24 months. He visited the Baltics at 3, and both children went to Norway when the youngest was 24 months. Whether or not this is a good idea honestly depends upon your child's temperament. Some kids prefer to be at home and keep a very consistent routine. An exotic trip with a kid like this is going to be very challenging. My kids are really happy when they get to see new things and love to run around and explore so they love cruises, and keep begging to go back on another one.

 

For the most part, it's all been quite successful. We've either toured independently (all of the Baltics, except St. Petersburg) or gone on private tours for just our family. You will need to figure out if you have the kind of child who is okay with skipping naps and just dozing briefly in the car or if you need to keep your nap schedule and just tour in the morning. We preserved our older son's nap schedule when we traveled, and the private tours would drop me and my son off after about 5 hours, and my son would nap while my husband and the other people who went on our trip would do a second tour in the afternoon. When our second was born, we realized he was actually pretty content even if he missed a nap, so we'd all go for full day touring and he'd just sleep in the car or in his stroller along the way in Norway.

 

Private tours for just your family are crucial. You need to be able to stop and feed your kids whenever they start to get whiny and need a break. My 3 year old lasted an hour in the Hermitage, and then he'd had enough. I took him to the cafe, gave him a piece of cake and he was all happy again and ready to see the Church of the Spilled Blood.

 

The one failure we had on a tour was the only ship tour we ever took with kids. In Panama, the Coral Princess docks at Gatun Lake and only allows passengers who have signed up for a Princess tour to leave the boat, as per Panama Canal Authority regulations. The boat returns back through the locks and then docks in Colon, where passengers on Princess cruise tours are able to reboard. We signed up for a short tour Gatun Lakes Cruise and Locks so we would be able to give our son a nap before he got overtired. Unfortunately, we were not informed until the day before Panama when it was too late to switch tours that there would be a substantial gap between when our tour ends, and when we would be allowed to reboard the ship. We were told at the end of the tour that we would be allowed back on the ship in an hour when it docked. The ship arrived on time one hour later, but no one was allowed to board for another hour, and the Panamanian authorities would not tell us when we would be allowed to board. That led to two very long hours standing outside of an elevator at the port in Colon with a screaming toddler who needed to nap. If we had known about this gap ahead of time, we would have either chosen a longer tour with the Embera Indians or simply disembarked in Colon and taken a cab from Colon to the nearby Gatun locks (but I'm not sure what time the Gatun locks closes so you'd need to research this if it was your plan).

As long as you have kids who like to explore, and you can control the itinerary on a private tour you will be fine choosing more exotic itineraries. It's going to be a little tiring, but I'm not really convinced vacations are relaxing with kids anyway.

 

Two year olds are allowed in the kids club on Cunard and Carnival (although the kids club staff on Cunard was the weakest of all the ships we've sailed and did not have the patience to help a 2 year old transition into a kids club) and there are nurseries on Disney, new or some refurbished RC ships and the NCL escape. We spend all day touring with our kids, and then happily drop them off as soon as we are back on board. Princess used to allow children under 3 into the kids clubs with parental supervision, but they've redesigned their kids club programs and I don't know if this has changed.