Crusing with a 3-4 year old

[DirkDeadeye]

I wanted to ask a simple question, but I sort of went on a tirade about camp ocean.. Cliffnotes version: what's a good ship for a late toddler, and possibly his cousin hovering around 6-7? Rather a ship that has a staff whose great with young kids, and facilities for them? Looking at Vista, due to the family harbor, and there was another ship, or ship class that had a good compromise.

 

 

 

So we accompanied our Sister in law (well, wives sister..you get it) for her marriage and sequentially honeymoon on the Paradise. I've sailed on this ship before, before my son was born, and I thought it was great. Amenities are sufficent and it seems that if you're open for a good time, it will find you, you act grumpy and entitled, you're going to have a bad time..And that's complimented with the crew, who as someone who worked in service for his younger years are hard working, and very gracious. But I have to say, the biggest roadblock was the camp, whose staff did not share the same sort of work ethic. About 1-2 hours after we dropped him off he started crying. They immediately summoned us to pick him up. He was fine, but sitting in their lap. I asked how long he cried..and "About 5 minutes.." It turns out they just sort of let the rugrats figure out what to do, and not really interact with them, or suggest activities or anything. These kids are young, I know it's not easy, but it seems like they're uninterested in structuring activities for them..or even interacting. I say this because I watched them later on in the cruise.

 

 

 

From what I can ascertain, this ship is geared more towards an older crowd, I presume..so their facilities aren't geared towards young working familes. If that's true, I'm fine with that..it's pretty evident in the service we got which was excellent. Instead of asking a rake to be a spade, I'd rather find a ship that's geared, equipped, and more experienced with kids..I don't want to dump my son off every day..But I would like him to have fun with his peers, and me and my wife to have some alone time. And just so you know, my son had A LOT of fun on the splash pad area. We took shifts hanging out with him out there..giving him breaks from the heat and hydrating him.

[MediumB]

It has nothing to do with the ship and more to do with the child. The layout of the kids club will be slightly different but the staff run them pretty much the same. They do have some organized activities but they also allow some free play depending on the schedule. When we took our then 3 year old daughter on her first cruise on the Fantasy we made the "walk of shame" on at least half of her trips to what was then known as Camp Carnival. The rules are simple. If a child can't calm down within 5 minutes or is acting unruly or in a dangerous manner you get the phone call and you have to come pick up the child. It doesn't matter if they have calmed down by the time you get there to pick them up the phone call is already made and they can't sit there and hold your child the whole time as it takes away from supervising the rest of the children. On our next cruise our daughter was 4 and we were on the Conquest we only had to make the walk of shame twice. My daughter was just really clingy with her mom. By the time she was 5 she enjoyed going to the kids club no matter what ship we were on and we had to drag her out. Based on your post if your child only had one incident where you got called to make the walk of shame and it happened 90 minutes after you dropped him off I'd consider that pretty lucky.

[A&Jfamily]

I agree. It is really very kid specific. My boys started cruising at 2 and 8 respectively. They both started preschool at 2 and loved playing with other kids at home or on the ship. They and we have never had a bad thing to say about camp at this age. Assuming he is potty trained, any of the ships, especially the newer ones with the larger waterworks - including Sunshine have been fantastic. But camp isn’t going to take them there - they younger ones are always in their play space. When our youngest was 2 he had an accident in the bathroom - they had zero issue - paged is - and he was in spare shorts and a camp t back playing. He was allowed to stay. No issue - they just wanted to touch base with us.

 

The only issue we have ever had with camp was in Circle C where the head counselor spent all the activity time on a Christmas cruise prepping for the Santa show and doing art projects. My 12 year old athletic son was less than impressed.

 

It sounds like to me your child just had an off moment. Or perhaps you got a counselor on an off day. There are times of free play (especially at night) but they days they do a good job of offering a wide variety - changing every 45 min to an hour.

 

Whatever you do don’t go Disney because it has been reported they are very u structured. Carnival actually has 4 age groups and is known as one of the more structured ones.

 

 

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[Californiacruizers]

We were just on the Vista and the staff at the Kids club were awesome. My daughter is 5 we took her during the open house on the 1st nite and walked around and let her take everything in. During check in the staff would come from behind the counter and engage the child making them feel comfortable and would invite them in to have a look around. Once they saw all the others playing and having a good time the kids would gladly walk in. If the child was young and hesitant the parent would go in with the child and play for a few minutes until the kid was comfortable. The kids club on the Vista had structured and impromptu activities such as silly dance off's

or games like 123 Freeze they also gave the kids small welcome backpacks with a few items inside. There were arts and crafts,movies, music and more. There was even a Build-A-Bear party and the cruise director actually came into the kids club with his microphone and sang and dance with the kids while they waited their turn to build their bear. Each time picked my daughter up she had some type of prize. I cannot say enough about the kids club staff on the vista.