Excursions with Toddlers

[catch-a-cruise]

We are going to be taking a cruise in March on Royal Caribbean with our children, ages 2 and 3. Our ports are Cozumel, Georgetown Grand Cayman, and Falmouth Jamaica. We plan on taking light weight car seats for the kids to get to and from the airport and to the cruise terminal in Galveston. I would rather not lug the carseats with us on excursions, so I'm wondering if anyone has recommendations for toddler friendly excursions at any of these ports that would be either walking distance, or possibly some larger ground transport (like a bus)....also, any tips for cruising with toddlers?

[kitkat343]

I've traveled with 2 and 3 year olds, and have found that booking private excursions with transportation works best for my family.  Since we had transportation booked for the day, the carseats went in the car once and stayed there until we were done.  But we usually visit cities and do a lot of intensive touring, so it might be different if you are hoping to spend a lot of time at a beach.

 

On the first breakfast, go to the buffet with a large diaper bag and get a bunch of single serving cereal boxes, yogurt and fruit.  You'll always want snacks on hand in the room, and you can take the cereal boxes off the ship as long as they are sealed.  When your kids get whiny, tired or hungry on excursions, you can let them choose a new cereal and they'll be happy again.

 

We visited Grand Cayman prior to having kids, and really enjoyed stingray city (which really might not work for small children, and might not be safe as those are wild stingrays that you pet).  The turtle farm was also really nice.

 

Our two year old loved Jamaica, but we were docked in Ocho Rios which is closer to Dolphin Cove, which is excellent for small children.  Dolphin Cove is right next to Dunns' river falls, so you should easily be able to contact transportation providers to tell you exactly how long it would take to get there from Falmouth   (a google search seemed to indicate either 60 or 90 minutes, which is a long time with toddlers).  Especially since we were able to have my 2 year old and I go back in the afternoon so he could nap while my husband and the grandparents climbed dunn's river falls in the afternoon.  Small children cannot climb Dunn's river falls safely.

 

In Jamaica, we visited Dolphin Cove, which is an excellent stop for people with children or those who love animals. There are various swim with dolphin programs, and a dolphin touch programs for nonswimmers, pregnant women and children. The Princess tours do not allow children under the age of 8 to participate in dolphin touch programs, so if you want your children to participate in this excursion you would need to book it directly through the Dolphin Cove (and please don't tell them you are arriving on a cruise ship since previous trip advisor reviewers were refused booking when they told Dolphin cove they were traveling to Jamaica on a cruise). The Dolphin Cove has a lovely touch tank, where your child can hold starfish, and you can feed love birds by hand and get your photograph taken with lots of parrots on you. There is also an opportunity to take pictures with either sharks or stingrays. Please note the time of the shark show, since this show is very bad and the performers in this are also the same people who help you pose with stingrays and sharks. You should visit the other attractions during the shark show, and for the 15 minutes prior to the shark show since the trainers are preparing for the show and can't help you touch the animals. Dolphin's Cove is also located right next to the spectacular Dunn's River Falls, which my family greatly enjoyed visiting. Lunch was excellent jerk chicken at Scotchie's. Richard Brooks at excursionochorios@gmail.com provided us with an excellent tour of Jamaica. He guided my family through Dunn's river falls, and helped my mother pick out an authentic Jamaican meal at Scotchies.   Scotchie's is a really wonderful chain of authentic Jamaican jerk chicken available all over the island, so if you choose to stay closer to Falmouth, you might be able to find another restaurant near whatever you eventually decide to do.

 

[mdjohn5]

Excursions can be hard at that age.  Don't overlook just staying on the ship during a port visit as an option.

 

When the ship docks and 90% of the people get off,  it leaves a lot of things open around the ship that small kids might not be able to do when the ship is full...sport court, mini golf, etc. 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

14 hours ago, catch-a-cruise said:

We are going to be taking a cruise in March on Royal Caribbean with our children, ages 2 and 3. Our ports are Cozumel, Georgetown Grand Cayman, and Falmouth Jamaica. We plan on taking light weight car seats for the kids to get to and from the airport and to the cruise terminal in Galveston. I would rather not lug the carseats with us on excursions, so I'm wondering if anyone has recommendations for toddler friendly excursions at any of these ports that would be either walking distance, or possibly some larger ground transport (like a bus)....also, any tips for cruising with toddlers?

For tips and tricks at these particular locations, I'd head over to https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/456-caribbean/ and ask in each subforum.

 

As for tips for cruising with toddlers, I'd definitely read through a couple of pages in this subforum, or do a search with the word "toddler".

[angie7911922]

I'm in the "bad parent" camp. 🙂 We always did shore excursions with our kids while they were still in car seats. We never took a car seat. We just buckled them in (if there were seatbelts available.) While they were babies, we just held them in our laps.  

[kasi1979]

We have been to Grand Cayman and Cozumel with our than 2.5 year old Girl.

In Grand Cayman we took the 3 hour excursion with Captain Marvin, two snorkel stops and the stingray sandbar. At the snorkeling spots one of us stayed onboard with dd, We put her in a lifejacket for the trip and took her into water with us at he sandbar.

In Cozumel we took a taxi (no car seat) to Playa Mia, there are bus excursions that go there, too, if you feel more comfy in a bigger vehicle. DD hat a blast in the Aqua playpark and on the beach.

 

In Jamaica our stop was Ochos Rios, where we just went to the beach.

 

Whatever you decide, it´s gonna be a great tour.