Advice on Cruising with younger children

[cougar242]

My husband and I have cruised many times in past just the two of us, but we have now booked the Norwegian Pearl for the 9 night cruise and will be taking our 5 and 6 year old. To be honest when we were cruising I never paid much attention to the kids programs that the different cruise lines had onboard. My Ta says that she thinks that NCL has an excellent program. For those of you, that have traveled with younger children is 9 nights to much? Any advice on what to anticipate? Any extra things from home you absolutely should take with you? I appreciate any comments. Thanks in advance.

[cmdchiefthom]

We took our 3 and 5 year old grandsons on the 9 day Spirit las April, and again on the Sun's 7 day Eastern Caribbean a couple of weeks ago. The Kids Crew program on both ships was simply the best at sea!:D They loved every minute of every day and couldn't wait to get back to the ship so they could get back te the friends and "counselors"! No question its a great program for kids! Go for it!;)

[newmexicoNita]

My husband and I have cruised many times in past just the two of us, but we have now booked the Norwegian Pearl for the 9 night cruise and will be taking our 5 and 6 year old. To be honest when we were cruising I never paid much attention to the kids programs that the different cruise lines had onboard. My Ta says that she thinks that NCL has an excellent program. For those of you, that have traveled with younger children is 9 nights to much? Any advice on what to anticipate? Any extra things from home you absolutely should take with you? I appreciate any comments. Thanks in advance.

400 plus kids on the Sun last week and everyone of them I spoke with were having a blast, from pre schoolers to teens, none wanted to see the cruise end. I think that says it all. NMNita

[LEET44]

I just returned yesterday from the 10 day dawn cruise. We had 800 kids on board. I have two a ds who is 6 and a dd who is 10. First I cannot believe that there were that many on board you really never felt them around you .Why because a good majority were at the kids crew. My kids LOVED it .This was their second time on the Dawn and I thought it was fantastic last year but I think it was even better this year . The staff that run it are just the best. My dd by the third day was in tears because she did not want it to end. This year they did a kids crew show on the last day it was just the cutest . We did use the afterhours babysitting and the kids never wanted to be picked up.What is nice about it is that you will recieve a schedule for the entire cruise broken down by day and hour for the different activities so if dd didn't like what was going on at 9:00 am but liked all the rest of the activities she would go later. Didn't happen much more towards when she was getting tired. I have no doubt you will be very pleased.

[sandyneck]

We took our kids on a 15 day Panama Canal cruise when they were 7 and 8. They cried our last night and did not want to leave. Of course, I cried too, but that's to be expected. Now when we go on 7 day cruises they do not think it is long enough. Your kids should have a great time. The more days on vacation, the better!!

[calmac]

Make sure you pack their favourite soft toy in a carry-on!! Our DS is now 10 and Ping (his panda) still gets very good treatment on flights, in hotels and on board ship.;)

[MidtheNight]

Our kids have always cruised with us and until the oldest got to be 17-18 even he went to the kids crew to meet new kids his own age. They (DD also - 5 years younger) loved the kids crew. Heck there were some nights they simply did not want to come back to the cabin with us either because they were having too much fun.

[cougar242]

I want to thank everyone who responded, I can now be excited about the cruise instead of worrying. I just had never paid attention to the kids programs when we have cruised. It is great to know for the kids that they love the programs. Is there anything that when you got onboard the ship that you wished that you had packed from home? Anything that I may just overlook thinking they will have on the ship that they don't?

Thanks again!!

[mousey]

Some things to bring for them if they don't want to do the kids club (which are really quite good for younger or older kids - kids aged 9-12 usually don't care for them that much.) I have a 10 1/2 yr. old DS and he hates the kids club. It is too young for him and the teen club is too old although he can't wait until he is old enough for the teen club because they seem to have lots of fun. We bring Mad Libs game books, a deck of playing cards, drawing pad and colored pencils (our son love to draw), Gameboy and 2 games. Whatever they need to sleep with! Lots and lots of sunscreen! Tons of it! Just a reminder for the kids and adults too - air conditioning is cool at night in the restaurants and showroom so bring light jacket or long sleeved tops.:D

[silkhair1]

Do they need floaties to swim? The kids pool is shallow, but if they want to play in the adult pool they may need them. On the Star they had a P.J. party so bring a cute pair of P.J.'s just in case. We brought pirate shirts and they had a pirate parade one day too. It was very cute and the shirts came in handy. You will have a blast! I think they will be in different classes in the camp though. Hopefully that will not be ab problem. My kids were together and that helped the 2 year old. Our cruise in January will be the same they will be together. We were thinking of going in March, but we decided January was sooner. LOL. If we went in March they would be in different classes. Have fun

[Catbiri2]

The first cruise I went on I was somewhere between 13 and 15 (can't remember) it was a different line also. I tried to do the kids activities, but they were too boring for me. I found my own way around the ship though and had a great time watching the shows and being in the clubs that allowed kids before 11pm. My sister, when we took her on her first cruise was about 10 (again a different line), and she enjoyed every minute of the kids activites. On the next cruise she did half and half (by then about age 13). This year, age 15, she signed up for the Kids club on NCL, and she did some activities with them, but again she did a lot of things on her own. She said that Kids club was great, but she just wasn't that interested, as she acts in an "older" mind set. (She is a quasi manager for a gift shop at the hotel that I am an administrative assistant for).

 

Neither of us as kids have lacked for things to do, and we have always hated when the cruise ends. She is currently 16, and I am 31, and we are looking to book a cruise sometime in the next year with just the two of us (a sisters vacation). At her maturity level I doubt that she will join Kids Club for the entire cruise, but I am sure that she will go for a bit, as she tends to make new friends that way.

 

Every cruise we have been on has been WAY too short :)