Is there enough for a 3.5 year old little one to do on a Cruise?

[sierra77]

We are taking our first family cruise (3 days on Carnival's Sensation) to Nassau.

 

I know about Camp Carnival but what about things we can do on the ship together as a family or will he like Camp Carnival alot?

 

Please share with me your Cruising Experience with PreSchoolers. Thank you.

[Onessa]

Never have sailed Carnival - but have sailed other lines with little ones. 3 to 4 year olds are generally very interested in all of the new "stuff" (at least for 10-20 minutes at a shot! :) ). I've always needed to negotiate time away from the kids programs with my DD (now 11).

 

There are public entertainment stuff that you can do with little ones (shuffleboard, ping pong, etc.) You don't play by the 'rules' but they'll have fun. Many ships have specific pool areas for kids - splash pools, fountains, water slides. When my DD was that age, she enjoyed the port days - we brought an umbrella stroller or the back pack carrier and she was entertained enough just looking around. Ask about playgrounds so your little one can blow off some excess energy.

 

Bring along some of his/her favorite travel entertainment toys. I always packed a couple of cheap cosmetic type bags with trinkety toys - the party sizes of play-doh, keychain sized games, finger puppets, paper and crayons. You can vary the contents and then rotate them so no one gets board. Even at 3.5, I would create daily "scavenger" hunts - a picture listing of things to look for: An orange baseball hat, a flowered back pack, a British flag, - about 5-6 realatively easy things and 1-2 tougher ones - if my DD could find everything she got an extra treat. It really helped keep her engaged!

 

Have fun!

[Califonria cruiser]

We have taken our daughter on a few cruises, most recently the Pride of Hawaii, she is 3.5 and loves it!

 

She likes to "play" shuffleboard, just moves the puck back and forth. Kids pools, shows, etc. Loves the swim at the beachl, the funny decorations/lights. In our stateroom it had channels with cartoons if need be. She went on the Carnival Valor a while back and loved it. Carnival is extremely family friendly. Found it easy to get kid friendly food on all the cruises. I think the trick it to arrange dinner so that they aren't there very long, 1.5-2 hour meals are not for toddlers. You can feed them quickly and then take them to kids club.

 

I think a 3 day cruise is a great place to start if you are concerned.

 

Jenn

[mom1132]

Haven't been on Carnival but from what I can tell family ammenties are similar to RCI. Our 4 yr old can't stop talking about our Nav. of the Seas trip when she was 3.5. She loved it, as did her older sister. We could hardly get them out of kid's club. Your family should have a great time.

 

Sara

[rbm444]

We are leaving in 40 days for a RCCL trip with our 5 & 3 year old DDs. I am happy that they will be in the same play group together as the younger one will not do anything without her sister. They are used to going to childcare while we work out at the gym. I did not think about feeding them with us at dinner then escorting them to adventure ocean so that we can enjoy the show and dessert as adult time. We will have both sets of grandparents and an aunt and uncle with us to help wrangle them during the trip:) . I love the idea of a scavenger hunt for each day and I need to get that together. What a great idea. Thanks again I feel better that they will have fun in Adventure Ocean.

[crusinmama06]

Never did Carnival either but I can guarantee that in 3 days, your child will not be bored. Three days is never enough.

 

We take 7 day cruises with our young children and I can't remember a time they've been bored. It just doesn't happen. What does happen is I can't wrestle my kids out of the kids club till well past their bedtime and often past MY bedtime. ;)