Has anyone done Southern Carribean with 4 to 7yr olds?

[Suzanne74]

We are going on RCCL Adventure of the Seas this Easter leaving from Puerto Rico. My sis family has a 4yr old dd and 6yr old ds and we have an almost 7yr old dd. Our dd did Navigator western itinerary last Easter and we all had a blast.

 

Our ports are Aruba, Curacao, St Thom and St. Martin.

 

Any advice, tips, opinions on the those ports, excursions, Adeventure's kids program or anything else kid related would be much appreciated.

[Paumavista]

We did the Seranade last December with our kids (19,17,6,7).

 

Our little boys just LOVED the kids clubs and we loved the layout of the ship. Which I think is very much like the Adventure. The outside areas are so well layed out I don't know why more ships aren't desigened like this.

 

They have the domed adult-only pool area (very nice, never saw any kids hanging around); the Party pool with bar, food, bands, dancing, contests, etc); and the entire back of the ship for youth activities (mini golf, climbing wall, sports court, and wonderful kids pool area with slide and play areas).

 

I really liked that the kids had such a great area - my kids didn't bother any of the adults....and we didn't have to share a pool with a bunch of drunken adults.....it's a win/win design.

 

Also, I really liked that the RC adventure club was open/running on port days. There were a couple of ports with very convenient port shopping.....If we decided to run down to do some last minute shopping the boys begged to stay with the other kids and it was great!

 

We did alot of Beach excursions....St Thomas we took a private sailboat to St John, St Martin we went to the famous beach (forget the name)....we went first thing in the morning before it got too crowded. Believe it or not my boys NEVER mentioned the fact that some people were nude.......go figure.

 

Have a great trip.

Judy

[Suzanne74]

Thank you! We are thinking of going to St. John's too. The idea of having your own sailboat take you is nice. Can you tell me more about that? It is 7 of us. 4 adults, 3 children.

[twotraveljunkies]

We have done the southern many times and last year 06 and 05 we took my kids too. We too love St. John and rented a house there after a cruise, very nice! The beaches are serene!

 

Aruba - we just went to Palm Beach and hung out there. Maybe a 10 minute or more taxi from the ship.

 

St. Maarten too is nice. Watch for the topless and nude beaches. Ask your taxi driver or excursion desk to help you with that. Of course mainly on the French side.

 

St. Thomas - easy day at the beach at Magen's Bay is very nice. Then again you can ferry over to St. John really inexpensive. Or do a special excursion. Captain Nautica is snorkeling to cool too (high speed raft) and have seen kids s young as 7 doing that.

 

Curacao - nice to snorkel there (my kids are too young) and just walk around the Dutch influenced shoops (like St. Maarten).

 

Have fun! Don't let all those boring people (of course not on this website) scare you into not enjoying your love for cruising just becasue your kids are smaller. My kids have gone with us 3 times (as well as Hawaii and other nice places) and they are just 2 and 4. They love it too!