Itinerary Best for Kids

[born'4'cruisin]

My husband and I are in the process of planning a first cruise for our five and three year old (even though *we* have sailed twice before). Right now we are up in the air of what line to cruise with, so obviously we are unsure of the ship and itinerary. I am thinking if I can start narrowing down to itinerary we can find ships and lines to go with. We have sailed both times with Royal and we love them, but we are debating Disney for the kids. We are mostly thinking that we will spend time on beaches. Not sure what's out there for excursions to entertain their ages. So I guess in a nutshell, what are the best Caribbean stops for those ages? Thanks for all your well researched advice.

[crusinmama06]

In my personal opinion ;) the Eastern Carib ports are the best for the younger ages. Here's why. Many of the Western stops have excursions that have age minimums that are pretty high (some are 12 and over)

 

You can find more to do on the Eastern itinerary for the young ones. :D

 

In St. Thomas there is Coral World which has a small beach next door.

 

In the Bahamas, many of the dolphin encounters have no minimum ages.

 

And in St. Martin, there are some beautiful beaches.

 

The Western Carib seems to revolve around swimming with sting rays, zip lining through jungle canopies and climbing waterfalls. Which are great for older kids, but do nothing for the younger ones. ;)

[born'4'cruisin]

In my personal opinion ;) the Eastern Carib ports are the best for the younger ages. Here's why. Many of the Western stops have excursions that have age minimums that are pretty high (some are 12 and over)

 

You can find more to do on the Eastern itinerary for the young ones. :D

 

In St. Thomas there is Coral World which has a small beach next door.

 

In the Bahamas, many of the dolphin encounters have no minimum ages.

 

And in St. Martin, there are some beautiful beaches.

 

The Western Carib seems to revolve around swimming with sting rays, zip lining through jungle canopies and climbing waterfalls. Which are great for older kids, but do nothing for the younger ones. ;)

 

Cool, then I'm glad this past september we did the western without the kids! I did fall in love with GC and Jamaica though.

 

How is the deep southern and or southern caribbean?

[crusinmama06]

Cool' date=' then I'm glad this past september we did the western without the kids! I did fall in love with GC and Jamaica though.

 

How is the deep southern and or southern caribbean?[/quote']

 

Never done them...anyone else know?

[CeleBrat]

If you do a little research, you will probably find something for any-age child in every port. We have been all over the Caribbean, and always seem to find something fun to do. In Grand Cayman we took a private tour that stopped at the Turtle Farm, which was great for our (then) 3 and 5 year olds. Following that, we visited the stingrays on the sandbar on a private boat. We took the kids into the water with us and held them. They were a little scared, but in the end said it was the COOLEST THING they had ever done! (Isn't it funny how they get super-brave when then the scary stuff is over?)

 

If you book private or independent tours you will usually have a larger leeway in taking young kids on the tour. Obviously, we wouldn't take the kids on anything unsafe for their age (zipline, horseback riding), but we ask the tour operator for age-appropriate suggestions.

 

In Belize, we took a ship tour which involved a river/boat trip and visit to the local ruins. Lots of fun!

 

We have even taken the kids on a day trip from St. Maarten to Anguilla. Best beach ever!

 

In Jamaica, we hired a private driver, who took us to Dunn's River and local botanical garden. We opted not to climb the falls because of the kids, but had a lot of fun walking down the zillions of stairs to the bottom of the waterfall. And, the botanical garden was amazing! On our last trip to Jamaica, we took the ships tour to the "Martha Brae" river. Once there, we rode on bamboo rafts (!) for an hour-long cruise on the river. AMAZING!!!

 

So--don't be afraid to go anywhere. Just do a little research beforehand and you will surely find something to suit your family.

 

CeleBrat

[nasvhillecruise]

We loved NCL Spirit's western Caribbean. We have an adventurous 5 yr old son & here's what we did:

 

Roatan, Honduras: Jungle Canopy zipline. I know there's a lot on the boards about the zipline tragedy, but Jungle Canopy seemed extremely safe. The zips are shorter & lower to the ground, I believe. They said the youngest they'd had was 18 months, which I think is too young, but just my opinion.

 

Santo Tomas, Guatemala: Michael LOVED the waterfall tour. It was an easy walk & he loved swimming & going under the falls.

 

Belize: We went to Lamanai. He LOVED the boat ride down the river & enjoyed climbing the ruins (although looking back, I wouldn't let him climb them again till he's a little older.

 

Cozumel: San Francisco Beach & Paradise Beach are great for kids. Michael REALLY enjoyed having the pool at SF beach.

[SelectSys]

My husband and I are in the process of planning a first cruise for our five and three year old (even though *we* have sailed twice before)... We have sailed both times with Royal and we love them' date=' but we are debating Disney for the kids. We are mostly thinking that we will spend time on beaches...[/quote']

 

With your kids ages 5 & 3 and your preference to spend time at the beach indicates to me that the ship is more important than the tours. This is actually my opinion of the Caribbean generally.

 

Even though it is more expensive, I would suggest the Disney Cruise. I would further pick one of their cruises that has multiple stops at Castaway Cay. Our kids really liked both Disney and Castaway Cay when they were younger.

 

At 3 & 5 it will harder for the kids to take advantage of all of RCCL's activities although the H2O zone must be a hit with young kids.