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35 day cruise with 3 kids under ten. Any advice?


feonad

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We are doing the 35 day Viking tour out of Boston on the Maadam. It leaves July 5 of this year. It comes back to Boston at the end.

 

We are traveling with my husbands sister and her 9 year old.

 

We have two year old and a 8 year old.

 

We had a lovely cruise on the Disney Magic this year with her and her son and it was a sucess so hopefully this will be too.

 

These are the ports and if you have any ideas what to do with kids then, please advice. Thanks

 

Boston, Massachusetts CHECK IN STARTS AT 0100P 07-05-2008 05:00 PM AT SEA 07-06-2008

Sydney,Canada Corner Brook, Newfoundland 07-08-2008 08:00 AM 05:00 PM

St Anthony, Newfoundland 07-09-2008 10:00 AM 07:00 PM

Qaqortoq, Greenland 07-11-2008 08:00 AM 05:00 PM

AT SEA 07-12-2008 AT SEA 07-13-2008

Isafjord, Iceland 07-14-2008 08:00 AM 05:00 PM

Akureyri, Iceland NO AIR TO THIS PORT CITY 07-15-2008 08:00 AM 05:00 PM

Seydisfjordur Iceland 07-16-2008 08:00 AM 05:00 PM AT SEA 07-17-2008

Lerwick, Shetland Islands 07-18-2008 08:00 AM 05:00 PM Stavanger, Norway 07-19-2008 08:00 AM 04:00 PM Oslo, Norway 07-20-2008 12:00 PM 08:00 PM AT SEA 07-21-2008

Rotterdam, The Netherlands 07-22-2008 07:00 AM 05:00 PM

Cherbourg, France 07-23-2008 10:00 AM 05:00 PM

Milford Haven, Wales, UK 07-24-2008 10:00 AM 07:00 PM

Dublin, Ireland 07-25-2008 08:00 AM 11:00 PM

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND, UK 07-26-2008 08:00 AM 05:00 PM

Belfast, Northern Ireland 07-27-2008 07:00 AM 06:00 PM

Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, UK 07-28-2008 10:00 AM 05:00 PM Torshavn, Faroe Islands 07-29-2008 09:00 AM 06:00 PM AT

Reykjavik, Iceland 07-31-2008 08:00 AM 05:00 PM

Nanortalik, Greenland 08-03-2008 08:00 AM 04:00 PM AT SEA 08-04-2008

St.Johns,Canada 08-05-2008 12:00 PM 08:00 PM

St Pierre, France 08-06-2008 10:00 AM 07:00 PM AT SEA 08-07-2008

Bar Harbor, Maine 08-08-2008 08:00 AM 05:00 PM

Boston, Massachusetts 08-09-2008 07:00 AM

 

 

Thanks for any advice,

Feona

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We are doing the 35 day Viking tour out of Boston on the Maadam. It leaves July 5 of this year. It comes back to Boston at the end.

 

We are traveling with my husbands sister and her 9 year old.

 

We have two year old and a 8 year old.

 

We had a lovely cruise on the Disney Magic this year with her and her son and it was a sucess so hopefully this will be too.

 

As this is a much smaller ship I would bet you're going to need to make more of your own entertainment. I would certainly bring a DVD player with lots of disks and some kind of gameboy or other computerized toys.

 

Have a great time!

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I'd throw in a package of balloons and some bubbles - which always keeps little ones entertained. For the 8 and 9 YO, I'd bring a few games and try to make it fun for her/him by letting them help with picking the shore excursions. DVDs are going to be good. They will get bored unless you can find things that interest them.

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Sounds like an interesting trip! Is there a roll call thread where you can see if there are other kids going? As others have said, I would take along plenty of entertainment, and be sure the kids aren't expecting the same kind of fun that the Disney cruise had--this one will be VERY different.

 

Doesn't look like you have too many days at sea, so that will help with the boredom factor. I would do LOTS of research on each port to decide what to do. There are likely to be many nature activities on an itinerary like this one. Stay open to the possibility of taking a couple of the ship's tours, in case you run out of options in certain ports.

 

The kids, especially the little one, may get tired of going ashore every day, so I would explore the possibility of leaving kids on board in club HAL sometimes, if they have that option, or adults taking turns going ashore for half the day and switching off.

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You wrote the Maadam, is it suppose to be the Holland America Maasdam? Or are there 2 ships with similiar names?

 

Good decoding - I'll bet your right. When I saw Viking I thought this was the name of the line and the ship was some very small "expedition style" ship. If it's HAL, then much more kid activities will be available.

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I'd throw in a package of balloons and some bubbles - which always keeps little ones entertained. For the 8 and 9 YO, I'd bring a few games and try to make it fun for her/him by letting them help with picking the shore excursions. DVDs are going to be good. They will get bored unless you can find things that interest them.

 

I would forget the balloons as they're not good for kids under 5 (any pieces after they pop could choke the little ones). I wouldn't use the bubbles around the youngest either, except for maybe a few (just don't let the soap on the kid's fingers).

 

One thing we did when our girl was 3 and 5, was attach a tag to her bear's arm with the cabin number on it. Fortunately, she didn't leave it behind anywhere, but if she had, hopefully it would have found its way back to us. Have some toys -- new and old -- hidden away to bring out at needed times.

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You'll find your rhythm onboard. I have never done such a long cruise but sometimes the longer cruises are better. You see the same faces everyday. The crew gets to really know you and they love kids. So I think you will have a great time.

 

When off the ship- seek out places for the kids to run... playgrounds are in every port.

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We found our from the other thread there was at least two other kids about 8 on board that enjoy going to the kids club so that will be enough. We will find out when they go and send our kids with them so there will be playmates.

 

I am sure there will be others because you can book out of boston and only book 17 days. I can't be the only other person in the world that wants to go to Europe without flying. LOL:o

 

Actually my eight year old loves the restaurant on cruises so we will see. The 2 year old eats all the berries on board the ship. So that is why there will be none for the rest of the ship.:o :p

 

I got good advice about trying balcony for the shows so we can exit early.

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