south american cruise with a 3 year old?

[kosoffj]

anyone done it? son's been on a few already and is a good flier/traveler. i'm considering it but would love to hear from someone whose done it with a child....

[Essiesmom]

South America means several different itineraries...Which one are you considering? EM

[kosoffj]

12/7 ncl sun from buenos aires to santigo chile around the horn, 14 days

[tigergirl2]

I can't answer your question - I posted the same one a few days ago on the South American board, so I'm anxious to know if anyone else has done this. But, with the great deals that just came out, we bit the bullet and put down our deposit yesterday for the Dec. 7 NCL cruise.

 

Our son will be 4, so at least yours will have (hopefully!) one other playmate. I actually read on the Southern American board of one other family who is going with a 3 boys - 11, 8, and 3 years in age.

[kosoffj]

ok cool, we haven't booked yet (still looking at it) so not sure the "deal" is still out there. but it's nice to see i'm not the only crazy one :) our son will be 3 on 1/3.

 

Was concerned about shots/immunizations and whatnot, but looked into it and didn't look like there was anything special for the places we were visiting. looked like brazil was the country with all the specialty immunizations...

 

i resisted postin on the SA board cause i didn't want any "oh my god no kids on our cruise" posts :rolleyes:

 

ok hear is another wrinkle. We are considering child #2 so there'd be an off chance i was pregnant (haven't even started trying yet). Not too concerned about that as this happened with the first one (booked a cruise to hawaii before, found out i was pregnant and went at about 13 weeks and had a blast). any thoughts on this tigergirl2?

[Keith1010]

You will not need any special shots for this itinerary.

 

This itinerary will have a variation of weather. This time of yearBuenos Aires and Valparaiso will have temperatures in the 80's; maybe low 90's. As you work your way south it will be a lot cooler. So, you need to think layering in terms of clothing. Coat, sweater, gloves, hat etc.

 

In terms of a little one I don't see this one much different than taking a little one say on a cruise in Alaska.

 

You won't see many children on board but not sure if that matters anyway.

 

Keith

[TexanInBrazil]

Hi, we're the other family going on this one (my kids will be 11, 8 & 3 when we sail) -- I say go for it! We've cruised with the kids before, they all did really well. I can't see anything about this cruise that would be especially difficult.

 

The weather will change -- warm (80's) in BA & Val, cool (50s) down south near the cape and all. But if he travels well, bring him.

 

Also, pop over to our Roll Call! I'm glad to see some other little ones signing up; here's hoping our boys have fun together!

 

As for being pregnant, just make sure you aren't past the cruise line's cut-off date; they won't let you sail past a certain point, and if you are showing you'll need a doctor's note saying how far along you are and that you're okay to sail. Maybe book the insurance so that if you have to cancel, you can???

 

Welcome aboard!

[kosoffj]

texaninbrazil - hey! still undecided going to have tyo make a decision this weekend one way or another.

 

no too worried about if i'm pregannat cause the cut off is 24 weeks and there is 0 chance of that.

 

question for you. the warm days i'm not worried about we will be happy splashing in thepool. what will you do with oyur kids (and for that mind yourselves) on all those "scenic cruising days at sea" that will be cold? I'm worried we will get bored....

[TexanInBrazil]

texaninbrazil - hey! still undecided going to have tyo make a decision this weekend one way or another.

 

no too worried about if i'm pregannat cause the cut off is 24 weeks and there is 0 chance of that.

 

question for you. the warm days i'm not worried about we will be happy splashing in thepool. what will you do with oyur kids (and for that mind yourselves) on all those "scenic cruising days at sea" that will be cold? I'm worried we will get bored....

 

I haven't been on NCL but I've read really good things about their Kid's Crew program, and I imagine part of the time we'll utilize that so that DH & I can enjoy some of the on-board programs, etc.

 

If it is particularly cold, and the kids don't like the kid's programs, I expect we'll bring playing cards, and calm activities they can do in the room. Maybe yahtzee, etc. and I'm sure they'll have their hand-held video games. We'll also bring books for all of them.

 

For our 3 yr old we'll probably bring his Leapster (educational hand-held video game thingy), books, and a few favorite "hours of fun" toys, maybe superheros, or Thomas trains, or colors/paper, etc. Any small, easily packable "rainy day" type stuff.

 

I know there is a kid's only hot tub; I can't imagine people frowning on parents accompanying their own children there, especially little tikes, and I assume since it is for kids, the temp will be a child-safe temp. We might make use of that on the colder days.

 

Honestly, between hopefully sleeping in on sea days, eating breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner, there aren't that many hours to fill, and I think the Kid's Crew will pretty much take care of that. We'll bring a few things just in case, but I'm really hoping the activities on-board (and I know the Kid's Crew does quite a few parent/child activities, which I know we'll attend) are plenty to entertain everyone, even on the colder days when we can't use the pool. I expect they'll build the schedule with that in mind.

[kosoffj]

yes we used the kids crew on ncl on our cruise in january and it WAS fabulous. i am less worried about him (is that terrible? he is always happy if he is playing!!!) than i am aout us, i fear WE will get bored if it is cold?!

 

you are right there are kids inclusive hot tubs and plently of places to play......