Child's first cruise?

[TortieGal]

My niece keeps saying she wants to go on the boat with me and Nana.... ;)

 

She is 3 and I've told her when she turns 5. Just curious as to what age is a "good" age to take kids on their first cruise? I searched through some of the threads and couldn't really find a specific answer. We would probably start with a shorter cruise to see how it goes.

 

TIA!

[rlj1010]

I took my son on his first cruise when he was 1.5 years old. He loves to go on the "big boats".

 

He's 2.5 now and we're taking him on his 3rd cruise in a few days. And this time, he's old enough for Camp Carnival, which is a plus.

 

He was too young for Camp Carnival the first two times around, but at least we had other relatives with us, to help out with babysitting.

 

This time, its just me, my wife, my son, and the Camp.

[nybumpkin]

I think a lot depends on the child's and your expectations on the cruise. Do you expect your niece to spend a lot of time in Camp Carnival? Does your niece want to go to Camp Carnival, or does she expect to spend all her time with you and Nana? Our youngest son was 4 on our first cruise; before we went, he looked at the Camp Carnival "virtual tour" on the website and wanted to go. He loved it.

 

We like to strike a "happy medium" between family time and Camp Carnival time; the kids usually go in the morning (that's DH's and my time to have coffee and play gin rummy on the Promenade deck:)), may or may not go in the afternoon depending on what activities are going on, and usually go after dinner. Our kids are usually with us in the dining room for dinner; the wait staff is great with kids. One or two nights our kids may have dinner with Camp Carnival. Sometimes we avail ourselves of the babysitting service that starts at 10 p.m.

 

The kids are always with us for shore excursions, so we aim for family-friendly shore excursions. If your niece has carsick issues, don't sign up for a tour that requires a lengthy ride over bad roads. (We learned that lesson the hard way in Jamaica.:eek:)

 

There's also a "Family cruising" forum on the boards that has a lot of information available on traveling with kids.

[RSW]

We took our youngest when he was 4. He had a great time and loved the Camp. We also took our neice when she was 2 and I will never do that again.

[Catrin]

We took our middle child on his first cruise when he was 4 - he is 10 now and ready to go on his 6th!

 

We took our baby, now 3 - right after she turned 2. She is a daycare baby, so going to Camp Carnival was just another adventure. She is ready to go on her fourth cruise in the Spring!

 

 

>>>>

The main thing is.. we always keep our kids on a schedule. I think that is the key. Breakfast in the morning, morning Camp Carnival session, lunch, nap/rest time, pool time, dinner. After dinner is flexible, but if she goes to Camp, we pick her up by 10 - and then bedtime. Sometimes, she just wants to go in the pool with Daddy, and then bedtime.

 

We also always have early dinner, which we eat at home at 6-6:30, so this keeps them on schedule too.

 

I think cruising with kids is wonderful.... as long as the parents realize they are parents FIRST, and vacationers SECOND. There is nothing worse than a Mom or Dad who think because they are on vacation, they do not have to be parents to thier own kids!

 

Catrin

[berls088]

my nephew is going on his first cruise at 8 months old! cant wait!

[TortieGal]

Thanks for everyone's input! We've still got a couple of years as to how we'll approach this but good advice! I'm thinking it'll probably be a mix of Camp Carnival (sounds like they have great activities) and time with us. I do think her mom would probably decide to join us ultimately.

 

And thanks for the family cruising area...I'm guilty of mainly sticking to the Carnival boards. :o

[cascole]

I took my son at 2... left him home for two years after that exhausting vacation! :eek: Took him again recently at 4.5 & we all had a BLAST! :) So... for mine, 4+ was about the right time. :D Now, he's ready to go again & he loved camp!

[Muumuu]

Grandsons started crusing at ages 5 and 2. Had a great time and now I have two addicts on my hands.

[sandi1967]

Hi,

We took our 5 kids on a cruise this past July. We ahd two inside rooms for us...kids ages...15,13,11,6 and 4. Our two youngest ones were not interested in CC, our daughter who is 4 went here an there, but it was a struggle. Del our 6 year old wanted to be with us. The two younger ones were in our room....hindsite it was stressful b/c we really could not do anything at nite. But on the otherhand we saw so many neat things, and we loved seeing them having fun. I want to do another one agian, but probably not until Addie is at least 6. We tossed the idea of leaving our two youinger ones at home, but then we felt bad b/c we really did know they would love the ports and the ship.

 

Good luck,

sandi

[aggieastrosfan]

We took our son shortly after he turned 3. For us, we wanted to wait until he was potty trained so we didn't have to worry about lugging diapers around.

 

If children are used to going to day care, the 2-4 set will most likely do really well at camp and love it. It could be a tough sell otherwise.

 

I agree with the schedule. Our port time was fairly limited, as we tried to be back on the ship by lunchtime for lunch and his nap.

 

We pushed our luck - his first cruise was 9 days. But our son loved it, and is already talking about the next one!

[kdr69]

We took our son on our first cruise when he was 4 and out of diapers. He loves all the kids camps on each of the lines he has sailed on and next december will be his and our's fourth cruise. He's a seasoned cruiser now:D

[ACSoCarCruiser]

Took my 3 year old this past September. She is a day care child and potty trained. She loved Camp Carnival. I took her on all 3 days excursions and just found what would be kid friendly. I looked at this as a Daddy - Daughter vacation and had no expectations beyond that. Since I am a single parent any of the usual things that a 3 year old is bound to do/try was expected and not disconcerting to me. I did take her to CC for dinner due to her age. But I am sure she enjoyed that more than sitting with a bunch of stuffy adults!!:D