HELP!!! first time cruising with child

[tirej]

For my wife and I, cruising has always meant non-stop relaxation and doing whatever we want, whenever we wanted. This time, however, will be different. Our very-soon-to-be-four-year-old daughter will be joining us for her first cruise, and she's as excited to be going as we are to be sharing this with her and inducting her to the ranks of the Cruise Addicts as the newest member. I'm not worried about her having a great time onboard the ship, after all, the children's programs are noted for providing the little ones with practically non-stop entertainment and activities, and I feel certain that that will take care of itself. Even when she's not at "KidCamp", I know we'll all have a wonderful time together as a family. My biggest concern are the excursions, as some of them are not open and/or recommended for children of her age. Can anyone recommend some excursions that we can take her on where she'll have as good a time as we will? We are cruising the Grand Princess October 5, Western Itinerary. Thanks in advance to all who take time to read this, and special thanks to those who respond!!!

 

[p.g.]

Personally with a child that young I would opt out of "tours" and just do beach days. On Grand Cayman you can take a taxi to the turtle farm( rather depressing, just a million turtles in small tanks) and then maybe hit a nice hotel beach( the one in front of the Holiday Inn is good) , in Jamica I feel your choices are limited, we did Dunns River falls ,but a young child might find it too much ( depends on your child) and Mexico, well I can't remember the port on the Grand Princess( we did Carnival for the Western, The Grand for Eastern) but I still think the beach plan is best, (I have heard awesome things about Tulum, but that it's alot of bus time, which is hard on kids)I hope someone else can give you more specific advice, we only took our kids once and they were younger than your daughter( 5 months and 2 years) and frankly that was a mistake. Not because of fthe kids or the cruise but just because they were way too young. Now we have 3 kids and they are definately a good age to go ( all of them are over 3) but now it's too exspensive to take them,lol, it would mean 2 cabins or a family suite plus 5 airfares ouch! Oh well maybe when they are older, until then we going on our own for our 15th ann,. and the kids have to stay home.!!Hope you have fun, I know your daughter will love it!



Post Edited (08-21-03 13:12)

 

[jwave]

I am doing the same itinerary in December with my daughter who will be almost 5 at the time. I will be very interested in the excursion information also. My daughter went on the Star Princess to Alaska with us and she went on the whale watching excursion, as well as the train ride on the White Railway. She did extremely well on both.

I know you are not concerned, but I thought I would let you know you may encounter one small problem traveling with a 4 year old.......removing her from the children's area. My daughter wanted to go ALL the time. Esp. at night.....which meant mom & dad got to "date". They have LOTS of activities (and this was Alaska BEFORE school let out so there were only a handful of children under 7 and they still had tons to do). She esp. liked the Pizza party, the pajama party and the dance party (she partied more than us). It was so cute to watch the little ones in the Disco (they took them there around 9pm before it got going) and watch them dance to "who let the dogs out". She made crafts and they even took the kids out on deck on Glacier Bay day and gave them a "kid friendly" talk about glaciers. Very cool indeed.

 

[Lady Jag]

Our kids started cruising at ages 7 & 9 yrs. I think the idea to opt out of excursions is a good one, especially with the Western itinerary. It'll save you tons of money and I don't think she'd get much out of them either.

In Grand Cayman - Definitely don't do Stingray City - waves are too big, rays may be intimidating. Turtle Farm is cute, quaint. Shopping is great though. It's right across from the tender dock and very easy to get to - you can shop for a short amount of time and then go to Seven Mile Beach (very flat seas) for the rest of the day.

In Coz- Don't do the Dolphin Encounter or Dolphin Experience. She's too small and personally, I thought it was a waste of money.

In Costa Maya - We were supposed to be the very first Grand Princess cruisers to stop there, but a storm had washed out the pier area so we were diverted. A friend has done Princess' Beach Break and said it was the best they've ever done (and they've been to a lot of islands).

Bring some Barbies or other toys she likes on the cruise. It'll help with those times that you're showering & getting ready for dinner. Also, bring a laptop (if possible) and rent some DVD movies from netflix.com. She can watch them at any time. The TV programming isn't the best with Princess. The kids' shows are very limited and are only on at certain times of the day, for a few hours at a time. The DVDs are also great for the airplane - just bring a backup battery.

 

[bluefish]

Not to put a damper on your excitement for the upcoming cruise, but with a child age 4 this will be her cruise and you will be her "staff". On our last cruise with a 5 and 9 year old, we didn't do any of the ships excursions because, as you noted, most are not suitable for children. Also, young children aren't particularly interested in a bus ride around some island. They usually just want to play at the beach. I would recommend this as what to do.

 

[ljeanbrown]

I agree on the no tour advise as it can be troublesome with a little one. Wetook our 3 1/2 year old grandaughter on a western cruise. In Grand Cayman watch her around the merchandise in the stores as they have a brake it you buy it policy and do not like little ones touching things. We did Dunns River but I stayed on the beach with her and my husband and daughter climbed the falls. She really enjoyed the trips to the beach, pail and shovel in hand. And yes kids have a great time in the childrens program onboard. We didn't bring her very much though as we wanted to spend time with her and my daughter didn't want to leave her too much. But we had a great time and took her again when she was 5 years old and she is now 7 and we are planning to take her again in the spring. Have a great time and make alot of memories :thumb



Laurie :wave