Cruising with 3yr old daughter

Hi all,

I don’t know if this is the right place to ask, but we are planning a cruise for October 2016 out of Port Canaveral to the Bahamas. DD will be 3 y/o at the time of the cruise. We are trying to decide which line is more appropriate: Carnival or Royal Caribbean.

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks!!

albertro - the decision to go with one line vs. another is a completely personal one. Others here will agree that you need to figure out what's most important to you in a cruise vacation and go from there as you evaluate lines, ships and itineraries.

Do you want a ship with all the new amenities?

When in port will you be off the ship or on the ship?

If you're primary interest is seeing new ports, which ones are of most interest?

Is your daughter fully potty trained? If not, she won't be able to swim on certain ships.

Will you want to put your daughter in the kids club?

These are just a few of the questions you'll need to go through to determine what's important. From there this group here on CC will help you figure out best ship for your needs.

Either /or! Both have a children's program for those 3 and up. Both are very "family friendly"!

Carnival's cabins (standard) are larger than RCI's standard cabins. If you want to book a suite, RCI has better suite perks for those in a GS and up. Carnival has virtually no suite perks.

Be aware that if you daughter isn't potty trained, she will not be able to use the ship's pools. Only a few RCI ships have a "baby splash zone", where diapered kids can get wet....it's not a pool tho! I'm not sure if Carnival offers that on any ships.

Most standard cabins have only showers...so if your daughter is afraid of showers, bring a blow-up tub!

There are plenty of kid-friendly foods on EVERY line, so don't worry about the eating situation!

I would start with where YOU want to go, and then pick accordingly. You daughter will be happy if you are!!

Is your daughter potty trained? Carnival allows non-potty trained in their kids' clubs while RCCL does not. Otherwise, as the others have said, either would be a fine choice. Once my girls were potty trained, I just started choosing based on itinerary and price since all the major lines will be fun.

Best,

Mia

Hi all,

 

I don’t know if this is the right place to ask, but we are planning a cruise for October 2016 out of Port Canaveral to the Bahamas. DD will be 3 y/o at the time of the cruise. We are trying to decide which line is more appropriate: Carnival or Royal Caribbean.

Any help will be appreciated.

 

Thanks!!

which port/ship?

RCL sucked as far as kid stuff went, there were no family activities. We can entertain her. It was just an adjustment from the fun offered on Disney.

We don't do the kids' club. RCL DOES have a toy lender program, dd enjoyed the toys in our room. the splash area/pool was fun for her. Mine is potty trained, so I have no idea about pool policy.

We'll be on carnival soon, so I can compare.

Honestly, unless it's disney, I don't think it matters.

edit. which ship, I see what port. :rolleyes: I fail at reading. sorry.

Thanks all for your comments!!!

She is not completely potty trained yet but we have plenty of time to master the training.

We are looking for a balance on having things to do with her and also things for us.

Cruise-ships been considered are Carnival Valor and Majesty of the Seas. Disney was ruled out because is way too expensive for a 4 or 5 days cruise.

We want to visit Bahamas.

We don't have problems with Kid Clubs and is the option to be able to do at least one shore excursion.

Don't know if you already have a plan for Nassau, but we took our son to Ardastra Zoo and Gardens when he was 2 and again at 4. Its not huge or overly impressive, but they do have animals, mostly birds and the main attraction is a flamingo show. It's a very cute, well maintained zoo and the staff is very knowledgeable and proud of it. Its a short, local bus ride to and from the ship, We spent maybe 2.5 hours there, went to Goldies for conch fritters which is just up the block from the zoo and then took the bus back to the shopping/port area to shop before getting back on the ship. Really enjoyed it.

Either /or! Both have a children's program for those 3 and up. Both are very "family friendly"!

 

Carnival's cabins (standard) are larger than RCI's standard cabins. If you want to book a suite, RCI has better suite perks for those in a GS and up. Carnival has virtually no suite perks.

 

Be aware that if you daughter isn't potty trained, she will not be able to use the ship's pools. Only a few RCI ships have a "baby splash zone", where diapered kids can get wet....it's not a pool tho! I'm not sure if Carnival offers that on any ships.

 

Most standard cabins have only showers...so if your daughter is afraid of showers, bring a blow-up tub!

 

There are plenty of kid-friendly foods on EVERY line, so don't worry about the eating situation!

 

I would start with where YOU want to go, and then pick accordingly. You daughter will be happy if you are!!

ummm no. Unless your kid eats frozen processed chicken nuggets or total crap food. Mine doesn't. She did eat the lobster, escargo and frog legs, cheerios were a hit. She won't touch the eggs. She rejected whatever processed stuff is called a hot dog from the grill, and greasy super thin pizza.

Carnival doesn't allow diapers, but they clearly do not enforce that rule in anyway. :rolleyes: And yes, there was a worker there monitoring the slides.

By three, I'd assume potty trained, if in doubt, take her potty BEFORE swimming, we do anyway since the moment kid hits the water I hear 'I gotta go potty!' and take breaks to go potty often (and reapply sunblock. :D )

Carnival had the dr suess activities which were fun, minus the moron Cruise director who thought it was a smart idea to not only lead the parade through the smoked filled casino but also STOP in the smoke filled casino. I had a few choice words, as I ran through once I saw/smelled where we were. Then a worker in red shirt tried to stop my kid, like we were skipping, no I actually care about my health, and my kid. Next time, we'll go AROUND the casino. Yeah, still bitter about that. and no, I had no idea the CD would be that stupid and lead us through the smoked casino. The breakfast was fun, the food wasn't that good, kid ate the red pancakes, against my better judgement.

The think with kids is, you gotta be flexiable, and you gotta know your kid. Mine needs more downtime than we were providing. It only took me a cruise and three days to figure that out. She did great once she had a few hours mid day to chill in the cabin. NOT every child is like this, clearly. Some can go go go around people/places, mine needs to recharge.

I'd rank Disney, Carnival, then RCL (older ship we sailed) in order of 'fun' for kids, noting we did NOT use the drop off camp. (Dh would rather play with dd, than drop her off.) DD loved the slides. I have three 'sets' of pictures, her at the slides, her in the room playing, and dinner.