Tips for taking 5 year olds on 1st cruise

[snorkelman]

My wife and I have cruised many times, but we have decided to bring our twin daughters (will be 5 1/2 years old) with us on our next cruise. We chose to make their first cruise a short 3 day cruise to the Bahamas (Monarch of the Seas) which is not as fancy as the bigger ships. We are okay with that as we will be bring them with us next fall on the Oasis.

Anyway, since my wife and I have never really paid any attention to what parents with young children are doing, we need some guidance.

I assume early dinner?

Since they usually go to bed between 8-9 every night, I assume that this means my wife and I will probably also be going to bed early since we all sleep in the same cabin, or else one of us will have to go out alone while the other stays with the kids...or maybe this is where the kids program comes into play?


I have always heard good things about the child programs but I have never looked into what's involved. Specifically for a 3 days cruise.

Thanks in advance for tips and advice.

One of the ports will be Nassau and all I can think off the top of my head is either bringing them to Atlantis for the aquarium and the pool (I think you can pay for a wristband for family stuff, right?) or just a taxi to cable beach.

[crusinmama06]

If you haven't already, come over and check out the Family cruising board here at CC.
http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=49

We all cruise with young kids and live to talk about it.

My youngest is 5. She has been on 7 cruises so far. I have collected some of the schedules for Adventure Ocean at the link in my signature. Feel free to take a look at them.

Dinner - yep, always Early for us.

Cabin, we try to do a balcony so if she is going to bed early, my hubby and I can go "outside"

But yes, as she gets older, she stays in AO later. At this point, she likes to stay until 10pm, then it's bedtime for her and we all go to bed for the evening.

Nassau - yep, Atlantis is one of the kids' favorites. And cable beach is really nice too. We also liked Blackbeards Cay - swimming with the stingrays. Since it was zero entry, my 5 year old could walk in and out of the water as she felt comfortable.

[Yo Eleven]

I just came off Liberty of the Seas. Children's program is fantastic and I do believe the quality of the program is fleetwide.

EARLY DINNER!

As for an excursion in Nassau. We went here last time. We loved it:

http://www.ardastra.com/

Enjoy.

[hazmatt]

Hey Snorkelman, I was on the Liberty with you last Oct. My son's first cruise was a 3 day on the Monarch also. The adventure ocean program on that ship was great and very easy to check in and out. The program is free until 10 pm then afterward you can pay for them to stay until 1 or 2 am. My son is a party animal so he wanted to stay for the late program. I think you are going to have a great time with your daughters. its possible you wont even use the Adventure Ocean program. Enjoy your cruise.

[boulders]

In addition to AO, there is also in-cabin babysitting for a fee. Something to consider if the kids get too tired for AO in the evenings.

[CruiseDreaming]

Our son's first cruise was when he was 5 1/2. He loved the kids program so much he didnt' want to leave and he stayed up a little late (he's a night owl if I let him). I did find that if we did let him stay up late (10pm) then he really needed a nap the next day so he wouldn't get cranky. This was fine since we only took him to the kids program after dinner we had him with us during the day. We did do the early dinner, but we like that ourselves. The kids club is wonderful. Now that he's older the naps aren't as important, but when he was 5 1/2 they sure did the trick.

Kerrie

[NanciRDH]

Ditto on what cruisinmama said! We even let our 4yo stay at AO until it closed at 10pm...she's still a daily napper, so it all worked out for us with no grumpies. The balcony cabin is a splurge well worth it for families, that way you don't have to go to bed when the kids do, sitting out there with my honey is a nice way to watch the world go by...

[Mommy oooo]

Our 5 yr old DD has been on 5 cruises and is going on #6 in 32 days. For us we always did late seating as it worked out well with her and us. Our last 2 cruises she was 3 yrs 2 months and then 3yrs 7 months so she wasn't napping then anymore, but the cruises before those, we would spend our day out and about and get back to the cabin around 4 or 5 then she would nap from then until about 8 pm, get her up and ready for 8:30 dinner. After dinner we would take a walk around the ship then get her to bed. She would usually sleep until 9 or so the next morning which worked out well for us since DH likes to sleep in on vacations and I like to get up by 8 and head to the gym onboard. Then we would start our day. We also get a balcony because once she is bed we would sit outside for a bit.

Now for our next cruise in 32 days we opted out of late dinner because now we have a 1 yr old DD who is built completely different thatn her sister. She is not a night owl and needs her sleep. If she is kept busy we can keep her happy and awake until 9, other than that she wants to go to bed around 7:30 or so. This time we opted for MTD because early seating was to early, late was to late. This way we can see how things go.
One the last 2 cruises when she didn't nap anymore, we also brought along our portable DVD player and some movies so she could relax after a long day out and watch a movie with the lights out. I think once she may have fallen asleep. We also brought along one of those mini doodle pad things to draw pics while at dinner. We also brought along coloring books and crayons for dinner.

She also loved AO, didn't want to leave by the end of the night. Once or twice we let her stay until 11 PM but that was our limit. We never did use the in cabin babysitting so I can't comment on that.

[snorkelman]

thanks for the responses so far. I will have to check out that other section of the forums. Funny how you tune out stuff that you are not interested in at the time.

[newbiecruiser09]

Hubby and I were in a JS on Monarch (the lowest cat w balcony) and if you can swing the cost I would highly recommend the JS. Plenty of room for the 4 of you. There was a pull out couch (loveseat) that your twins could sleep on and there was a curtain that closed between that and the bed. You could relax on the balcony or watch TV when they are asleep.

[MomeeToEm]

Our daughters' first cruise was on the Monarch. We had connecting OV cabins that worked out really well (2 bathrooms!). At night we could put them to bed and leave the connecting door cracked a little, but we could still watch TV. Sometimes either DH or I would go out while one stayed in. We did early dinner and that seemed to correspond with the hours that the Adventure Ocean was open. Most of the time we let the kids stay up late and enjoy AO. One night our youngest had dinner with the AO staff at the Windjammer and it worked out nicely. They take the kids back to the AO program afterwards so you can enjoy a leisurely dinner. You just have to sign up for it in advance.

Hope you all have a great time!