Disappointing First Cruise with Kids

[lds26]

I have to say that I am so sad that our very first ever family cruise was terrible. My kids hated cruising!!!! I love cruising and thought that maybe my kids would love it. Background: Husband (48), MIL (71), Self (39), DD(19), DD(18), DS(13), DS(6), DS(4). Went on a 8 day Eastern Carribean cruise on the Carnival Freedom.
We flew out of Canada on Thursday @ 6 am and went to Toronto, Montreal and finally Fort Lauderdale arriving at 8 pm. The flights were real hard on both lil boys, with motion sickness complete with non-stop vomiting regardless of sea-bands, gravol and ginger suckers for 6 yr old and the 4 yr old started running a fever!!!!
Once we got to FLL we rented a minivan ~great part~ and shopped. Yeah I assumed that the lil boys would not like to shop and yeah we lasted 2 hrs before the whining started. Got DH to take us back to room and he continued on without myself and 2 lil sons.
Left for cruise ship on Saturday @ 1 pm and arrived to check in by 1:30 was on ship by 1:45. 6 yr old began to vomit as soon as ship began to move so sailaway was spent in the cabin!!!! Yeah we never really got that under control for entire trip.
Both boys had to be encouraged to attend Camp Carnival (yeah no tears tho, but they didnt want to go). I cancelled all my excursions for the entire week. There was 2 days that they agreed to go to CC without problems and eldest son and I toured for 3 hrs quickly before rushing back to the ship to check on younger boys.
DH, MIL and eldest DD's enjoyed thier tours and excursions and I tried to keep my eldest son entertained and give him some opportunities to enjoy his trip too. MIL didnt much like going off by herself so DH remained by her side entire trip. They had many great opportunities to tour the islands.
I have to say that I am very sad that my family did not enjoy their trip, there were many times where i heard from all the kids "we wished you had never booked this trip we want to go home". One night I broke down and cried for 2 hrs cuz I was so disappointed in the fact that I booked this trip, paid so much money for it and no one really had a good time!
I just dont know how other families do it and have a wonderful time??? I truly wanted a wonderful experience like I have read other families enjoy. Where did I go wrong????

Thanks!

[cb at sea]

Doesn't sound like you did anything wrong....sounds like one of your kids was ill (motion sickness does NOT include a fever!!!) and he was miserable. The older son, well, 18 yo boys have their own issues...he was probably rebelling or something!
You gave them an opportunity to try something new. Now you know! You won't need to spend the extra money in the future to include them on your cruises!

[queenL]

Wow! I'm stunned! I guess next year you better plan on a land vacation or leave them at home. Cheer up though it doesn't seem like you did anything wrong they just didn't take to cruising. Try a 3 nighter in a few years and see if anything changes. Looking on the bright side, it just seems like your younger two didn't take to it well. The older ones seemed to do all right.

[uppitycats]

I'm sorry your two little ones were sick! Motion sickness doesn't usually mean a fever, so I suspect that little guy was sick with something else; maybe they both were?

At any rate, it's hard to have a good time when you're feeling so awful, and away from the comforts of home, so I suspect that really colored the whole experience. As for the older boy...I'm surprised that, at age 18, he didn't find ways to keep himself occupied on the ship, and on land! Usual reports are that the older teens head off by themselves, barely remembering to check in with mom on occasion. And of course your time was spent tending to your sick kids. You did say, though, that the rest of the adults seemed to have fun on their excursions.

I hope you next vacation is better!

[crusinmama06]

I agree with the others. I honestly don't think you did anything wrong. It seems like the kids had something more than motion sickness. Sorry you had an awful time. That would have broken my heart too. All of that planning and expense, down the drain.

Good luck if you do decide to try it again with the kids. Was there anything the kids liked about the cruise?

[dreaminofsun]

That's really too bad! I agree with what the others said, it doesn't sound like motion sickness to me.
How come you didn't take the younger kids off the ship in the ports? You would have soon discovered whether or not it was motion sickness. There are plenty of excursions that are family friendly that everyone could have done. You could have done something as simple as a beach day.
I wouldn't discount cruising entirely, maybe try a 3 or 4 day cruise (Disney perhaps) next time and see how that goes.

[chipmaster]

Cruising isn't for everyone. Just like flying, traveling, sometimes some are not meant to be on a boat. Some take to them well others less so. As others said you didn't do anything wrong.

Everything in the Carribean is doable from land, so to speak, so if you never cruise again you can still do everything that really is worthwhile and you won't miss much if you never cruise again.

[Cruisin' Chick]

We were lucky that we were able to take our little one on her first cruise on a three-day one that was within driving distance -- she was 23 months of age. She didn't feel the motion at all (she must have gotten her sea legs and tummy from when I took a similar cruise when pregnant with her). Both my hubby and her never get seasick, even when we were on our Hawaiian cruise, which has heavy duty rough seas. And she always finds things to do.

It'll be interesting to see when we go the next time as she'll be a teen.

As others have said you can always try again in a few years on a much shorter cruise. Hopefully they won't start the cruise ill, which seems to have happened to at least one of your kids. Involve them in the planning.

[CanadianTwosome]

I agree with what everyone else has said; it sounds like the biggest issue with your trip was illness, and not the cruise itself. Having two of your kids be sick, especially to the point of vomiting, and you having to cancel your participation with the rest of your family, had to affect everyone's ability to enjoy themselves. I think if everyone had been healthy and able to enjoy things together as planned, you likely would have had an entirely different trip - and one without the complaints.

I'm very sorry to hear of your experience. It's definitely 'that time' of year here in SK. Our weather has been so random and the bugs are running rampant. I hope it's your last experience with illness on a holiday.

[onthelake]

It also sounds like maybe the little ones haven't traveled much - not feeling well and too many 'firsts'. Too many flights to arrive, air-sick and possibly flu with no time to recover. Onto a ship and into a strange bed, strange food, none of the comforts of home. I feel bad for the little guys and worse for you. It would seem like some one (MIL, DH, or one of the DD) might have pitched in and given you a little time to enjoy. You can never please everyone. You made a great effort.

[megnsamsgracie]

I am very sorry this happened on their first cruise. 2 years ago, DH and I took our first cruise.. I threw up on a ferry ride when I was little so I was so leary of cruising. We figured we would try a 5n cruise and if we liked it, we would take the kids. We LOVED it and didnt get sick so we booked the kids. The kids were a tad sick when we first started going, but nothing some benadryl couldnt cure (per our pediatrician). I have since taken every child alone and they love cruising (thankfully). We leave for their 3rd cruise in a bit over 2 weeks! They are okay flying but I will give them some benadryl a few hours before sailing this way we can enjoy sailaway!

[AQW]

I'm sorry your first cruise vacation was disappointing.

I am surprised you put your younger boys in Camp Carnival when they were so recently vomiting, especially the one with the fever. Let's hope whatever they had, they didn't pass it on to the other children in the kids' club...

[smoothy]

Really sorry about your trip, it sounds a bit like our first family cruise on the Liberty OTS (DS6 was 5 at the time and had a barf-o-rama the whole trip) and I think I felt as useless and stupid as you did for booking such a horrible vacation. We managed to talk him into taking another cruise this past summer, after he got seasick the first day, we got aggressive with the treatments (seabands, regular supplies of ginger candies, Gravol when he started to feel funny) and he ended up having a great time, had to drag him crying some nights from the kids club.
As suggested by others, what you may want to consider, to get the kids interested again, would be one of the 1/2 and 1/2 vacations on Disney- 4 days at the resort, then 3 days on the ship. The cruise portion would be very interesting for the younger ones as well as fairly short and assuming they don't come down with another bug, there are a number of options to control any real (or imagined) sea sickness.

[quincytoo]

I agree with the others, sounds like the little ones had more then sea sickness, hopefully the other littles ones in kids camp didn't get it. I remember the last cruise we took our then 17 year od son on he stuck to our side like glue on paper LOL

It is too bad your dh left you alone with sick children so he could go off with his mother and enjoy themselves.. LOL..tell him he owes YOU another vacation ..
I would have been beyond mad at him

[pg.]

Wow,, this was a surprising post. Your husband did not sound very helpful either,, I would have made mine help alot more. And what kind of granny doesn 't even offer a hand,, when you were likely exhausted ,, geesh. Nice people . Why couldn't granny go on a tour with the older kids and let you get a break while at least ONCE, while hubby took turn on ship with sick kids.

Older son is OLD ENOUGH to entertain himself,, honestly, you were not responsible for babysitting him,, you seem way to eager to make everyone else happy but yourself. Worst part is ,, your family seems to sense that and it sounds like they took advantage of you. "Oh ,, mom doesn't mind staying onboard" . Ha!

Your older kids,, well, sorry, you don't want to know what I think,, it wouldn't be nice.
Your younger two sounded SICK and should not have been sent to camp.

I would dump the lot of them next time, find a friend,, and go on a real holiday. If kids can't enjoy a holiday( I don't mean little ones, I think they were just plain sick) then I suggest they stay home and WORK,, like many kids have to.. sounds like they have a pretty good life.

Remember, next time , save money, dump family.

[lds26]

Thank you everyone for your kind supportive words. Yeah as I read my post I did realize a few things:
1. I forgot to mention that we stayed away from CC for 3 days until seeing the Ships Dr for the Go-Ahead. I worked in healthcare for a few years and I was concerned it was something worse but the infirmary checked them over and even signed the CC health slip to let them go in. I was afraid of getting anyone else sick ... I could not feel relaxed if I knew there was a chance that they could pass anything on to anyone else!
2. Yeah I realized that my family did take me for granted and there was no support there! I know that my older kids did not appreciate this trip when I have been working for the past year to pay for this entire trip, I told them that this was thier final trip I would ever pay for.

I realize that this was a far from perfect trip and I came back exhausted and raw when I posted this but I thank you all for your perspective and I think that the 1/2 land 1/2 sea thing would be much better. All that being said I probably wont do it for another few years.
As for the husband ... ya I willl be booking my next cruise ALONE!!!! Thanks again!

[pg.]

Ids26,, glad to hear back from you,, hoped you weren't put off by my assessment of situation,, but it just bugs me that you tried so hard to make this a wonderful holiday,, and it wasn't ,, and not a single part of that was YOUR fault. The little ones got sick,, thats no ones fault,, but other then that,, I really wished that the rest of the family had YOUR attitude,, positive and grateful,, instead, it just seems sad.

I really hope that your next holiday,,where ever it may be,, is all about YOU,, every mom needs one of those holidays. I went alone to Paris last year and had an amazing time( I have already taken kids there),, but even if your getaway is a weekend in a nice spa/hotel and a good dinner out ( with wine) and a fun friend,, then I hope it comes together for you.
Best wishes

[CanadianTwosome]

pg makes an excellent point. You should give yourself a 'consolation weekend', and everyone that could have made your life easier on the cruise can just suck it up! I don't know where you are in SK, but I think I hear Temple Gardens in Moose Jaw calling to you...

[lds26]

Originally Posted by pg.

Ids26,, glad to hear back from you,, hoped you weren't put off by my assessment of situation,, but it just bugs me that you tried so hard to make this a wonderful holiday,, and it wasn't ,, and not a single part of that was YOUR fault. The little ones got sick,, thats no ones fault,, but other then that,, I really wished that the rest of the family had YOUR attitude,, positive and grateful,, instead, it just seems sad.I really hope that your next holiday,,where ever it may be,, is all about YOU,, every mom needs one of those holidays. I went alone to Paris last year and had an amazing time( I have already taken kids there),, but even if your getaway is a weekend in a nice spa/hotel and a good dinner out ( with wine) and a fun friend,, then I hope it comes together for you.
Best wishes

Aww thank you so much! I have to stay positive because it seems like everyone else around me has too much focus on the bad stuff that happens to them aww pity party. I was hopin that my post didnt sound like a pity party tho .... from all your responses it seemed like I wasnt in pity anyway .

Originally Posted by CanadianTwosome

pg makes an excellent point. You should give yourself a 'consolation weekend', and everyone that could have made your life easier on the cruise can just suck it up! I don't know where you are in SK, but I think I hear Temple Gardens in Moose Jaw calling to you...

I never thought of Moose Jaw .... hmm prob should have. I am however bookin off to Edmonton for the weekend. Since the Grey Cup is in Calgary, I think E-town will be a bit quieter. I leave today @ 3 pm and will be doing this trip all alone, sit in a nice hotel and just have a ME weekend. I am hopin no snow tho!!!!!

Once again thanks everyone for support!!!

[pg.]

Have fun ,, I imagine you will be hitting the monster mall for some pre Christmas shopping?