Hints for a cruising Nan

Hi

I am taking my 7 year old grand daughter on a short P and O cruise in the July holidays. Four nights, including a day on Moreton Island. She has cruised once before with her mother - I have lots of cruises behind me, mostly Celebrity and Princess always with my husband.

Would love any tips from other Grandmas/Nans/Aunties who have cruised solo with a youngster, especially things to take or things to consider on board that make a cruise with a child even more enjoyable. I realise hours reading, leisurely dinners, and lingering over a coffee listening to a musician are probably not going to be my cruise this time but what have you found works well.

If she's anything like my 2 grandaughters you will hardly see her!!!!

I have taken them on Princess and P & O and they much prefer the kids program of P & O.

This is what I posted after our cruise last December -

Kids program Pacific Jewel

I am just off the Jewel having taken my two grandaughters aged 10 and 6 on their annual granny/grandaughter holiday which they loved as always.

Just a few things I will mention for any upcoming families with kids.

They have a few different age groups, our miss 6 in theory should have been in turtle cove but on registration the staff offered for her to be in shark shack with her sister which was accepted.

The kids absolutely loved their time in the club, it was a real battle to get them out to feed them!! I ended up taking them for their main meal when kids club was closed from noon to 2pm, for their evening meal I would go collect them about 7.30 ish take them to the pantry so they were fed and watered before the kids movie started at 8.30.

Be very aware that what is on the kids program is not necessarily what will happen. That is my biggest disappointment with the cruise. i did learn after a couple of days not to tell miss 6 what she would be doing in the club to avoid disappointment. Just a few examples - on the program were mummy wrap, lego competition, remote control car races, lego movie and various other activities. I did learn to ask what the movie was going to be prior to leaving the girls as I do think some kids movies aren't necessarily suitable for all ages and its a parent/guardians responsibility and choice to decide what their kids see. I was disappointed to have taken my kids and signed them in to watch the lego movie only to find out that they had watched another movie which I wouldn't have taken the little one to.

They had a lot of fun, it seemed well controlled and very noisy which is always a good indication of kids having fun. There were a few "challenging" kids from what I saw when signing in and out and those children seemed to be well cared for.

We had a guarantee cabin and were down the very front of the ship, having booked only a few weeks prior to sailing. If i had my time again and the opportunity I would have booked a cabin at the aft as there is no lift to the aft where the kids club is. The lift takes you to the 12th floor, then you have to walk through the pantry and out the back then take the stairs at the side to get onto the 14th floor (no 13th) for shark shack and turtle cove. The only other way is to use the forward lift which does go to the 14th floor and walk the length of the ship from one end to the other, which does get a bit tedious when you are doing it many times - 16 times most days. On enrollment I was asked if miss 10 was to have freedom to come and go which I declined. They then put a green sticker on her card which I was told was to show staff she had to be signed in and out. Fortunately miss 10 is a very sensible girl as that night the staff told all those with a green sticker to put up their hands and that they were free to come and go as they wanted until 9.30pm. I checked the next day and sure enough she needed a pink sticker not green.

For anyone new to cruising be aware the toilets are the airline type with the loud pump. Can be somewhat frightening to little kids with sensitive hearing.

This is our 3rd p and o cruise as I think its the best and carnival not far behind for families with kids.

For me and hubby its celebrity and rci all the way but this was a kids holiday.

Be prepared to spend a bit of $$ on extras if the kids like to do the outdoors flying fox type things but you probably got a good deal for the cruise to balance it out. This won't apply to a 7 year old as all the extra pay activities are more for the older kids/teenagers.

I think you will be very much able to have those long leisurely lunches and reading sessions and coffee, if fact you will very much feel like a solo traveler. Of course you could say no to all the kids club activities, but my girls just loved it and I took them to have a great time, of which they did, it was their holiday not mine. On one of our P & O cruises the kids club put on a concert in the theatre in the afternoon, it was so much fun for the kids to be up on the stage. I do get a lot of time with them so its not as if are granny/grandaughter times are restricted.

Thanks so much - that is really helpful advice. I'm really hoping she will enjoy and find friends in kids club as I think this will make it a very special holiday for her.

My 10 year old right from when I booked told me she wouldn't be going to the kids club........ she had changed in the previous 12 months and was too big for kids club!!! I let it go thinking, ok it will be quality time for her and me while little sister was in kids club. We went to enrol miss 6 and miss 10 started filling in the paperwork for herself.

Hi just checking in to see if you have posted on how the cruise went with your grandaughter. Hope you both had a wonderful time.

Just returned today. Miss 7 loved kids club and was happy to go and catch up with her new friends. I was also impressed with the family activities like bead bracelets and flower making that we could do together and the evening parties put on by the youth team. Altogether it was a great time and we both loved it. I did get some time to myself which I enjoyed. We found the buffet best for meals, as it was quick and well suited to her taste of lots of small choices. I would recommend as a low stress holiday for people thinking of taking grandchildren away.

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Great to hear it went well.