Excursions/Ports for 5 year old

My husband and myself have been on 4 cruises. The last one being in 2009 before the birth of our son. He is now 5 years old and am really thinking about a cruise for the spring of 2015. Just would like some ideas about what are some good ports (and excursions) for a 5 year old. Will definitely be picking a Carnival Cruise out of Florida. We have never done the Eastern Caribbean so that is what I am leaning towards. Thanks for any advice!

RC Mariner of the Seas - 2004

Carnival Glory - 2006

Carnival Liberty - 2007

Island Princess - 2009

We just did an Eastern itinerary with our 4 year old visiting Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay and Nassau. GT and HMC were great, easy beach days that our son really enjoyed. Essentially you get off the ship or short tender ride in the case of HMC and you are there so no worries about transportation or even extra costs unless you rent cabanas. We did Ardastra Zoo and Gardens in Nassau which was fun too. Mostly birds, but a well kept zoo that offered Lorry feeding and a Flamingo show. Cute and he enjoyed it.

Get yourself a guidebook...it will tell you everything about everyplace! Beaches are the easiest, but many places have zoos or "farms" of all sorts....read up on where you'll be going, and you'll find plenty to keep your little one entertained. After all, all of the countries you'll visit have children who LIVE there, too!

Bear in mind that many cruiselines/ships don't offer much for the under-3 crowd..so research that, as well!

We found that ports with nice beaches were very nice for a young child.

An example is Grand Turk where there is a very nice beach right at the port.

Keith

St. Maarten is a nice port. With our 8 year old we did the zoo and Le Galion beach-very kid friendly. St. Maarten also has a butterfly farm.

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Doing Carnival gives you Half Moon Cay if you want. It's quiet, beachy, has a little play area with little waterslides on the beach and a playground area not far from lunch.

We like the beach.

We like Grand Cayman with ours too. We always do Sting Ray City - this year we'll do something different. We've done the turtle farm once too. We're going to Hell this year :( Missed the Carnival yacht excursion to the starfish island. :( Next time.

Grand Turk - free pool and free beach. You can go with the flow. The pool is nice and the beach is close and nice enough. Plenty of shade too.

Nassau - we did some "private island" thing through Carnival a few years ago and it was HORRIBLE. It's the only bad excursion review I've ever given before. It was like a bay sludge-fest. DD was 1 yr old and even SHE was grossed out by the moss and ick. The beach was rocky and irregular. I made the best of it, but it wasn't good at all. If you're considering it, let me know and I'll look up the name of the place. I just looked at current offers and it's not offered anymore. Looks like CCL got the message from more than just me. :)

Next time we go to Freeport, we'll do a kayak tour. My nephew and fiance just did that last year over Christmas and said it was AMAZING and all the small kids loved the raccoons. We haven't done that one yet, but it even looks great.

St Thomas - we shopped. Don't know about kid stuff.

We're very beachy though (or I am.... ) so if you're looking for activities to do, I don't know.

My girls are 6&4 and have been on several cruises. Some of their favorite places have been the Atlantis in Nassau, Chankanaab in Cozumel (done the dolphin encounter there once as well), Caye Caulker in Belize, and really they are happy with any beach days! We are headed to Grand Cayman again on our next cruise and doing the turtle farm there. I think 5 is a great cruising age! Have fun!

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