If you were bringing your kids, this time you would....?

My 7 and 10 year old are going on their first cruise with us over Thanksgiving (RC). Any recommendations for things I should pack, bring, request, plan to make our cruise special? Would love to hear any feedback. Thanks in advance!

My 7 and 10 year old are going on their first cruise with us over Thanksgiving (RC). Any recommendations for things I should pack, bring, request, plan to make our cruise special? Would love to hear any feedback. Thanks in advance!

I would not worry too much as to what to bring in order to keep them busy. Enroll them in the children's club (not sure what it is called in RC). They will have a blast.

It will be special..their 1st cruise! They are the perfect age to really enjoy the kid's club....you are likely to have to force them to do stuff with you! No worries...all of you will have a blast!

Pack for the weather in the places you'll visit...if this is a Caribbean cruise, it will be quite warm, so summer wear is in order. There is nothing special you need on a cruise that you wouldn't need on ANY vacation...although, binoculars come in handy (I even take mine on beach vacations!)

Be sure to take a lot of photos. This is a special time and the photos will allow everyone to continue to relive all of the enjoyment from this cruise for the many years to come.

Enjoy!

Keith

Pack extra wet clothes. Plan to do laundry once.

Bring a device or 2 for mandatory downtime. (Like when you're getting ready for dinner) Cruises can be non-stop fun, but when kids crash it's never pretty.

Bring a backpack for ports so they can help carry their stuff.

Let them enjoy the kids clubs, they will have a blast!

Bring small snacks. There is unlimited food, but not snack items.

SUNSCREEN SUNSCREEN AND SUNSCREEN! Remember you're closer to the sun the farther south you go, and most kids have lost their summer tan by now.

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Oh! Cough/cold medicines, Tylenol, band aids etc. these cost a fortune on board.

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Be sure to take a lot of photos. This is a special time and the photos will allow everyone to continue to relive all of the enjoyment from this cruise for the many years to come.

I would suggest to buy the kids their own cameras. I bought our 5YO twins a pair of refurb Coolpix for $50 each and they loved it. They previously had some kids cameras that were junk. This allows them to get real pictures, and in fact they got some really good photos... plus some photos we would not have gotten otherwise (i.e. photos with me in them. ;) )

DS managed to break his lens cover but the camera still functions fine. I would think/hope that would somewhat older kids you'd have even better luck.

I don't know about RC, but Carnival has the Bon Voyage department. I would usually order something ~$15-20 to be waiting when we arrive in the cabin. Some things are way overpriced on Carnival, but other things are a decent value in vacation/cruise ship terms.

We are also cruising over Thanksgiving on RCI - on Freedom. This is our second Thanksgiving cruise, and your kids will have a blast. One thing we have noticed is that our son enjoys kids club and cruise more if he makes friends, so join your roll call, sign up for meet and greet, and go to open house at the kids club. All of these are great opportunities to meet some great people and maybe for your kids to also make friends.

On thing I packed was a pad of artist paper and water color paints (not the little kid cheap kind) and one day we all painted the scene off of our balcony, we had so much fun!!! My daughter and I did it a couple of times, but my son and husband only once....

Utilize room service more. My kids thought it was so cool to order chocolate chip cookies in the afternoon while we had some down time. Not something we would do at a hotel.

Pack pjs that can double as breakfast wear - athletic shorts and t shirts. My husband and my early riser would wake up and sneak out to take early walks and have breakfast. By wearing athletic shorts to bed - there was no need to get dressed and they could slip out quietly.

My first post on this site :)

Good ideas everyone! I have a couple to add:

I would pack their outfits (incl undies/socks) in ziplock bags so they can easily grab it when getting ready. It makes our vacations much less stressful and its super easy for them to unpack and find stuff.

Give them a spending budget so there are no arguements. They can choose what extras to spend it on and then when they are out of $ they are out of $. This always works well for us and the kids are careful with what they spend their money on.