Europe with kids

We are considering a Mediterranean cruise next summer with our three girls, age 8, 11, and 14. Any advise, recommendations for good date, cruise line, length, ports etc etc etc?

We are considering a Mediterranean cruise next summer with our three girls, age 8, 11, and 14. Any advise, recommendations for good date, cruise line, length, ports etc etc etc?

Where are you from...the US? you may want to check out Disney Cruise Line. Auguest will be HOT.Usually 7 days is the norm.What do you want to see and where do you want to go???? A little more info would help.

Where are you from...the US? you may want to check out Disney Cruise Line. Auguest will be HOT.Usually 7 days is the norm.What do you want to see and where do you want to go???? A little more info would help.

From Canada. I'd like to start with Italy/France but just wondering what ports offer and is it suitable for kids, would they enjoy? Seems like most cruises include a port almost every day. We have done a few caribbean cruises so always try to do an excursion kids are happy as well as adults. Any advice would help. Thanks

I've been to Europe 5 times with my kids starting when the youngest was 4. It's a fabulous vacation if your children like history, good food, ancient sites or are just open to experiencing new things.

I would not take a Disney cruise unless I won the lottery! Very pricey. The usual suspects all have Med cruises ranging from 7 to 12 days (Norwegian, Carnival, Royal Caribbean). You should check out all their websites for itineraries to see what your family would enjoy. Yes, they are very port intensive but you can combine a before/after stay if you want to get more out of your travels.

We will be on the new Carnival Vista next year for a 10 day cruise with 1 sea day. In order to get more time on the ship and not totally exhaust ourselves we will do some half days at certain ports.

This kind of vacation takes a lot of research and planning on your part. Definitely not as easy as a nice Caribbean beach trip but well worth all the time and effort you will put in.

We did the Grand Med cruise thru Princess 7 years ago, at the time the kids were 15, 13, and 7.

We thought about Disney but crossed them off pretty early, for the port stops mostly, but when you factored in the price to ports it really wasn't very compelling.

I had decided the must and nice ports and the Grand Med couldn't really be beat having my most want: Rome, Florence, Venice, Athens with the bonus of Istanbul, Naples for Pompeii and Amalif. The nicest surprise was Kusadasi.

If you go in the summer most ships will have active kids clubs which for the few ship days is more than enough. This is such a port intensive type cruise I feel the ship is little more than a moving hotel. We did enjoy our sea days but all our memories were the no worries breakfast/dinner, MUTs and the port excursions. Maybe we had missplaced priorities but we were literally the first people of the ship in every port with a private tour and when we got back on a good hour before the masses, did quick pool with little crowds, early dinner and early to sleep, and rinse and repeat in each port. Dang a dingy probably would have worked for us for those BTB port days :D

No question at this age the kids appreciation for history/ruins and museums is short, but doing private versus the big bus was critical in each port.

I'd say do it! and pick the line for the ports, as happy and excited parents makes for fun time in ports and that is the most important thing!

From Canada. I'd like to start with Italy/France but just wondering what ports offer and is it suitable for kids, would they enjoy? Seems like most cruises include a port almost every day. We have done a few caribbean cruises so always try to do an excursion kids are happy as well as adults. Any advice would help. Thanks

As other's have posted Med cruise are very port intensive and cruising in the Med is nothing like the Caribe...not even close other than you are on a ship. I would start by asking your kids what they may like to see...get a few travel guides from the library..and go from there.Italy offers a lot in the ports as well as some in greece...France is good to,but Paris would make a better land trip IMHO if you wanted to see the city as from a cruise it can be a long trek if on the itinerary.Some of the orts can be done DIY,but you need to figure out how far the ports are from the "main" attraction...as was note...it will tkae planning.Good luck.

We did a Med cruise when the kids were 10, 14, 17, and 20 (although three of them had been to Europe several times before, on land trips). Since they'd been there before they knew what they were in for and that it would not be a "fun and games" kind of cruise. I don't mean to imply that they didn't have fun, just that it would be a different kind of fun than a Caribbean cruise.

We took a typical western Med 7-day with heavy duty touring at Barcelona, Naples, Civitavecchia (Rome), and Livorno (Pisa and Lucca since they'd just been to Florence earlier that year) balanced off with "light" days in Cannes and Valletta. It was hectic but it worked for us.

With kids, just like the rest of us, I find that it's important to set appropriate expectations. If they go into the cruise expecting one thing and get something else they could wind up disappointed.

We have taken our girls on European cruises nearly every year for 10 years since they were ages 11 and 7. We've gone on Carnival, NCL, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Holland America, and Princess.

I think that the best itinerary for first timers is the Princess Grand Med, but the kids' favorite was the 2 Carnival Med cruises we sailed. They thought it provided the best combination of ship fun and superior itinerary. If I were you, I'd look at one of the 12 day itineraries on Carnival for next year.

Have a great trip!

Med cruises are very port intensive. The cruiseline is not the most important, since you will not spend that much time on the ship. Because you are travelling with children, I would recommend an english speaking cruise line, because other kids will speak some english too. On MSC or Costa you can expect a lot of Italian children, who will probably not speak a lot of english.

Make sure you include a lazy port day, for example a beach day, a water slide park or light shopping to keep it bearable for your kids. It is going to be very hot! Or split a few port days up: sightseeing in the morning when it is not that hot yet, ice cream and swimming in the afternoon.

Most Med ports are suitable for kids. Southern Europeans loooove children and will go out of their way to make them happy. Once you know which ports you want to cruise to, google <town name> and <travelling with children> or <attractions for children> to get a starting point what to look for. Of course, we are all here to help too.

We just booked an 8 day on the Carnival Vista for August 2016. It was the most reasonable and we are planning on spending some time in Europe before the cruise. The planning has already begun and my 7 and 8 year old are enjoying learning about where we will be going.

When our kids were 13 & 11, we took them on a Med cruise and they loved the vacation. We wanted to make sure to mix in fun and culture and had a strategy for our Western Med summer itinerary.

Our itinerary was Barcelona to Barcelona and that is one fun city. We made sure to include some beach time there along with Gaudi houses, Ramblas, water light show, parc guel. The kids loved the food and enjoyed tapes. We also knew that we would need a beach day or two on our itinerary and included a boat tour in Capri where we could swim in the grottos. Unfortunately, our beach day in Mallorca fell victim to a port strike.

That left us with plenty of culture and the kids learn much in school that this supplements. We took a train to Rome and included professionally guided tours of the forums and skip the line at the Colisseum. We explored modern Rome on our own. We did tours of Florence and made sure the kids got to see Michaelangelo's David along with Piazza del Singnoria and did other fun things there as well. Our splurge with the kids was a van tour from Marseille to Les Baux, Arles, and the Pont du Gard. On a stop in Monaco, we went to the Cousteau Museum/Aquarium before taking a bus to Nice.

We did this vacation on somewhat of a budget on the then brand new (100 day old) Carnival Magic. We have been on Med cruises on Princess and believe any line is fine for kids in the Summer, but some, like Princess are very costly and don't give breaks for third or fourth passengers in a cabin. Now our kids are older and bigger and need their own cabin and we get adjoining cabins and the line we like for family vacations is Royal Caribbean.

This summer, we are taking our now 17 & 15 year olds to London and Paris for eight days (not a cruise) We will still mix culture and fun and that means different things to older teens than it did four years ago for us. Cruises are easy because most kids love them and find things to do on ships. Have fun.

We took our (now 9 yo) on a 14 day Med cruise when she was 7 and she loved it. She loved the history and private tours (<< a key component of enjoying each port. Easy to find when you get off the ship).

Also, there were a couple of ports she stayed on the ship and had a blast in the kids club while we toured Pompeii and ventured around Monaco.