Are Canada cruises fun with young kids?

Hi! My husband and I are thinking of booking a 7 night cruise to Canada from NY next fall, and bringing our son. He will be 3 1/2 at the time of the cruise. I am wondering if the cruises to Canada are fun with kids or if I should opt for something else. I get a feeling that the crowd on those cruises is generally an older one. Our son is well behaved, but I just want to be sure that it's an environment that's welcoming to families with young kids. Also, I am wondering if the shore excursions offer some options that are fun with young kids.

My husband and I have been on one other cruise, before having our son. A European cruise with NCL. We liked NCL and are thinking of booking with them again. But I am also very interested in hearing if another cruise line would be a better option. I know Disney no longer sails out of NY. Thanks for any insight or advice!

Which cruise line are you considering? All of them have youth programs that a three year old will enjoy. Holland America will be old mean people on that cruise. Don't consider them.

We wre on NCL once and liked it. We would definitely consider using them again, but are open to RC or Carnival too.

We love taking our niece to Canada. She went with us for her 2nd and 5th birthdays and she liked it both times. The "party" atmosphere you find on Caribbean cruises is much more tempered and we found that it was easier to navigate ports with her [and her stroller] since the sidewalks and traffic patterns are comparable to most American port cities.

The cruise lines do offer family friendly excursions aimed at younger children. Since we're comfortable navigating the Canadian ports, we tend to strike off on our own. If you are going to Halifax, Theodore Tugboat is a lot of fun, especially if you read the stories or watch the show before you leave. We also went on the Harbour Hopper with her and she seemed to enjoy that.

We've also had luck taking her to the Cherry Brook Zoo in Saint John--it was small, but it made for a nice outing. The lines have also teamed up with the city to offer an excursion called New Brunswick Southern Railway. They provide special train rides through the area and out to the Reversing Falls. We haven't done that one, but kids seem to enjoy it.

I am taking my 7 year old, special needs son next summer on Carnival. I have been on the Canadian cruise and I love it. It is a calmer atmosphere but it is by no means boring.

I have only had one dud cruise ever. We have done Carnival to Halifax and back and had a great time. We've done Caribbean Princess to Canada and had a wonderful time. We did Holland America to Canada and I enjoyed the scenery - Quebec and Montreal but my son was totally bored. The youth program is small and the rest of the ship was unwelcoming to children. It wasn't very welcoming to a then 46 year old woman either. OLD and MEAN passengers.

So Canada is fun on most lines. I think it is a great itinerary with lots of natural beauty. Ironically- I am in Montreal as we speak and enjoying Canada on a land based driving trip. Love going North in the Summer.

Cadillac Mountain is worth visiting in Bar Harbor. Halifax we rented a bicycle taxi for a half hour- was very fun. It dropped us off at the Fort and we walked back, explored the town. Very European feeling. There is an awesome candy store. http://www.sweetjanes.com/-Information-Pages/CDpath0_1/p11/About-Us/pages.html

Oh- I should mention that we drove to Canada from Manchester New Hampshire and if you are looking for an alternative to a cruise- New Hampshire is beautiful. From Lake Winnespesakee to the White Mountain National Forest- breath taking scenery. Clean, safe and unspoiled. The Mount Washington Resort is in an unbelieveable location. I would like to take my whole family there next summer. Gorgeous.

Wow! Thanks for all of the info. This is very helpful!:) I'm glad to hear that there is a lot to do for families with young kids and that most of the cruise lines and passengers are welcoming.

I'm not sure which line you're looking at, but I'll also put out there that Carnival just rolled out their Dr. Seuss programming for young children and the Splendor was the first ship to get it. They have the Green Eggs and Ham breakfast, Storypalooza, and a parade. It might be something fun to break up the sea days for him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZ34WBlKgS4

We would've done it this year, but we couldn't do a b2b and we're going on the Freedom for Thanksgiving so our niece can do Camp Ocean.

Thanks! That sounds like a lot of fun. I think he would really like that. We are looking at either NCL, Carnival or RC. We have only been on one cruise before, before we were parents. So, I wasn't really paying attention to kids' clubs or activities at the time.

We took our son to Canada when he was 11 months and though the crowd may be older, you still see a lot of families with kids under 5 since taking them in the fall is cheaper and not a big conflict with school. St. John and Halifax are very walkable ports and if you consider the Splendor, Seuss at Sea looks fun. Our son will be 4 when we go on the Splendor next and we're looking forward to it.

We loved it so much, we did it twice. Jewel of the Seas on RCCL. The first time was when our son was 3 1/2. He loved the ship, especially climbing stairs, playing miniature golf, walking out onto the helicopter pad, and riding in the glass elevators. For that cruise, he loved any tour we booked that involved a big motor coach bus. I'll try to remember what we booked for each time. One thing we were glad we had was a portable DVD player for our cabin. We brought along a few of his favorite preschool shows. There wasn't much on TV for him. It's not like we watched a lot, but he did enjoy a little down time in our cabin.

Age 3 1/2

Boston: Took the Old Towne hop on hop off trolley. Hopped off at the Old Statehouse, and the USS Constitution, Toured the USS Constitution ship and the John Cassin ship next to it. Forgive me if I forget any details. I think that tour went all over Boston. I sort of forget now what all we hopped off to see.

The next morning, we visited the Boston Children's Museum and then went back to our hotel to get our bags and went to the ship to board.

Portland: We took the tour of Kennebunkport. Ate a meal at Federal Jack's and it seems like there was a book store there. I know we bought a new picture book about Maine and a toy school bus. He loved the bus ride there and back and the town was cute and we enjoyed our afternoon there.

Bar Harbor: We were supposed to be on a combination tour. It was supposed to be a trip up to Cadillac Mountain plus a boat ride on the 4 masted schooner (Margaret Todd). But the schooner cancelled on us so they just did the bus portion and refunded the rest. We enjoyed it.

Saint John: We took another bus tour that had about 3 stops. Reversing Falls, Carleton Martello Tower which was our favorite stop because we got to go inside it. And the third stop was to a market.

Halifax: Did the hop on hop off bus to the Citadel, and visited the maritime museum, and then we walked over to the boardwalk area to have lunch at Salty's on the boardwalk. You can walk the boardwalk all the way back to the ship.

Age 7

Then the second time we did the same trip, our son was 7 years old. We had a great time. There were about 8 kids in Adventure Ocean with him. It was a small group, but he loved the organized activities and the staff. I'll start with Boston for that trip too.

Boston: We stayed at the airport at the Embassy Suites. We got there 2 days early. The following day we booked a national park ranger for a private tour. Let me know if you want her name and number. She did a fabulous job. She picked us up at the hotel and took us to the Old North Church, then Paul Revere's home, then out to Concord to visit Minute Man National Historical Park. They had a group portraying British loyalists so we heard from them and saw them fire the weapons from that time. We also visited the North Bridge and the site of the shot heard round the world. Our son filled out a workbook and was given an oath to be a junior ranger. Then we finished that day in Lexington. We had her drop us downtown to eat and we took a cab back to our hotel. She was such a great guide that we booked her for our end of our cruise so she was kind enough to drive us to the port and tell us where she would pick us up off the ship when our cruise was over.

The next day we got on the Jewel of the Seas.

Portland: This time we booked the Lighthouses of Maine tour. We started at the Portland Breakwater Lighthouse (Bug Light), then Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse, and finally Portland Head Light (there we could go in the museum and walk the cliff walk nearby. Then back at the pier, we saw a pedicab (sort of a bicycle rickshaw) We had him peddle us down to DiMillo's On The Water. Had a fantastic lunch with cheesecake and blueberry cobbler for dessert. (It is a floating restaurant). I believe we walked back to the ship.

Bar Harbor: We shopped a little. Our son had fun picking out a little treasure chest, a toy boat, and some polished rocks. Then we took Oli's trolley tour of Acadia National Park. It was October and we saw some lovely foliage and enjoyed seeing Thunder Hole. We had a nice lunch at Geddy's. Our son's meal came on a frisbee that he got to keep.

Saint John: This time we selected a bus ride over to St Andrews by the Sea. To us, it was a bit of a dud of a tour. It was a cute little town, but several of the shops were already closed for the season. We decided next time we visit Saint John, we are just walking down to the mall for lunch and some shopping in town.

Halifax: Best tour ever!! Google Blue Nose Sidecars. We rode around in the side cars like royalty around town. Loved it. We had stops at a Maple products store (try the maple butter), a bakery, a local author's home, and then Peggy's Cove (light house). Then we had them drop us off at the boardwalk again. We ate at Salty's again. Then we walked back to the ship. There's a really nice hand made glass shop and a pewter shop on the boardwalk if you want something handmade from the area. They had really nice things.

So back in Boston, we got off the ship and our guide picked us up. She took us to the home of John Adams & John Quincy Adams. We got to go inside and tour that. Then we headed to Charlestown and had lunch at the historic Warren Tavern. We visited Bunker Hill Monument and the USS Constitution again. The interesting thing about the ship was we got to tour a different area of the ship than last time. Then she dropped us off at the airport.

Here's a link to the picture book from that trip:

https://cherylhtravelpics.shutterfly.com/pictures/192

Have fun!! We love that itinerary and all that yummy seafood.

Cheryl

Thanks so much! Reading all of these replies has convinced me to book this cruise. :)

As a teacher of the little ones for 39 years and an avid cruiser of lots of lines I would say RCL. Their age appropriate play groups are well done and Fisher Price toys for the young set. The adults have their own fun activities on these ship so everyone gets what they want without drunk party animals roaming the halls.

My kids are doing their Alaska cruise in Aug. with their 23 month old and you do not have to lug toys with as they have a toy bank to take out to your room.

Thanks!

We took our kids who were 4&6 at the time on the Bos-Quebec NCL Dawn trip end of September in 2012.

They had a great time even with ONLY 10 kids on the entire ship!! Everyone knew who they were and some of the older ladies even "tipped" my kids for their good behavior. Trust me we brought down the average age. I think one couple had been married 60 years! Majority of the men were bald and grey when looking down from the top rows of the Stardust Theater :)

We had the kids pool to ourselves unlike this time on the Baltic Cruise where we had 400 kids who were mostly unsupervised by their parents and were obnoxious and trying to take over and harass the younger kids.

recently came back from a New England/ canada cruise with our 2 year old. She had a great time since yours is a little older you will have more options of the kids activities on board which im sure they will like. It was definitely an older crowd on the ship I think partly due to itinerary and partly because we left early September so most kids had just started school. 95% of the people on the ship we super friendly towards are daughter and talked to her in the elevators and such but then you have the select few who I would hear making comments about bringing kids on cruises and how they were loud or disruptive. It would make me mad because our daughter for the most part was well behaved. We watch closely after her but she is 2 and she has her moments. If she started crying or misbehaving we would always get up and leave or do something to not disrupt people. It frustrated me at times because we paid just as much as they did and had every right to have her enjoy the cruise. One day the pool was shut down and some lady was walking by and said right in front of us " it better be open tomorrow I hope it wasn't one of these kids in diapers that made it close" . And even though I know we didn't take our daughter in pool it just made me mad cause I knew she said it in front of me so I could hear it. But with that being said I say go for it! Your child will have a blast the crew goes out of their way to help with the kids and their are plenty of activities to do both in port and on the ships!

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Just have to add that perhaps we are an oddity, but we have always been treated very well on holland when traveling with kids, especially by staff. My dd fell in love with Ms Katie the youth counselor on the Eurodam. If you do choose Holland I highly recommend reserving a cabana on the pool deck.... great for a base sans chair hogs, to change kids into swim atire, and chocolate covered strawberries. The vast majority of passengers were kind, even waltzing with my daughter... we like to dance and she always cuts in. There will be rude passengers...on holland it may be someone in an electric scooter who runs over kids at will, on rci a european passenger that barged infront of me in line. I would sail holland again without hesitation if the price could compete with other lines for a family of four, but the reduced fares seem to be primarily a gimmick with them lately. Even without all of the facilities available on larger ships for kids, we used to really enjoy holland, to the point we are two star mariners, have been on most major lines once. Rci does a good job with families and celebrity was relaxing. Ncl and carnival had more sales pitches.

I just wanted to chime in as an American living in Canada and say that this country is awesome for kids! Canada is very welcoming to families and so no matter where you go, you are likely to find activities and restaurants that welcome little ones. We always felt like pariahs when taking out kids out to eat in the States, but here everyone is always very welcoming and always makes a fuss over our two DDs. Now obviously you probably shouldn't take your DS to a 5 star restaurant, but you'll be surprised how many places are family friendly. It's been great!

If you get a chance on the cruise to visit any of the National Historic Sites or National Parks, make sure you check out some of the children's programs. They are fantastic!