chikkityRN

Rgmacm,

I wanted to say congrats on your new grand baby that will be coming soon. How very exciting!!

It's very nice when we can have conversations and share our viewpoints without being hurtful or insulting. I guess this is a very passionate subject.

Anyway, I am really looking forward to our next cruise and I am hoping that our kids enjoy the kids club activities so me and the hubby can enjoy spending a little alone time.

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Wow that sounds like so much fun! Lucas, how did you get involved with that? My husband and I would love to do this!

Yah I bet! I bet when mine are grown I will worry too. Of course I can't keep them 100 percent safe and sheltered at all times. I am sure they will have a blast. I never went on cruises as a teenager or even really young adult. What a cool experience!

To answer the above question, believe me it takes a lot to be able to leave them in the youth programs but I know the providers are background checked and talk to my kids about being safe. My kids go to school and gymnastics and other activities. So of course I will let them go to the youth programs where they will remain in groups. We talk to them about safety and inappropriate behavior. We keep open lines of communication and I expect they should be safe and well cared for. I hope so! But at no time will they be permitted to walk around the ship sans parents. We can make every effort to keep kids safe and we live in a world where sometimes kids are hurt by the ones we should be able to trust. We can limit these opportunities by not being negligent.

Reading this story and watching the video at the bottom of this link is just a confirmation of my parenting choices.

http://m.nydailynews.com/1.1351027

Ah, great! I will check out the Ports of Call board. I am new around here, so I appreciate the help. :)

Disney was awesome for ours when they were ages 3 and 5. They would love to do it again, but it's pretty expensive. We loved this Disney Cruise and we all had a great time. We felt our kids were thooroughly entertained, not just being babysat. This time we opted for the Norwegian's Epic to the W. Caribbean. We are all very excited. The ship looks awesome and kid friendly with 3 really cool water slides, and a Nickelodeon theme for kids.

Next time we would like to try Royal Caribbean and their Dreamworks theme. Those ships look like a lot of fun too!

From everything I read when researching the best cruise ships for kids, I found:

Anything Disney

Royal Carribean - Oasis of the Seas, Allure of the Seas etc.

Norwegian Epic and Breakaway

Hope that helps!

While I understand the rules are rules, I am pretty bummed my daughters (best buddies) ages five (one month away from six) and seven will be separated in the youth program on NCL's Epic. The younger one is mature for her age and is used to playing with 7 year olds. So placing her with the preschool age of 3-5 may be boring for her. I wish there was a way around this as they love to hang out together, but I contacted the cruise line and it seems there are no exceptions. Hopefully they will have a great time anyway.

Disney was great in that they got to stay and play together. I think that helped their comfort level for sure. But I agree with some PP's that ages 3-12 placed together is a bit much.

Looking for similar ideas Our kids are also 5 and 7. We are cruising on the NCL Epic March 16 to Ocho Rios, Jamaica, Cozumel and Costa Maya. We have already swam with dolphins and done the beach resort thing. We don't mind doing those again, but would like to try something different. One of the excursions said ages 6 and older. My five year old is almost 6 (one month away at time of cruise) and is taller than the six year olds in her class. I am wondering if we can bring her on it anyway. From what I have read it seems appropriate for her. Any experiences like this?

Personally, I would not sign anything permitting my daughters (5 and 7) to leave the youth areas without being signed out by my husband or myself. Too many creeps out there. I will probably worry about them wandering the ship as teenagers too. I trust my kids, but kids are kids. I hear too many stories to trust my children would be safe wandering a cruise ship, walking to school alone etc. Calling me over protective would not bother me at all. :)

I have only ever gone on excursions booked through the cruise line. This time, we are sailing on the NCL Epic on March 16. I keep hearing about a cool beach resort in Costa Maya, but apparently the excursion is all booked up. I am hoping we can still check out that resort on our own. Any tips for that appreciated. We will have two young children with us and do not want to get lost or not make it back to the ship in time, which is why we like to go through cruise line arranged excursions.