Advice Please - Constellation Mediterranean and Adriatic Cruise 2018

I just booked a 9 night cruise on the Celebrity Constellation to Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas. We are traveling with our 2 children ages 10 and 7. Can you share experiences/tips traveling with kids on this cruise (or similar)? Do you recommend scheduling tours on the stops in Split and Venice, or can these cities be effective managed on our own? Thank you!

Hi!

Maybe the review of our Adriatic cruise on Constellation gives you some ideas...

http://www.travellove.one/Our-Trips/Adriatic-Constellation-1---Ven/adriatic-constellation-1---venice.html

We just did this cruise in June. There were 8 of us - but no kids of that age. The ports are very historic and scenic. Not an abundant amount of kid-type activities unless they will get into the history a bit. Venice can be done on your own using the public transportation options and of course walking. Book your hotel there now if possible. We did mostly private tours in ports- perhaps you can customize a private tour with your children's ages in mind and knowing what they like.

I just booked a 9 night cruise on the Celebrity Constellation to Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas. We are traveling with our 2 children ages 10 and 7. Can you share experiences/tips traveling with kids on this cruise (or similar)? Do you recommend scheduling tours on the stops in Split and Venice, or can these cities be effective managed on our own? Thank you!

At Split, the ship is berthed alongside the town. As others have said, it would depend on what your two are interested in. If it's history then there is a wealth of stuff to enjoy.

Venice is very walkable. This city might interest them as it is sinking. I would recommend the secret tour at the Doge's palace where you can see the torture chamber and the cells on the water line. It's an interesting tour for adults too.

I think I identified your itinerary. I highly recommend the Oceanografic park. And if it's very hot many buildings have aircon! There is also a nice beach alongside the port for the afternoon.

There are beaches alongside at Livorno and Civitavecchia - although a day in Rome would probably interest them, especially the colusseum.

The walls at Kotor would be fun and there is a small beach alongside the town which looked rather nice!

And you could take a vaporetto to the Lido for more beach time when in Venice.

Get a copy of Rick Steves' Mediterranean Cruise Ports. He covers your ports except Valencia and Kotor. Kotor will likely be a tender port, an adventure for the boys, but the tender lets you off right at the entrance to the old city. Very interesting and you can climb the walls, then relax in an outdoor cafe. You can visit Lonely Planet.com and download the chapter on Kotor - or just google it. For Venice, Civitavecchia (Rome), Livorno(Florence/Pisa) Rick Steves has free audio tours to download to ipod/mp3 and maps to print out. I hope you are spending a couple of days in Venice after your cruise. I think your children will be enthralled at a city where everyone walks or rides a boat. You might have to spring for a gondola ride... In Split, I would just wander the Old Town and climb through the ruins of Diocletian's Palace, then relax for refreshment along the waterfront. EM

Get a copy of Rick Steves' Mediterranean Cruise Ports. He covers your ports except Valencia and Kotor. Kotor will likely be a tender port, an adventure for the boys, but the tender lets you off right at the entrance to the old city. Very interesting and you can climb the walls, then relax in an outdoor cafe. You can visit Lonely Planet.com and download the chapter on Kotor - or just google it. For Venice, Civitavecchia (Rome), Livorno(Florence/Pisa) Rick Steves has free audio tours to download to ipod/mp3 and maps to print out. I hope you are spending a couple of days in Venice after your cruise. I think your children will be enthralled at a city where everyone walks or rides a boat. You might have to spring for a gondola ride... In Split, I would just wander the Old Town and climb through the ruins of Diocletian's Palace, then relax for refreshment along the waterfront. EM

A gondola ride can be quite expensive if you are on a budget. But you can cross the grand canal in a gondola for a few euros. It is not a long ride but is exciting with all the other craft passing.

I just booked a 9 night cruise on the Celebrity Constellation to Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas. We are traveling with our 2 children ages 10 and 7. Can you share experiences/tips traveling with kids on this cruise (or similar)? Do you recommend scheduling tours on the stops in Split and Venice, or can these cities be effective managed on our own? Thank you!

We just did the 9-day Adriatic on the Constellation. Original embarkation was in Venice and we didn't have Split. I can tell you that there were a lot of kids on the ship and that there were less North Americans on this cruise than other Med cruises I've been on. We had a great time. If you have Malta and/or Dubrovnik, those are great ports for kids. If you stop in Montenegro, get to the Lipa Caves (we used Mont Travelers and they will get you there and to Budva). I never thought Venice was ideal for kids, but maybe a boat ride to Murano would be fun and interesting.

We saw Family Bingo being held right before regular bingo. The Kids' Staff knew the kids' names and genuinely seemed to like their jobs. There were about 30 kids playing. Most appeared to want to go back to the Kids' Club after instead of with their parents; that's a good sign they were having fun.

Venice is very easy to DIY. Buy Vaporetto passes for the day, and hop on and off at the various stops to explore. I've never been to Split. Have fun!

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We will be traveling with our 9 year old son as well. We are doing the August 11 sailing from Barcelona to Venice. Is this the same as your family? Wondering how to arrange transportation into cities - mostly Florence and Rome without paying for an excursion. My son is open to all experinces so we aren’t worried about entertaining him. We will also have grandparents with us so need to figure all activity levels in terms of ease of getting into the cities. Let me know what you have found! Thank you😀