On the spirit with young children 4th feb 05

[cornish erika]

I wonder whether anyone has any tips for traveling with four young children ages 5,4,3,and 2?:eek:

We are two english families and this will be our first cruise, we have researched and this seems to have the best child facilities afloat outside of Disney ships. It's also the only one which takes 2 year olds with guaranteed babysitting albeit in a group.

We intend to use the facilities particually in the evenings.As we have inside cabins on deck 10 we imagine we will dress the children in pj,s and slippers and put them in the club at 7.00pm.They should soon tire and fall asleep, we assume there are sleeping facilities. On our return we hope to then carry them to our cabins still asleep and into their beds , they are usually asleep at 7.00 in uk.

Has anyone done this?

I've just joined and any other tips would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[Quincella]

My husband and I sailed the Spirit in December with our two children, ages 8 and 2. Good luck with the "falling asleep in the club" plan! Mine NEVER did! Not even the 2-year old, who is generally asleep by 8:00 pm.

 

The children's facilities, activities and counselors are fabulous! They had such a good time in there that they never wanted to leave. We were especially pleased with the counselors in the "little kids" space, which all of yours will be in (I believe it's for ages 2 - 5). We always felt they were safe. They always had fun, and the counselors were very interactive with them.

 

As for PJs, they do have one dedicated PJ Party night, but my kids were still up when we arrived at about midnight to pick them up. The good news is that they were exhausted and had no trouble going to sleep when we got them back to the cabin.

 

Have fun! I wish were were going back...

[Copper_beeches]

Hi There,

 

I've nevercruised with a child, but I nannied several in those ages and travelled some with their families...

 

My suggestion would be to keep their schedule as much as possible with planning excurions around their regular naps and meal times, will make for a more pleasant trip for everyone. Not sure where you're going, but I'd also start trying to wean them onto a different time zone as early as two weeks before you go... it's easier to make small changes when they're in their own environment than have to change everything all at once in a strange one. One thing you can do is to flip their meals around (i.e. small breakfast, large lunch, small dinner... it seems to help) and if you're headed East, start keeping them up late and letting them sleep in if possible.

 

I would confirm the sleeping arrangements at kids crew with both the NCL CS and with someone here who's actually used the services. I'd also ask if they are allowed to bring any special item (stuffed animal/blanket) with them to kids crew if they should be falling asleep there.

 

I'm sure someone who's actually done this on the Spirit will be along soon, have a great time!

[Lib0007]

Hi - we cruised the Spirit in November with our five year old son. He had a fabulous time, especially the time spent in the Kids Crew. The counselors are great and really get involved in their activities. They have a wide variety of scheduled activities for the kids to do during each session.

 

My son never fell asleep there either, but I did notice that after 10:00 (which is the pay-by-the-hour 'late night' session), things settled down quite a bit. They put a movie on and some of the kids fell asleep on the carpet or on beanbag chairs. Before 10:00 p.m., the kids are playing quite actively.

 

Your children will enjoy theirselves and will all be in the same group. The kids pool area is also very nice.

[Stevie17]

Cornish --

 

We'll be on the February 4th Spirit sailing too, and we'll be taking our 2.5 year old daughter with us!!! We are planning very "family focused" activites for all of the ports (beaches mostly), and we are hoping that our daughter enjoys the Kids Crew activities. From everything that I've read, the program sounds absolutely fabulous.

 

I too am worried about the sleeping situation, however, I'm hopeful that our daughter will adjust to the cozy sleeping arrangements in a couple of days.

 

Regina

[cornish erika]

thank you for the replies

 

please keep them coming

 

if stevie sees this again it would be interesting to know why she picked the spirit cruise over the golden princess as that was my first choice but they did not take 2 year olds in the kids club

 

it would be interesting to say hello - i've never corresponded on the internet before.

i'll be the blonde english one with the 2 girls in the kids club:p :p

[Stevie17]

We actually never considered the Golden Princess....we had a huge credit on Norwegian (we have an MBNA credit card that gives us "points" toward NCL cruises) so we knew that we'd be sailing NCL. The Spirit's itinerary is what really sold us, and the fact that this particular ship has outstanding childrens' facilities.

 

I'll keep an eye out for you while onboard!

 

Regina

[jennew]

we had our five yr old on the Spirit with us last week. He LOVED the whole thing- the kids crew is awesome, the workers arenice and friendly. The 5 yr old is already talking about another cruise....

[crazy4cruzin]

Cornish Erika - Can I please ask you to let us know how the inside quad cabin worked out for your family when you return? My family of four (2 teens) will also be on deck 10 in an inside quad in April. I was wondering if there were enough drawer space, shelves and closet space for four people. Also I am assuming that the bed arrangements is similar to the Dawn, which I've been on, two twins with a trundle (pop-up) bed between the twins (wall to wall beds) and a bunk bed for the fourth person. Please let me know if this is the situation on the Spirit also. Any details you can relay upon your return would be greatly appreciated. We don't hear much about the inside quads (the only quads available on this ship, unfortunately). Thanks

[jennew]

Sorry to butt in...

 

Our teens shared inside rooms on deck 11- I am sure they are the same.

 

The have a bed that pulls down from the wall and makes a bunk and they have a trundle bed that is under the other twin. It is a tight fit but the storage space is better than most ships. Closets have shelves and there are some small drawers.

[crazy4cruzin]

Jennew - thanks for the info. That was the same set-up we had in a quad on the Dawn. Which, although crowded, worked out just fine. During the day the bunk is up and the trundle bed disappears, so there is room to move around.