Families cruising together, question?

[Baxter]

For me, there is nothing better than the look on my child's face when they experience or are exposed to something new. Seeing the ship for the first time...flying on an airplane, etc. Even at 9 months, our daughter had great reactions to new people, lights in a bar (empty...we didn't take her in during prime time :) ).

 

Now that they are older (4 and 6), there are more choices for them - the kid's club will be one of them. Our daughter (6) is VERY excited at the prospect of playing with new friends, trying activities, and eating dinner with her kid's camp friends like a big person (i.e., without Mom or Dad there). But she will determine when she wants to go, and for how long she will stay. She regularly asks to see the list of activities that might be available to her, so we go through it together. Our 4 year old is different - he says he doesn't want to go. We told him that we would let him know what activities were offered and it is completely his choice. It's not about warehousing them somewhere - it is about them having fun. If they both choose to stay with Mom and Dad and play in the pool all day, that's a bonus.

 

I couldn't imagine taking a holiday and leaving my kids behind. I want to expose them to everything I can, and a lot of my enjoyment comes from seeing people, places and things through their eyes.

[eventamy]

We also live very far away from our family. So for us cruising is a way to get the family TOGETHER. Our first cruise with a child was when my oldest was 18 months old. We went with my parents, grandparents and an aunt. It was a great way for my child to spend an entire week with her family. My husband and I even got to take a "date night", dinner for the two of us, while my DD stayed with Grandma and Grandpa.

 

Now we have 2 children (9 & 5) and we are cruising again in June. Again, a family trip. This time it is my parents, my husband, myself and our 2 daughters, my single brother and my other brother, his wife and their son who will be 22 months. Again, FAMILY TIME! I am so excited to spend a whole week with them and for my children to get time with their family. They probably will spend a little time at the kids club on days at sea, but they will be in the same group and my husband and I very rarely get alone time.

 

We are THRILLED that my brother and his wife are bringing their young son because I only get to see him a few times a year and I would love to completely take over and love on him the whole week.

 

Our excursions will be with our children except for one. My sister in law has never ridden a horse and I am very involved with horses (own, show, etc), so I want to go on a trail ride with her while in Bermuda. My husband wants to go too (we went on our honeymoon and had a blast!). My girls both ride very well but they are not old enough to do the trail ride yet (although they could probably ride circles around most of the people who do the ride) so they will stay with Grandma and Grandpa at the beach! If I had to have them stay at the ship in order to do an excursion I would choose to do another excursion that they could do with us. That's just not something I would choose to do. I am most excited about the excursions that they can do with us (aquarium, zoo, beach, etc.).

[askimdog]

Our first cruise was in 2003, just the wife and I. We saved up 4 years and had a blast. Then the wife got pregnant. We could not fathom taking a baby on a cruise. Just the idea of spending money for the baby to cruise was crazy? Save for a year or two and she would never remember it anyway?

 

So, come 2011 child is 7, she now understands a bit more, likely was ready at 6 years of age. Cruise 2 and the last cruise (3) was desinged by educational ports. Worksheets were made at home discussing island locations/langauge, local foods. We tour museums, rarer hiking spots, always visit a school or orhanage and avoid tourist shops, atvs, ziplines, beaches etc. We want the cruise to be educational.

 

At night, one of us turns in with her, as we keep her bedtime regime the same as home (8:00, at times 8:30 PM) ( meal time as well). This way one of us can wander a bit at night or catch a show.

 

This is how we do it. We are currently saving up for a cruise in 2015, then again the wife may want another child. If so, we already agreed waiting 6 years is a smart call financially (atleast for us)

[Leezer]

We're bringing them bc it will be a family vacation (grandparents, cousins, etc) I know we'll be doing family activities and I'm excited to do that. We'll split up (kids with moms, dads, grandparents) if someone wants to do an adult activity.

[rebeccalouiseagain]

I've learned everything the hard way. LOL.

 

I have taken my youngest on cruises since he was 3 months old. I did a three night cruise with my extended family that I initiated and it was seamless. The teens that came were happy to babysit so that the adults could go to dinner. No problem whatsoever

 

When my son was a toddler- I took him on a cruise and spent every waking moment with him (other than two dinners when we used the ship sitter). It was a lot of work and I don't recommend sailing with kids between the ages of say 8 months and 2 years. This is a difficult stage. They are either crawling or walking, teething, etc. etc.

 

Once my son turned 3 I did a 4-night cruise with him and he enjoyed the youth program and it gave me a couple hours here and there to do adult things. I did not leave him there for hours on end.

 

I am a very hands-on parent and I am presently home schooling for 7th grade. So we spent LOTS of time together year round. On vacation we enjoy cruising because he can do his thing and I can do mine. He spends about 6 hours per day (by choice) with the kids in the youth program- unless we are doing an excursion together. My son wants to be with kids on vacation not the adults. On our most recent cruise to Europe- he met tweens and teens from Brazil, Quebec, France, Spain and an American boy living in Afghanistan (his father is a pilot). It was a little United Nations in there. What a great experience for him.

 

To the OP- as kids get into the teen years- they honestly don't want to be with the adults. They prefer to be with other kids their own age. So this isn't about parents ignoring the kids. It's about recognizing their need to spend time with people their own age.

 

I have done land trips where my son was completely bored with just me. So for us cruising is a great option. As you can see we do it often.

[Mimajo]

For me, there is nothing better than the look on my child's face when they experience or are exposed to something new. Seeing the ship for the first time...flying on an airplane, etc. Even at 9 months, our daughter had great reactions to new people, lights in a bar (empty...we didn't take her in during prime time :) ).

 

Now that they are older (4 and 6), there are more choices for them - the kid's club will be one of them. Our daughter (6) is VERY excited at the prospect of playing with new friends, trying activities, and eating dinner with her kid's camp friends like a big person (i.e., without Mom or Dad there). But she will determine when she wants to go, and for how long she will stay. She regularly asks to see the list of activities that might be available to her, so we go through it together. Our 4 year old is different - he says he doesn't want to go. We told him that we would let him know what activities were offered and it is completely his choice. It's not about warehousing them somewhere - it is about them having fun. If they both choose to stay with Mom and Dad and play in the pool all day, that's a bonus.

 

I couldn't imagine taking a holiday and leaving my kids behind. I want to expose them to everything I can, and a lot of my enjoyment comes from seeing people, places and things through their eyes.

 

 

We almost always took family vacations (there were the few times when Mom and Dad went alone). We took our 3 kids on their first cruise at 7, 11 and 13. There were not a lot of kids programs then (1990). Two years later to Hawaii. They are adults now with kids of their own and they still have strong memories of all our trips.

 

This year we will be cruising with our younger daughter and her family including two granddaughters 21 months and 11 yrs at the time. We plan things around them mostly......early dining seating, a cabana at Labadee. But we plan on letting the parents have a night alone, as well as doing things on our own. we enjoy our grandkids immensely.

 

I can't wait to see their faces with each new experience. Hopefully the 11 yr old will enjoy the kids club, buy if not, she can hang with us. The little one? We chose a ship the enables her to enjoy the water (splash zone) and other activities...can you believe Allure has a toddler mini golf?

 

As another oster said, to each his own.

[kelbre]

We started cruising back in 2005 and have done 4 cruises, doing our 5th in March. We have taken our kids who are now 11 & 14, on all of them as well as this upcoming one.

Due to hubby's self employment, he does not get a lot of time away from his logging business so we make the most of it with our kids:)) our kids have always LOVED the kids programs, in fact, sometimes a little too much, lol!!! But we always set boundaries ahead of time. They knew when they were expected to be with us and when they could have time with their friends. For us it really is the best of both worlds!!!

I don't know that I would have brought the kids when they were younger, our son Brendan was 3 & 1/2 & our daughter Kelsey was 6 when we took our first cruise but we kept a close eye on them. Apparently while we were gone during our first cruise my mom was worried the whole time about Brendan falling overboard, lol!!

This cruise coming up, we are travelling with Kelsey's best friend & her parents:) should be fun!! We know we probably won't see a lot of the kids, Brendan tells me he's going to live at kids camp, lol!! But I know that we will still make amazing memories and hopefully get Kelsey's friend's family just as hooked as we are:))

[ginger123snaps]

My boys are 4, 4, 3...they took their first cruise..ages 3, 3, and 2. We don't have family around to leave them with...but honestly even if we did have family around I would not want to be on a boat in the middle of the ocean...what if there is an emergency with one of my kids? Can you imagine?

 

I love the idea of cruising because the kids can have fun in camp...be near us..and we can have fun as a family also. We don't drop them off from open to close...we pick and choose activities that they may like. Of course in the evenings...we make them go (usually they want to) just so my husband and I can have some alone time. Having said that we eat all meals together as a family! It's wonderful!

 

I have never left my kids on a boat to go on a excursion. Again...I'm just paranoid and would be worried of something happening..you never know.

[luvsviola]

My kids are coming because I don't have anyone willing to keep them for a week. They are almost 2, almost 4, and almost 6. My mom is their daycare full time, so when I am off work, she wants to be off as well. She is not willing to keep them overnight for a week on top of what she already does for us. My husband's mother passed away a year ago. Everyone else works full time. My son has medical special needs and ODD/RAD, so I can't just leave him with most people overnight.

 

They are excited to be coming! They love to travel, and will enjoy exploring the ship and playing on the beach.