Azamara and children?

[Ironcity]

We have taken several Christmas market river cruises and we are thinking of an Azamara Cruise for next year with my mother in law and our 7 year old daughter. Does anyone have any experience on this line with children on board? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[dln929]

You're in luck! Someone posted a very similar question earlier this month so you might like looking it over. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1823903

[dorisis]

We have taken several Christmas market river cruises and we are thinking of an Azamara Cruise for next year with my mother in law and our 7 year old daughter. Does anyone have any experience on this line with children on board? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Your Mother in Law will enjoy it. The 7 year old not so much. Take along things to keep her busy. There are rarely many children on Azamara.

[ellbon]

there seem to be officers children this summer plus a few others. they always seem to find each other by the pool. she might be bored with the shows at night but she should enjoy everything else.

[Redtravel]

I have seen a few kids on Azamara. there are no programs for kids. Try HAL,Celebrity or Royal. They have terrific kids programs. My 7 year old grandson loves the Celebrity Fun Factory.

[Dididi]

Last year I took my then four year old on the Mumbai to Chennai itinerary because it was a dream itinerary (fabulous indeed and I recommend everyone take the November 2014 version of this itinerary) and it was the last year we could take vacation during the school year.

 

We did private tours in Mumbai and in Goa (one day, the other we took the ship's Old Churches tour), and left the ship overnight in Cochi to spend it on a houseboat. The houseboat operated out of a small local resort, and my daughter enjoyed playing with the children of the resort's owners a lot. I don't know how they understood each other, but Sponge Bob Square Pants bridged the gap. The houseboat stay, the wonderful beach in the Maldives, the ship's pool, and the ship tour in Colombo (because she sat with Slava, one of the wonderful dances on board, and played games on his iPad) are things that she still talks about.

 

But Azamara is not ideal for children because there are no facilities for them. Even the Pacific Princess (one of the R-ships, like the Journey and the Quest) on which we went to the Black Sea in July was a lot better because the card room next to the internet center had games, toys and activities (and wonderful staff) for kids.

 

OP, you know your daughter best. If you believe she will enjoy spending time with your family and can easily entertain herself with games, books and the small pool on board when not ashore, then Azamara could be an option. There are no tea parties with Barbie or climbing walls. Depending on the date, there might be children on board, but you cannot count on that. Because our India/Maldives/Sri Lanka cruise was during the school year, in late November, the only other under 18 passenger we saw was one teenager.

 

The crew was wonderful with my daughter -- many told me about their children back home. I tried to keep her from being loud or otherwise bothering fellow passengers because Azamara is for adults. I mostly succeeded, but a long line waiting for immigration clearance (before Cochi or Chennai, I forget) lead to a mini meltdown. I should have brought a coloring book or agreed to jump to the front of the line (offered by the staff, but I did not want to be unfair to those in line ahead of us just because I was traveling with a preschooler). Then again, Indian immigration can cause anyone regardless of age to have a meltdown!

 

Our family is looking at one of the 2015 Mediterranean itineraries. A great combination of "places from long time ago" (in my daughter's words) and beaches (although not up to Maldives-standards). We'll see.

[agapanthus]

There has been a recent discussion/debate about children/toddlers on Azamara...................says it all really. Worth a look. Look under Azamara with a toddler? Interesting to say the least.............