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First Cruise with Kids Advice

GabbyKeira
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GabbyKeira

GabbyKeira

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Hello all! We are planning a RC cruise sometime between Feb-May 2019. Our kids will be 9, 11, and 18. What ships and/or itineraries did you enjoy the most and is there any we should avoid? Thank you in advance!

 

 

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3happyferrets

3happyferrets

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My kids are now 14 and soon to be 13. We've taken them on many ships on RCI and they've loved them all. In fact, they're involved in so many activities we hardly see them, lol. They seemed to love Allure the best, had a "prom" night my daughter thought was fantastic. I also agree Freedom is a great choice too, and that's my favorite ship. Any ship you choose I think they'll find plenty to do.

As far as itineraries, we love both the western and eastern Caribbean. My kids in particular love Western because I book the resorts for a day. The Rose Hilton in Jamaica and iberostar in Cozumel are absolutely amazing. The Jamaican one has a mini water park with slides and a lazy river. The Cozumel one has exotic animals, peacocks stroll around the pool even!!

St Thomas has a wonderful excursion that goes to where the sea turtles stay to live during adolescence and you sail in a pirate ship, which is fun. St Martin had a sea trek that my husband and I did where you wear a diving helmet and walk around in an underwater park. We've also done a resort there and it was beautiful with an infinity pool. Just careful as St Martin has nude beaches, so research your excursions. Hope that helps!

Have a great trip no matter what you choose:)

 

 

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nator555

nator555

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My 8 year old daughter has had issues with car sickness on island tours in St Kitts and St Lucia the last 2 years. The roads there are very bumpy and there are lots of tight turns. I learned the hard way to get her to take chewable motion sick meds after breakfast. Just a thought!

 

 

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Grandma Dazzles

Grandma Dazzles

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Lots to do on any of the larger ships such as Oasis, Freedom or Voyageur class. Would stick with a minimum of a 7 day cruise. Some of the shorter cruises tend to be more party/booze cruises.

 

Just so you are aware, recognize our kids are always our kids, but your 18-year old, even if in high school will not be allowed to participate in teen club. 18-year-olds are considered adults.

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Russ Lomas

Russ Lomas

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Lots to do on any of the larger ships such as Oasis, Freedom or Voyageur class. Would stick with a minimum of a 7 day cruise. Some of the shorter cruises tend to be more party/booze cruises.

 

 

I would agree with this post above. Flowrider, rock wall, skating, kids club. Lots of great physical activities for the kids to do. I agree the 7 day cruises will have less of a party atmosphere but more of a family atmosphere.

 

Cabins towards the middle of the ship and lower will reduce motion sickness, which may be good for a first cruise. If the movement does not bother you, then you can try a different location on your 2nd cruise.

 

Most ports will be new for first timers, so you are pretty wide open in that respect. You will find a lot of RCCL cruisers tend to have negative things to say about the port in Jamaica and Nassau. I agree that the other ports are far superior to these two stops.

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csj0810

csj0810

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My kids are 10 and 14. We just did Liberty Western Caribbean-Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Jamaica. It was a great ship with lots of activities even though they chose not to do kids/teen club. Basketball court, rock wall, flow rider, minigolf water slides all great. Ports all had good options for kids. My son has pretty significant motion sensitivity but our 6 th floor mid-ship balcony rooms were great. Enjoy!!

 

 

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Gabruska

Gabruska

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Our favorite was Indy so far and now we are booked for Harmony. Our kids 11,13 have been cruising with us for a while so they are very independent and don't want to do any of the clubs. They loved the activities on indy, rock climbing wall, flow rider, ice skating ring, golf, basketball and at night they loved to sit in the hot tub and watch movies ....and as for ports we recently done Roatan, Belize and Cozumel and we all loved the activities there....Belize -cave tubing. Roatan- monkeys and sloths sanctuary at Daniel's Johnson Island and Cozumel....our favorite Paradise Beach with the inflatables on the water. Our kids also loved to dress up for our elegant nights and enjoyed some of the shows. Have fun cruising !

 

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Gabruska

Gabruska

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If you decide to do Belize I definitely recommend the cave tubing and using Butts up company you can find the on line and reserve in advance for a really great price without any prepayment. They also carry your tubes for you...I have seen others dragging theirs all the way from other companies.... They also have a zipline combo if interested, we did the zip lines as well and it's amazing going through the rain forest! We definitely LOVED that experience.

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nator555

nator555

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Last question - do you travel during school breaks or opt for missing some school? I'm going back and forth!

 

 

Unfortunately I will never be able to get school breaks off so every year my daughter misses a week of school. I check in with her teacher to make sure she won't miss anything big that week just to be sure. The teacher sends the work she would miss and that's how we spend the time on the plane. It's typically the only time she misses during the school year.

 

 

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Skippy

Skippy

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Last question - do you travel during school breaks or opt for missing some school? I'm going back and forth!

 

 

 

Will your 18 year old be in college then?

 

My kids are young, and our district is strict on absences so we travel over summer break.

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LeesSummitCruiser1

LeesSummitCruiser1

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Hello all! We are planning a RC cruise sometime between Feb-May 2019. Our kids will be 9, 11, and 18. What ships and/or itineraries did you enjoy the most and is there any we should avoid? Thank you in advance!

 

 

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Don't over think this. Any cruise will be great. Any ship will be great. Try Adventure out of San Juan. Pick the route with 2 sea days if possible.

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3happyferrets

3happyferrets

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Last question - do you travel during school breaks or opt for missing some school? I'm going back and forth!

 

 

We go on breaks with the kids and during the summer. Lucky us they got an extra day this year for spring break so we can do a 9 day Navigator. I think them missing school is a personal choice. My daughter is in the accelerated high school program and they won't excuse absences for vacation, so if she misses, she gets 0s on all the tests and homeworks she missed. Since she is currently freaking out about "only" having a 3.8 ( this is pressure she puts on herself, we think that's great) she wouldn't enjoy the cruise if she's too worried about missing. But there are lots of good cruises during break times. And like another poster said, don't over think it too much, they'll have a great time on any cruise. Happy sailings!

 

 

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Gabruska

Gabruska

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Last question - do you travel during school breaks or opt for missing some school? I'm going back and forth!

 

 

We can't take off during the summer when kids are out due to our business so always do November when there are usually 2 days off for Holidays or teachers work day and take the kids out for 3 days. We always make it educational experience for the boys anyway plus teachers give them some work to do as well. Never a problem and we get better pricing out of the busy season. We may not be on the cruise with lots of kids, but there are always some kids on board for our boys to play with.

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reallyitsmema

reallyitsmema

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Last question - do you travel during school breaks or opt for missing some school? I'm going back and forth!

 

 

We always went on school breaks or summer. It is too difficult to take an older teen out of school. The two younger kids would not be my concern, I would look into the 18 yr olds schedule and work around that.

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