First time carribean cruise with kids! Carnival help

[mariefisher]

In Cozumel we always take the kids to Paradise Beach. Inflatables in the water they can climb and slide. Huge pool and great food. After the beach we go into town and walk around and do some shopping. In Costa Maya you can take a taxi to Mahahual. The beach goes on and on. Plenty of places to snorkel and the water is calm and beautiful. I know both of these ports are in Mexico but they are totally different. Belize has tons of excursions where you take a boat to go snorkeling. We went on a power snorkel trip but I can't remember the age limit, it was my most favorite excursion ever. We are water people and love to go to beaches and snorkel. But I hate going on excursions where you have to spend most of the day getting to and from the beach. We have done that and it seems like you just get settled in and someone blows a whistle and you are on your way back to the ship. To me kids are tough to put on a schedule for more than one or 2 days. If we go to some ports that we can just hop in a taxi at our own pace and come back to the ship when we want too, works best for us. I know both the Western and Eastern Caribbean offer a great vacation but after doing both we find the Western just fits us because of the freedom it offers with young kids. I have to ask this, are you going to Disney before or after your cruise?

[Drrandall]

Passion Island is the stop in Cozumel. Tons of water toys. All inclusive too. That's my tour

[parkesyau]

In Cozumel we always take the kids to Paradise Beach. Inflatables in the water they can climb and slide. Huge pool and great food. After the beach we go into town and walk around and do some shopping. In Costa Maya you can take a taxi to Mahahual. The beach goes on and on. Plenty of places to snorkel and the water is calm and beautiful. I know both of these ports are in Mexico but they are totally different. Belize has tons of excursions where you take a boat to go snorkeling. We went on a power snorkel trip but I can't remember the age limit, it was my most favorite excursion ever. We are water people and love to go to beaches and snorkel. But I hate going on excursions where you have to spend most of the day getting to and from the beach. We have done that and it seems like you just get settled in and someone blows a whistle and you are on your way back to the ship. To me kids are tough to put on a schedule for more than one or 2 days. If we go to some ports that we can just hop in a taxi at our own pace and come back to the ship when we want too, works best for us. I know both the Western and Eastern Caribbean offer a great vacation but after doing both we find the Western just fits us because of the freedom it offers with young kids. I have to ask this, are you going to Disney before or after your cruise?

 

More than likely Disney second if we take the cruis on 14th April

I know I should do Disney first however it won't fit our plans. If we do the Magic on the east it's Disney first. TBH I would rather relax on a cruise after jet lag and long flight. Coming off the long hours me and hubby work we won't have had many holidays leading up to this. Plus I would rather hit dw when it is a little quieter. It's a pretty action packed holiday for us but it seems to work best with Disney second for us.

I'll look into those ports in more detail I'm making lists upon lists and my husband is looking at me like I'm a mad woman.

[momof4girls]

I agree with a previous reply that the "party crowd" is usually found on the shorter cruises, so I think you will be pleasantly surprised on a 7 day.

 

I've never been on the Glory so I have nothing to add about that, but the Magic was my kids first cruise and they were hooked! It kept them completely occupied the entire cruise. Lots of places to eat too. We definitely didn't go hungry! Mahagony Bay is my favorite port on the Western side. HMC is on my bucket list, but because of how bad I want to go there, I definitely wouldn't book a cruise with that port being the #1 reason for it. The disappointment of missing it would be too sad!

 

My girls aren't into excursions yet, so they always want to go to a beach no matter which port we stop at. Because of that, we usually try to look at the ship not only the ports. Grand Cayman has beautiful beaches! Yes, it is a tender port, but it's very quick.

 

With all that being said, and with knowing the Glory has all the upgrades, I actually think I would choose the Glory cruise. I haven't been to those ports yet, and the Glory doesn't seem "old and small" to me.

 

Good luck with choosing! Please share what you decide.

[mariefisher]

My husband says the same thing. We have been on over 30 cruises and except for the 3 day ones I still stress on which to choose. I really don't think you can make a bad decision and either E or W it will be wonderful. Since we live in Fl. we go to Disney a lot. It will be busy no matter when you go. But the weather should be beautiful and that is a great experience. Your family is very lucky!

[parkesyau]

After hours of pouring over posts and forums last night(I'm in oz so it's now morning) I finally locked in the glory and paid a deposit :hearteyes:. I'm open to the fact we may not see HMC but if we did I may just die and go to heaven if the pictures are real :halo:

The other 3 ports sound great St Thomas I'm really looking forward to and need to make a call on trunk bay or stay on St T and hit Coki beach. kids in tow always makes decisions harder but that's my next task. Unless the cruise timetables change it shows our ship being alone in port most days except at San Juan

Thankyou for everyone's amazing input and reviews on here.

Now the next part I am dreading. First time cruisers I don't even know where to begin in researching all the ins and outs such as shoreExcursions dinner reservations faster to the fun passes, cabin amenities like pre ordering drinks etc :eek:I am actually scared to even look. Today I will buy myself a notebook and plan this out. Any indications which board I should look at is appreciated

Already made notes to look at the port of call board but it's more the ins and outs of carnival things like pre booking tender ect if that's even possible

Thanks again to all you guys I am so excited to see it says 336 days until sailing 😂

[Anthomaniac]

Can't prebook tenders. Either get an excursion on HMC or get FTTF and you get priority tendering.

 

Look at the ports of call boards for each port, check the first time cruiser and general Carnival boards as well.

 

I'm happy to help as well, I've done this itinerary on glory and am going again in Nov. I did the shorter Destiny cruise with HMC, GT and Nassau several times as well.

 

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[Anthomaniac]

About St Thomas. We went to Lindqvist Beach. Quiet, less than 50 people were there. It was amazing. We rented a car at the port, stopped at Kmart? On the way to get snacks and drinks. We loved it so much we are doing it again in November.

 

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[A&Jfamily]

You should have selected dinner when you booked. With younger kids do early or YTD so they don't miss camp. You have a ton of time to read read read on here.

 

Best advice is to just start reading. Jot down questions and if after tons of reading you don't find the answer then ask. Pretty much everything you need to know if out there and easy to find.

 

 

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[ommax2]

If you haven't done WDW, it is a much harder week to plan than a cruise...feel free to pm me and I'll give you some great sites/podcasts to listen to....my mom refuses to plan Disney.... But loves to plan the cruise...we leave in 24 days....and I am still not done with touring plans...moms had the cruis done for months! Thanks to cruise critic!!!

[Drrandall]

I'm taking my girls 7 and 12.I am booked for late dining. Wanted ytd but I think it's cool to sit with the same crowd. So neat getting to know people all over the world

[lennythenose]

I wanted to reiterate what an earlier poster said about dining times. If your kids will want to participate in the kids club activities you will want to select early seating or YTD. We always preferred late seating until we had our boys with us and realized they would miss some activities if they stayed for dinner (which is their favorite part of any cruise!).

[parkesyau]

If you haven't done WDW, it is a much harder week to plan than a cruise...feel free to pm me and I'll give you some great sites/podcasts to listen to....my mom refuses to plan Disney.... But loves to plan the cruise...we leave in 24 days....and I am still not done with touring plans...moms had the cruis done for months! Thanks to cruise critic!!!

 

Amazing Thankyou I am a planner and Dw needs planning too. I just don't know how to pm I can't for the life of me find the button maybe I can't do it on my phone?

[parkesyau]

Thanks everyone I found the way to select dining after I paid the deposit

I did select the any time dining in case wewere running late rushing after our day

Plus I imagine our kids will get a taste of camp life and prefer dining there allowing me and hubby time to enjoy a later dinner or drinks

I can't wait

I am armed with my book and I'm sure you will see my questions pop up from time to time

If I can figure out a way to PM that may help

[jessMN74]

We are taking our first cruise the end of Feb on The Magic. My children are older, they will be 17/and13. My 71 yr old mother will be going as well. I like you wanted to find a cruise where everyone had a great time, the whole time. We did do joining balconies, mainly because I really wanted my mother to have a space where she can sit, enjoy the water with a good book with no one around her.

 

It sounds like you also have done a lot of research, like I have. I also have a gf that has taken over 30 cruises, so she has been a ton of help. We are porting out of Orlando, mainly because we LOVE Universal Studios and as long as we are that close we are going to spend a day there before cruising. My friends just ported out of Miami and all she really said was it is not a place for children to hang out. I guess they had a huge eye opener on how people live compared to our small town Minnesota (haha) They did go a night early so they did spend some extra time there.

 

We are going to Amber Cove, St Thomas, Grand Turk and San Juan. As like you, we are really excited about some good snorkeling and beaches.

[evandbob]

We just completed a bucket list tour of Australia, New Zealand and the Cook Islands, We were away for 7 weeks, and our attitude was that we may never come this way again. We told our travel agent to book 4 star or better hotels, and didn't skimp on excursions - for example a flight from Queenstown, NZ over the mountains and into Milford Sound, rather than endure a much cheaper 5 hr bus trip each way.

 

If you are planning a once in a lifetime visit, then perhaps our attitude may be helpful. Do the best that you can afford, and don't regret it. The Magic is a wonderful ship, the Glory, much older If you can't decide between an eastern or western itinerary, maybe do both on a B2B sailing, and the heck with Disneyland.

 

As far as ports, if you like aqua blue postcard perfect water, then Amber Cove can be eliminated. Coney Island in Brooklyn, NY has better looking water than what's at Amber Cove. HMC and GT are simply gorgeous beach days, wonderful to keep that aqua blue color in the memory banks to pull up in later stressful situations. Cozumel and Costa Maya are totally different, although Marahuel just a short shuttle ride away from the Costa Maya port no longer the sleepy little fisherman's town that I first visited years ago. St Thomas and St Maarten have some beautiful beaches as well as St John's.

 

BTW, we loved the weeks we spent in Australia in Sydney, Melbourne, Cairns and Port Douglas. Great country, great people. Everyone seemed so thin and healthy there, compared to us Americans.

[timmy1958]

I was going to suggest looking at the Western routes as well. There are many beautiful beaches on those itineraries and I don't think they tend to get cancelled as much as some of the others but I could be wrong.

 

We just did a girls 5 day cruise to Costa Maya and Cozumel.

 

Here is a picture of the beach in Costa Maya Mexico - one of our favorite places!

 

 

Honestly, we never left the port area when we were in Costa Maya. The huge pool with swim up bars, and plenty of shopping kept us hostage. Had a great time.

[parkesyau]

We just completed a bucket list tour of Australia, New Zealand and the Cook Islands, We were away for 7 weeks, and our attitude was that we may never come this way again. We told our travel agent to book 4 star or better hotels, and didn't skimp on excursions - for example a flight from Queenstown, NZ over the mountains and into Milford Sound, rather than endure a much cheaper 5 hr bus trip each way.

 

If you are planning a once in a lifetime visit, then perhaps our attitude may be helpful. Do the best that you can afford, and don't regret it. The Magic is a wonderful ship, the Glory, much older If you can't decide between an eastern or western itinerary, maybe do both on a B2B sailing, and the heck with Disneyland.

 

As far as ports, if you like aqua blue postcard perfect water, then Amber Cove can be eliminated. Coney Island in Brooklyn, NY has better looking water than what's at Amber Cove. HMC and GT are simply gorgeous beach days, wonderful to keep that aqua blue color in the memory banks to pull up in later stressful situations. Cozumel and Costa Maya are totally different, although Marahuel just a short shuttle ride away from the Costa Maya port no longer the sleepy little fisherman's town that I first visited years ago. St Thomas and St Maarten have some beautiful beaches as well as St John's.

 

BTW, we loved the weeks we spent in Australia in Sydney, Melbourne, Cairns and Port Douglas. Great country, great people. Everyone seemed so thin and healthy there, compared to us Americans.

 

 

Hehe :') the thin and healthy part made me chuckle. Port douglas is just stunning isn't it one of our country's beautiful areas and glad you liked my home town Melbourne. I always struggle with healthy eating when I've been to the USA in the past with so many health stores here focusing on wholefood and clean eating it's hard to adjust to burgers and beer. Our last trip my husband ended up with gout from basically diet and beer 😁😂

Thankyou for that I am certainly keeping budget in mind when booking however we are also going to enjoy ourselves

I am hoping 1 full day in Miami (2 nights) pre cruise is enough. I've always wanted to see Miami beach but with kids we aren't into partying just some beach time Art Deco and neon lights.

Unfortunately disneyworld is a must 😁My kids can't wait and to be honest neither can I so as much as a back to back would be great I may save it for another time.

[ommax2]

Thanks everyone I found the way to select dining after I paid the deposit

I did select the any time dining in case wewere running late rushing after our day

Plus I imagine our kids will get a taste of camp life and prefer dining there allowing me and hubby time to enjoy a later dinner or drinks

I can't wait

I am armed with my book and I'm sure you will see my questions pop up from time to time

If I can figure out a way to PM that may help

 

 

 

So sorry, just now seeing this....I don’t remember your dates, but love.2.sew.also@gmail.com is my email...for WDW planning advice....

Mary Anne

 

 

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[Martini Mom]

Our little day trip over to St. John was so worth it. Definitely one of THE most beautiful places we've ever been! Just a side note :)