NCL Escape with kids (3 & 6)

[MissingPhoebe]

My husband and I have been on NCL a few times in the past, but stopped when we had kids. I just felt I would not enjoy or relax if I had babies I would have to be dealing with 24/7. This March 12, 2018, my little one will be turning 3; that means we can start cruising again as both kids can now be enrolled in the kids club!!! Cruise booked April 7, 2018 (we did not waste time). I can feel the freedom already. So long story short, I am so scared of the unknown. Do I bring a stroller? How can we go anywhere without a car seat? Can my older daughter help my younger one wipe in the bathroom at the splash academy? That on top of the million questions I don't even know I don't know. So if you have sailed with younger kids any and all advice and hints are appreciated. Thank you in advance.

[Mom2B&Z]

Our first cruise was with children this age, they are now 13 and 10. Vacations with children this age aren’t the usual “relax and enjoy” trip, they can be busy and need some planning, but we have great memories of our adventures :)

You will probably need a stroller, if not to carry all the stuff you will have for embarkation, disembarkation and possibly some ports. Most bring an umbrella stroller, we used a cheap one and it was fine. We also did baby wearing, so I wore ds2 in many ports and around the ship. I found it easier than dealing with the stroller, but it was what we were used to.

You can explore ports by foot or bus without a car seat, we always brought car seats if travelling by taxi. I purposefully booked tours with vehicles with seat belts and top tethers. I volunteered as a car seat technician for years and was comfortable installing car seats quickly in many vehicles. Personally I would not allow my child (or myself!) to travel unrestrained in a vehicle. You cannot hold a child safely on your lap, it’s not physically possible.

As for splash academy and bathroom use, the policy is the child must be able to do everything themselves. You have time to practice before you go, and I would start now. Keep in mind splash academy isn’t always like daycare, sometimes my kids loved it and other times they hated it. Some people do have their kids attend every hour that it is open, personally I don’t see those kids having a lot of fun after a few days.

As for other hints, bring whatever comforts your kids with you! If that means a favourite pillow, book, fork, cup...bring it. It will be worth the hassle to have them see some familiar comforts of home while they are away. Start talking about the ship, what happens when you get to port, what you will do to get onto the ship, look at pictures of things you can do on the ship so they start to get excited. We even include our boys in the conversation about what to do in port, at that age it was a fairly simple conversation, now they do some of the research :)

Good luck!

 

 

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[mdsgu]

We've been cruising since our oldest (now 8) was 7 months old.

 

I would recommend a stroller, even if it is a cheap umbrella stroller (which will save space in your cabin). If your youngest wants to walk, that's fine; all your "stuff" can go in the stroller. I would get a nice diaper bag that is also a backpack. We have one made of leather that we've been using for 7 years. Holds a ton of stuff and is actually somewhat comfortable.

 

We've never worried with lugging a carseat with us. Takes up too much space in the cabin, and you have carry it around with embarking and disembarking, not to mention in ports. That's up to you, though.

 

Splash Academy (kids' camp) is a nice feature, but it's not a "set-it-and-forget-it" daycare. They have specific hours, and I think on NCL they expect you to pick up your kids for meals except on port days. They also close at 10pm, unless you pay extra for the late night parties. I believe that is $8/hr per child, which is cheap, if you want to stay out late.

 

Cruises with kids take a lot of planning and patience, but you will still have a lot of fun and make a ton of memories!

[Tasm3n]

Splash Academy (kids' camp) is a nice feature, but it's not a "set-it-and-forget-it" daycare. They have specific hours, and I think on NCL they expect you to pick up your kids for meals except on port days. They also close at 10pm, unless you pay extra for the late night parties. I believe that is $8/hr per child, which is cheap, if you want to stay out late.

 

This... the pick up hours are usually around lunch time and dinner time. The club is closed for, I think, a 2 hour stretch each of those times. It can result in rather large lines if you are going to get your kid right before the club closes or drop your kid off right when it opens.

 

As a result, we found ourselves not using the Kid's club as much as we did on DCL that had no such restrictions. Just something to be mindful of.

[MissingPhoebe]

This... the pick up hours are usually around lunch time and dinner time. The club is closed for, I think, a 2 hour stretch each of those times. It can result in rather large lines if you are going to get your kid right before the club closes or drop your kid off right when it opens.

 

 

 

As a result, we found ourselves not using the Kid's club as much as we did on DCL that had no such restrictions. Just something to be mindful of.

 

 

 

[emoji51]that does not sound good. How long does it usually take to check in or out?

 

 

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[cmoran45]

We sailed on the Escape last spring with 4 kids (14, 12, 6, 4). We enrolled our 2 youngest in Splash Academy. The 12 year old wasn't interested, and the 14 year old would have been in the "Entourage" for teens age group - he was also not interested. Unfortunately, the way their kids programs are divided up into age groups, it just so happened that none of my children would have been in the same age group as any of their siblings. This was a non-issue for the older two, since they didn't enroll - they preferred to hang out with each other and do the ropes course, water slides, mini golf, etc. The two younger ones, on the other hand, were in two different age groups for Splash Academy - Turtles are 3-5 year olds, and Seals are 6 - 9 year olds. Your 2 kiddos would be in the same situation. My two didn't like be separated from each other, and as a result only went to Splash Academy for 2 short stays. Honestly, it was no big deal though - there is so much for them to do, and lots of it is in close proximity to all of the adult fun, that we never felt like we couldn't all relax together and have a great time! The "kids" pool, has a pretty generous sized shallow seating area around the whole edge of the pool. There were lots of parents who would just sit there in the shallow water, drink in hand, watching their kids play in the pool and splash park right next to it!