Cruising with a 4 year old

[Mary Louise]

Hi,

 

  We booked our cruise back in May when COVID  was trending down with our son and his family. His son will be 4 years old when we cruise.  His son will not be vaccinated, all four adults are. Will we be able to get off the ship to go to the ports with an unvaccinated  4 year old?  Where will we be able to go on the ship?

 

If we cannot get off the ship, will we be able to cancel  with a refund, because when we booked this restrictions were not in place. Final payment is due in a month.

 

If anyone has cruised with a child, what was your experience.

 

Thank you

 

ML

[matymil]

We are cruising with our 2 year old next month so Ive looked into all this. When is the cruise leaving and what are your stops? As of right now the regulations are only in place until Oct 31st so all the info you get now could change after then. The only was you can all get off the ship at the same time is if you book a bubble tour which is basically tours for families, unless you are going to HMC in which case you can all get off. You can take turns getting off the ship if you just want to explore the port or do a short excursion but as of right now if your grandson gets off he has to do a bubble tour. If you wanted to do a refund you can, you would just lose your OBC.

Edited August 13, 2021 by matymil

[outdoors27]

Just to add to what was just said another thing to consider is, what will be open on the ship when its in port. This was an issue for us in Bimini. My 12 year old who was sailing on an exemption was not able to get off ship in Bimini because all bubble tours (2) were Sold out (Anyone can go on a bubble tour). Everything was closed on the ship that a kid would entertain themselves on, arcade, ropes course, skyride and water park. So that's something to consider.

Edited August 13, 2021 by outdoors27
Typo

[tm_aw_love]

31 minutes ago, outdoors27 said:

Everything was closed on the ship that a kid would entertain themselves on, arcade, ropes course, skyride and water park. So that's something to consider.

This is the first I have heard of everything being shut down in port... I have seen others say that pools, waterworks, etc. were staying open. That is one of the only reasons I applied for an exemption rather than pushing it further off.

 

All ports? One time on the cruise? Please share more info on this.

 

[outdoors27]

3 hours ago, tm_aw_love said:

This is the first I have heard of everything being shut down in port... I have seen others say that pools, waterworks, etc. were staying open. That is one of the only reasons I applied for an exemption rather than pushing it further off.

 

All ports? One time on the cruise? Please share more info on this.

 

Yes, it only happened in Bikini amd it caused a slight up roar at customer service desk with those that had exemptions. They said water park woukd be open and it didn't ooen until 3pm. The pools were open, but no arcade, no ropes course and no sky ride. To be blunt my wife was pissed because there was basically nothing for my 1w year okd to do. We were off the ship at beach all day in Half Moon Cay and my 12 year old did a bubble tour in Amber Cove while I ziplined with my other daughter. 

[tm_aw_love]

1 minute ago, outdoors27 said:

Yes, it only happened in Bikini amd it caused a slight up roar at customer service desk with those that had exemptions. They said water park woukd be open and it didn't ooen until 3pm. The pools were open, but no arcade, no ropes course and no sky ride. To be blunt my wife was pissed because there was basically nothing for my 1w year okd to do. We were off the ship at beach all day in Half Moon Cay and my 12 year old did a bubble tour in Amber Cove while I ziplined with my other daughter. 

This is good information to know. Might have to plan some things out and leave pools for possible closures of other things on port days. 

Definitely have some thinking to do... Thank you. 

[outdoors27]

25 minutes ago, tm_aw_love said:

This is good information to know. Might have to plan some things out and leave pools for possible closures of other things on port days. 

Definitely have some thinking to do... Thank you. 

Sorry, for the typos in last response i sent you but I think you figured it out. I just asked my wife about Amber Cove and she couldn't remember what was open when they returned, but they did the monkey land bubble excursion and didn't get back to the ship until 1pm. I hope this helps.

[ultrafighter]

It was obviously pre-covid, but we've sailed with our small kids three times.  It's hard work (like any vacation in a new place), but totally worth it.  A lot of the crew are missing their own small children at home so they really enjoy interacting with the ones on the ship.  In my experience, they go out of their way to make sure the kids have a great time.

[hurricane0226]

6 hours ago, tm_aw_love said:

This is good information to know. Might have to plan some things out and leave pools for possible closures of other things on port days. 

Definitely have some thinking to do... Thank you. 

were on the magic this past week, pools, waterslide, were open,

[matymil]

16 hours ago, outdoors27 said:

Just to add to what was just said another thing to consider is, what will be open on the ship when its in port. This was an issue for us in Bimini. My 12 year old who was sailing on an exemption was not able to get off ship in Bimini because all bubble tours (2) were Sold out (Anyone can go on a bubble tour). Everything was closed on the ship that a kid would entertain themselves on, arcade, ropes course, skyride and water park. So that's something to consider.

Bimini is one of our stops next month. Blows my mind that they do not have a beach bubble tour like the one we are taking in Amber Cove. I read that unless youre taking an excursion theres really not much to do in Bimini? Is there any shopping by the port? Just thinking my wive may want to get off the ship for a bit just to see the island.

[matymil]

5 hours ago, hurricane0226 said:

were on the magic this past week, pools, waterslide, were open,

Good to know. We are probably taking our little one in the splash pad area while in Bimini. Did they change anything in the waterslide area after the dry dock?

[hurricane0226]

7 hours ago, matymil said:

Good to know. We are probably taking our little one in the splash pad area while in Bimini. Did they change anything in the waterslide area after the dry dock?

no still the same, nothing diffrent.

[timbom]

Why would you even consider taking a young child on a cruise when the camps, sitting services and special events are closed to you and you can only go on bubble tours?  

[Purvis1231]

Right now on the cruises with required vaccinations they are refunding or scheduling. This policy should continue if it is still in place by the time of your cruise. (unless the cruise line goes under.) 

 

[DGNewton]

Best advice is to leave the young ones home....heard parents say there kids were bored and couldn't get off the ship unless on a bibble tour in any of the ports we visited.....

 

all this while she was gambling in the casino - where are the priorities?

 

Face it Covid and restrictions aren't going to change for some time....

 

 

[outdoors27]

14 hours ago, timbom said:

Why would you even consider taking a young child on a cruise when the camps, sitting services and special events are closed to you and you can only go on bubble tours?  

Because it's still a vacation far away from home.

[kelkel2]

We will be taking our 4 year old twins next January. We moved it back from 2022 to 2023 in hopes the kids club will be open again.

As far as yours go, it is my understanding that you would have to do a bubble tour. Not sure if you can just freely roam the area or not, my guess is no. But honestly, I cruise because I love cruising. I don’t cruise for the ports. Those are an added bonus. My kids would be happy to play at the splash park all day every day. So, if all else fails, that’s what we’ll do!!

[SNJCruisers]

On 8/14/2021 at 10:58 PM, outdoors27 said:

Because it's still a vacation far away from home.

How about Beaches or other family oriented all inclusives?

[BoozinCroozin]

You would have to do bubble excursions from Carnival only. There won't be any kids clubs so he will be stuck at an adult's hip the entire time. Masked up all the time, even more so than the adults. None of us booked a cruise with the restrictions in place, but those that are cruising are willing to accept them.

[DGNewton]

I read of all the reports on cruise news...boo who...Carnival didn't; tell of us the children's restrictions'....

...also can't get off the ship.....then when we cruised July 24th  heard a parent claiming they couldn't take their child off the ship and bored....in the casino, again, where are your priorities....oh I get it, self induced....it is well documented and told straight forward with the non vax about the restrictions....

 

Also witnessed an older man clueless at the excursions desk say you didn't tell me...they promptly provided a printed copy of the the rues.....

 

What can we say  - Look in the mirror.....DUH DUN DUH

[matymil]

On 8/14/2021 at 8:43 AM, timbom said:

Why would you even consider taking a young child on a cruise when the camps, sitting services and special events are closed to you and you can only go on bubble tours?  

 

On 8/14/2021 at 10:24 AM, DGNewton said:

Best advice is to leave the young ones home....heard parents say there kids were bored and couldn't get off the ship unless on a bibble tour in any of the ports we visited.....

 

all this while she was gambling in the casino - where are the priorities?

 

Face it Covid and restrictions aren't going to change for some time....

 

 

We had our cruise cancelled 4 times since March 2020. We weighed all of the pros/cons (which i wont get into) and decided that it is worth it for us to cruise next month with our toddler. Its all a new experience to him and we are confident that he will have a blast and we welcome the family vacation time away from home. And you are right, covid restrictions are not going anywhere which is exactly why we decided not to push our cruise back any further. 

[Aratski]

We were going to be cruising with our 7yo granddaughter on the MardiGras in October.  Our April 2020 cruise got canceled too many times to remember (6-7 times). We kept booking because this was her reward cruise from graduating therapy due to trauma from her mom and mom's felon boyfriend. So we kept booking to keep giving her a date to look forward to.

Welp, we applied for the exemption, bought their travel insurance and we got cancelled yesterday. No choice to rebook and keep our on board credit, just cancelled and you will receive a refund shortly. 

Bummer 😞 We were willing to jump through all their hoops too.

Oh well...I had a feeling it would happen. Off to a fun trip to Disney perhaps now (our flights expire in November too so we need to take her somewhere!

 

Good luck!! I hope you get to cruise.

[Florings]

There is no guarantee you will be one of the approved 5% either...you won't know until 2 weeks in advance.

 

Also, didn't Bahama just say everyone must be vaccinated to enter their country, any of the islands - even the "private" ones.  No exceptions.    And there are a couple of other Caribbean ports that have just this week put in the same restrictions.

 

It's a tough time to try to sail with children for sure..

[SNJCruisers]

34 minutes ago, Florings said:

There is no guarantee you will be one of the approved 5% either...you won't know until 2 weeks in advance.

 

Also, didn't Bahama just say everyone must be vaccinated to enter their country, any of the islands - even the "private" ones.  No exceptions.    And there are a couple of other Caribbean ports that have just this week put in the same restrictions.

 

It's a tough time to try to sail with children for sure..

The Bahamas ruling does not include 11 and under who cannot get the shot as well as those 12 and older that have a religious or medical waiver.  This follows the USVI ( St.Thomas) and their mandate from a few weeks ago.

[donaldsc]

On 8/13/2021 at 11:13 AM, outdoors27 said:

Yes, it only happened in Bikini amd it caused a slight up roar at customer service desk with those that had exemptions. They said water park woukd be open and it didn't ooen until 3pm. The pools were open, but no arcade, no ropes course and no sky ride. To be blunt my wife was pissed because there was basically nothing for my 1w year okd to do. We were off the ship at beach all day in Half Moon Cay and my 12 year old did a bubble tour in Amber Cove while I ziplined with my other daughter. 

 

If you choose to cruise during an epidemic where things can change at any time, those are the chances that you take.  I am sure that somewhere in the cruise documentation that you received, the cruise line must have made you aware of this.  Sorry for the problem but this will be occurring on all the cruise lines at this time.

 

DON