Young Children on a Princess Cruise.

[tempvariant]

We'll be on the Grand princess and I did just earlier add myself to the roll call mentioning our child.
 

Yeah, it is what it is, I don't expect Princess to make a guess at how many kids might be on board, its still so early no one could know.

 

That's ok, the more I'm finding out about the treehouse, the more I'm feeling confident. Plus my son is so smiley towards strangers I'm sure he'll make himself into a Grand Princess celebrity.

[cnd crsr]

The Grand is great and I am sure everything will work out, just be prepared with supplies you will need. Lots of toys,  storybooks, diapers and  any unusual things that are favourites with your boy. By the time you are ready to disembark in NZ, you will have a very spoiled wee man -- between passengers (missing grandkiddies) and staff missing their families. Sorry I won't be aboard, I would like to have a wee person around for story time🙂.

[Kerry's Girls]

Did a 15 day cruise with my twin 3 year olds and all but four days were at sea (Los Angeles to Hawaii and back).  It was bliss.  Cruises are fantastic for little ones because of the routine.  Get up, breakfast, go play in kids club, lunch, swim in afternoon, nap, dinner, kids club, etc.  There usually are not many kids on the longer cruises, but that just means they get more attention and play time from kids club staff.  SO much better than airports, etc.  I wish I had done more long cruises when my girls were young.  It gets so much harder as they get older to take that much time off of school/activities.

Edited February 1, 2023 by Kerry's Girls

[Eleanor Rigby 14]

My 4 1/2 year old grandson loved every single minute of his one week Caribbean cruise in late September. And believe me, he was actively involved in all sorts of activities from early morning until about 8pm when he finally fell asleep. He returned to nursery school after the trip. His teacher told us that on the day before Thanksgiving she asked the children to share with the class what they were grateful for. One by one each child gave responses like “Mommy and Daddy”…”Grand-mom and Grandpop”…” My brothers and sisters”. When they came to my grandson he answered enthusiastically, “My cruise!” The teacher then heard several children discussing among themselves what a cruise could be!

 

Don’t be surprised if you see my grandson on this board one day. 😀

 

Tempvariant, I wish you and your family a wonderful trip!

[Nee Nee and Biddy]

I don't have experience cruising with a 3 y/o, but my own kiddos have been cruising for 10 years (started when they were 5 and 7) and Princess absolutely spoils them.  We have only cruised on Disney and Princess, and my kids prefer Princess kids clubs by a wide margin. On one cruise, the workers in the kid's club knew my daughter loved to sing and dance, so they set it up so she my was able to go onstage during the evening show and sing with the entertainers! You will have a wonderful time and your babe will be loved and well cared for.   

[Redwing55]

• Maybe not the most applicable situation, but we took our son's family on a 7 day.  At the time, our Granddaughter just turned 2 so she wasn't allowed to be left alone at the playhouse.  We were able to go with her to play there from time to time, so that was a nice option.  Even on a 7day cruise, we rarely saw other youngsters so I can't comment on the program.  She did get some crafts and a stuffed animal so she loved that.  We had the place to ourselves... good and bad, but at two a parent/guardian had to be with her anyway.

I suspect yours may be the only young one.  If not I wouldn't expect more than 1 or 2 at that.  Still, as was mentioned in comments above, I've heard so many great things about the staff of Princess at the kids care.  With so few, they'll love him.  He sounds well socialized so I would expect that he'll have a blast.

And as long as he's not a huge screamer (doesn't sound like it) expect tons of attention from other crew members and maybe a gma/gpa or two.  So many actually miss the young ones.

 

As for food, the MDR will try so hard to accommodate you.  With us, they would handle any request and then some.  Sometimes dinner can be long, but if you sit at your own table, they should move things along quicker.  And if you don't want the long sitdown, the buffet is a winner.  We were on the Sky which had a great buffet but was pre-covid but I hope you find your ship close to the Sky's.  Suffice to say, my Gdaughter is a kind of finicky eater and she did great. 

 

And they were in a balcony (3 of them) and used the ship's pack in play set up in the closet area.  Worked well.. It was also easy to keep it dark during the day if a nap was needed.

 

Being 3, it should allow more pool access etc.  You may want to bring some floatation assists if he can't swim.

 

I could go on, but I suspect this should be a great experience for him.  Really I do.  He may not recall it when he gets older, but the exposure to things he'll see will be great for him.

 

Enjoy and safe travels!

[rnff2]

My son's first cruise was on Princess when he was 3, he is now 17.  Princess is his favorite cruise line (he has been on Carnival and NCL) and he loved Princess "kids club" when he was younger.  The staff spoiled him in every way possible on every cruise.  His longest cruise was 10 days and honestly it was easier to entertain him as a small child than it was with the boredom attitude of a teenager.  Lol.  

I have always heard that there tends to be fewer kids on longer cruises but we usually cruise on school breaks so there are lots of kids.  I believe it's all what you make of it!!! 

Happy cruising!!!

[caribill]

11 hours ago, tempvariant said:

Thanks Everyone. Scarily I see no mention of kids in the role call. But then, only ~20 people have announced themselves and the ship takes thousands.

 

If you call Princess, they can tell you how many kids are booked so far in that age group.

 

Of course the number may change as more bookings are made.

[mitzieleanor]

On a long voyage such as yours there will probably be very few if any kids.  I took my 3 then 15 month old kids on a 14 day voyage and there were a handful of other kids onboard.  they weren't potty trained so we had to stay in the kids club with them.  They loved it. The crew was phenomenal. We took them to the main dining room once and kept to the buffet after that.   

 

I think if your kid was the only one onboard, he will definitely become ship famous with both crew and other passengers. 

 

They're six now and we are taking them to Alaska. I hope they still love it so we can continue to cruise, however with the prices the way they're going its gonna be a bit rough. 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

17 hours ago, jeromep said:

We had a pile of kid and adult laundry every day

on a 10 day cruise????

Granted, we've only been on 7 day cruises with a 3 yo, but wow... Never had this situation. We just bring several changes of clothes (nothing wrong with a kid wearing the same t-shirt or shorts the next day if they are not dirty). We pack everything into 2 suitcases for the 3 of us, and the suitcases also had a bunch of toys, floaties, beach toys, a life vest for the kiddo. But we'd never had to do laundry on a 7-10 day cruise even once.

On a 23 day - perhaps.

 

15 hours ago, tempvariant said:

They do have the kids treehouse (ages 3-7) on our ship but they don't have much else to say.

just do a search on this board for "kid's club" and your ship's name. I am 100% sure that people have written about their experiences. If you click on Enchanted link in my siggy, you will see a kid's club schedule for our 10 day Thanksgiving cruise. It will give you an idea of the activities kids will do.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

18 hours ago, tempvariant said:

Yes Princess allows for children of any age on the 23 day cruise

no, it doesn't.

 

"What is the minimum age to cruise?

Minimum age requirements:

Guests must be at least 6 months of age at the time of embarkation and at least 12 months of age for trans-ocean crossings and remote itineraries."

 

More useful info:

 

https://www.princess.com/learn/faq/onboard/cruising-with-family/

[cjpj]

There may also be crew kids on board for some or all of the cruise at that age. And there is someone at Princess who can tell you how many kids are booked in each age group; it is just finding the right one. If you have a good CVP, I'd start there. My nephews and grandkids, none of whom liked daycare or kid club type of things, all LOVED the kids club.

[jeromep]

9 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

on a 10 day cruise????

Granted, we've only been on 7 day cruises with a 3 yo, but wow... Never had this situation. We just bring several changes of clothes (nothing wrong with a kid wearing the same t-shirt or shorts the next day if they are not dirty). We pack everything into 2 suitcases for the 3 of us, and the suitcases also had a bunch of toys, floaties, beach toys, a life vest for the kiddo. But we'd never had to do laundry on a 7-10 day cruise even once.

On a 23 day - perhaps.

Laundry, well...

 

We did MDR or Club Class dining most nights.  We used our complimentary specialty dining on embarkation night in the Crown Grill.  We had cute dresses for her to wear most nights.  We also did both formal nights.  Our daughter wasn't a messy eater at 22 months, but she would almost always wear something she was eating home from dinner.  So, yes, we had a lot of laundry to do.  And if we are sending out her clothing to get cleaned up, might as well send ours, too.