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Has anyone gone on a cruise with young kids?
We are considering going on a South Pacific cruise with P&O this July with our girls who will be 4 (almost 5) yrs and 2.5 yrs.
Any info regarding cruising, P&O, etc would be good. We've been to Vanuatu and Fiji so don't really need island specific info, more interested in the cruise ships and cruising with kids.
Cheers!
I haven cruised with kids but have cruised. The ships are very family friendly. They have age appropriate kids clubs during the day although I'm not sure whether they cater for 2 yo. Out ship had a massive outdoor cinema playing family movies every night. They even brought you blankets and popcorn! They also run evening kids club sessions so parents can have a night to themselves but they might cost, not sure.
Thanks Tinks, every bit of info is helpful. Did you get sea sick at all?
I did get a bit queasy the first day but quickly got used to it. I saw sea sick things in the shops on board but you can get travel sickness bands and tablets from the chemist before you go.
Also ask if they have an unlimited soft drink option. It cost us about $7 per person per day but entitled you to unlimited fizzy drink, mock tails and milkshakes. There's also a coffee one if you want proper coffee. Otherwise there is unlimited water, instant coffee and tea available.
We're booked and heading off on May 3rd, can't wait! We are on the pacific dawn for seven nights.
Our boys will be 3 and 6. Kids club starts at 3 and they must be toilet trained to attend on their own.
There are a few different food options, most included, some cost extra. Anything other than water and instant tea/coffee are extra and not included in the package.
I plan to take lots of medications we may need as the medical centre on board is extremely expensive, make sure you get travel insurance too.
Definitely take travel sickness meds too, just incase!
Happy to answer any other questions if I can :)
That's awesome Jaycee! And Taurean, how exciting to even be thinking about it.
Jaycee are there any provisions for younger kids? Babysitting type things?
We have cruised but not with children, have our first cruise with DD this August.
Not really child related but take a power board - that is my biggest tip for cruising. There is usually one little power point in the room and you have 50 things to plug in - power board saves the juggle. Thermo coffee cups are good too so you can fill and go :-)
I'm pretty sure there is no babysitting on board but kids club runs late, which could work if you're open to the idea.
Thanks for your reply girls! I was looking at the Pacific Dawn (P&O) but found another good cruise with Carnival last night so will phone them soon. If we do this, we want to book a suite or mini-suite and the suites didn't get the best reviews on P&O due to their position on the boat, guests complained about a lot of noise above. Will see what the deal is with Carnival. Their kids club is from 2 years and they have baby sitting too :D
Jaycee - can't wait to hear how your cruise goes!
HB - who are you cruising with hon? We've seen a few awesome ones ex Freo which is so tempting but we'll be on the east coast mid year for a school friends catchup in QLD so thought a holiday tacked on ex east coast would be awesome.
We are going on a cruise in April. P&O, pacific pearl. My kids are slightly older though, 6 and 4.
I have a few friends who have cruised with kids, and rave about it. I like the option of having the kids club, although don't intend to use it too much and maybe have them in one late night for us to have a kid free meal.. But we have no real plans or expectations except to hopefully relax and chill out together..
Will be interested to hear how you go too DMB :) It's nice to hear that other parents recommend it. We've done a lot of traveling but not a cruise as yet. I'm thinking we may just have to lock it in!
Not on the P&O that I know of OP, I think it all starts at age 3. The kids clubs run until around 9pm, they will stay open until 2am for a surcharge which is good to know, especially if you're wanting to do an adults only show, some of them start around 9pm I think.:
I would actually recommend against this, power boards are prohibited on board, at least on P&O Cruises, as it overloads the system, not to mention the safety issues with taking a power board that hasn't been tagged and tested by an electrician.:
Taurean we are going on the Jewel, just a short 4 days that we have tacked onto a trip to Qld too. I've heard it can be pretty rough off freo so we've avoided it so far lol
We've booked! Hooray! We are doing 9 nights on the Carnival Spirit departing 23 July from Sydney. Just a tad bit excited!
How exciting! Can't wait to hear all about it!
Jaycee and DMB - how were your cruises??? Would love to hear all about it! We go on 23 July. Excited and nervous!!
We really enjoyed it. Kids had a great time, often asking to go to kids club.
We found it best to go through the program for the next day, and also the kids club one. If there were activities they wanted to do, we would book them in for that time, and just enjoy some alone time, doing things that kids find boring, or a coffee in peace :-)
we ate meals early, and depending on how kids were going went to some of the evening entertainment with the kids. Even though I didn't do it, I would've been happy to put them in the kids club in evening, but I found no need to as all the things we did were kid suitable.
We will be booking another one, hopefully next year.
That's awesome to hear! Thanks for the update and advice. I can't wait!
Oh, and if you plan on having a go at snorkelling, I would take own snorkel/flippers. And also our atm's were down for the last ports, so make sure you gave some cash for souvenir shopping. The islands take both local and Aussie currency, but you might not get change in Australian currency.
Taurean, if you go with carnival and take a power board make sure it doesn't have a surge protector. The inlaws couldn't use theirs last month and it made things very awkward for them.
Cheers, thanks girls! Started packing today (we are going to QLD for a week first, leaving on Wednesday) and it's so difficult! I've researched the weather as much as I can but I think I just need to pack for all occasions really!
Depending where you are going in qld (I am in brisbane , and just spent a week in rockhampton), the nights are cold, even had some frosts over the past 3 weeks.. Days are warmish if out of the wind. Around 20 deg mark, and sometimes a little warmer. You will prob find same on cruise, Coolish nights and warm days.
Have fun.
We are going to the Gold Coast so I'm thinking more winter-ish clothes than summer then? Thanks so much DMB, you've been a godsend!
Yes, I would go for warmer clothes.. With a some lighter stuff for the cruise..
Brilliant! Thanks again :)
The forecast for the next week here on the GC is for quite cold nights 9-10 deg and cold (for us) days, around 21 and breezy.
Jeans and a long sleeve t shirt with a vest seems to work pretty well.
Hope you have an awesome time!
LTD, thanks too hon. All the info is brilliant! I really struggle with packing as my girls just have way too many cute clothes and then packing for various seasons only makes it harder! Lol :)