Cruising with young children - a bad idea?

[tigwig]

Thinking of doing a cruise and stay in Majorca next year but the kids will be 18mths and 7. Not bothered about the older one but will it be too much to be cooped up in a small cabin? I would be very interested on people's opinions if they have done it with children this young. I have no idea how big the cabins are, we could only afford the cheapest. How do they compare to an average hotel room?

[jno]

they tend to be smaller, but the idea is you don't spend all your time there, you sit on deck, swim in the pools, go rock climbing, go to shows in the evening... some of these won't be madly suitable for an 18mth-old. Why not check out individual lines and ships to see what they offer? Sevens are often catered for pretty well, though other ships, especially the expensive ones, aim mainly at adults.

[tigwig]

I have had a price quoted from Thomson cruise which wasn't too bad, in fact the same as it is going to cost to spend 2 weeks self catering. They all look good in the brochure dont they though? Would definitely want a relaxed cruise not a formal one that will be full of posh people all dressed up lol.

[jno]

well, have a trawl through these passenger reviews (if you know the name of the ship you can refine your search)

http://www.cruise.co....iews/thomson-cruises/

there are other similar sites, eg http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk

[crisgal]

is it this one? They seem to have the kids thing covered pretty well.

http://www.oceanvilla...you_need_to_know.aspx

[sddsddean]

I vowed never to go on a Thomson cruise after their last salmonella outbreak and after watching tonights Watchdog I'm glad!! I know its a bit more expensive (but cheaper in the long run, believe me) but try and go with one of the 'big' companies...Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Princess, P&O etc. Most have 'schemes' to look after the children (certainly the 7 yr old) for you and you can get a baby sitting service. Have a search round
http://boards.cruisecritic.com/ where you will find loads of people to answer your questions.

[Aldrich]

You will be surprised at just how much is available for kids onboard a cruise ship. I think you might find that you wont even see them especially for your 7 year old as they have these kids clubs and they arrange activites suitable for that age group.
Have a look at htttp://www.cruises.co.uk and it has all these daily activity programme for kids.
We cruised with P&O cruises last year and managed to get a very cheap deal with cruise.co.uk as they had an exclusive offer.

[tigwig]

Thanks for the ansers. I saw Watchdog too! I have now found out though that children who aren't toilet trained cannot use the pools even with a swim nappy on which I think is ridiculous and makes it not an option. I couldn't make my 1yr old watch us in the pool could I? The only one that does is the Disney cruise but that is way out of our price range unfortunately.

[annie0000]

Hmmm - that's probably to do with unavailability of fresh water to refill the pool if a "leakage" occurs. Never been on cruise, but been on the overnight ferry from Hull to Rotterdam and the rooms were as big as a decent hotel room. Actually preferred the ferry to the rest of the holiday ;o)

[tigwig]

Ha we will have to go on a ferry instead lol.

[sddsddean]

Actually annie its just the hygiene aspect. Nearly all ships use sea water in the pools. As far as I know only RCI's Freedom and Oasis classes and I think the Celebrity Solstice class use fresh water. It is a standard condition that non toilet trained children are not allowed in the pools. There is plenty of fresh water on board. On the Independance of the Seas we were lucky enough to get a tour round the engine room (not usually available) and saw the 2 desalination plants that produce 14,000 litres of water an hour each and the 2 osmosis filters which produce 4,000 litres an hour each by filtering grey water (not the toilet water!) on the ship.

[annie0000]

Absolutely tigwig - get the Pride of Rotterdam rather than the pride of Hull - exactly the same boat but the Rotterdam is staffed with Filipino staff - boat is much cleaner, friendlier and the food is amazing! Could have quite happily travelled back and forth for 2 weeks instead of going to Holland. lol.

I see sddsddean. What about the people who are tiolet trained but too lazy to get out of the pool? Surley they are a bigger risk than a baby in a swim nappy - doesn't make sense to me - I'd rather swim in baby pee than adult pee!