We want to start planning our vacation for next year. We'd LOVE to take a cruise. We have a teenage boy, then a 3 year old, who will be almost 4 by this vacation and an 18 month old. I started looking into Disney Cruises, but to get a good price on a cruise, we'd have to fly down to florida which will cost us almost $2000, which then makes the cruise not such a great deal LOL. If we drive to New York to get on the ship, the cruises shoot up considerably..
I'm sure there other family friendly cruises out there, but there's so much info! I need suggestions!
And if you cruise international waters, do we all need passports? I've never left the country so I don't know how these things work. I'd be open to many locations, Bahamas, Carribean pretty much anywhere warm. But as I've said, I don't know where to start.
TIA :)
We have done both Carnival and Disney cruises and I will never do Carnival again if I have to take my kids. They have so much more stuff for them to do on Disney. It is way more expensive, but if I had to do a Carnival cruise, I would just not take my kids because they wouldn't enjoy it at all. I don't know about any of the other cruise lines, but Disney is definitely the best, but not very economical.
Call a travel agent.
Stick with an expert when THIS much money is involved.
If you port out of the U.S. and just go onshore during the cruise, you do not need a passport. However, I personally was uncomfortable NOT having passports for all us being in international waters, just in case something were to happen. I did, in fact, take the passports with us when we went ashore, just in case. Didn't realize Disney left from New York, I'll have to check into that. I know with Disney and other cruise lines as well as most vacation destinations, time of year really determines pricing, so check into low months like January/February and September/October/early Nov.
We did a 5 day Royal Caribbean with our kids (Grand Cayman, which is WONDERFUL and I highly recommend snorkeling with the sting rays, though you'll have to take turns to watch your LO's, and Key West) and they have a kids club from age 2 or 3 up (can't quite recall), though they also have babysitters for younger than club age. We would have them do the club once/day so we could have some alone time, which was really nice. I have heard that this is what Disney does best and everyone raves about their cruises. I've also heard nice things about Norwegian. Another tip is that cruise lines will let you make a deposit when booking, then make a few payments before cruising.
Get a passport. You will need it to enter the countries as you don't want to stay on ship all the time. All cruise lines offer a kids center for the 4 year old, so you don't need a Disney cruise to occupy your kids. My sister swears by Carnival and her young kids love the camp they have. There is also a port in Baltimore if driving to Baltimore is an option instead of New York, but I don't know who goes out of Baltimore. Also, look at other port options, Galveston, TX, New Orleans, California, Tampa, FL, etc. You maybe able to get cheaper flights into other cities. Fort Lauderdale is only 20 miles north of Miami, so if you go out of a Miami, you may find a cheaper flight into Fort Lauderdale and then take a shuttle to Miami. For my sister traveling with small kids, she always flew into the city the day before the cruise and got a hotel room. There was just less stress trying to travel on the day the cruise leaves out.
We are taking the kids on a Carnival cruise in a few months. We took my stepkids when they were in middle school on Carnival and they had a great time. My kids are in elementary and preschool and I'm sure they'll have a good time too. I've heard Disney is the best but it is also much more expensive and that's why we're not going with them. You will have to pay for child care for your 18 month old but the other 2 will be free in the kids program. You might want to check with the cruise line you check about the 18 month old swimming because I know that some of the cruise lines don't allow swim diapers so the little ones can't even get in the pool. I would suggest going to the website cruisecritic.com for basic information on cruising. It was very helpful to me when planning. I also recommend using a travel agent. I priced as much as I could online and then called a travel agent to book it for us. She was able to get us a better deal than I had found online. There is also a website called vacationstogo.com that will send you weekly email updates on the best deals. As far as the passports, I would recommend getting them and that's gonna set you back about $400-$500. If you don't have them if there's an accident or you need to fly back to the states you won't be able to without a passport. Have fun!
We looked into a cruise, but we decided against it was so expensive even with little kids. They don't really have "children's rates" instead they charge per headcount. Also we found the child care to be expensive, because if my husband and I wanted the youngest we'd have to "hire" a sitter as they didn't allow such young kids in the child care/camps.
If I were you I'd consider looking an all inclusive, as they sometimes offer "kids eat and stay free". This might be a much better option with such young children.
We finally decided to rent a townhome through VBRO. We went to a family friendly destination (Myrtle Beach) which was ideal for us. We were able to get a direct flight (no plane changes or layovers either) right into MB. Then we stayed at a "resort" community where we were walking distance to the beaches, hotel pools and even a water park! We did all the "touristy" things we wanted, without having to be on a schedule. Plus by having a "home" to go back to we ate in our own house most of the time, on our own schedule - a huge plus with young children! To top it all off there was FREE shuttle service to ALL the pools (I think 5 in all).
Personally, I'd try to find something else...well, I guess that's why we did. LOL
Must be the season for cruise questions! There was another one that I answered recently. You might want to do a search, there was a lot of good info on that one.
Anyway, we just got back from a cruise to Alaska with our kids. It was amazing. We went on Norwegian Cruise Lines. Very family friendly. If you want more information, you should definitely check the CruiseCritic.com forums. Lots of advice on everything cruise-related, including passports, etc.
I second the recommendation to use a travel agent. It's so confusing otherwise. If you are interested, I can give you the contact info for the one who booked our cruise.
All cruises that originate in the US have to visit at least one non US port before coming back. For instance Alaskan cruises stop in Canada too, East coast cruises also stop in Canada, etc...I don't know if it a sure thing or not but I have heard that.
If you want Disney then go to them directly. You can find all kinds of inclusive cruises if you look for them. Often the cruise cost includes air fare.
Personally I have heard that Disney has the smallest rooms. But that is supposedly because they have so much to offer with the shows and amenities. They go to places like the Bahamas and stop a full day at their company owned island. There are a lot of activities on the island but they cost extra. Each thing you do off the ship is an extra charge so you need to make sure you have extra money stashed on a card so you can access anytime you need it if your room bill gets high.
I have no interest in going to a cruise ship's company island for a full day. I don't really want to go to Nassau either. I can't fine anything interesting about go to a straw market shopping.
When we were looking at going on a cruise we planned on driving to Florida or taking Amtrak. Then going on Royal Caribbean, I wanted to do the rock climbing wall and ice skate while traversing the ocean...lol.
If you google yahoo travel then click on cruises you can find all kinds of good ideas. The things I think about when planning this kind of trip are: Who is going, mom and dad? or the kids too? Is the primary goal to spend time in the water? seeing the world? playing/staying mostly on the ship and taking advantage of the numerous restaurants and show? or do you want to just spend time in Disney World? then get on the ship for a couple of days on a short trip.
Lots of things to consider for sure. Good luck planning your vacation.
