I’m a parent of two children, ages 8 and 6. For most vacations, since they were born, my wife and I booked trips to the beaches or mountains, and I certainly became more of a Disney World dad than I ever expected to be.
My wife and I loved the few cruises we went on before we became parents but were reluctant to take the kids on a cruise. We finally decided to give it a try in 2022 when our youngest was four years old and didn’t necessarily expect it to go well. However, we had such a great time that in the two years since, we’ve been on four more cruises and have several more booked.
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Cruising has become our favorite way to vacation these days. We recently asked our 8-year-old daughter if she would rather add a long weekend at Walt Disney World at the end of the summer or try the newly launched Margaritaville at Sea Islander, and she didn’t even have to think about it.
With that in mind, here are three things all parents who might be on the fence about cruising should know before booking that can help make your first cruise as enjoyable as possible for everyone.
Image source: Margaritaville at Sea.
The kids' clubs can be a game-changer for adult vacations
Admittedly, when we took our first cruise on the Carnival Magic a few years ago, we were hesitant to leave our kids at Camp Ocean. But there was no need to be. The staff at the kids clubs of every ship we’ve been on have been fantastic, plus there are excellent procedures and safeguards in place to make sure your children are where they are supposed to be.
To be perfectly clear, the number one reason we generally prefer a cruise over say, a week at the beach or Walt Disney World, is the availability of the kids' clubs.
Don’t get me wrong. I love spending time with my kids on vacation. But any mom or dad can tell you that a week-long trip where you spend every waking moment with your children doesn’t always feel like a vacation for the parents. The kids' clubs change that.
Kids club hours vary by ship and whether you’re at sea or at port, and you might prefer different times. We typically spend the entire day as a family, eat dinner, and then drop our kids off for a few hours afterward. Sometimes we’ll go sit on the deck and just chat, sometimes we’ll go see a show, and sometimes we’ll play in the casino or sit at one of the bars. Most of the time, when we pick them up around 10 p.m., they don’t want to leave.
Having some adult time can make your cruise feel like a true vacation for everyone. And taking advantage of the kids' clubs can make it happen (and it’s completely free most of the time).
Kid-friendly amenities can vary
Aside from Virgin Voyages and a few ultra-high-end cruise lines, kids are welcome on virtually all of the major operators’ ships. However, there’s a wide variety of activities for kids to do, and not all pools, kids clubs, splash pads, and arcades are created equal.
As one example, if you have young children who (like mine) love to energetically play and splash around in the pools, they might be one of 50 children doing the same thing at the main pool on a Carnival or Disney cruise. On a Celebrity cruise, while kids are certainly welcome at the pool area, it can have an entirely different vibe.
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One thing I strongly suggest doing is watching a walk-through video of the ship you’re planning to book. These are readily available on YouTube for all major cruise ships and can not only give you a feel for the family-friendly amenities of the ship but can help you learn where everything is before you get on board.
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One room can be even better than two (sometimes)
When my wife and I booked our first cruise with our two young kids, we assumed that the best thing to do would be to book two rooms. The way we saw it, we needed the extra space to not feel like we were living on top of each other. The extra storage space was a must-have, and having two bathrooms would make it far easier to get everyone ready for dinner and heading out to port.
To be fair, there were some advantages to getting two rooms. The extra storage certainly came in handy, for example. But for the most part, it was unnecessary. We were rarely in the room other than to sleep or get ready to leave, and the bathroom issue wasn’t nearly as big of a deal as we were expecting. Plus, it actually made things more complicated in some ways – for one thing, two of us were officially registered to each room, and it was difficult to remember which keys worked in each door.
We’ve cruised several times since then and have never booked more than one room again. Many rooms have space-efficient bunk bed designs, and you might be surprised at how much storage a standard 185-square-foot cruise ship stateroom has.
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It isn’t just that two rooms proved to be less necessary than we expected, but the cost difference can be enormous. The cruise fare for the third and fourth guests in the same stateroom can be much lower than for the first and second.
Of course, every family is different. But if you’re a family of four (or even five in some cases), sharing one room can be a lot more convenient than you think.
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