pequele
Some people think they are cool because they can h
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2011
I haven't done a Med cruise yet, but Alaska was awesome with a 5 year old and so many exciting excursions to chose from it was hard to narrow it down in each port. I don't think I would have wanted such a long international flight with a 5 year old for a med cruise.
A few pix...
Had the Mickey pool to herself (and yes it was warm enough to swim)
Saw a pod of Orcas in Juneau (DD still talks about it)
Train in Skagway with Suspension bridges
Glacier tour
Awesome pics! Still leaning towards Alaska with him, right now seems more his style. For us in NH it would probably be faster to get to Europe than Alaska though, to be honest ahaha.
I've been to Rome and Venice and while they were beautiful, interesting and architecturally stunning cities, I can't see my son being interested in seeing any of it. I'm going to book Alaska in 2014 if it's offered and wait to do a Med cruise when he's older. He will be 7 in the summer of 2014. I think he will get a kick out of seeing the wildlife, all of the trees, etc. since we live in a desert, panning for gold, seeing the lumberjack show, and experiencing a dog musher camp. He's always begging me to take him camping and hiking. I think he'd really love Alaska.
I know, I totally agree and that's what I am trying to determine. I do believe Alaska seems more like him right now, that was why I was trying to see what excursions people did in Europe since I do see some geared towards the kids, but I just don't know anything about them.
We sailed Alaska last summer during the last week of August. There were still bergey bits floating as we sailed through Tracy Arm Fjord. I don't know what it looked like in May to compare though.
GREAT thanks! I haven't settled on a time to go yet, but good to know we could still see the "calves" (funny name!).
I have to say my boys were 15 & 12 at the time and even ds12 couldn't sit to watch the glacier calve more than a few minutes at a time. He could easily take himself back to Edge when he got bored. This is the same child who spent half our time at the Grand Canyon playing with a stick in the dirt.
There were lots of small kids on the cruise but I sort of felt bad for their parents who missed a lot of viewing time to take care of their young children. If you don't mind missing out some things, then do it.
We are doing the Med this year and though both boys enjoy history, must come from dh's side, we'll probably do the Top Car Museum (Prince of Monaco's car collection) in Villefranche since ds12 loves cars so hopefully will be one less day he might find things a bit boring after a while.
I totally think that is the thing, gotta find the right things for him to do in order to decide. I am sure I can drop him in the kids club to watch Tracy Arm. Then again I'd feel bad I did that, too. How far is the kids club from the top deck so I could run him down when he was bored
Yes, kids get antsy watching glaciers, but i can't imagine them enjoying the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg, or the Russian ballet either, both of which were major highlights of our Baltic cruise. The Sistine Chapel and Pompeii are also amazing but I doubt a small child would appreciate them, and all the walking involved. The pope made an appearance at the Vatican when I was there, along with sooooo many tour buses and cheering crowds(!) -- it would be difficult to keep track of little ones there as well.
As previous posters have mentioned, there are kid-friendly shore excursions to do in Alaska. I'd recommend saving the historical sites in europe for when the kids are old enough to appreciate them more.
BTW, there's enough glacial ice in May that some ships can't get all the way into Tracy's Arm and/or have visited another "arm" in the area.
Good to know again about the glaciers! Thanks. Exactly what I want to know. Is the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg a kid's touch n feel museum Just kiddin'. Everything you said about not being at the age where he would likely appreciate a lot of this stuff is what runs through my mind. He might appreciate the Pope though since he goes to a Catholic school, but I don't have a good track record with the guy. Last time I was to see him in audience, he was dying! I'd feel almost wrong trying to go back again!
We did the Med in 2011 when our kids were 6 and 8 (almost 7 and 9). And we did Alaska in 2012 when they were 8 and 10 (my DD turned 10 in Juneau). Both cruises were fabulous, but as a family, the Med gets the nod. My kids did GREAT throughout our entire 19-day trip which included several days in Barcelona prior to the cruise and a few days in Paris after. We deliberately opted for excursions that were not museum-heavy, but we had some long days, and they held up fine and were interested in what we were doing, including St. Peter's in the Vatican. We did things like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Pompeii, Capri, Rome highlights like the Trevi Fountain and the Coliseum. I'd highly recommend the Med cruise as a way to introduce younger children to Europe. My kids also really enjoyed Alaska, but I think they missed getting to swim a lot on the ship which they were able to do on our sea days in the Med (we did the 11-day which had 2 much-needed sea days to regroup in between the very intensive port days). I would be a little leery of the 7-day Med cruises which don't have any days in between the ports. The highlight for us in Alaska was taking a helicopter to the glacier and dog sledding. I highly recommend this if you opt for Alaska.
Good to think about with the 7 day "go, go, go" pace! Luckily I think my son would be ok with not swimming really. He swims almost every day at home, so it typically isn't a must have with him. But the rest to break up the busy port days is really something to think about!
My 5yo dancing with Belle at the Catherine's Palace Ball in St. Petersburg. Priceless
At Tivoli, touring and riding rides...
And in the Med the next yr at Cincque Terre
With dw and both my boys in Rome
My youngest at the time watching us sail into Malta
We had a great time on both cruises.
The Belle pics are so cute!! What sort of excursions did you do while in Europe?
From your pics, I don't think these are the same ports offered this year (who knows about next!). I see you are heading on an ABD this year? Have you done those before? If you have been before, which do you think is a better option, the cruises or the ABD?
I really appreciate everyone's help!!! I really hope they release them tomorrow so someone can shed some light for me on what is offered. Maybe that will help my decision making waiting waiting waiting