Excursions with 3 and 5 year olds

[puckhog45]

What Western onshore activities or excursions would you recommend if you are traveling with two five-year olds and one three-year old?

 

[dzneprincess]

I have almost the same question, except my kids ages would be 4,7 and 8. The only thing that we for sure want to do is the sting ray excursion and the dolphin swim. But I would like to have some other suggestions as well.

 

[vgaskin]

Ours will be 5, 6 and 15. We know we want to do the Stingray excursion in Grand Cayman and the Dolphin Encounter at Grand Cayman. Mine are not good swimmers yet so I am told we can hold them in the water at both places. The dolphin encounter is on a platform and the Stingray is on a sand bar, both about waist deep I think. They also have a Sea Lion show at Cozumel that would probably entertain the kids and then you can explore the beaches and such at the park.

In Nassau, we took them over to Blue Lagoon(the dolphin was sold out) to swim and play and they had a blast, 4 & 5 then.

 

[swpc]

Hi. We went on the August 2 Western. We have 4 children ages 16, 13, 11 and 2. We went to Chakanaab park in Cozumel. This was a great place for such a range of kids ages. My older dd's and I scheduled the dolphin swim through dolphin discoveries. It was great. There is a perfect little cove very near by the dolphin swim where my dh set up camp with our 2 yr old. The water is shallow there and he stayed there and played all day. The other kids snorkeled all day and dh and I switched off taking watch over the 2 yr old.
In Grand Cayman, we reserved an all day trip with Captain Marvins. This way we were able to bring the little guy with us. He did fine on the boat- even took a little nap! He was afraid to go in the water, but so was our 16 yr old dd, LOL. DH and I just took turns getting in the water.
It can get a little stressfull at times with switching off and such, but it was well worth it! We could enjoy most all of it as a family!
It all seems so complicated, but the cabs and getting to where we needed to go was so easy! Have fun planning, relax, and ENJOY every second of your trip. WE SURE DID!!

 

[coconutty]

I've been reading this thread with interest, as we will have DS4, DS3, and DD5 months on our western cruise on Sept. 13. We would like to go to Chankanaab, but we're a little worried about the taxi ride, since we won't have carseats. Are we being paranoid? Would getting a van instead of a taxi be a better idea? What did you do? Thanks in advance for advice.

 

[Masonpips]

We took our 3 and 5 year old on Captain Marvin's excursion last year (3 stop one) and they LOVED it - highly recommended, cheaper than DCL's excusions, less people (we had about 20 on our boat), and they'll take and pamper to young kids. This is a not-to-be-missed experience!

We left the kids on the boat in Key West and wandered on our own. I had been there before and wasn't that interested in any of the excursions and it was too hot for the kids too (we were there the last week of Oct).

We're no help for Cozumel - we had both been there before so we stayed on the Magic all day (which was wonderful itself, virtually everyone else got off and we had an empty ship to play on)

 

[vgaskin]

Ok, I have a question that kinda goes with this thread. My youngest are 5 & 6 and aren't in a pool alot. They like the water but are not swimmers yet. We want to do the Dolphin Encounter on the platform and Stingray City. Both are in waist deep water and we are told we can each hold one to help them. But my mother in law bought each of them those huge bathing suits with the flotation device built in, not the one with the ring around the waist but the one that looks just like a swimsuit but makes them look like they have arnold muscles. It is like a lifevest built in. They used them yesterday at my cousins pool and was swimming everywhere and it was much easier to just hold their hand if needed than you hold the whole child. Now these things are big and a pain to pack but may be worth it for the 2 excursions, if nothing else but to give them confidence. Does anyone know if they will allow these or not. I don't want to take them if they can't use them. As far as wearing them to the excursion, I was going to have them wear their normal bathing suit and put them in a day bag, and then put those on over it if there was no place to change. Any clues?

 

[Masonpips]

Vgaskin,

I think those would be fine. On Captain Marvin's they did give the kids (and adults) life-jackets which were those kind you blow up (they are usually lime green or yellow, wish I had some pics to show you). I was a little aprehensive, but they worked wonderfully. At the snorkeling spots, we just stayed near the kids and they weren't out long so it wasn't a big deal. At Stingray City we carried them around (with the jackets on all of us) mainly because when you first get off your boat, the stingrays swarm you (it is AMAZING) and a little unnerving the first minute or two (side note: you could wait for the initial swarm and get off after it).

We have a boat this year and our kids have nice life jackets so we're debating actually bringing those as we want to do a 6 hour sail at St. Thomas/St. John. We feel so comfortable with them in their own life jackets that it might make it worth the extra packing space. I'm going to wait until I start packing and then decide.

Hope this helps!

 

[gulley5]

I've thought the same thing. That I am going to bring their own life jackets along. We have them for a boat and I feel safer with ones that I know fit.