Mediterranean with a Kid

[Anna Chassereau]

Has anyone done a DCL Mediterranean with a child? If so what did you think? Looking at possibly doing a 7 night next summer/early fall. Our son will be 7 at the time.

 

[Marc D]

Unlike the Caribbean, where the experience does not vary a lot from cruiser to cruiser, a Mediterranean cruise can be as varied (and costly) as you want it to be. My son is 6 and loves castles, stories of kings and queens, churches, old cities, etc. We brought him to Europe from the time he was 4mo and always implicate him in the places we visit. If your kid is similar in his interests, a European cruise is extraordinary because every day, there's a different city to explore, different foods to try, etc. We did the Norwegian fjords cruise last year and he loved every second of it, from the castle in Copenhagen to the brown cheese made by hand on a farm in the back country.

If you want to stay on the ship or go to beaches, you'll get beautiful views but an experience quite similar to a regular Caribbean cruise.

 

[Shanti]

Unlike the Caribbean, where the experience does not vary a lot from cruiser to cruiser, a Mediterranean cruise can be as varied (and costly) as you want it to be. My son is 6 and loves castles, stories of kings and queens, churches, old cities, etc. We brought him to Europe from the time he was 4mo and always implicate him in the places we visit. If your kid is similar in his interests, a European cruise is extraordinary because every day, there's a different city to explore, different foods to try, etc. We did the Norwegian fjords cruise last year and he loved every second of it, from the castle in Copenhagen to the brown cheese made by hand on a farm in the back country.

If you want to stay on the ship or go to beaches, you'll get beautiful views but an experience quite similar to a regular Caribbean cruise.

Awesome! Did you use DCL excursions for the experiences you describe, or did you use other vendors that you can recommend?

 

[Marc D]

Awesome! Did you use DCL excursions for the experiences you describe, or did you use other vendors that you can recommend?

We always use DCL excursions, because the ship will wait for you. In Europe, were ports are far from the cities most of the time, it's particularly important.

 

[Shanti]

We always use DCL excursions, because the ship will wait for you. In Europe, were ports are far from the cities most of the time, it's particularly important.

Great! Did you ever feel unsafe at any of the ports, or were you ever given special warnings, in relation to possible terrorism?

 

[Marc D]

Great! Did you ever feel unsafe at any of the ports, or were you ever given special warnings, in relation to possible terrorism?

Some places in Italy, particularly Florence and Pisa, and the old quarter of Barcelona, are know pickpocket hubs. Be wise and keep as little on you as possible and safely tucked away. Stay away from alleys and other secluded places. That's the same advice you get in all the ports.

As far as terrorism goes, nowhere is more or less safe and nowhere is a known target. Nothing you can do about that, except maybe keeping clear of Istanbul.

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

I'm also a huge fan of traveling to far and wide places with kids as they learn so much from it. I grew up in Europe (Military brat) and I know that alone helped shape the person I am today. My son, who is 13 now, luckily inherited my love of travel and want to explore other countries and I can honestly say it's helped him immensely in school and to be a better and more rounded person as he has experienced first hand other cultures and ways of living.

We are on the Med cruise this August and I'm so excited for him (and my husband) to add more countries to our list. We've already booked our Italy excursions exclusively through Rome in Limo (with friends and another family) and I highly recommend them although I haven't personally used them yet. They have amazing reviews and their customer service was phenomenal. In Villefranche that will likely be the only port we use DCL for but definitely use what you are most comfortable with but also compare prices and options with independent tour operators too.

Go explore the world and take advantage of the Med, for sure I would ask your son if anything interests him, is there something he really wants to see? Kids have all kids of awesome ideas and although it's not too educational, lol, after we do all our "educational items", my son said he wants to tour the Camp Nou soccer stadium in Barcelona before our cruise so we'll do that. We aren't even FC Barcelona fans (we love Bayern Munich) but it's something he wants to do so we'll incorporate that too.

Have fun planning!
Heather

 

[Anna Chassereau]

I'm also a huge fan of traveling to far and wide places with kids as they learn so much from it. I grew up in Europe (Military brat) and I know that alone helped shape the person I am today. My son, who is 13 now, luckily inherited my love of travel and want to explore other countries and I can honestly say it's helped him immensely in school and to be a better and more rounded person as he has experienced first hand other cultures and ways of living.

We are on the Med cruise this August and I'm so excited for him (and my husband) to add more countries to our list. We've already booked our Italy excursions exclusively through Rome in Limo (with friends and another family) and I highly recommend them although I haven't personally used them yet. They have amazing reviews and their customer service was phenomenal. In Villefranche that will likely be the only port we use DCL for but definitely use what you are most comfortable with but also compare prices and options with independent tour operators too.

Go explore the world and take advantage of the Med, for sure I would ask your son if anything interests him, is there something he really wants to see? Kids have all kids of awesome ideas and although it's not too educational, lol, after we do all our "educational items", my son said he wants to tour the Camp Nou soccer stadium in Barcelona before our cruise so we'll do that. We aren't even FC Barcelona fans (we love Bayern Munich) but it's something he wants to do so we'll incorporate that too.

Have fun planning!
Heather

That's so awesome and hope y'all have a great cruise this summer!! Europe literally changed my life the first time I went! This will be my fourth trip and I can't wait!! My husband is a little worried our son may be bored by the excursions and everything but I don't think he will! It's important like you said to expose your kids to other cultures and I know these memories will stick with him!!

 

[Anna Chassereau]

Unlike the Caribbean, where the experience does not vary a lot from cruiser to cruiser, a Mediterranean cruise can be as varied (and costly) as you want it to be. My son is 6 and loves castles, stories of kings and queens, churches, old cities, etc. We brought him to Europe from the time he was 4mo and always implicate him in the places we visit. If your kid is similar in his interests, a European cruise is extraordinary because every day, there's a different city to explore, different foods to try, etc. We did the Norwegian fjords cruise last year and he loved every second of it, from the castle in Copenhagen to the brown cheese made by hand on a farm in the back country.

If you want to stay on the ship or go to beaches, you'll get beautiful views but an experience quite similar to a regular Caribbean cruise.

That's so awesome you've taken your son and that he appreciates it so much!! What amazing experiences he's had! The Norwegian fords cruise is on my bucket list too!!

We're definitely not stay on the ship kind of people...we love exploring ports and love how port intensive the European cruises are!

I'm also with you on booking through DCL...do you recommend any particular excursion through DCL for the Mediterranean? Thanks for all your advice!

 

[aggiedog]

Regarding DCL vs other excursions, we did the DCL Baltic cruise last year. We did 2 DCL excursions and 2 I arranged thru companies found on TripAdvisor. I figured I'd hedge our bets on which would be better. For our family of 8 (dh and I, four kids ages 11-16, and a set of grandparents) we all agreed the non-DCL excursions were much, much better. Nothing against DCL, but the private tours allowed us to: maximize our time in port - we met the guide right after we arrived in port and always got back 60 minutes prior to sailing. Our DCL excursions seemed to waste time - like leaving 2 hours after getting into port - not enough time to go out and get back again, then finish with just not enough time to do anything else. We could maximize our time at any location - with a 50 person bus full of cruisers, even going to the bathroom takes forever - with 8 of us we could get up close and personal with the sights for as long as we wanted. We had the guide all to ourselves to ask questions. We were able to tailor tours to our interests, and take breaks if the kids were tired. And to top it off, the private tours were often half the cost of the DCL tours. If you don't have a large enough family to make private tours significantly cheaper, many companies will arrange smaller group tours and plug you into one.

I understand why folks use ship excursions, particularly the fear of not making it back to the ship, but if you do your homework and find reputable companies you should be fine. They do not benefit from customers missing the ship either, in this day of internet reviews. You can check cruisecritic port boards for feedback on companies as well.

Enjoy Europe! Our kids are great travelers, and I think seeing so much of the world has really influenced who they are as people. It's been wonderful seeing the world with them.

 

[algae]

We've been on Med sailings twice with 2 different cruise lines. Based on what we saw on both sailings, definitely use the cruise excursions. There are some things that non-cruise operators cannot control--like traffic. Traffic around Rome is very unpredictable, well, actually, it's predictably horrible and can just get ridiculously horrible without notice. We've had traffic delays to the tune of a couple hours where the ship literally waited for our bus because it was DCL. We've seen non-DCL people get left behind. Now, if the next stop is Italy, it's easy to just drive to the next port and probably get there before the ship does, but who wants to deal with that? We also saw people at the Venice airport once who missed their ship and had to try to get airfare to the next port. The problem was that their passports were on the ship(!) Not good.

 

[Anna Chassereau]

Regarding DCL vs other excursions, we did the DCL Baltic cruise last year. We did 2 DCL excursions and 2 I arranged thru companies found on TripAdvisor. I figured I'd hedge our bets on which would be better. For our family of 8 (dh and I, four kids ages 11-16, and a set of grandparents) we all agreed the non-DCL excursions were much, much better. Nothing against DCL, but the private tours allowed us to: maximize our time in port - we met the guide right after we arrived in port and always got back 60 minutes prior to sailing. Our DCL excursions seemed to waste time - like leaving 2 hours after getting into port - not enough time to go out and get back again, then finish with just not enough time to do anything else. We could maximize our time at any location - with a 50 person bus full of cruisers, even going to the bathroom takes forever - with 8 of us we could get up close and personal with the sights for as long as we wanted. We had the guide all to ourselves to ask questions. We were able to tailor tours to our interests, and take breaks if the kids were tired. And to top it off, the private tours were often half the cost of the DCL tours. If you don't have a large enough family to make private tours significantly cheaper, many companies will arrange smaller group tours and plug you into one.

I understand why folks use ship excursions, particularly the fear of not making it back to the ship, but if you do your homework and find reputable companies you should be fine. They do not benefit from customers missing the ship either, in this day of internet reviews. You can check cruisecritic port boards for feedback on companies as well.

Enjoy Europe! Our kids are great travelers, and I think seeing so much of the world has really influenced who they are as people. It's been wonderful seeing the world with them.

Fantastic advice and great points made!! Definitely something to think about!! What tour companies did you use? Maybe they offer something in the Mediterranean...

 

[Anna Chassereau]

We've been on Med sailings twice with 2 different cruise lines. Based on what we saw on both sailings, definitely use the cruise excursions. There are some things that non-cruise operators cannot control--like traffic. Traffic around Rome is very unpredictable, well, actually, it's predictably horrible and can just get ridiculously horrible without notice. We've had traffic delays to the tune of a couple hours where the ship literally waited for our bus because it was DCL. We've seen non-DCL people get left behind. Now, if the next stop is Italy, it's easy to just drive to the next port and probably get there before the ship does, but who wants to deal with that? We also saw people at the Venice airport once who missed their ship and had to try to get airfare to the next port. The problem was that their passports were on the ship(!) Not good.

OMG!! That's awful! I would hate to have to deal with that on vacation!

 

[aggiedog]

The companies we used were specific to Northern Europe, so it won't help you. Cruisecritic has lots of good info. There's a ton of good reviews for Rome in Limo http://www.romeinlimo.com We will most likely use them for some of the tours for our upcoming med cruise (on MSC not DCL.)

I can vouch for traffic in Rome. It's awful. We experienced that in Stockholm, on a DCL tour. The downside was the giant tour bus was limited to where and how it could get thru traffic. A small van has better options.

 

[gotomu212]

We've done Europe with our son when he was 2 and when he was 5 with DCL. I think it's a great way to tour with younger kids because you don't have to pack and unpack all their stuff and you know that you'll get a breakfast and dinner that is familiar to kids (disclaimer we are big proponents of trying the local food and really enjoy that part of traveling but we were aware that our 2 year old might not have the same sense of adventure for Scandinavian or Russian food). Knowing we had access to familiar food if needed made us more comfortable.

The big difference with other itineraries is that the port days can be much, much longer. We had an 9 hour excursion that became a 11 hour excursion with traffic. Our approach was that our son just needed to buck up and handle the long days, but I will say 3 straight days of Italian ports with 7+ hours of touring started to wear on him. Other friends on the cruise handled the situation by planning an adult only excursion day in the middle of the cruise and left the kids in the Clubs for a fun day. There are a lot of kids left onboard during the European cruises (compared to other ports).

Because it was so port intensive, we did skip more of the onboard nightly shows and dinner was a little more low key. We were there for the ports though and didn't mind, but did notice the difference.

 

[o&smom]

Our son had just turned 7 on our first Med cruise with Disney. We also had our daughter who was only 3 mos at the time. We did another Med cruise when they were 9 and 3. We have aALL enjoyed these cruises! One thing we try to do is plan our days more with the kids in mind and alternate long, busy days with shorter less intense days. If it were just my husband and myself, we would have chosen different port adventures in some ports, but we chose things that would be fun for all of us. This will be a great experience for you and your son. Happy cruising!

 

[Anna Chassereau]

Thank you to everyone for their replies and advice!!

One thing that makes me nervous is the flight...this will be our son's first flight and it will be 8 hours. Am I insane for doing this for his first flight?!

 

[Marc D]

Thank you to everyone for their replies and advice!!

One thing that makes me nervous is the flight...this will be our son's first flight and it will be 8 hours. Am I insane for doing this for his first flight?!

2-4 yo are the bad years for flying. They can't tell you how they feel in a clear manner and sometimes can't control their emotions. At 7yo, you'll should be fine. It is, after all, the safest mode of transport. If he gets nervous, that info plus a couple of movies should do the trick.

 

[Anna Chassereau]

2-4 yo are the bad years for flying. They can't tell you how they feel in a clear manner and sometimes can't control their emotions. At 7yo, you'll should be fine. It is, after all, the safest mode of transport. If he gets nervous, that info plus a couple of movies should do the trick.

I agree and also our son couldn't sit still for long periods at that age! Im also planning on packing his backpack with a bunch of coloring books/little activities to keep him busy...and crossing fingers he'll sleep some!

 

[mrsp1030]

We have a DCL cruise scheduled for this August with our 3 boys. I have been doing all the research and planning online and looking at trip advisor reviews to for the excursions. Italy is the one place where I truly feel you can find options for trips that will be much cheaper and easier than the DCL ones. Right now we have a private driver booked for both Rome and the Livorno port and will probably use DCL for the Villefranche and Naples ports if we choose. We are debating about whether or not to leave our kids on the ship but they with a private driver I feel there is a little more flexibility, for example, we already said if the kids get tired, we can just go eat gelato all day!!! I am excited as we have lived in Europe with our oldest but the other two have not been!