Poll: What would you do?

[Anna Chassereau]

We've been on two Disney cruises...one 4 night on the Dream and a 7 night Western on the Fantasy. We're trying to decide on our 3rd cruise...I REALLY want to do the Med or Norwegian Fjords on the Magic for our 10th anniversary summer 2020. Our son will be almost 9 at the time.

My husband has agreed but is nervous he will be miserable the whole time and won't have fun at all since we'll be sightseeing/seeing so much history and things he "won't understand" in his words. He's agreed to do it he's just nervous and worried about it.

I think our son will get so much out of this trip and I plan to educate him on each place we're going before hand and also pick not so intense all day long port adventures...I'm hoping to schedule half day port adventures and possibly even skip a port to enjoy the boat one day. I'm going to try to make it as kid friendly as I can.

Would you take your almost 9 year old on a European cruise?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We've been on two Disney cruises...one 4 night on the Dream and a 7 night Western on the Fantasy. We're trying to decide on our 3rd cruise...I REALLY want to do the Med or Norwegian Fjords on the Magic for our 10th anniversary summer 2020. Our son will be almost 9 at the time.

My husband has agreed but is nervous he will be miserable the whole time and won't have fun at all since we'll be sightseeing/seeing so much history and things he "won't understand" in his words. He's agreed to do it he's just nervous and worried about it.

I think our son will get so much out of this trip and I plan to educate him on each place we're going before hand and also pick not so intense all day long port adventures...I'm hoping to schedule half day port adventures and possibly even skip a port to enjoy the boat one day. I'm going to try to make it as kid friendly as I can.

Would you take your almost 9 year old on a European cruise?

Yes.

 

[CamColt]

For me, personally, no I wouldn't. My kids (now adults) loved cruising with Disney and the highlight for many years was the kid's club. I had to drag them to get off the ship with us most times. They would have been just as happy with all sea days, or even if the ship just sat in PC for a week, LOL! The ports were never a highlight for them. With that said it sounds like your DS may get something more out of the ports and like you really want to do this particular itinerary. You know your DS best and it sounds like you have the right idea in planning with him and keeping it on his level too, not just about what you want to get out of it. In that case, if you think the cost would be worth it for the experience, I would say go for it.

 

[WishUponAStarryNight]

Yes! I’m planning to book a 2020 Danube River Cruise through ABD. DS will be 9. I showed him videos and he’s all in. Perhaps you can do the same for yours.

As an aside, the river cruises port near the center of town, so excursions are generally much closer to the ship. True, there are no characters, kids clubs or big shows, but might be worth looking at. They’re pricey, but so is the Med on DCL, especially after you factor in the cost of excursions, which are included on the river cruises.

Happy sailing!

 

[bobbiwoz]

I am not sure your husband wants to go. Find something you and he can look forward to, then think of your son.

 

[hcox31]

9 year old? yes. My 9year old is curious about places and history so he would love it. I personally wouldn't take any younger than that on a European one. Europe is on our radar for when both of my kids will be over age 9/10. A few years to go for that still unfortunately

 

[Anna Chassereau]

Yes! I’m planning to book a 2020 Danube River Cruise through ABD. DS will be 9. I showed him videos and he’s all in. Perhaps you can do the same for yours.

As an aside, the river cruises port near the center of town, so excursions are generally much closer to the ship. True, there are no characters, kids clubs or big shows, but might be worth looking at. They’re pricey, but so is the Med on DCL, especially after you factor in the cost of excursions, which are included on the river cruises.

Happy sailing!

This is a thought for sure!! I've looked at the ABD river cruises and they look amazing...I just wonder if he'd miss the kids clubs and meeting the characters ect. but I do love that the excursions are included in the price!

 

[Anna Chassereau]

I am not sure your husband wants to go. Find something you and he can look forward to, then think of your son.

He does want to go...he's just worried our son will be bored. He wants to see these places himself though

 

[WishUponAStarryNight]

This is a thought for sure!! I've looked at the ABD river cruises and they look amazing...I just wonder if he'd miss the kids clubs and meeting the characters ect. but I do love that the excursions are included in the price!

My son isn’t a huge fan of the chaos of the kids clubs, so the idea of a few kids his age he can hang out with for a week works better for him. Good luck with your decision. I don’t think you can go wrong either way!

 

[bobbiwoz]

He does want to go...he's just worried our son will be bored. He wants to see these places himself though

Oh..I understand now. Well, I would definitely plan on the cruise.

 

[lklgoodman]

What does your son say about it? I would love to do any of those cruises, but my 10 yr old would absolutely hate it. She's not at all interested in historical sites so it would be a waste of money for us to take her on that kind of cruise. We'll go once she's in college.☺ I have always loved history. When I was a kid my vacations were always going to historical sites and I loved it. Try to find some videos on youtube of some excursions. Show them to your ds and see what he says.

 

[Karin1984]

It depends on the child, of course hard to say 1,5 years from now. But is your kid into investigating things? Do you take him to museums and historical sites now? Also it could be a compromise, many European cities have next to their history, also things to do for children. If you google a certain destination in combination with children like "Barcelona with children", you will find lots of things that are more aimed at children/families. Half day sightseeing and historic sights, other half aimed at your son.

And I say, definitely check with your son, children sometimes surprise you.

 

[TestingH2O]

We took newly 6 year old DD this summer. She loved it! Gaudi architecture in Barcelona is amazing. Pompeii was hot but she was super interested in seeing how people lived. She also loved Pisa.

We didn't take her on the full day in Rome, but she would have been fine with out tour guide.

We saw lots of tours with bored, wilting kids. I'd say you should avoid the big tours with headsets etc. Try to book independent so that you have one-on-one interactions and can control your itenerary.

 

[Anna Chassereau]

What does your son say about it? I would love to do any of those cruises, but my 10 yr old would absolutely hate it. She's not at all interested in historical sites so it would be a waste of money for us to take her on that kind of cruise. We'll go once she's in college.☺ I have always loved history. When I was a kid my vacations were always going to historical sites and I loved it. Try to find some videos on youtube of some excursions. Show them to your ds and see what he says.

I've talked to him about it and showed him some of the places we might go and he said he's totally down and would love it...he basically loves traveling so he'd love to go to any new place honestly!

 

[Anna Chassereau]

It depends on the child, of course hard to say 1,5 years from now. But is your kid into investigating things? Do you take him to museums and historical sites now? Also it could be a compromise, many European cities have next to their history, also things to do for children. If you google a certain destination in combination with children like "Barcelona with children", you will find lots of things that are more aimed at children/families. Half day sightseeing and historic sights, other half aimed at your son.

And I say, definitely check with your son, children sometimes surprise you.

Yes we go to museums and historical sites now and he enjoys it! We just went to NYC and went to several museums and he did great...I've seen several scavenger hunt books in Amazin for European cities...I definitely think we'll do something like that for the city we leave from!

 

[Anna Chassereau]

We took newly 6 year old DD this summer. She loved it! Gaudi architecture in Barcelona is amazing. Pompeii was hot but she was super interested in seeing how people lived. She also loved Pisa.

We didn't take her on the full day in Rome, but she would have been fine with out tour guide.

We saw lots of tours with bored, wilting kids. I'd say you should avoid the big tours with headsets etc. Try to book independent so that you have one-on-one interactions and can control your itenerary.

That's so awesome she enjoyed it!! Pompeii is definitely on my list of places I hope we get to see! Yes I'm definitely planning on booking our excursions carefully and trying not to book long ones or over do it!

 

[Ladybugx87]

Absolutely! My 8year old has been all over the world with us including the Northern Europe cruise and loved it. We even took our now 4 year old when she was just 2.5. She won’t remember it but she certainly enjoyed seeing all the different places and being along for the ride.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

Make it an educational adventure. Start now with maps of the places you will visit, then go into some history. If your DS shows an interest in your lessons, the worry may be reduced.

 

[braysmommy]

My son turned 8 on our Med cruise. He loved the Magic Treehouse series and the one on Mt. Vesuvius was one of his favorites and also happened to be his birthday. We researched a lot ahead of time and he loved every port stop. The Med is a very busy itinerary so we were happy we had done the transatlantic over to enjoy the ship and relax.

 

[ScooterScott44]

This is not a problem in my mind. DS was 4 on the EBPC and remembers parts of that one. We did the the Norway
/Iceland when he was 7 (and a half). He remembers that one pretty well and talks about some events from that cruise. Occasionally when we talk history or geography he will associate to things from countries we have visited.