Which European trip is the best for 10-12 yrs old?

[PolyNeverGirl]

We have been on Caribbean and Alaska cruises with Disney when my kids were young so the best selling point obviously was the kids club and all the characters walking around. Now they are 5th grade and 7th grade and I am thinking to plan for an Europe excursion for some culture enrichment. But I am not exactly sure which route is the best for the first timer in Europe. I would expect the experiences on the ship would be very similar to all other Disney sailing? Curious to see what other members feedback as the excursion experiences onshore. Thank you in advance.

 

[lcarter0922]

We took our kids on a transatlantic that stopped in Azores, London, Stonehenge, Amsterdam and Copenhagen. My kids were 11 and 12 and they loved it and it is one of their favorite cruise out of 10. Second fav was Panama Canal.

 

[mousefan73]

my opinion on cruising Europe is that if your focus is the med most itineraries either start in Barcelona or Civitavecchia ( which is “Rome” ). Based on my experiences Rome as a one day port stop is Simply not fun, too stressful, too expensive for private tours( as a private tour and driver is really the only way to see much in a short time). Barcelona, granted a city That also deserves more than one day, is actually doable in one day for the main sites. ) The ship actually docs right by the city. Rome is not a port city.

Sorry to ramble but ideally starting in Rome pre-or post cruise there a few days would be my recommendation. Also do your research on other ports because many “cities” that are listed as a Port’s stop are actually hours away from the ship. Example Le Havre is “Paris” but Is a 3 to 4 hour transfer each way. For me doesn’t sound like a fun way to travel.

 

[fgaini]

Which season? If summer I would go in the southern mediterranean to enjoy the sea. If spring or autumn northern area is also nice

 

[Karin1984]

I would start with their interests. When it comes to cultural experiences, what do they find interesting. More social history, food & drinks, architecture, etc. Sometimes children have very specific preferences from a young age.
My own experience was that when my parents involved me in chosing an activity on holiday, chances were much higher that I enjoyed myself (and not ruin it for the others ;-) )

For what it's worth, also in my experience, in the Northern European countries, the level of English is better than in Southern Europe. In case something does happen, and you get separated by accident.

 

[jrabbit]

I really really loved our Med Cruises - we have visited a LOT of very interesting cities / sites. And we also spent a week in Rome / Florence / Venice before our first Med Cruise.

That being said, I think that the Northern Europe (rt Dover to St Petersburg) cruise was more interesting ... and since we did both in the summer, we were able to actually do more in the north than in the Med because the med in July / August is HOT and HUMID and physically draining. Northern Europe has a lots of Castles, Awesome Churches, museums, walkable cities and walled cities (Tallinn - we had an amazing 1/2 day... could have been there longer). If they are at all interested in those things, then either Baltic or Med will be great.

 

[laceltris3]

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[PolyNeverGirl]

I really really loved our Med Cruises - we have visited a LOT of very interesting cities / sites. And we also spent a week in Rome / Florence / Venice before our first Med Cruise.

That being said, I think that the Northern Europe (rt Dover to St Petersburg) cruise was more interesting ... and since we did both in the summer, we were able to actually do more in the north than in the Med because the med in July / August is HOT and HUMID and physically draining. Northern Europe has a lots of Castles, Awesome Churches, museums, walkable cities and walled cities (Tallinn - we had an amazing 1/2 day... could have been there longer). If they are at all interested in those things, then either Baltic or Med will be great.

Good to know about the weather considerations! thx!

 

[PolyNeverGirl]

Which season? If summer I would go in the southern mediterranean to enjoy the sea. If spring or autumn northern area is also nice

Has to be summer when they are out if school. So the point of weather conditions is definitely going to be part of our decision making process. Thank you!

 

[dcassetta]

If your kids enjoyed Alaska, the northern Europe cruises have similar kinds of outdoor and nature excursions, plus castles.

 

[msmama]

Our first European cruise was Norway/Iceland/Scotland and it was AMAZING!! The scenery was gorgeous, the seas were rough for about 24 hours (which the captain warned us about beforehand) and there was a good mix of sea days and port days. My son was probably 9 at the time if memory serves (somewhere between 8-10). Since it was roundtrip from Dover, we flew in to London early to get used to the time change and then after we took the train to Paris and spend a few days in Paris and then went to Disney Paris. I liked it because with a still youngish child, it was mostly English speaking/reading so I thought it'd be less stressful on me (single mom).

Next summer we're scheduled for b2b Transatlantic and Med cruises. The Med worries me because it's SO port heavy, and most of what we want to see is far from the port. Like an above poster said, cramming EVERYTHING into a few hours in Rome, sounds unpleasant, but I'm going to do it anyway, lol. It's going to be a week of Go-Go-Go! which isn't really my thing, but I figure after all the sea days of the Transatlantic we'll be okay (my son is 13 now, so can handle it).

Really, it's not the ideal way of visiting the Med, I don't think, but if the pandemic taught me anything, it's that I should do what I can, when I can. Hopefully I'll get back there some day, but if I don't, well...at least the cruise gets me something.

 

[PolyNeverGirl]

Our first European cruise was Norway/Iceland/Scotland and it was AMAZING!! The scenery was gorgeous, the seas were rough for about 24 hours (which the captain warned us about beforehand) and there was a good mix of sea days and port days. My son was probably 9 at the time if memory serves (somewhere between 8-10). Since it was roundtrip from Dover, we flew in to London early to get used to the time change and then after we took the train to Paris and spend a few days in Paris and then went to Disney Paris. I liked it because with a still youngish child, it was mostly English speaking/reading so I thought it'd be less stressful on me (single mom).

Next summer we're scheduled for b2b Transatlantic and Med cruises. The Med worries me because it's SO port heavy, and most of what we want to see is far from the port. Like an above poster said, cramming EVERYTHING into a few hours in Rome, sounds unpleasant, but I'm going to do it anyway, lol. It's going to be a week of Go-Go-Go! which isn't really my thing, but I figure after all the sea days of the Transatlantic we'll be okay (my son is 13 now, so can handle it).

Really, it's not the ideal way of visiting the Med, I don't think, but if the pandemic taught me anything, it's that I should do what I can, when I can. Hopefully I'll get back there some day, but if I don't, well...at least the cruise gets me something.

Love your notion “Do what I can when I can!” I am a single mom too. Great job!

 

[Mommb]

I agree that the Baltic is a better choice than the Mediterranean for pre-teens, since it takes less time to get to most interesting sites. The Med has a lot of cool sites but requires long drives/rides to get to them.

The Vasa museum in Stockholm (a ship that sank in the early 1600s and was raised mostly intact in the 1950s) was probably my kids’ favorite stop on any of our cruises.

 

[jrabbit]

I agree that the Baltic is a better choice than the Mediterranean for pre-teens, since it takes less time to get to most interesting sites. The Med has a lot of cool sites but requires long drives/rides to get to them.

The Vasa museum in Stockholm (a ship that sank in the early 1600s and was raised mostly intact in the 1950s) was probably my kids’ favorite stop on any of our cruises.

We unfortunately did NOT go to either the Vasa or the ABBA museums while in Stockholm - those are for next time ... there WILL be a next time ... right?!!!.

We did an excursion to the royal palace and then a boat ride. We had several hours in the afternoon free and could have gotten to those museums if we had pre planned for it. We did not know that they had a shuttle from the port to the "center of town" until it was too late.

RE: Rome

- it wasn't built in a day and you can't see it in a day. I have an uncle that has visited Rome for over 2 months scattered over many different trips. People ask "Why do you keep going back?" and his response is "I have not seen it yet". For a one day trip to Rome, there are lots of hard decisions. Mostly about what NOT to see.
I my opinion:

• St. Peters - YES, Vatican Museum - only if you can get "front of the line tickets" Sistine Chapple (we saw it shortly after it was restored and ... just look at the picture in a book / online ... is NOT the space its all of the rude / disrespectful people)
• Colosseum - YES
• Roman Forum - YES ... and that just about completes your day.
• Other great places to visit - too many to list ...
  • Pantheon and if you're there then Piazza Navona - and the Four Rivers Fountain
  • Borghese Gallery / Museum - great statues
  • Castle St Angelo (near St. Peter's) ... pretty cool fortress (and talked about in one of Dan Brown's other books)
• Not so great (unless its important to you) places
  • Trevi Fountain
  • Spanish Steps

Obviously this is a very short list. We spent 3 days exploring + a port day and had 4 guided walking tours. We want to go back and see more that we did with our first trip there.

 

[Marthasor]

We did B2B DCL Magic cruises to Norway/Iceland/Scotland with DS when he was around that age and they were incredible. As others have mentioned, the weather in Northern Europe during the summer is ideal for cruising - not too hot, but still warm enough to tour and, on some days (at least on our cruise), it was warm enough to swim. I, personally, would not cruise the Med in the summer - it's so hot.

 

[KatieKepic]

We did Northern Europe (Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Stavanger) from Dover with our then 9 & 11 year olds and it was perfect for them and their ages. We flew in early and did not quite 2 weeks on land (London, Edinburgh, Brussels & Paris) and then the week on the ship. We tried to balance their interests and also get some history in. One of the things we did that I highly recommend is having the kids read and learn about where you're going. The Who Is/Where is/What is was a great series for us as well as Hey Kids Let's Visit. We also found graphic novels of The Diary of Anne Frank and Hamilton. They also watched YouTube videos. They each made a list of places they wanted to visits and things they wanted to see and we tried to incorporate as many as possible. It was fun to see what they came up with and let them help plan. We told them that they may not like everything we were doing as we were trying to get everyone's wants in but they had to be respectful so everyone else could enjoy it. It was a great first experience in Europe for them and we're currently planning our next trip

As far as on the ship, ours had some unique character meet & greats we didn't get on our Caribbean/Bahamas/Baja cruises (i.e. Cinderella with Perla & Suzy, Minnie & Mickey together, the 7 classic characters all together) and they also had fun European outfits. Since we did Northern Europe, we didn't have pirate night or fireworks but had a Freezing the Night away deck party instead. The character breakfast is also the classic characters instead of the Disney Jr.

 

[Intr3pid]

DCL's Baltic cruise remains our kids' favorite. We are talking teens/tweens of their time. They made cruise friends who they stay in touch with till today. Enough sea days to enjoy the ship and hang out with friends, and plenty of interesting ports to tour with the family.

SPB and Stockholm were must-do, but kids had the most fun in Fredericia - a port close to the home of Lego. Disney organized port festivities inviting pretty much the entire town over - including the local school that early-dismissed the kids so they could see us off. Check out the official video:

 

[flipflop]

We took our kids on the Norway, Iceland, Scotland cruise when they were 12 (we have 4 kids the same age - second marriage). That was our first time going ex-US. It was a perfect first overseas trip. We all enjoyed it and still talk about it. Our kids are now 16. What was nice about it for that age is that it is a lot of outside activities as opposed to a lot of museums and churches. We took them on the Baltic cruise when they were 13/14 - slightly older and more tolerant and interested in the historic sites, etc. Both started for us out of Copenhagen and our kids are now Tivoli ride experts .

As others have mentioned, the weather in the baltic/north sea is milder than the med. during the summer.

 

[Karin1984]

Not so great (unless its important to you) places

• Trevi Fountain

I agree, that Trevi fountain might not be a thing for kids, but to me, I could spend hours staring at it It's so incredibly beautiful!

 

[JulyMomOf1]

Love your notion “Do what I can when I can!” I am a single mom too. Great job!

Hello from another fellow single mom! My son is 9. I'm happy you asked this question as I was also wondering as we are looking to book a European cruise during summer 2023 (he'll be 10 turning 11 at that time).