AIBU to wonder how I am supposed to entertain 2 small children on a 10-hour ferry crossing?

[Spearshake]

We are booked onto a 10-hour ferry trip from England to France. Going is fine (night crossing) so hoping the kids will sleep. Coming back though, is a 10-hour daytime crossing and I am not sure I can handle 10 hours stuck on a boat with a 6 and 3 year old. Once we have 'explored the boat' (30 minutes), what else is there to do? Seriously? colouring books, reading books, I-spy, playing cards, erm...then what?

We have cabins for our trip. Booked about 6 months in advance and we got the last one for one crossing. So book early!

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I#ve said this on similar threads but my mum did something similar with me and my brother - we were a bit older and in a car so we had A4 manila envelopes with a list on - if/when we saw something on the list we could open one of the parcels.

OP

Maybe not for the younger one but for the older one this could work, make it things on the boat or that can be seen from the boat. Depending on the route - another ferry, an anchor, a gas/oil rig or wind farm, cinema etc etc.

At this time of year there will be hundreds of other children to play with too.

You will be amazed how much time just flies - watching other cars come on board/waving goodbye to France will take 30 mins at least. Then there's finding your cabin (if you get one) and exploring the ship - will take longer than you anticipate. Plus 'who can spot England first' can be eked out a fair while. Enjoy!

We just did the St Malo- Portsmouth crossing this week so I thought it might be useful to see the entertainment leaflet... there's loads to do!
A day cabin is also really handy though.

We'll be in the same situation soon with a 5yo and 3yo. We did the same journey two years ago and it felt very long. There is a soft play area but it is quite small and I felt a bit seasick. A day cabin is good if you need a rest. I plan to take their tablets so they can watch programmes or play games, do colouring, read books and wander around the boat.

Day cabin and there's usually a silent disco and entertainer.

Personally I'd change the return crossing to Cherbourg fast crossing though. That's what we've done this year. Usually do Caen (always with a cabin) but are giving Cherbourg a go. We always do overnight to St Malo but I don't fancy doing the same hours in the day time!

Thanks all! After all that worry, the tickets have all sold out so we are going by Le Shuttle. Quite a bit cheaper so we can stop overnight if we want to, rather than try to drive 6 hours all in one day. (although now the dilemma is how to not go nuts with 2 small children bickering in the back of the car!!)

French motorways have little stops (Aires) every 5 - 10km where you can get out to stretch legs and use the facilities. Obviously you wouldn't stop at all of them, but nor do you need to make a decision about stopping at a services 30 miles away vs 60 miles away.