Cruise - is this a ridiculous idea...?

[Babynamechangerr]

OK, so I have 3 dc under 5, including a young baby.

The idea of taking a flight anywhere next year just fills me with horror, so I am trying to think of a holiday that doesn't limit us to being in the UK.

For those who have been on one, would this work for a family like ours? I'm thinking of the ones that go from Southampton / Dover and sail to somewhere hotter without involving any flights.

What companies should I be looking at which offer good value? I can't stay in an internal room as I have claustrophobia, I'd have to have a room with an outside window.

Thanks for any advice.

We have done loads about 14 I think, first took the kids aged about 3 and 5 most ships cater for kids and do it well.
Royal Carribean, Celebrity, Holland America, Princess, Thompsons, / Tuei, are good vale but ships are older. I personally wouldn't touch P&O as we have been twice it was grubby and very poor service.
If you get on with the Inlaws or other relatives go together as it helps with child minding etc, although most ships have excellent kids clubs, the usually had a better time than we did! They even feed them in a kids club while you have your dinner.
Plant the ports well in advance so you know what you are doing, some are not worth getting off at, but some are so easy just a stroll in to the local town. Cruse critic is a good source of info.
We have done Southampton and flying only disadvantage of Southampton is the weather can be poor for 4-6 days until you get in to the med

We love cruising but have never taken kids , we haveva family member who has 3 children ranging from 9 down to 1 and they love it
You will need to find out what cruises leave from Southampton going where you want to go and when you want to go and then compare them .visit cruise critic boards they have a different forum for each cruise line

Look at other ports as well - if S & D are reachable how about Tilbury? We sailed with CMV from there.

Thanks for the advice, I'm glad to hear this isn't a completely stupid idea.

I'll check out cruise critic as well.

It would be interesting to know what the average price is, as from having a quick look some of the ones I've looked at have been ridiculously high prices?

Yes can look at other ports in the south east, only mentioned Southampton / Dover as seemed to be the main options.

Also is there one company that's better for families or small children? Looked at Disney but was stupidly expensive so that's out.

Also how does the pricing work, am I going to get charged the same for a 2 and 5 year old as an adult...? When I look online there's always a per person price.

If you leave from a uk port then you’re restricted too either Norway (fjords) or channel ports. If not you’ll be at sea for quite a while to get to Lisbon and then maybe Gibraltar/Morocco depending on the length of the cruise

I’d check out the ports carefully before booking

Yes I appreciate that going from the UK is very limited, I was disappointed at hoe uninspiring it was, but if we fly elsewhere they defeats the objective of not having to fly anywhere.

I'm not seeing much come up within a remotely doable budget at the moment, so probably not possible anyway.

Do you have another adult or just you and the children? Under five so you can do out of season?

They do charge less for children but there are limited places for each age group of children due to childcare ratios in the clubs. So unfortunately last minute discounts are probably out.

The younger children won’t remember it and the five year old won’t remember a lot of it. So pick a ship/itinerary that suits you.
If you love the idea of sunbathing you’ll need a med cruise after May but won’t need a massive ship ( balcony’s are fabulous), If you think you might like lots of easy onboard activities and not have to go ashore with the kids don’t do P&O but one of the bigger American ships.

Tips and drinks add up. P&O let you bring your own bottles aboard at the start to drink in the cabin ( soft and alcoholic) but most ships don’t. Otherwise you’ll get fruit juice at specified times but only drinking water free, be warned. You can op out of tips but you’ll have to queue and do it in person on most ships.

Also plan ports carefully. Some you can off easily - Villefranche Sur Mer has tender boats but you are straight into a small harbour village ( ok for buggies) with a good beach for the kids. A free port call. Naples is a massive dockyard requiring a bus to get out of it before you even start.

What about a ferry over to Jersey? They have crossings in June for less than £250 and driving in on the left/ signs in English.
Plenty of places to stay for the children, nice zoo, castles, beaches.
Not glamorous but then it’s a phase. Flying will be easier after a few years,

Yes the price is per person and please don't forget Gratuities and drinks both of which bump up the cost of the cruise

We have enjoyed cruising and love seeing families on cruises as long as you keep them in sight 24/7 or in then"kids clubs" then you will be safe as houses. Princess do med cruises from Southampton but if your looking at a budget holiday? Cruising won't be for you, also you need to consider stateroom layouts and being able to fit in enough beds as they are SMALL unless you have a suite and you may not fancy all sleeping in Bunks as we have seen several families do. It's also a fair bit more expensive to have windows and balconies ( balconies may not be safe for small children due to climbing risk)
But research and you may find something you fancy....our next 2 we are saving for are a Transatlantic and a full Panama Canal traverse but that's a few years away

From the UK you can go to the Baltic which is lovely.

Definitely check out cruise critic. We've only been on Royal Caribbean so can't comment on the other cruise lines but I would recommend them for families with young children. The facilities are amazing and they offer kids clubs and crèche so that the grown ups get a chance for a break if they want it.

RC only has one ship from Southampton this year which is disappointing but there are other cruise lines.
Re sailing from Southampton - it takes a couple of days to get to the Med but we use that time winding down and getting to know the ship and there is always plenty to keep everyone entertained.
Usually when booking a cabin for more than 4 passengers you would need to call up or use a travel agent.

Watching with interest.

We have done 3 with celebrity ( Spanish med , Canaries , and Norwegian fjords )

It’s usually a day at sea ( on the way there and the way back )

But , it’s the first day of the holiday and there’s loads to do on board
Our children were older , and had great fun in the kids club ( we hardly saw them )

I’d recommend having a look online , then going into a travel agent , and speaking to someone who knows about cruises , and can advise you
In my experience , they’ll match the online price anyway

Why not get Eurostar to the continent? Then you have a huge range of options on the European rail network.

I’d leave it a few years to be honest. Or take grandparents to help.

The baby will be too young for the kids club.

Kids club is only good if your kids are happy to go there.

Supervising on ship can be stressful.

We did one with a 2 and 5 year old and found that a bit stressful. The next time was so much better when they were 5 and 8, we all loved it.

Also. A bit like flights, cruise prices go up and down a lot. Sometimes prices are ridiculously high and sometimes they are an absolute steal. There is no formula for knowing when the bargains are about. One thing Royal Caribbean will do if the price you have paid for your cruise goes down - they will drop the price of yours to match the current price. You just need to ring them and ask. However, this only works if the deal is exactly the same and you are comparing like for like. We have saved quite a bit of money this way but you do need to check prices all the time and be prepared to accept that there is no guarantee prices will drop.

I've been on a 5 cruise now but not with children, although my friend has several times . When I did and initially search years ago they seemed astronomical, so I didn't bother until a friend off my mum helped her get us good deal. Look for a specialist travel agent online such as cruise nation ( that's a hays travel brand), iglu cruise etc I have used both of these. They will email good deals etc. Eg free drinks/ on board credit/ free parking / no tips. Not sure how the cabin would work as can usually have up to four in a cabin but don't think from what my friend said there would be room for a cot for baby? Maybe wrong on this. Can get two interconnecting cabins or suites tho so should be totally possible. Lots of choice on cruise line - royal Caribbean, ncl, princess, p and o etc maybe avoid the smaller older ships fredolsen, cruise maritime as they are more suited to older people imho. I did MSC this year and loved it but people can be snobbish about it. Most reckon Celebrity and princess as a bit nicer than RCI/ P and O/NCl.

We cruise every year. There will be special offers of the US ships like Princess, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity where they do the 3rd and 4th person in a cabin are free. We have booked those in the past.

Someone mentioned no room for a cot - the steward will remove coffee tables and chairs etc to fit the cot in each night and put them back in the morning.
Also someone mentioned that if you see the cruise cheaper then they will drop the price. This only happens if you are a USA customer. They get price drops. In the UK we don’t. It’s one of the unfair things between the US/UK bookings.
Love cruising!

2 under 2 here. We went on our first family cruise in 2019 having previously been pre kids. We chose P&O in April and went to Portugal and the Canary Islands on the Ventura. I can highly recommend it. It was lovely. They have a kids club and a night nursery for the under 4s. Bloody brilliant.

We are going again this year on the Britannia for 2 weeks in May. Can't wait!!

Previously we had cruised on princess and carnival. I wouldn't go with carnival again. We loved princess. P&O are fine with kids. They wouldn't be my first choice without as I don't think the service is that great compared to others I've been on. I do like that it's all in Sterling though which is miles better when the exchange rate is on its arse.

Room wise we had a superior deluxe balcony. In April I think we paid about £3,300 in total for 12nights. Our parking was included and we got some on board spend. Kids were £1 each on that cruise.

This time it's about £1k more for this cruise. We are going for longer and the kids were £100 each this time. We have more obc and parking inc. Its a bigger ship. I'm hoping it's lovely!

Also @Ohidontknow99, I can confirm first hand that after doing a self catering holiday the year before and almost going Berserk at doing the same shit as at home but just in the sun, it was an absolute dream to pull up at Southampton cruise port and have someone take all of our luggage. Check in was a breeze and we were on the ship in 30 mins. Bloody brilliant. Honestly. You will not regret it. My youngest was too young for kids club last time but could go as long as we stayed. It didn't matter at all. We all had a great time.

This year I'm hoping to wave them off at kids club for a couple of hours a day!

Thanks everyone. Tbh whilst some people have obviously made a success of it with young children I don't think it's right for us now.

I can't find anything remotely affordable (I'm not on a really tight budget, I feel £3-3.5k for about 10 days should be plenty for a short haul holiday) and thinking through the logistics of being on a boat whfn you've got a bolting toddler is going to be particularly relaxing. I'm not sure I can be bothered with tips and being screwed everytime you want to drink something other than tap water either.

I wish there was an easy holiday solution that wasn't staying in the UK!

Thanks for the suggestions ellobrian and leflic re interailing / Channel Islands. Funnily enough I had considered the channel Islands (would prefer somewhere with better weather odds but options limited), so may look further into that. Rail option I can't think of anywhere I'd like to go (other than euro Disney) and realistically we'd have to take too much stuff for that to be realistic.

Thanks for the advice though, I think a cruise is something to revisit in a few years time.

If a cruise isn’t going to work what about a ferry to France or Spain? If you can take the car you can take as much stuff as you need. You can also get ferries to the Netherlands and Belgium, although the weather might not be as good.

Plenty of hotels you can book direct. Or if you want self catering you could look at the likes of Eurocamp - some sites do cottages and chalets as well.

Or look at center Parcs abroad as they are significantly cheaper than the U.K. ones.

Babynamechangerr I think you are right. You have a decent holiday budget but that’s a drop in the ocean () for a cruise especially when the children won’t get the most out of it.

I know you didn’t want to fly but Southampton to Jersy is literally only half an hour. They come round with the snack trolley and then immediately come round again to collect the rubbish before landing! The car park is right next to the terminal so about as easy as flying gets. Your older one will find it exciting too I guess.

I wouldn’t stay longer than a week in Jersey though.

Does it have to be a family holiday?

Have a look at Vacations to go. Great site with lots of amazing deals. They are American, but very good and have reduced when prices drop after deposit and matched new drinks offers etc