Cruise with 22 month old from Florida - tips please!

[jalu47]

We're going to Florida for October half term with wider family but staying an extra week and considering a 4/5 night cruise with our son who will be 22 months. Never done a cruise before but think it could be really good value, rather than an extra week, with car and all the accommodation, eating out etc. Also interested in some of the kids activities that may make an extra week without family easier without do self catering etc!

Any tips on which cruise liners are better for kids and also on size of cabins etc - worried that it will feel really small with a travel cot etc?

Seems like most don't have an option for any drop off childcare under 3 - not a major issue as we don't want to ditch him - but one or two hours here or there might be nice if any is available. Hard to navigate some of the facilities, seems they don't want to commit to what is definitely available on each ship.

Appreciate any general experience sharing or things to watch out for.

Currently available cruises that seem to fit the dates are maybe with Royal Caribbean or MSC..

This is a good website www.cruisecritic.co.uk/ and there is a section in there about first time cruisers.

www.cruisecritic.co.uk/articles.cfm?ID=6914 is about a dad's first time cruising with his infant child.

Honestly don't bother. They really are not geared up for children of that age. You would have a much nicer time in a hotel the pools are tiny and over crowded.
Very few activities for very young children. Plus the restaurants are generally quite posh so may be difficult with a toddler. (there is always a self service one too )

Unless it was geared towards young families (Like a Disney cruise), I honestly couldn’t think of anything worse.

Dining, entertainment and keeping them safely occupied would just be a bollocks.

@maddy68 @FirstFallopians have you been on one with a child?

@AttilaTheMeerkat thanks so much that's really useful

Cruises won’t let kids in the pool unless they’re toilet trained, but some will have a splash area. Lots out of Florida will have a day on a private island - I’d definitely look out for that. Disney cruises are the obvious choice