Has anyone ever taken kids on a P&O Cruise?

[mistletoe]

I'm thinking of booking the Oriana for either June or Sept. DS is 5 (will be 6 in Sept.).
We're drawn by the kids club, so we can have a couple of hours to ourselves now and then.
Just wanted some views really.

I've never been on a P&O cruise, but I've been on a couple of others. You say they have a kids club, and in that case I would definitely recommend a cruise holiday. We went on a cruise a month ago and my 5 year old couldn't get enough of the kids club. They did all sorts of fun activities.

Thanks Kate, I'm really wanting to go, and will probably book.

Anyone else got any views, now the Christmas rush is over?

I went on a cruise 2 years ago with my 5month old and it was great,even though there was no kids club for her but at theat age she slept all the time in the heat. Also in the evening she slept in her bugy while we ate dinner and went to the bar! How old is your child/children? The ship was not as classy as the Oriana so I'm sure it will be wonderful

Sorry just read the ages! I'm sure you will love it

Mistletoe? have you booked/gone in the cruise already? I would like to know your opinions about the experience (had just booked one myself but I have lots and lots of how-to-do questions

bump

row row row the boat.....

OK Forget about P&O... any cruise??? just want to know what can I expect would be the trip like for a 2 yr old

Hi, it's me, Mistletoe was my Christmas name.....

Anyway we've booked, to go in Sept. and I'm really looking forward to it. I think ds will love the kids club, and apparently P&O do shore excursions designed to suit children, so we might do one of those, pioneer on our own perhaps for the other ports of call.

Mind you, it looks like dh might be about to lose his job. I'm determined we're going tho'.

Hi Easy

We have also booked for September (oceana) but still don't know how things work for children or what's best when travelling with them.

Do you know what is better, to choose dinner at 6:30 or 8:30, we chose 6:30 thinking DS will be coming but then I saw somewhere on their site that children normally don't attend dinners. And have started to wonder if we should have selected the 8:30 option to have some time with DS (and also some time to change after excursions).

Another doubt I have is how do they fit a cot in such small spaces (as you may imagine we are not travelling in a suite . I'm a bit worried that they give us a cot similar to those in the flights as DS won't fit.

Have been rinign them all the morning but line is engaged...

P.S. Good luck to your husband, hope everything turns fine for him

Chandra, we have opted for dinner at 8:30, aiming to get ds in bed before we go (cabin listening service). Otherwise the kids club is open until 10:00 so he could stay in there if plan A doesn't work. Yours is younger I believe, they'll settle toddlers in the night nursery, I think until 1:00 a.m. so I'd think that later dinner would be better.

We are planning to take ds into the Bistro restaurant for dinner on a few nights, and miss formal dinner ourselves (not on special evenings tho')

TBH I'm more concerned about sharing a cabin with ds. We have never all slept in the same room before, and dh and I have seperate beds aboard, cos you can't have a double with a bunk above (ds's bed). I'm trying to persuade ds to sleep in the dark at the moment.

Hmmm Oceana in September. The Canaries by any chance? OMG, a mumsnet cruise.

P & O 's website has a forum, why not ask on there?

Thanks Easy

I'm not able to login into the forums because lovely DH misplaced the reference number. Hope I manage to get through the customers service phone one of these days.

Are we on the same cruise? (would be fun, the first off-shore mumsnet meet-up)..

About the bunkbed... we asked for a cot as I don't imagine DS being able to sleep upthere without falling down, though my escape plan in case there were no cots available was to place the mattress of the bunkbed on the floor (if it fits).

Oceana, Canaries, departs 19th Sept?

If that's yours then yep, we're on the same cruise.

BTW ds will be 6 by the time we travel, a cot is no option

Nope, departing on the 2nd for the Mediterranean , I come back on the 16, if you have still have any questions by then, don't hesitate to CAT me

The security issue of having a double AND bunkbeds is that if somebody falls from the bunk lands on top of you and you would also hit your head against it trying to get out of bed, but from what I have seen, the double is just the two twins together with the night tables pushed to the sides so, if you are not using the bunkbed I supose the risk disapears. Wonder if there's space in the floor for the mattress, we have done it in ferries before as DS moves so much that he can't sleep nor do we if sharing a bed. Besides... he sleepwalks!

Cruising with kids is FANTASTIC!!! The children all seem to love the childrens club and they can eat there too if you/they don't want to have formal meals in the restaurant. Our children are now 17 and 12 and they still love cruises - even if the cabin is a squash with all 4 of us. And dh and I have to go without any nooky for the duration!!
We haven't been with P and O - but I expect they are even better than Norwegian CL that we have used.

Thanks for that Redsky. I'm really looking forward to it.

We were going to go on the oriana canaries cruise in nov/dec because the kids were free and it was quite cheap - kids clubs look great, they keep them from 9am to 2am Too poor to go now, maybe next year.