Cruise with Kids?

[cruiseadviceplease]

Hi, I'm after some advice please. I'm a single mum with 3 teens. After years of doing the usual European holidays (Canaries, Balearics, etc) I'm looking for something a bit different.

They all want/like different things. To sum up a variety of what they would like, these sorts of things have been mentioned... markets, culture, hikes, swimming pools! I can't necessarily fit it all in. I thought Morocco could meet these criteria but none of us love extreme heat and this needs to happen in the school summer holidays in July/August. I also have one ASD child with fairly extreme food restrictions (otherwise very high functioning and happy to travel around and experience new things).

So I suddenly thought a cruise might fit lot of these criteria. Somewhere that is warm but not too hot and has various stop offs. Along with buffet meals where there will always be reliable plain food options for my tricky-to-feed DC.

I've had a brief look online but the cruise holiday world is completely new to me. One thing I'm sure of is that all my DC hate kids clubs so that sort of family cruise isn't necessary.

I am UK based but could fly elsewhere in Europe for the departure destination. I've read that some companies offer discounts or free places for kids. Can anywhere advise if this sounds do-able or where I should start looking please? Thanks!

It's worth getting in touch with a cruise specialist travel agents like Bolsover. They deal with pretty much all the major cruise companies and will be able to advise you on routes, deals etc. Assuming you are all OK to share a cabin, (twin beds, sofa bed and pull down over the top of the sofa bed), you might be able to get a pretty good price.

Swimming pools on most ships are pretty small, more for cooling off then swimming although lots do have water slides. Anthem of the Seas (Royal Caribbean) has a good pool
setup.

A cruise could work, yes however you’ll need some sort of idea on what you want to get started. We always start with where we would like to visit. As an example, our last cruise centred around Barcelona for DS birthday (Nou Camp trip) and Portofino as a bucket list for me (very expensive coffee harbour side!). Our next cruise is Norway and a specific trip to a glacier.

Once we have that worked out we look at who is sailing there, what size of ship etc. Our preferred cruise line is Royal Caribbean. Norway we are going with Ambassador. Previous sailings have been MSC.

This might be a time to involve the kids. Ask them to research destinations, places they’d like to see, then work out your cruise line.

Cruise lines vary widely. You get good ones and bad ones but just because I wouldn’t do a cruise line like Marella doesn’t mean it wouldn’t work for you.

Do you have any idea where you want to go? Don’t limit yourself to UK sailings as you can lose a couple of days just crossing the water.

I would also recommend Royal Caribbean, we sailed with them in December with a 14 year old and a 2 year old, we had the best holiday. Something for everyone to do all the time. They have a Social 100 club for teenagers, my daughter made loads of new friends and was out with them more than us!!

Look at Royal Carribean or MSC if your kids don't like teen clubs.

P&O, Princess and Cunard would be no good for kids if they don't want kids clubs.

I personally with teens would go Royal Carribean. We have done 1 with them and it was fantastic. MSC has very mixed reviews and it's a love it or hate it brand. They are more suited to the European market and can be very very crowded.

Thank you so much everyone for taking the time to respond. Masses of advice and loads to research. All hugely appreciated!