Advice on family cruises with teen & older kid

[PenelopeChipShop]

Hi just looking for advice from those who have done cruises with older kids. Mine are 14 and 10 currently, both will have a birthday before next summer. I’m a single parent but used to travelling alone with them, in some ways I think this sounds a fairly ‘easy’ holiday (and that’s what I want!)

They both like the idea of ‘living on a boat’ and on more traditional holidays we’ve done half-day boat trips of different kinds which they’ve loved, it’s been the highlight for them. I think we’d all love this but I don’t know where to start in terms of which companies are best and how to search school hols only?

We don’t especially want to do Disney, I think they’re both too old now for obviously kiddie-themed things. Youngest is autistic and not into loud noise (we probs wouldn’t do the evening shows) but loves pools, hot tubs, slides and copes well if I’m there and she gets enough quiet time.

I’d be open to any location really, would like to see anywhere Scandinavian in particular but honestly I quite like the balance of ‘At sea’ days (where you chill and swim in the pool?) and having a day in a totally new place.

Anyone done anything with kids that age that was great you can recommend, or even just tell me the best liners for families? Can I get a cabin big enough for all 3 of us to share or would I need 2 next-door rooms (we’ve always shared so far in hotels). Is it rough if you sail from Southampton? How do you know if you’d be sea sick if you’ve never done it? Thank you!

We first cruised in 2022 and it was the most amazing experience. We absolutely loved the onboard service and entertainment and exploring ports each day. Our teens had the best time and made some lovely friends. Since then, the ships have become busier and that can mean a bit more chaotic scene on sea days and more teens running loose!
However, it really is amazing value for money - a sit down meal or two each day and buffet lunch with delicious food and fantastic entertainment.
The Mediterranean cruise from Southampton to Cadiz, Malaga, Alicante, Barcelona, Lisbon etc was our favourite although we have also done Canary Islands, one starting from Barcelona, which went to Italy and Malta and a Northern Europe cruise to Hamburg, zebrugge etc.
Cabins are for 4 people generally. The balcony cabins have a double bed or twin and bunk beds, so a cabin for 3 would be no problem.

The Norwegian Fjords cruises are usually for 7 nights from Southampton & stunning. If you could stretch to a balcony, there's nothing like sitting outside with a cup of coffee at 4am sailing up a fjord as the kids sleep inside.

P&O Iona sails there weekly in the dummer and is very family friendly. It tends to be a little less full on than (say) Disney, NCI or Royal Caribbean, but take a look at a bunch of ships to see what you like the look now (& can afford).

If you're unsure, Hayes Travel are experts and have branches on many high streets, to talk things through. Their prices would be as good as booking independently as they can outline all the hidden costs.

Brilliant tips thank you, I love the sound of the Spain/Portugal one. @MarthaMore one person told me that if you go from Southampton it’s very rough over the Bay of Biscay and that it’s better to fly to somewhere in Europe so the sea is smoother (I have been seasick before so just slightly nervous it will get me if it’s choppy). Did you find that or was it ok? I know it obviously depends on the weather but trying to make sure I do my research properly so we can just relax….

The pools are very small and packed on sea days. I’ve not done one with the slides etc.

You can share a cabin - two in a double bed and one on a sofa bed (we did four in a cabin!)

We’ve done two med cruises and enjoyed them both. Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. I preferred Celebrity.

The sailings in the med are very smooth.

We cruised for the first time this year. Went to the Norwegian fjords with p&o on Iona. It was amazing! Stunning scenery. Beautiful stops. Loads of activities and places to eat on the ship. Cabin had a sofa bed and a pull down bunk bed plus double bed for adults. We had a balcony and it was lovely. Kids club area has PS5’s, there’s football training, a cinema onboard etc. so plenty for older kids to enjoy.

We have only had one slightly rocky bay of biscay crossing and it was during the night so pretty much slept through it and it really wasn’t too bad. My daughter gets travel sick so was worried the first time we went, but had no problems at all - it’s very different to going on a ferry.

We did a Norwegian Fjords cruise last year and it was an amazing family holiday. We were on Iona with P&O which was obviously busy in the school holidays but very family friendly.

There are kids clubs split into different ages - my 10 year old loved that age group as they had table tennis, Lego, PlayStations and would also do activities like movie quiz’s and DJ’ing to keep it interesting. The teen club was similar with the things to do but it’s an open club, giving teens the freedom to come and go as they please. I think they would go to the club to make friends and then you’d see small groups of teens wandering around the shop together and hanging out in the buffet areas.

There were various activities on during the day plus a cinema onboard which mine loved the novelty of. Plenty of shows, music and discos in the evening. There’s also a sports deck plus a few pools. Honestly there was too much for us to see and do with the two sea days we had.

If you go from Southampton you can park right next to the ferry making it such an easy embarkation and disembarkation process (the whole thing is smoother and quicker than airport). You also have unlimited baggage without a plane involved which was super helpful for us as Norway has very similar mixed weather to the UK.

If you did go with Norway then there are some great excursions and every port we stopped at felt completely different which was nice. Hiking glaciers, bike rides, rafting, Viking villages, quiet afternoon just mooching around a town. If you go to Stavanger then don’t miss out on the Petroleum Musuem, sounds boring but genuinely one of the best museums we have been to - just be sure to watch the film in the cinema room first to put it all into perspective.

You will have to share a cabin as your Dc are too young to have their own cabin. Many P+O cruises go from Malta and include the air fares too so you don’t need to book flights separately. School holiday cruises get booked up fairly quickly -so start looking now!

Oh and a few family members were worried about sea sickness as they suffer terribly on ferries but were not ill at all!

If you get to pick your cabin location then I believe middle and a little lower is best to feel the least amount of ‘movement’.

Sea crossings that are problematic are where there’s swell. It pushes the boat from side to side whilst it’s going forward so it’s a corkscrew type movement and the boat lurches! Standard waves don’t do this. We have encountered swell in the North Sea en route to Norway and in the Caribbean Sea. So you just don’t know what you might get. We use patches and have been ok but the North Sea crossing was on a small ship with stabilizers and it wasn’t great. Had a similar experience in Iceland last summer, but again on a small boat.

The bigger ships have less sea issues but there’s thousands of you going ashore and trips are expensive and most get you back for lunch. It’s AI on board! We found clubs for dc ok but not sure your DD will appreciate the fun and noise if she doesn’t like a show. It could all be too much. We greatly preferred other holidays where we felt less herded.

Great things: No effort iro meals, drinks etc, cabins defo on offer for families (fairly small though when 3 or 4), kids clubs, and they gravitate to each other in some good hang out spaces, you can do a smaller cruise for just a couple of days to see how you feel about it (check out seascanner). Was a bit worried about it being noisy / full of drunk all-inclusives, but actually not an issue. Plenty of people do not want the drinks. Great if you have non-sea days in a port because you can get off an wander around for a while, but check out those locations (for example Rome is not in Rome, and Marseille is hard work) Cruising is more casual now so no need to dress up to the nines.
Bad things: If you are doing the main dining rooms at night, you could be put with others (i.e won't necessarily be on a table for 3, and it is quite an "adult" surrounding - although you can always bin this off and just do buffet, or ask, they maybe sympathetic - we just take what we get, and have had shared dining half the time and alone dining half the time), pools etc. are fairly small. Breakfast is like a zoo at times, busy, noisy and confusing. The sea can be rough. I have only been on six cruises, and two had rough waters, not terrible, but enough to make me want to stay in cabin. The entertainment can be quite noisy at night, but never so much that there are not quieter places to be, or head to cabin.
Getting on and off can be a bit stressful, but we had a good experience at Southampton.

We have cruised quite a lot, two years ago we went with P&O to the Baltics which was amazing, plenty of things onboard to do for your kids, they can be as busy or as quite as they want. The stops were all so good, amazing countries, lots of history along side good shopping, boat trips , food etc.
Highly recommend.

Is it true you have pay for alcholic drinks and you are pressured to pay for nicer meals rather than buffet?

I’m also a single parent and I took my two kids who were aged 12 and 5 at the time on the P&O Iona Norway cruise last year and we had a great time. There was plenty to do on board though my kids just wanted to go in the pools everyday even though they weren’t particularly exciting! My youngest went to the kids club which was really good and there was a teen club too. We had a cabin for 3 people which consisted of a double bed and a sofa bed which was fine for us.
Ive booked another cruise for next year - a royal carribean one going to France and Spain, think im a cruise convert now!

Different lines have different deck activities so carefully research those. Also when comparing pricing some include tips, some even include all drinks whereas some include neither so that initial lower price maybe misleading. American based lines tend to add more extras and if you book direct from the American operation it will have taxes, port fees etc to add. If you sail from Southampton it means no flights. 3rd person in a room is economical

They aren’t as good on the pools side but a good entry level Norwegian cruise is p&o, tips included, drinks are uk pub prices.

I’ve done a few - Alaska being my all time favourite but the flights were pricey. NCL is the best for our family setup. Did Norwegian fjords with Royal Carribean last year and loved the destination hated the ship. It wasn’t for me but I know so many people who loved it. It was summer holidays, insanely busy. Queue for everything, not enough seats in any of the venues. They sell fasttrack for the attractions and unless you have it you just queued for only one turn then back of the queue. Its a noisy ship and my asd daughter struggled so ended up in our cabin. She did love the organised trips though and we all loved seeing a different destination each day. Id recommend it but research - look at the reviews and work out if it would work fir your family.

@oldFoolMe We were in Norway this summer and saw the queues! I cannot see why anyone would see this as a good holiday. It’s inevitable with 5000 people on some ships though.

Alaska is not quiet when the big ships disgorge all the passengers in one small port either. Some of the excursions are very expensive and we’ve seen whale watching trips for cruise ships breaking rules about disturbing the animals to get thrills for the passengers. I’d be careful about this too as it’s unethical.

Yes that’s true, speaking to the locals they relied on the massive influx of cruise passengers to survive. True or not i don’t know. Yes some of the excursions are extortionate, both Alaska and Norway are very expensive. But you don’t have to do them. One of my favourite days was wandering around and finding a stream with spawning salmon. In Norway we hiked to the waterfalls - all free and outstandingly beautiful. We did pay for some excursions too and its important to take into consideration what feels ethical for you. I hate zoo’s, I’d rather see wildlife in is natural environment than caged in but in an ideal world no wildlife should be disturbed.

I’d really like to do a cruise around Iceland. I like that all the food and soft drinks are included so it’s easier to budget for somewhere that’s expensive to eat out. Then you can budget for excursions if you want to.