Hello Lingling,
We have a 2yr daughter and are thinking of Caribbean cruise this thanksgiving. Would you like give us some suggestion such as,
1. which itinerary is better for the first time Caribbean cruise, east or west?
2. which ship line is better for family with little girl?
Thanks.
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Hi,
Thank you for contacting me for your cruise. To answer your questions:
1. Western or Eastern Caribbean.
Princess 7-day Eastern Caribbean Itinerary Princess 7-day Western Caribbean Itinerary
As you can see from the itinerary, eastern Caribbean islands tend to be smaller and closer, so you will spend less time to sail (the days that you are on the sea) but more time to go shopping and beaches. But note the options of shore excursions tend to be fewer.
On the contrary, western Caribbean islands (Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Bahamas, etc) are bigger and further away from Florida, so you will spend more time (compare to Eastern) on the sea. Meanwhile, you will have variety of shore excursions to select other than shopping and typical beach activities. And water quality tends to be better.
For first-time cruisers, although you will get great experience from either itinerary, I probably would recommend Western Caribbean cruise as it's more like a traditional cruise experience - you are on the sea, away from the crowed cities. and you can have more choices when it comes to shore excursions if you do want to go ashore.
That's also part of the reasons why we took Western Caribbean last March. We met many families repeated taking the same itinerary (each year!). Of course, we will do eastern/south/north Caribbean later.
2. Which cruise line(s) for family with 2-year-old little girl?
One thing that you might already know, the free childcare services (it's not totally free as you need to pay some money each day for like $ 10 per day, but it's really nominal fee) on most cruiselines start at age 3. That means you will either have to pay for childcare, or take them with you, or leave them at home with grandparents.
Having said that, let me recommend the following to actually overcome this and still have a good time:
Choose Disney or Princess. Disney will be my first
recommendation as it's been constantly and consistently ranked as THE
most family-friendly cruise. They have a nursery services which you pay
around $ 6.00 per hour but it's really great services and the
facilities are fantastic!
One unique thing about Disney is that they don't have Casinos, so the cruisers for Disney are mostly families with kids (especially young kids) which provides a great environment for you and your child. Note that because of this - and all the Disney-type entertainment programs - Disney cruises tend to be priced higher than average cruises as Casino income is an important on-board revenue for cruises.
Princess is also wonderful for kids - you can see from my travel blog :-) - but most importantly, among all the travel agent community ( and I am in a network of over 600 professional travel agents ), Princess has been constantly ranked as a very good cruise line for families. Princess is also famous for great food and high quality entertainment programs among large-size ships (defined as over 1000 passengers). But the price point of Princess is lower than that of Disney.
Get a group of multiple families with kids at the same age.
If you have other friends who also have kids at age 2 or below 3, call them and invite them to join you for a group cruise.
Not only will you get a good deal - group rate - but also you guys can
share childcare responsibilities while moms can go shopping, dads are
taking care of the kids ( or dads go to late night shows, moms watching
the kids ) - or one family is taking care of the kids for one day at a
time.
Let me know if this helps. I will be more than happy to help your questions or booking (early booking discount/group rate can save up to 20%).
Lingling | lingling@hilaya.com | 604-375-0398
