Hubby and I with my two year old would like to go on a cruise ship holiday
Now I don't know where to begin looking
Who has been on one and can give me some recommendations to what company to go with
We are from Sydney so was hoping a 7 night holiday will do
Secondly are they kid safe seeing my son has hit his terrible twos or should I go with my husband alone
This is good advice.
If you want to depart and return Sydney, your options will be very limited. Probably best to consider combining with flights.
Thankyou for that, good site 👌
"Secondly are they kid safe"
All ships are deadly places and definitely not where a child should be left to roam alone. Sadly some parents do this.
Yeah.. i know you would not let your 2y/o roam, just saying.
It is the best holiday IMO. For children focused cruises I would be looking at Carnival line.
lol his not going anywhere out of my sight
So maybe I should drop into a travel agency and see what route around the islands is best
If you can do a 14 day cruise I recommend going out to Fiji.
I would of loved to but I can only go short trip for now
Maybe if I choose to go again I will definitely go longer :)
You can avoid flying with a 2 year old and do a round trip out of Sydney (sailing in and out of the harbour is pretty good). Unless you want to go to the Mediterranean or something, South Pacific or NZ are great cruise destinations particularly with young kids. Most cruise ships have supervised kids clubs where you can drop your son off, to play socialise with other kids etc. Cruise ships are very safe there are people and CCTV everywhere, just don't dangle him over the edge.
7 nights is a good amount of time for a first voyage. 7 nights will get you from Sydney to New Caledonia, Port Vila and a smaller South Pacific island, hopefully where you can snorkel, and 10 nights will get you to a fourth port. 14 will get you to Fiji and back and 12-14 all the way around NZ. Doesn't matter which way round you go.
P&O has a mixture of families, oldies and young party people, it's cheap, about 3 star. They have two newish ships that might be worth a look
Carnival is attractive to families - water slides, rock climbing walls etc heaps of kids
Princess, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity offer about 4 star service and are mostly populated by older people, retirees classic cruisers
Just google company names and go to their sites, there are some cruise aggregator sites that offer cheaper rates however if you ask, most companies beat them either with reduced fare or onboard credit.
Anything under $100 pp per day is pretty good. Expect to pay more in school holidays of course.
Just some routine tips:
The front 1/3 of the ship is rockiest, the back 1/3 is medium, the middle 1/3 is mild
Try get a balcony room and leave the door open at sea while you sleep
Dine in the main restaurant 90% of the time
Wait until the last day to buy all your discounted photos
Don't use lifts when you can, helps burn calories
Take your own Soft Drinks
Do your own tours, don't use the cruise ships they're overpriced
Onboard duty free is also overpriced
If you are prone to get seasick see a GP or pharmacist before you go for travelcalm tabs
Get travel insurance
Be prepared for PCD when you get home :-)
loved all your information thankyou
Will look into the P&O
And carnival
As for rooms I will definitely go balcony in the middle
Timing to travel will be feb-march so weather should be great to travel around those islands
I have sailed royal carribean out of Singapore and p&o out of Sydney and I wouldn't recommend p&o in the slightest. I would recommend a cheap last minute cruise out of Sydney to the pacific islands. Doesn't really matter where. If you can, wait until November and a few last minute cheap cruises should start to pop up. It did last year and I nabbed a fairly cheap cruise to the south pacific.
Whatever you do, avoid a cabin at the front of the ship. Middle to rear is best in rough seas.
@Laila82:
Don't recommend the trips that just go from Sydney and back with no stops. Those are just filler cruises so the stuff isn't so great. So minimum is around 7-10 nights to go to the island nations to the northeast.
Fantastic holiday for you to have with a kid.
We went p&o and loved it. Departing Sydney the South Pacific cruises are cheap and usually around 8 nights.
There's a kids play room that even for youngsters is good, free during the day and they can babysit at night for a charge. The staff watching them were so lovely and the kids loved it. We left them there a couple of hours a day when at sea just to get a time out ourselves.
Also great fun in the cruise ship pools. P&o had a few. One adults only, another mixed and then a paddle pool. So much fun, our kids slept really well and not having to cook or clean made it a superb relaxing time. 2 is quite going to get much out of the shore visits but a swim and play on the beaches is always nice. The waters on the South Pacific islands are stunning.
So just out of curiosity how much am I looking at with my son day for a 7-8night trip with balcony view
Doesn't need to be correct figure:)
We got ours $399pp twin share 8 nights
Not likely to get a price like that with balcony…
Sorry didn't see balcony in their comment.
Not sure I would want a balcony view anyway with a kid, for safety reasons. Plus we were never in the room.
@Hoju:
With some of the newer ships, they pretty much only have balconies. That or the very bottom floor, or else just interior rooms.
@ATangk:
Yeh we were interior.
Actually perfect. Meant room was dark and quiet, kids slept the best they ever have
Check out Cruise 1st they have some very good deals mostly from Sydney,I found cruise critic a difficult sight mostly aimed at Americans.Google is also very helpful at finding deals andreviews of diferent cruises.
I worked for Carnival many years ago. They have Camp Carnival which is like daycare, most parents dump their kids there for most of the cruise.
go to www.cruisecritic.com and ask your questions there. There is an Australian cruisers forum, and plenty of information for you to read and ask questions of very experienced cruisers.