Cruises - Johnson City,TN

Try a Royal Caribbean cruise to the Bahamas. We LOVED it! Our daughter was 9 months old when we did this one and we had a great time. Great food, great entertainment, and great sites!

We also did a Carnival to Mexico and it was a total "party ship". We didn't care for it AT ALL! And our daughter was 3 1/2 at the time and HATED Camp Carnival. Our son was 6 months for this cruise.

One suggestion. Don't book any excursions ahead of time. We found that out after our first cruise. It's much cheaper to WAIT till you get to the stop and then book things OFF the boat! That way, you're not paying the cruise ship for their "share" in the sale.

Your daughter will have a blast with you! Our kids were NEVER bored on the cruises and neither were we!

What an awesome idea!
My parents live on the west coast and took a cruise to Alaska. They LOVED it.
They also tried a cruise that took them through the Panama Canal, also loved it.
The best one yet would be the one that took them all over the Mediterranean. They stopped in Greece, Italy, Turkey, Albania, etc. Passengers are given time to get off the ship for a daily excursion package put together by the cruise.
I guess it depends on how much money and time you can spare. FYI: Get your PASSPORTS asap. They can take up to 8 weeks! I know of a couple that had paid for a week vacation in Europe that couldn't go because their passports weren't ready in time. Talk about a real bummer!
Wherever you decide to go, have a great time and take lots of pictures!!

S.,
For Kids activities - go with Carnival! Our kids LOVED the kids areas when we took them - at the time they were 3 and 5.

We have now gone on 2 Carnival cruises, loved them both. We are not big "party" people either, and we loved all the options for entertainment. MOST of the activities on board are family friendly, and the ones that are not are indicated.

Have fun!
T.

j

I've been on both. I would say (in my experience) that Royal Carribean is a little less of a "party" boat. Are you able to do a Disney Cruise? That is much more family/child friendly, but it does cost more.
As for destinations, I'm reading a lot about not so great issues within Mexico. I know a few cruise lines (Disney included) have taken some Mexican stops/ports out of their itinerary.
If you are able, a travel agent is a great avenue for booking a cruise. They can really help answer a lot of questions and they can help with the excursion choices and such.
My biggest tip is if you plan to do a spa day, you will need to book that right away. I actually book mine the minute I walk onto the ship- even before I go to my room.
Have fun!
R.

My husband and I just took our 3rd cruise on Royal Carribeans Monarch of the Seas for our 4th Anniversary. It was under $700 for 4 days and 3 nights for the 2 of us. We LOVE Royal Carribean! We did not take our 3yr old daughter but were very impressed at all the activities we saw the kids doing on board. Royal Carribean has the perfect family atmosphere and the are soo easy to book online! I can't say enough about them....we are already in the process of planning our 4th cruise!

If you are open to other suggestions, we took a Celebrity Cruise last spring with our 5 year old daughter and we all had a great time. I have been on Carnival and Royal Caribbean and I think Celebrity was much better. Even my husband (who hates cruises) had a good time. My daughter loved the kids activities. So much in fact I could almost never get her back to the room. We had several nights my husband and I could have some time on our own while she did the kids activities. It was a much more laid-back experience than the others, but they did have some group-party activities if you wanted to participate.

I haven't been on either, but my sister has done Carnival. Carnival has Camp Carnival which is great for kids. However, the problem with Carnival is that is the most affordable cruise line so you do get a lot of younger partiers. If it were me, I would look into Royal Carribean and see what they have to offer your kid. Most cruise lines have babysitting if that is something you are interested in too, just in case your parents don't go.

We love Norwegian Cruise Lines and they do have a large kids camp area (although we didn't bring our kids with us so can't say first-hand what it's like ... did hear the loud kids in there having fun, though). Fancy pool with a water slide.

What we like about NCL over other cruise lines is that they're all casual -- very limited dress code restrictions, so no worries about buying formal wear you'll never wear again or wearing a dress to dinner. Also, you can sit where you want for meals (no assigned seating), at which restaurant you want and when you want. Just show up when you're hungry. No racing back from shore excursions to get there for your assigned meal time at the set restaurant. I hate that with other cruise lines. You only need a set dinner time for reservations at the pay-extra restaurants.

We loved Alaska but honestly there isn't much there for young kids. We knew our kids would have been bored to tears. Not sure what Disney has planned up there to keep kids entertained on shore now that they're going up there.

If you haven't found this site already, try cruisecritic.com. They have extensive articles and message boards that can be really helpful in choosing the right cruise line, itinerary and for answering questions about your particular ship.

Have fun!