Toddlers And Cruising

My little boy Alfie was 2 when we took him on his first cruise holiday, and there were a couple of main factors as to why we chose the cruise we did. We had recently travelled to Cuba on a  land holiday which was amazing but the 2 main factors that let the holiday down in regards to Alfie was the food options and also the return flight as of course this is always overnight from the Caribbean and it was pretty tough! So we through a cruise will give us great food choices, plus if we take the transatlantic we only have 1 flight to take and we can sail back to Southampton knocking out that return evening flight.

So we settled on the Britannia, Barbados to Southampton Transatlantic. I have always been a huge fan of P&O cruises so they were again my first choice when taking Alfie.

Plus points onboard, Yes the food was great for Alfie just as we hoped, we had a table just for the 3 of us because of course who really wants to share when you have a 2 year old you never know what kind of tantrum they may pull! There was fantastic kids menu and whatever Alfie wanted, even if it wasn’t on the menu the waiters made it happen and every night our highchair was ready and waiting at the table for us. We were seated next to another family who also had a 2 year old child, im sure P&O did this on purpose maybe and looked at the seating plans before hand but this was brilliant for us as we all had something in common, i.e a toddler with us and we became holiday friends.

Another point was the cabin, we opted for a restricted view balcony with sofa and again what a great choice, we didnt want an upper berth so the sofa was great and turned into a double size bed which the cabin steward set up every night for us, perfect.

Childrens clubs on P&O start form 2 years , which if i am honest can be a little young, the facilities were super, lots on offer and even a small soft play area inside the kids clubs too, we did sign Alfie up and he went maybe twice for an hour tops but he wasnt to happy being away from us so we decided to not send him again, but if your little one is more confident this would be a fantastic option to give mums and dads a well deserved break whilst onboard.

There were a few kids mini disco style activities which were in one of the show lounges earlier in the day not the normal 7-8pm as you would find on a  land based holiday, they were maybe 4pm- 5pm and were a great addition too.

Would I recommend cruising with a 2 year old? Absolutely!  Just do your research, make sure you pick the right ship for you and your child’s needs, dont worry that your child is going to be noisy, they will probably have the odd tantrum or even projectile vomit in the dining room as ours did, there toddlers its going to happen and on a family friendly ship they are geared up for all ages and all off the passengers onboard know they are sailing on a  family friendly ship and are aware there will be babys, toddlers and children cruising with them too, go book your cruise you will have a blast!