Bermuda Cruise w/ 2 toddlers?

DH was planning on taking me away for my 40th! I was looking into cruises from NY to Bermuda. I told him we had the option of a 5 or 7 day & he said if we're going away for that long we should bring the kids (which I'd love to do).

YET, now questioning what size room we'd need to be comfortable

&

if we'd be paying full price for a 14 month old & 3 year old.

We're looking at either the Norwegian Dawn for 7 days (we were on this ship b4 but not w/ kids)

&
Royal Carribean Explorer of the Seas

Any comments/reviews, etc. re: traveling w/ little ones would be great.

Also, on RC, how would you do the dining room...do you sit w/ another family w/ kids?

Re: Bermuda Cruise w/ 2 toddlers?

RC all the way...soooo much better than NCL ! I felt the food, service, entertainment on RC were all superior to the same on NCL!

never cruised with my children (yet) so dont have any tips there! but good luck!

Re: Bermuda Cruise w/ 2 toddlers?

We are doing a 7 day cruise to Bermuda on Celebrity out of Port Liberty, NJ with both kids and the rest of our family. 12 people in total. NCL has a kids fare. I think but am not 100% sure it is $99 plus port charges for a child under 2. For RCL/X you are charged the $399 plus port charges per child as you would be for any adult as a 3rd or 4th person in a room. I like the 7 day cruise because I feel like to much of the cruise would be on the ship for a 5 day cruise.

Re: Bermuda Cruise w/ 2 toddlers?

WE are going on RC Explorer of the seas 9 day cruise at the end of June. I wrote about it on another post the other day... We are very excited.

I would look to see if you can get a suite--- there is a full bathroom with tub in it.

From what I have heard it is very very kid friendly..

Re: Bermuda Cruise w/ 2 toddlers?

Want a tag-along family? We can take turns watching the kids.

Don't know about doing this with kids, but we thoroughly enjoyed RC. We are thinking of another cruise with Michael.

Re: Bermuda Cruise w/ 2 toddlers?

We did Bermuda on NCL in Oct with dd who was almost 3 at the time.
Honestly, the reviews for NCL were terrible and though I dont think it was terrible, I do think it could have been ALOT better. The food sucked first and foremost...really. So we went to the pay restaurants. For an extra 10 bucks PP we had food that was really good not just edible. Ive been on other cruiselines before so i know that this wasnt perfect.
Are you going to put your dc in the playroom? I was hesitant but put her in for an hr at a time bc I realized if i didnt, there would be NOTHING for her to do.
Bermuda in general I found to be a not so kid friendly trip. Like i said Ive done better trips with dd. I guess I was thinking beaches and fun. It was definitely not like the caribbean at all which I guess I should have realized.
Very historic type place. Really, research bermuda before going with 2 young kids. Also, did you have a time period you were going? OMG we went out of NY in Oct and it was rough sailing. i think I would go out of Florida after that experience. Are you stuck on Bermuda bc I can tell you a few other places I preferred alot more. Let me know. Its hard cruising with young children and keeping them entertained. We did take her to most of the ships shows.

Re: Bermuda Cruise w/ 2 toddlers?

Oh also I wanted to add room size...
the ships rooms were the smallest Ive been on.
Unfortunately we were locked out of balcony rooms. Our choice was to drop a ton of $ on a suite or do oceanview. We did oceanview. The problem was the setup. The room is very narrow. There is one bed on one wall and one bed on the other. No room to walk between. above the left bed is a pull out bunk bed. and then from the right bed pulls up a cot type bed. Now you close off the whole room. See if you can google NCL ocean view and then hit images. you will see what I mean.
If you need more info let me know.

Re: Bermuda Cruise w/ 2 toddlers?

We did the NCL Dawn to Bermuda with DD this past October. We absolutely loved it!!

We got upgraded to a suite - so worth it! DD had her own room, so we were able to maintain her nap & nighttime schedule without a problem.

For us, Bermuda had plenty to do! We did the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo one day. DD loved it! The second day we hit the scuba park, which was nothing more than a shallow beach and perfect for DD (and free!!). The third day the weather was iffy, so we just got off the ship and walked around the general area buying souvenirs.

DD had turned two literally the day before we left, so she was able to use the Kids Club. We used it for an hour here, an hour there - nothing too crazy. Most nights we used it so DH & I could enjoy a nice dinner to ourselves.

ETA: We paid a flat fee for DD, I think it was $199. We went October 25 and didn't have any rough seas, so I think that time of year it really is a crap shoot.

Message edited 2/28/2010 1:19:24 PM.

Re: Bermuda Cruise w/ 2 toddlers?

Not sure if it's like this all year (I know a PP mentioned October) but we went in June and those waters can be VERY rough. Dh was ready to fly home as soon as we got there bc he was so sick and more than half the dining room was empty the first night bc people were sick. The crew told us that was low on the severity scale too! So I'd just be a little worried about the kids getting seasick...

Re: Bermuda Cruise w/ 2 toddlers?