Where to go with a 3 1/2 ? Tahiti, Caribbean or Europe?

[hopeandcope]

Hello


I finally convinced my DH to go on a cruise for a 10 years wedding anniversary. This will probably be our only cruise, so I need to make a really good choice.

I would like to take a 10-12 days cruise, in order to have more cruise time for almost the same price.

We will be travelling with our daughter, who will be almost 4 y.o. at the time of travel. Unfortunately, I doubt I can leave her all day long at the kids program, specially since she does not speak any English.

I desperatly want to have some adult-time, and enjoy a few ports of call, but I dont want my daughter to spend most of her vacations alone, in a place she does not know.

Cruise line:
probably Royal Caribbean (for entertainment, kids programs, food )
or maybe Princess (for Tahiti)

I'm dreaming of Tahiti or maybe Europe.

These are very two expensive destinations, so I think that would be a nice opportunity to go without having to worry for meals.

What destination would you suggest?

Is Tahiti or Europe unrealistic with a young child?

I want to enjoy my trip too.

DH also needs to enjoy his trip, since it took me 5 years to convince him to go on a cruise.


Thanks for your advice!

[lfgaynor]

I strongly suggest opting for the Caribbean since your child is still young. In Europe, the land tours are way too long for little ones, so she'd be spending a lot of her time in the youth program. (I wrote an article on the CM family home page titled, "Can your child do Europe?") Tahiti is wonderful but I don't think it's worth the extra bucks until your child is older. That said, there are great deals on Caribbean cruises -- why don't you take advantage of them now and when you get your husband to cruise again in another 5 or 10 years (!), your child will be old enough to make Europe or Tahiti worth your invest?

Smooth sailing,
Luisa Frey
Family Cruise Editor

[lfgaynor]

I strongly suggest opting for the Caribbean since your child is still young. In Europe, the land tours are way too long for little ones, so she'd be spending a lot of her time in the youth program. (I wrote an article on the CM family home page titled, "Can your child do Europe?") Tahiti is wonderful but I don't think it's worth the extra bucks until your child is older. That said, there are great deals on Caribbean cruises -- why don't you take advantage of them now and when you get your husband to cruise again in another 5 or 10 years (!), your child will be old enough to make Europe or Tahiti worth your invest?

Smooth sailing,
Luisa Frey
Family Cruise Editor

[MamaGalloway]

I completely agree...Europe would be very difficult for a child that small, and I don't think you would get to enjoy Tahiti fully with a small child. The caribbean is much cheaper, has children sailing year round on every ship, and is more kid-friendly. There have been many children of different nationalities on the ships we've sailed. My oldest is bilingual (english and spanish) and had made friends with kids who only speak spanish. So it's quite possible your child would have cruisemates who also speak her language. Our last cruise had passengers from 16 different countries...that's a lot of different dialects floating around! Best of luck with whatever you decide.