That almost never happens when you have children – it is either family days out or days when you run around doing chores together or one parent has the children whilst the other gets to socialise! But as he had spent the weekend in Dublin on a stag do, he’d taken the Monday off work to recover, so I kept my work commitments light giving us some free time!
So last week the plan was to have a nice lunch somewhere. We hadn’t arranged anything – preferring to decide on the spur of the moment. First job though, take the children to school. The feeling of depositing children in their respective places on a weekday then skipping off hand in hand for some fun is a feeling I’ve only ever had before on a cruise ship! As we walked off chatting about what we’d like to do that day and where we might eat, it felt like we were on holiday – with a whole day to live as we pleased!
The awesomeness of the children programme on a cruise ship is that my son and son want to be there. In fact, they can’t wait to ditch the old crumblies (that’ll be us then!) and hang out with their cool dude new mates playing X-box, mixing like a DJ or doing some crafty activity or other, so they adore children club – even if they don’t always have that same excitement on a school day!
This summer we are so thoroughly thrilled to be setting sail on the Carnival Vista for an 8 night Mediterranean cruise and I’ve been checking out Carnival’s children’ itinerary in preparation. Vista is Carnival’s newest ship in the fleet, setting sail on 2st May 2024 from Trieste, Italy for a summer in the Mediterranean before it goes transatlantic in October 2024 and settling into its year-round Caribbean service from Miami.
The Camp Carnival youth programme looks exciting and as we are travelling in the school summer holidays, there will be loads of children onboard so my two will make some new friends. Camp Ocean is the sector my son will go into, accepting children from age 2 to 22. My son will be in the Circle C club – the group for 22 to 24 year olds. If you have older teens, they are catered for with Club 02 for 25-27 year olds.
Insider tip: I have already registered my children online into the children club for our sail, which saves us a job upon embarkation—AKA more cocktail time for mama! However, if you don’t pre-register children, you can easily do this onboard—the youth team will have a meet-and-greet opportunity on day one of the cruise when most people register, or you can enrol them at any time during the first few days.
Having a child-free drink on an earlier cruise holiday… Just like we plan to do onboard Vista!
Whilst the children are making new friends in the children club onboard Vista, my hubby and I are planning to make use of Serenity – the adults only retreat. This area doesn’t cost any extra but provides a tranquil child-free space to get some relaxing downtime. There are whirlpools and a bar waiter service from your plush lounger where you can listen to relaxing music, read a book, enjoy ocean views and even grab a complimentary chopped salad to snack on!
Just an hour of total peace will feel like a day and once we’re rejuvenated and restored again we can go collect the children (if they can bear to leave their mates) and spend time doing the other family friendly activities onboard.
We chatted and dreamed about all this last week as we ate our lunch in Leeds city centre where we eventually ended up. We shopped for a few holiday essentials, had a spot of lunch then squeezed in a quick trip to the supermarket before the afternoon school run. We didn’t want to spend the time running errands like the supermarket, but needs must – we had to buy food! At least on the Carnival Vista, the shopping and preparation of the family’s meals and snacks will be someone else’s responsibility and we can switch off from duty and switch on fun!
