Bucket List Travel: 33 days at sea in the Mediterranean with twin 4-year-olds!

There are a lot of travel tips out there for singles, families, and couples, but have you ever considered taking a 33-day cruise with your toddler, or even two young kids? I know what you must be thinking. How in the world would you survive an extended vacation with them, little alone a 33-day long cruise, in the Mediterranean with twins? You are probably thinking we were crazy or perhaps we ruined the experience for ourselves and others.

Well, I can tell you that it was the best vacation we have ever been on and we would do it again in a heartbeat. Our kids were amazing and we actually had more fun than we ever thought possible. Here are a few tips to help you if you are considering taking an extended cruise with your toddler or young children.

Not all Kids are Ready

Before you even consider such a trip, you really need to ask yourself the hard question “Are my kids behaved enough to pull this off?”. Certainly, not all kids are the same and not all could pull this off without making the trip a nightmare. You need to take a step back and be honest with yourself if this is the right experience for them and if you are the right kind of parent to try and pull this off.

This is not to say that if the answer is “No” something is necessarily wrong with you our or kids, but at the same time, there are traits that are a must from our experience that would not have been possible without. Below are of few of them to consider:

• If your kid is one of those that can not sit at the dinner table at home or in public without 1) running around, being loud, or not sitting politely OR 2) if you are a parent that does not have an issue with this behavior – do not attempt this trip. I would generally say avoid cruising altogether in this case, but certainly any long-haul cruise.
• Do your kids respect you and follow your instructions? Do they cause issues because they get what they want that way or purposely throw tantrums to get what they want? Again, not the trip for you.
• Are your kids part of the phone screen generation that can not sit down and behave without entertainment to “control’ them”? Or if they don’t get exactly what they want, they cause a scene. Again. not a trip for you.

These are just a few items to get a sense of where you stand. Based on your average person and family at a theme park like Disney, I would venture to guess most people are not up to this and would highly suggest waiting and/or at the very least taking some short cruises to see if they are up to it.

In our case, we would be crossing >100 days at sea with our kids during this trip and had a good handle on the limits and capabilities of our kids. but your mileage may vary.

Frame of Mind

Once you have passed the kid test, you need to generally get a sense of your own frame of mind. When my wife and I started to think about having kids we vowed several things which we live by today.

1. We would not let them “slow us down”. I don’t say this in a negative way, but more to say that we would raise our kids in such a way that they would want to travel, be respectful, and want to try new things. We never gave it a second thought about if our kids would love the trip.
2. We would not leave our kids at home in whatever we did. For us, it was important that we did these things as a family, even if it made things harder to navigate or plan, or if we had to adjust what we did to make it fun for all. For us traveling as a family is what keeps us close. The common experiences we can reflect on as well as the common challenges we face that inevitably comes with travel. Again, for us, it never crossed our minds about what we may not be able to do, but rather were excited to find things that maybe we would not have without kids.
3. We would treat every day the same. You might be asking what I mean by this. This is to say that what the kids could do at home and what was allowed in public were one and the same. There was never any question that somehow public life was different in the way they acted or in the way they treated others. This allowed them to act a certain way and not be confused when they could or could not do something.

Now you might be thinking that we were very strict parents, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. But it was clear when it was playtime and when it was not. The lost art of folding arms also came in handy that gave them a physical clue that they needed to act a certain way. Small things like that made visiting churches or going to dinner painless and was complimented by others more times than I can count.

If you think this may not be the trip for you, that is ok. Extended traveling with young kids is not for everyone and I completely understand. It can be a lot of work and at times downright exhausting. But if you are even thinking about it, then my best suggestion is to go for it! You will never regret it and the memories you make will last a lifetime. Just be sure they are ready for it and don’t be one of those families that everyone wishes would just leave or that international traveler that gives your home country a bad reputation.

Picking the Right Cruise Line

I can’t stress this enough, but do your research on what cruise line you choose. Some are focused on certain age groups with certain activities or the “rowdiness” of the crowd. You might be thinking with two small children in tow that we went straight to lines line Royal Caribean or Princess as they are known for tons of activities and families.

While that isn’t necessarily a bad choice there were several things that we considered that made us choose Holland America, which is known more for older folks, has fewer activities, and is generally quieter.

1. We were going to be on the ship for 33 days. We had NO interest in kids running around unattended, running down the halls, and generally a less “civilized” clientele. Our kids were young enough and well-behaved enough, that this would have been a nightmare for us to deal with. When we returned to the ship, we wanted peace and quiet and more of a “grandma” crowd for the kids. Which, by the way, was PERFECT. They were everyone’s grandkids while we were there and everybody loved them.
2. We rarely use the facilities on the ship, so the extra activities were not a draw for us, and were going to have plenty to do at port or just in the common areas without all the bells and whistles and inevitable issues that come with those activities – yes, I am calling out the parents that use the cruise ship as their personal babysitter, and leave them unsupervised and use it to get away from their kids rather than to spend time with them.
3. At the time, 12 and younger sailed free. I’ll just say, 33-day cruise, all-you-can-eat, lodging, etc. $199 per child out the door. We couldn’t even feed them for a month at that price so it afforded us the ability to spend that money elsewhere.
4. Lastly, our twins were 1 of like 4 kids on the ship. This isn’t even normal for Holland America, but because of the length of the cruise it illimited the school-aged kids, and working adults and limited primarily to retired couples. We were certainly the exception. That said, it was fantastic in ways you might not imagine. For example, we were on the ship during Halloween and the ship did trick or treating for the kids. Again, remember there were only like 4 on the ship. Needless to say, our kids spent the evening going door to door in the crew area and were provided what I can only describe as COSTCO size BOXES! of candy. The boxes hadn’t even been opened and they were full-size candy bars and other treats. Needless to say, our kids thought they had won the lottery.

I could go on and on, but the point is that you need to pick the cruise line based on what is important to YOU. Not what you read online or what others tell you. Do your research, figure out what is most important to you and your family, and make your decision from there. For our family, Holland America (and one of their brand-new ships) was perfect.

I can honestly say we had no bad experience while on board and was exactly what we were hoping for. That said, others may think it would be boring, etc. Again, I refer you back to the frame of mind section.

Please don’t show up on mind next Holland America cruise and set your kids free or complain throughout the ship and crew about things you would expect on Carnival, Royal, or Princess. You only have yourself to blame if you cont like it and you are welcome to leave – the rest of us are secretly hoping you will anyway.

Choosing the Right Room

This is a tough one and really comes down to how much time you are actually going to spend on it and how much you want to spend. For us, we would rather spend the money in more meaningful ways and splurge in other areas than get an expensive room that we don’t spend a lot of time in other than sleeping.

That said if you have the means and plan to spend a lot of time sitting on a balcony, by all means. We have done that several times as well and it was great waking up in the morning and having breakfast overlooking the ocean or port.

With that in mind, there are two universal truths we have come to realize in our time at sea (north of 150 days).

1. Outside cabins really aren’t worth it. I would stick to the inside or balcony. A small window or porthole is basically useless. The only time I would even consider it, is if they are having a sale on outside cabins and are either cheaper or are all that is left, but still within your budget. I would never purposefully pick on otherwise.
2. Get a room where cabins are above and below you, if not two levels of cabins are above and below you. Nothing ruins a vacation like getting back to your cabin exhausted and wanting to sleep only to have entertainment areas directly above you pounding drums in a bar or pool area. We have turned down several upgrades for this very reason and never regretted the decision. This applies equally if you don’t have kids, but even more so with.

You are free to pick what you want or take what is available, but we will never violate these two items and would rather reschedule or go elsewhere than violate either. Especially #2.

Step Away from the Ship Excursion

If this is your first ever cruise, or you are the type of person that can even put their underwear on in the morning without screwing something up, then by all means spend twice as much and be herded around like cattle. However, if you have some basic planning skills and can find your way around a city, don’t waste your time or money. The only exception I ever suggest to people is if the cruise line has some exceptional activity that is not readily available to the general public.

That said, I can see the appealing part when we start talking about independent travel in a foreign country with kids, but don’t be fooled. Some of the best parts of our trip were figuring out how to get from place to place, mingling with the locals, getting lost for an hour, and stumbling upon places we would have never experienced otherwise.

I know it can be scary, and ultimately takes more planning (and planning to get back to the ship with time to spare), but don’t do it to yourself. You will enjoy everything you do more, with fewer crowds and offers for spontaneous experiences. To me taking an excursion is like watching something on TV vs actually experiencing it.

Ditch the Stroller

I’ll start by saying this was a risky move for us and weren’t too sure how it would turn out. On one hand, you know you’re kids will get tired of walking at some point without regular breaks. On the other hand, we are talking about the Mediterranean which was not conducive to strollers AT ALL. So we decided to roll the dice and leave the stroller at home – even the compact smaller ones. I have to say, it was one of the best decisions we made in planning this experience.

To prove my point I will use two key examples:

Like many parents, we look at our kids (in our case 4 year old) and think about how the sheer amount of walking that we were about to do exploring the likes of Rome. The combination of “safe” walking areas and areas that might involve walking down busy streets, etc. While all of that was true neither became an issue – at least for our kids.

I would describe our kid’s experience as a day at the park. I think they found themselves so engaged with all the new and exciting things to see and do that holding them back in a stroller and feeling “caged in” would have been a horrible experience for them. In its place was the ability to explore and interact with their surroundings and the sheer adrenaline kept them going all day long combined with an outlet to utilize all that pent-up energy.

That is not to say we didn’t factor in frequent stops to rest and used that time to eat, rest our legs, or spend more time than perhaps we would have otherwise on “restful activities”, but we found ourselves speechless by the will of a kid having fun to keep going and going. I think I needed more breaks than they did half the time.

As for the Mediterranean port themselves. Strollers would have been a non-starter almost everywhere we went. Starting from the train stations that got us to our destination, to the activities and “jungle Jim” type cities that had uneven roads, small walkways, and crowds. I think had we brought strollers we would have thrown them away after the first port.

There were maybe one or two areas that we might have pulled it off, but nowhere near worth the hassle of bringing them.

This is all to say, leave the stroller at home, but also plan accordingly for breaks. If you are still not sure if your kid(s) are up to the task, my suggestion is to spend a day somewhere like Disney World or Disneyland without a stroller. See if you can make it through the day. Being the residence of Flordia we stopped using strollers in these situations shortly after they could walk, and never looked back. If you can’t pull that off then you might think again about taking the trip at all as a stroller was unrealistic and likely won’t solve the issues you think it will during your trip.

Bring the Food

Anyone with kids will know, having food readily available for your kids, especially once you ditch the stroller, is a necessity. During our port days, we took a two-prong approach.

We always went to the ship’s buffet area and grabbed some portable food that we could pack in our backpacks. This included things like boxed cereal, pastries wrapped in napkins, etc. This became very handy when stomachs started to growl, but we were not in a location where we could grab food or were still on the go and didn’t want to stop.

The second approach was to make time to get some grub. There were so many places to try everywhere we went and never found it difficult to find food. Luckily for us, our kids would try anything once, so we took advantage of the fact and we all came home with new foods we now enjoy on a regular basis. This was also a great time to rest the feet.

This is Everyone’s Vacation (Your Kids Too)

I always find it odd when I see families that plan a vacation around a subset of the family members. It’s either focused on the kids or on the parents, but rarely both. While other vacations you have taken this has been ok, the inherent nature of a cruise, specifically somewhere like the Mediterranean, will inevitably come front and center every day. Whether that is going to dinner on the ship, or site seeing places in port, not everything is going to be naturally something your kid(s) will enjoy. So that is to say, you can’t just show up and expect that something will happen that includes everyone.

We found several key ways to make everything we did more inclusive of both age groups.

Site Seeing – Unless you just have one of those kids that can be entertained with a rock, you are going to have to make this activity enjoyable for them. By ditching the stroller you are inherently giving them the freedom to explore which will go a long way for them to find what interests them. Secondly, we tried to find something that might intrigue a child everywhere we went. At the risk of this sounding crude, one example was our visit to Pompeii. We explained to them what had happened and that there would be a lot of “dead people”. What followed was their quest to look in every crack and opening to see if they could find “dead people”.

Traditional and Non-traditional Parks – I think some of the highlights for the kids were us “getting lost” in the surrounding neighborhoods. On several occasions, we find urban parks the kids could take a break in and play with local kids.

Also, we made it a point to take breaks in little courtyards and other open spaces where they could watch or chase the birds. Both of these provided a break from adult activities as well as a good resting spot.

Pictures – Our kids like having pictures taken of them and we took advantage of that. from posed pictures to funny pictures, they were able to show their personalities and engage in their surroundings how they wanted to.

Kid Stuff – On several of the ports, we stop by beaches, aquariums, etc. which are more kids’ spots to try and break up the museums and more historical sites.

While some of these were destinations in themselves and worth going to regardless, we certainly visited more than perhaps would have, and was still a great time for all ages.

I think we ended up taking 2000-3000 pictures by the time we were done with the trip. Be sure to bring enough SD cards, a laptop or an external drive to store them all.

Crash Time – At some point, the adrenaline will wear off and sleep will be needed. The nice thing about a cruise and having to get back to the ship is that the days are fairly short. We started early, but by mid-afternoon, we needed to start our way back to the ship. We took this as an opportunity to let the kids crash, and crash they did. Everyone on the trains was kind enough to let us sit in the seat across from each other and we could put our feet up and make a mini-bed the kids would always take advantage of after a long day on their feet.

Ship Time – As I noted in the picking cruise line section, use the shop time to rejuvenate. We spent time letting the kids look at books, and playing around on the basketball court (which was actually usable without ten million teens on board, and we went to the kid’s area that they were too young to attend, but they kindly gave us visit once in while and provided us toys and games that we could find our own spot to enjoy. This is to say, relax. The ship time was a great way to decompress and prepare for the next port.

Whatever you decide on, the point is to plan these into your day. I think if I had to boil it down to one word it would be “Variety”. With a cruise, this long, try and find something unique at each port. Everyone will benefit from mixing things up, whether that’s a break from the museums for all age groups or some relaxing time in a park that the kids certainly enjoyed and we used as a chance to relax. By no stretch of the image would I say we were ever bored or felt like we were waiting for time. If anything we tried to do “Rome in a Day”, but had a blast doing it.

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Itinerary & Ports

Now that we have covered the logistics take a look at the itinerary and what we did at every port. I can only describe it as a trip of a lifetime and one that I hope to repeat someday.

Day	Port
Day 1	Venice, Italy
Day 2	Venice, Italy
Day 3	Dubrovnik, Croatia
Day 4	Kerkira (Corfu), Greece
Day 5	Argostoli, Greece
Day 6	Thira (Santorini), Greece
Day 7	At Sea
Day 8	Catania, Italy
Day 9	Naples, Italy
Day 10	Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy & Vatican City
Day 11	Livorno (Florence) Italy
Day 12	Barcelona, Spain
Day 13	Barcelona, Spain
Day 14	Monte Carlo, Monaco (Eze & Nice)
Day 15	Livorno (Pisa) Italy
Day 16	Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy & Vatican City
Day 17	At Sea
Day 18	Valencia, Spain
Day 19	Cartagena, Spain
Day 20	Almeria, Spain
Day 21	Cadiz (Seville), Spain
Day 22	Portimao, Portugal
Day 23	Lisbon, Portugal
Day 24	At Sea
Day 25	At Sea
Day 26	At Sea
Day 27	At Sea
Day 28	At Sea
Day 29	At Sea
Day 30	At Sea
Day 31	At Sea
Day 32	Half Moon Cay, Bahamas (at Sea Due to Weather)
Day 33	Fort Lauderdale, Florida, US