7 Things I Loved About Cruising As A Child – How My Cruising Addiction Began!

I am lucky enough to have been cruising since I was 11. My first cruise was a “Fire and Ice” Norwegian cruise to Alaska and Hawaii way back in 2005.  That is where my love of cruising began!

My first cruise was a big family holiday, and I travelled with my parents, brother and various members of my extended family

My cousins and I enjoyed the freedom of being able to run around the ship and I honestly think we would have stayed on the ship the whole time if we had been allowed to!

I don’t remember very much about the ports that we stopped at, but I do have a lot of brilliant memories about hanging out on the ship.

Below are 7 of the things that I enjoyed most. This post may contain some embarrassing photos of me as a child…

1) Being Free To Go Where We Wanted When We Wanted

Being on a cruise gave us freedoms which we wouldn’t necessarily have in our usual lives.

I was 11 and my brother at the time would have been about 9. I had older cousins travelling with me too. It was so exciting to run around the ship and explore by ourselves.

For the Alaska portion of the cruise, we were on board the Norwegian Spirit, which remains to this day my favourite cruise ship.

I have sailed on her once again since, just before she had a major refit. I have plans to travel on her again soon!

For the Hawaii portion, we were on board the Pride of Aloha, which is now the Norwegian Sky. I had the chance to sail on her again in 2009 to The Bahamas. Apart from the name change, very little had changed onboard.

2) Food and Drink!

Cruises are well known for having a wide choice of food. We normally dined in the main dining room with our family, but if we decided that we didn’t like the menu we were able to go to the buffet to get pizza.

That surely is every child’s dream!? Lots of ice cream and an awful lot of cookies were also consumed.

I enjoyed dressing up for dinner and having a waiter pull out my chair for me. I thought it was all very fancy, but I liked to play the part. I also had a soda band that I wore on my wrist, and I loved going to the bar by myself to order my own drinks.

3) Kid’s Clubs

When I was young enough to go to the kid’s clubs, I usually did.

I also went to the Teens Club when I was older. Being able to hang out in the Kids Club room was the main attraction for me. They had a Nintendo Wii in there, and we spent our time playing games and dancing to the “Cha Cha slide.“

The Teen Club was more of just a place to hang out, they would reserve areas of the theatre for the Kids/Teen clubs and also have Pool Parties.

4) Making Friends!

I usually joined the Kids/Teen club where I would make friends and then we would do our own thing for the rest of the cruise.

I made friends on cruises, which I still have to this day – well, on Facebook, at least! I really enjoyed making friends with people from other parts of the world – and I still do!

We would hang around in the lounges or up on the decks, we would go to the shows together and meet up in the hot tubs.

5) The Toilets

This is a little bit of a strange one but I remember being just amazed by the sucky toilets. I was amazed – but also a little terrified!

They were all operated by sensors, and I remember once the toilet flushed while I was on it, it scared me half to death!

Those toilets onboard were loud! I’m not sure if the toilets have got quieter on cruise ships in recent years – or if I have just got less scared of them…

6) Visiting Amazing Places.

It really is a shame that I don’t remember more of my first cruise.

I don’t think I appreciated it as much as I would if I went now. I took my next cruise three years later with the same family members. 

We visited many countries on a Baltic cruise, again we cruised with NCL, this time on the Norwegian Jewel.

I loved this cruise and appreciated visiting other countries far more.

7) Family time!

I did of course like spending time with my family. You wouldn’t have caught me saying that when I was a grumpy teenager though!

Cruising has without a doubt provided me with some of my favourite childhood memories.

I remember going up and down in the glass lifts on the Norwegian Spirit and spending hours in the Buccaneer’s Waterpark at the back of the ship.

I only wish that I had taken more photos! Cruising for me provided the perfect balance of spending time with my family and spending time with friends.

In case you haven’t worked it out yet, I loved cruising as a child…

The ships were big and exciting, the food was amazing and I got to spend time with my family and friends. Best of all – somebody else was paying because I was a child! Hoorah!

I think that a cruise is a fantastic holiday for children. There is something onboard for to entertain everyone – no matter how old.

Everyone can eat exactly what they want, and parents can get a break from cooking for fussy children! As well as everything onboard to keep you entertained, you get to visit new and exciting places too!

Before You Go

Some families worry that cruise ships aren’t a safe place for children. My Mum certainly worried about taking my younger brother Max onboard a ship for the first time. Ships are actually very safe places for children. Find out why here:

Are Cruise Ships Really Safe For Kids? (Real Picture Examples of Cruise Ship Decks and Safety Barriers)

Find out why cruise lines want to appeal to a younger passenger demographic here:

Are Cruises For Young People? Why are more young people cruising Than Ever?