What Do Kids Actually Do on a Long Cruise? Kids Clubs, Cruise Ducks and Sea Days
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Time to read 4 min
My kids and I love a long cruise.
Give us an itinerary with plenty of sea days and we’re very happy. There’s no pressure to be somewhere every morning, no need to fill every hour with activities and plenty of time to simply relax and enjoy being onboard.
But one question that understandably comes up when you’re considering a longer cruise with children is: what on earth are the kids going to do with themselves for all those days at sea?
In my experience, that depends entirely on the child.
My two couldn’t approach sea days more differently.
First Priority for Ruben: Kids Club
Over the years, Ruben has grown to love kids club.
His first priority when we board a cruise is finding out when that initial session is happening so he can get along and start meeting people.
On a longer cruise, those early introductions can turn into genuine friendships. Once Ruben finds a group he gets along with, they tend to make their own plans and move between the organised activities and other areas of the ship together.
There have been plenty of sea days where I’ve barely seen him.
He’ll appear for meals, I’ll spot him somewhere around the ship with his new friends, and eventually he’ll make his way back to the cabin.
For him, that’s a huge part of the fun of cruising.
Sierra Has Other Ideas
Sierra has never been quite as enthusiastic about kids club.
She’ll happily check the schedule and see what’s happening. If there’s an activity that particularly interests her, she’ll go along. Usually there’ll be one or two things that catch her attention.
But spending hours there every day?
No thanks.
Thankfully, she’s found her own way of keeping herself entertained on long sea days.
Cruise ducks.
The Great Cruise Duck Hunt
If you’ve cruised before, particularly on Carnival, you may have spotted small rubber or novelty ducks hiding around the ship.
Passengers bring them onboard, hide them for other people to discover and often attach little tags encouraging whoever finds them to keep the duck or hide it again for someone else.
For Sierra, finding them is only half the fun.
She brings her own ducks onboard to hide, searches the ship for ducks other passengers have left, and has even become remarkably committed to “winning” ducks from the claw machine in the arcade.
Those generally don’t stay with her for long either.
Before I know it, they’re being re-hidden somewhere around the ship for the next person to find.
Hiding Them Is Half the Fun
Finding the ducks is only the beginning for Sierra.
She loves taking photos and videos of them around the ship, arranging them in different places and configurations before deciding where they’ll be hidden next. One of her favourites (naturally) is getting all her ducks in a row for a photo.
It has become one of her own little cruise activities. She’ll find an interesting spot around the ship, arrange the ducks, take her photos and videos, and then move on to the next location.
She also pays attention to younger children she sees hunting for ducks and will sometimes deliberately leave one somewhere they’re likely to spot it. She gets almost as much enjoyment from quietly watching their excitement when they find one as she does from finding them herself.
Sometimes a duck she’s carefully positioned disappears almost immediately. Other times we’ll walk past hours later and realise it’s still sitting exactly where she left it.
Either way, between the hunting, hiding and elaborate duck photography sessions, she’s quite capable of keeping herself entertained.
And on a cruise with lots of sea days, I’m calling that a win. 😂
Sea Days Don’t Have to Be Packed With Activities
I think one of the reasons longer cruises work so well for us is that I’ve stopped thinking I need to entertain the kids every minute we’re onboard.
Cruise ships usually have plenty of organised activities, but the kids don’t have to participate in all of them to enjoy themselves.
Ruben loves the social side and will happily disappear with friends he’s made onboard.
Sierra picks the occasional kids club activity she likes, but she’s equally happy wandering the ship with me, checking her usual duck-hunting spots or working out where she’s going to hide her latest finds.
And I get to actually enjoy the sea days rather than spending them trying to manufacture entertainment.
Would I Worry About Lots of Sea Days with Kids?
Based on my experience travelling with the kids, no.
In fact, sea days are one of the things we enjoy most about longer cruises.
It can take a little while for everyone to find their own rhythm onboard, particularly if you have a child who isn’t interested in spending hours at kids club. But they don’t necessarily need a full schedule of organised activities to enjoy themselves.
For us, cruising has been about giving the kids the freedom to find the things they enjoy onboard.
For Ruben, that’s friends and kids club.
For Sierra, it’s roaming a very large ship looking for tiny ducks.
Whatever works. 😂
Want to Join the Duck Hunt?
If your kids would enjoy hiding a few ducks of their own on your next cruise, I’ve put together Voyage Ready Cruise Duck Packs with 10 colourful squishy ducks and their own little cruise duck passports (Product link below).
Or simply bring some ducks from home and join in. Just remember to check your cruise line’s current rules about where ducks can safely be hidden.