Med Cruise w/imbedded ABD or Seine River Cruise for 9 y/o?

KD1234

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jul 30, 2017
Hi! We really enjoyed our first ABD to Montana this summer and are excited for another.

Our 20th wedding anniversary is 2020, and we are staring to plan ahead. We are thinking either an imbedded 8 or 10 night Med cruise or a Seine River Cruise. Our son will be 9.

1) If you have traveled on a Med cruise with an imbedded ABD, did you notice any younger children? If so, what were their ages?

2) Ditto for the Seine River cruise?

Any comments are very much appreciated. Our son as been to WDW, DCL, Montana, Alaska, New Orleans, and D.C., and we are trying to expose him to as many different cultures/experiences as he grows. We will be flying from North Carolina.

Thanks!
 
Be aware that the ports for the Med cruise are frequently a 1+ hour ride to the main attractions/city. For example, the port is easily an hour to Rome. For the Med cruise, you will get a taste of each city, but will be back on board by dinner each night. A river cruise will frequently be in port until after dinner sometime, and will usually be docked right in town (but not always.)

For cost, I honestly don't think a DCL priced Med cruise (which is already 2-4x what you could pay on another line), with the added cost of an ABD, is worth it. That's just me. You may feel differently. For that cost, you could sail concierge on another line and have money left over for some awesome excursions.
 
I believe this summer will be the first for the Seine River Cruise but I've been on both the Danube and Rhine and there were children of all ages who seemed to be having a wonderful time. That said, a med cruise would be wonderful as well--probably more exhausting due to the travel from port to actual locales and the unremitting heat of that region.

The ABD guides are wonderful with children and my only child really enjoys not only the guides but having built in peers on these trips. Congrats on your upcoming 20th!
 
It's difficult to predict, but we've not seen an AbD without young kids (8,9,10). If you choose one of the June cruises then I'd say the odds are very high. There are probably more activities for a 9 year old on the big boat and a hundred kids his age, guaranteed.

Instead of (or in addition to) doing the AbD cruise add-on, I would suggest that you look at one of the short escape pre-trip options. There should be an AbD Barcelona or Rome pre-trip available ("Barcelona short escape", "Rome short escape"). If you do the Barcelona to Rome cruise, there may also be a post-trip short escape option available in Rome.

We thought Barcelona was well worth spending a few extra days of exploring the city and nearby. Barcelona far exceeded our expectations (Gothic Quarter, Casa Batllo, La Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, Montserrat). The AbD hotel in Barcelona had a very good location and was comfortable for USA travelers.

We also stayed in Rome for some extra days. Leaving the ship at the port of Civitavecchia was a 5 minute process to walk through the small port terminal and out the door. If you arranged for a driver or shuttle they will be immediately in front of you as you walk out the terminal door.

Happy to answer any questions you may have.
 


I did the embedded ABD on the Med this past summer and am signed up for the very first ABD Seine River cruise itinerary next summer. On the Med cruise, just like on other ABD's I've been on, there were younger kids who got to know each other pretty well over the course of the week. And since you've been on DCL before, you know that there are always the options of the kids clubs and pools and other activities on the sea days and in the evenings. The embedded ABD IMHO is just a great way to do excursions with the great ABD guides and the same group of people for the port days, plus you have the welcome and farewell gatherings, and the added bonus of the photo package. It was a better way for me to travel as a solo traveler, especially since I knew I had guides and other people in my group making sure I didn't get lost, and I always had someone I knew to take my picture. However, I'm not sure I would've done the embedded ABD if I hadn't been traveling by myself since there are so many other excursion options available for that cruise.

I'm very much looking forward to the river cruise experience since I've never been on one. I've been waiting for ABD to finally offer one for the Seine. :)
 
The other thing to consider about the embedded ABD on the Med cruise is that once you are off the ship and touring for the day, you don't go back to the ship until you are done for the day. That can be both a good thing and a not so good thing. For me, as a solo traveller, it was wonderful. You got the equivalence of 2 - 4 excursions in one day, without losing time by having to go back to the ship to catch the next excursion. The motorcoach just takes you to the next place. Plus, lunches onshore are included. But that could be rough if you child isn't good with long travel days. The kids on the embedded ABD that I was on all did fine with it, except for the 4 year old, who got left on the ship with an Aunt on the Rome and Florence days. I can't comment on the number of kids, really, because I went in May, before school gets out, so we only had a handful of kids.

I did the Danube River cruise the first summer it was offered, and there were several kids in your son's age group. That was in July. But you just never know. I'd ask ABD for the age ranges on the river cruise before signing up.

The kids hung out with a couple of the Adventure Guides for dinner and the evenings, and they really seemed to love that. There is no kids' club or anything like that, just activities with the Adventure Guides.

Sayhello
 
I can't offer insights into the embedded ABD DCL Med experience versus ABD river cruise (having done neither of those particular trips), but I will say that my kids were 6 and 8 when we did the Med with DCL, and they both loved it! From my experience doing the ABD add-on with the Baltics cruise in 2015, in hindsight, I think we would have been much better off booking private excursions.
 


I don’t think you can go wrong with either choice. We have done both embedded DCL (Greece / Turkey) and Danube river cruise. I would say the difference in experience for the kids was on river cruise is it was more of a summer camp feel since all of the kids onboard were their ABD friends. The kids really bonded and had fun both on the ship and off during excursions. On the DCL embedded, they went back to the ship and didn’t necessarily see their new ABD friends but then had a lot more entertainment options with shows and the kids clubs. There were many children around 9 on our Danube cruise and several on our DCL embedded.
 

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