Vacation Dilema

We have some friends that went with their kids to the Atlantis and they said it's not as great as all the hype you hear and see about it. I have not personally been, so cannot comment.

We have however taken a few cruises with our kids…they are 3 & 6 now and we are going again in August. LOVE it. There are sooo many activities for the kids to do. We have only sailed on Carnival with the kids, but I hear RC is awesome for them too. There are FREE kid camps on the boat that offer activities from 8:00am -10:00pm (after 10:00pm, they have babysitting that you can pay extra for). We would look at the daily schedule and pick out a couple fun things, like face painting, a scavenger hunt and making puppets and drop our kids off at those events. This gave us some adult time and the kids were off having a blast with other kids. All of the ships have pools and waterslides, but some have been refurbished or are brand new and have REALLY cool slides and splash pads now. Food is around the clock. Buffet style if you want casual or formal dining. Room Service is also free around the clock. Non-stop self serve ice cream is a HUGE hit too :) There are Casinos on the ships, bars, night clubs and shows such as karaoke, magic, talent and comedy. Each trip involves 1-2 formal nights where your family can get all dressed up for dinner. We use this opportunity to get a new family photo each year with one of the backdrops provided.

If you do a cruise, I would suggest getting a cabin with a Balcony. We got one for the 1st time 2 years ago and it was sooooo much better to have the door open and sit out there at night when the kids went to bed.

I could go on and on, but I won't…..

What about Beaches ? We always enjoyed Sandals but have never tried Beaches. Also, Disney has a new resort in Hawaii. Have great trip !

a friend of mine went w/her 11 yr old and said they had a blast! Dont' know for a 5yr old.

Late response, but had to offer this:

Beaches, Turks and Caicos. Perfect for your family. This place has a waterpark, kids activities, awesome food and it's all inclusive. Wonderful place! Go to Beaches.com and have a look.

JSYK, you need a passport to get there. If you don't have one, you need to get the process started! Have fun planning!

We've been to Atlantis with our kids. My youngest was 5 when we went. I think for kids this age, it's OK if your idea of a fun time is being at the pools all day, every day. She loved, loved, loved the torrent river ride. We did that every day, several times each day. And she like playing on the little sand beach on their little bay. The waves were WAY too rough to be near the shore. The life guards were shouting at anyone who got in too far past their ankles. Dangerous currents. Not much for shelling either. We enjoyed the dolphin excursion we went on, separate from Atlantis's Dolphin Cove (too pricy). But a number of the water slides, including the big temple that goes through the shark tank, she was not tall enough to go on. I know they have an excellent kids program, but my kids did not want to separate from us, so they did not participate. The aquariums are beautiful. The food is VERY expensive. Their is not much to do for kids outside of water activities. The pools close at around 6pm. Towards the end of our trip, we kind of got sick of swimming all day, every day. My husband and older daughter saw a movie. I wanted to go off-site to the local zoo, but DH did not trust taking a random taxi, and there were no hotel organized off-site excursions. All that being said, she is 9 now, and still remembers it and asks to go back, I think she still remembers how awesome that river ride was.

We just got back from a Disney Cruise which is what I would recommend! It was amazing!! My 5 year old loved every second!!! Castaway Cay was beautiful and perfect for the kids! We stopped in the Bahamas for the day and took an excursion to the Atlantis Resort. It was fun for that day, but I would not spend a week there until my kids are older (10+). I have a tall 5 year old who was too short for many slides. Many are scary! The abyss was total darkness inside a building. The lines were long too, and we were there in the "off season". The aquariums were phenomenal and a lot of fun. We didn't swim with dolphins or feed stingrays due to cost, but people that did those things told us they loved it. The resort was not dirty, but defintely more run down and not as kept up as I expected. (Tiles missing on the pool walls, walkways dirty..) There was a section of water slides for the smaller kids that was great. The slides did not end in a pool but in their own chutes...that part was perfect my kids. All the cruise ships dock there and the resort gets many "outside" visitors like my family....just things to keep in mind. If you are considering a cruise, Disney was phenomenal!!! Good luck and have fun wherever you decide to go!

I have not been there with children, but I did see children there. It appeared to have lots of stuff for them, water slides, aquariums, etc. Go on their website to see what they have.