By Sue Bryant, Cruise Writer

When planning a family cruise, most people focus on what’s available on board the ship for kids, which nowadays might range from bungee trampolines to giant waterslides and private karaoke rooms. Pick the right vessel and your children will most likely become lifelong cruisers - and the envy of all their friends.

What families tend to think of less is how they will spend their days ashore. Luckily, this is getting easier as cruise lines have become very good at organising excursions with family appeal. I can vouch for this, having done no less than three water parks and a tour of the FC Barcelona Camp Nou stadium on a seven-day, family-friendly Mediterranean cruise last year. It may have been somewhat lacking in culture but my children, Lauren and Joel, aged 11 and nine, were ecstatic.

But sometimes it’s fun to mix it up. In more complicated destinations, for example, when the ship is some distance from the big attractions, take a tour. In ‘easy’ places, where you’re docked in the middle of town or by a fantastic beach, strike out alone and explore by yourselves as a family.
 

The rules of family cruising are the same as they are for family holidays generally. Lower your expectations. Forget the art galleries and long, wine-soaked lunches and aim for swimming stops, ice cream breaks and attractions children can climb on or run around in. Anything involving rides (especially zip wires), animals (camel rides, whale watching, aquaria, some zoos) and boats (the faster the better) usually works.
 

Some cruise lines will allow parents to take a day ‘off’ and leave their children in the excellent children’s clubs on board; a trip to Pompeii was all the better on one Med cruise I did because I knew my children were happy back on the ship, making pizza and storming the fantastic indoor play frame in the kids’ club, rather than being hot and bored.

Some ports, though, really work for independent family fun. In the Baltic countries, public transport is efficient and everybody speaks English. So we headed for Tivoli Gardens by public bus in Copenhagen and discovered a theme park that manages to combine charm and a beautiful setting of parkland and lakes with thrill rides and fairy tales. In Helsinki, the children wanted to see the snow leopards in the zoo which is on an island, so we took the ship’s $5 shuttle to the boat dock and jumped on the dedicated boat (marked ‘Zoo’ so I couldn’t go wrong) and had a great day admiring the snow leopards in their spacious enclosures.

The Mediterranean in August, when most families travel, is too hot for intensive sightseeing, so choose boat trips, fun things like walking the medieval ramparts of Dubrovnik or watching the street entertainers on Las Ramblas in Barcelona. I find half-day tours work best, as all the children really want to do is get back on board and swim. Choose a ship with a waterslide and you can easily buy yourself an hour of reading and a sneaky cocktail by the pool.

Don’t be put off long haul cruising with children; there are some amazing places to visit once they’re over six or so and able to join in the activities. In the Caribbean, Tobago Cays is especially good for learning to snorkel; the crystal clear waters and dazzling fish are straight out of Finding Nemo and the ships’ tours all provide life jackets, so it’s safe. If your ship calls at Dominica, book the tour for the river tubing – children adore drifting over gentle rapids down a cool river, reclining (or having water fights) in giant inner tubes. As a break from the beach, we splashed out on a 4x4 jeep safari of Barbados, which Lauren and Joel loved, especially the bumpy off-road bits.

Alaska is ideal for outdoorsy families but expect pressure to book one of the big zip wire rides over the forest. The longest and fastest is at Icy Strait Point, although most ports of call now have something similarly terrifying, whizzing over the tree tops.

Alaskan cruises are educational as well as adrenalin-boosting; on the one we did, the park rangers came on board and explained in a fun, accessible way how glaciers are formed, to a band of enraptured children. You can enjoy whale watching from the ship (sightings are practically guaranteed and it’s free) and do some easy walks in the ports. In Sitka, for example, we took a local bus to the raptor rehabilitation centre where injured birds of prey are patched up and taught to fly again, then walked through the forest on a short marked trail, admiring the signs that said ‘Beware of Bears’ and playing Pooh sticks on a bridge.

There’s so much more for families to explore by ship, too. When my children are older, we’ll go to the Galapagos islands and perhaps to India or the Far East; Singapore and Hong Kong are both fantastic for kids. Costa Rica and Mexico have the perfect mix of wildlife and beach fun and there’s still plenty of Europe to explore. Provided there are water parks, of course.

Photography courtesy of Sue Bryant