Cruises Make Great Birthday Weekend Getaways
Throw Your Kid a Party They Won't Forget
By Heidi Sarna | Published on April 29, 2024
Birthdays are the best time of year to celebrate your loved ones, especially your children. As your child's birthday approaches this year, consider making a bigger splash than a routine visit to your local arcade or trampoline park. Go for the ultimate wow factor and get away with your family for a celebration on a cruise ship — your go-to for the best birthday weekend getaways.
Cruises make the best weekend trips for birthdays because they offer immersive fun for all ages. Trade planning birthday parties for seamless celebrations everyone in your crew can enjoy. And let the ship, which caters to the younger set with nonstop bow-to-stern fun, serve as their playground. I can't think of a more perfect setting for the best birthday trips.
As a mom who has delighted in celebrating my twin sons' birthdays on Royal Caribbean cruise ships, I'm thrilled to offer my top tips for planning the best birthday cruises, ensuring your kid's next birthday is one they'll never forget.
How To Choose The Right Ship And Itinerary
Every ship in the Royal Caribbean fleet is a potentially great choice for weekend birthday trips. The stage is set the minute you board, with the engaging crew on the gangway — your very own birthday weekend welcome wagon. The buzz is palpable, and a festive vibe permeates the air.
While the ship and its amenities provide the ultimate birthday backdrop, the destinations you visit will also be great opportunities to make memories. Which itineraries promise the best birthday weekend getaways? Well, that's easy, in my opinion. The best birthday cruises are Royal Caribbean's weekend cruises to The Bahamas.
Three-night cruises depart Fridays from three Florida ports — Orlando (Port Canaveral), Ft. Lauderdale and Miami. All of these sailings feature the best way to spend a birthday in paradise: a visit to Perfect Day at CocoCay, Royal Caribbean's private island in The Bahamas.
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The Party Starts In Your Stateroom
Royal Caribbean offers a variety of birthday trip celebratory gifts that you can pre-order in advance (or once you're onboard — a win for my fellow procrastinators out there). Classic Royal Caribbean packages include a magnetic "Happy Birthday" sign for your door, while your stateroom is adorned with a birthday garland and festive decor.
Tap into your inner creativity and stash a few extra decorations from home in your suitcase (don't forget some magnets if you want to put more birthday decor on the cabin door). I've found that photos or cutouts of my kids' favorite film characters, superheroes or animals work great.
I packed a few rolls of colorful crepe streamers to celebrate my twin sons' eighth birthdays on a birthday weekend getaway, looping nautical-themed blue and white streamers around their cabin bunk beds as they slept so they'd wake up to festive vibes. I also went to the onboard shop and purchased cute inflatable ships to place around the stateroom and captain's hats for our family to wear. Signifying we were on a birthday trip brought many welcome cheers from the ship's excellent crew as well as guests.
No perfect birthday weekend getaway is complete without cake. Royal Caribbean can help by delivering your sweets, too. Choose a vanilla or chocolate birthday cake, a box of mini vanilla or red-velvet cupcakes or request chocolate-chunk brownies, which can arrive at your stateroom to kick off your celebrations. I fondly recall a birthday cruise with Grandpa and Grandma in tow.
The Best Birthday Activities Onboard
If you were celebrating on land, you might rent a party space or take the kids to an amusement park for their birthday. On a Royal Caribbean cruise, the stage is already set with countless included activities for all ages.
A day onboard quickly fills with fun for all ages, from mini golf to rock climbing, zip lines and water slides, not to mention my kids' favorite, the FlowRider® surf simulator. Much of the fun is included in your cruise fare, with a few options offered at an additional charge, like the RipCord® by iFLY® skydiving simulator on Quantum Class ships. It's totally worth it, by the way.
I can't forget to mention the fun for kids joining the Adventure Ocean® Youth Program. A highlight of my sons' weekend birthday cruise was making new friends, dabbling in some arts and crafts and participating in wacky science experiments in their age-appropriate grouping.
You can always put on your thinking cap (or birthday hat) and design a little treasure hunt for your wee ones. I did this once, drawing a simple treasure map for my sons' birthday that led them around the ship to find six special birthday surprises — a slice of pizza, an ice cream cone, the toy section of the gift shop, roller-skating tag with mom, etc. Royal Caribbean ships are ready-made for special event cruises, so make the most of it.
Perfect Port Days
The best birthday weekend getaways include a stop at Perfect Day at CocoCay. When it's time to take the party from the ship to the shore, Perfect Day at CocoCay is ready for you.
Almost all of Royal Caribbean's weekend cruises out of Florida call on the cruise line's private island. It's an island paradise that truly caters to the whole family, especially kids. Eat as many burgers, hot dogs and fries as you want at the island's five complimentary dining spots when you're not jumping for joy in the giant Oasis Lagoon®, the largest freshwater pool in the Caribbean.
Birthday kids can live it up splashing around Captain Jill's Galleon℠, a shipwreck complete with geysers, slides and drench buckets, and the Splashaway Bay℠ water park for the smallest swashbucklers with fountains, pools, mini waterslides and more.
When you need a break from the party pace, unwind on the powdery sands of Chill Island® and South Beach — family-friendly spots with beach chairs and umbrellas lined up and waiting.
And since you've got a birthday to celebrate, why not spring for Thrill Waterpark®? With a floating trampoline, wave pool and 13 waterslides, it's a great place to let little ones have a blast and earn bragging rights. Did I mention one of the attractions is the tallest waterslide in North America at 135 feet?
Your kid's special day wouldn't be complete without a ride on Up, Up and Away, a helium balloon that takes guests soaring 450 feet up for out-of-this-world views from the highest vantage point in The Bahamas.
Customizing Birthday Cruises: Top Tips
Whenever you're sailing with Royal Caribbean, you'll see many groups celebrating. It's fun to see many families and groups kitted out in matching T-shirts, baseball caps and accessories designed with the birthday kid's name. Consider planning ahead with your own custom-designed clothing to make your weekend party cruise that much more fun.
Of course, in the dining room at any given time, you can hear the sound of "Happy Birthday" being sung by the servers and fellow guests eager to join in the revelry. Make sure you mention to your waiter that there's a birthday kid in your party.
Think outside of the birthday box and see how you can customize your weekend birthday cruise to suit your preferences and requirements. With some planning, sometimes private spaces onboard the ship can be reserved, and special food and music arranged — especially if you're traveling with the extended family or a group of friends. Contact the Royal Gifts department (or Groups Department, if you're traveling with a large group of friends and family) to see what can be put together.
Capturing The Birthday Fun
The ship's professional photographers will be happy to capture precious moments of your sailing, including a weekend birthday cruise bash. Get the family dressed in their finest — or maybe in the matching T-shirts you brought along or the captains' hats you bought in the gift shop — and make some seriously fun memories to cherish forever.
If you have special thoughts about where you want your photos taken, talk to the photography team. They're a friendly crew with lots of ideas. When your photo shoot is over, you can purchase your favorite pictures in digital form or as prints — it's up to you.
The icing on the birthday cake? Royal Caribbean's family- and birthday-friendly weekend cruises often include frequent offers for families like complimentary sailing for kids if they stay in the same stateroom as their parents. Now that's a birthday present for the adults, too!
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