Hi All, just woundering if anybody has experience of shannon cruises with small kids. I have a three and a one year old and am just a bit anxious about having two small kids on a boat with only two adults to watch them, with one of those driving!
If you're talking about a day trip, then I suppose it would be manageable - personally the thought of it would be far too stressful for me! They would need to wear lifejackets all the time, and if you're going through any locks the two adults will be occupied already (one at the wheel and one doing the rope handling), so neither of you would be free to deal with the kids who would HAVE to be below deck at this time.
But if you're talking about a trip involving overnights I definitely wouldn't recommend it with little ones. Maybe if you could get someone to keep them while you take the trip? You'd probably have a great time
I did a week long trip on the Shannon this year, and while I enjoyed it no-end, I certainly wouldn't recommend it for small children - I imagine that it would be hard to entertain them for the long periods of them that you would be cruising.
I'm not a parent though - so I can't really comment.
Hi All, just woundering if anybody has experience of shannon cruises with small kids. I have a three and a one year old and am just a bit anxious about having two small kids on a boat with only two adults to watch them, with one of those driving!
The question of safety is the obvious one but there are other aspects to consider. It's difficult to keep small children occupied in very cramped conditions especially if the weather is wet and below decks can be very noisy when the engine is running. Unless you are lucky enough to get the inside berth in a harbour (and some of them start filling up from lunch-time) you have to face the obstacle course involved in going ashore across the boats inside yours.
On balance it's not to be recommended unless you are a private owner who likes to spend most of his free time on the boat, and who builds up experience on how best to cope with the kids. See as an example:-
You can pick sheltered areas on the system where there are few locks and many family boats are happy to just base themselves somewhere for a few days at a time without moving around too much.