The fact remains, however, that cruising is a very safe, exciting, all-inclusive vacation for friends and family of all ages. Anne Campbell reiterates the safety of massive cruise ships. "It is harder to crash a cruise ship than it is a car or airplane."
Our family took a Carnival Cruise, December of 2011, during the week following Christmas. We had a fabulous time! We have one pre-teen and two teenagers, and we traveled for 7 days to Mexico, Honduras, and Belize.
Cruises have a wide variety of offerings, to meet the needs of a wide range of family members: ages newborn to 110. It of course depends on what you are looking for in a vacation. But often the activities and benefits stand up well in comparisons with any other type of vacation. Here are a few important points to consider in choosing and organizing your cruise:
1. TYPE OF VACATION. Is it a family reunion? Would you like to lay on the beach and relax? Or do you prefer to go-go-go every minute? Cruises can be wonderful for any of the previously mentioned types of vacations.
Cruises provide a good location for family reunions, mostly because of their all-inclusiveness. A big highlight for me was: Lots of Really Good Food. This may be a highlight mostly for moms. I didn't have to cook for 7 days! All meals are included in the price of the cruise, and there is food available any time of day.
Depending on your timing needs, you can eat at one of the multiple buffets, the formal sit-down-and-take-your-order restaurant, or the sushi bar. Of course, don't forget the 24-hour ice cream and pizza. Kids are all about ice cream and pizza.
2. KID-FRIENDLY ACTIVITIES. Many cruise ships have Age-Appropriate Activities. Carnival cruises have daytime and nighttime activities for kids of all ages! Younger kids could do crafts and play games with others in their age bracket.
Our kids went to the teen scavenger hunts(300) and mini-golf, and there was always the pool tables and air hockey to pass time in between activities. There is a break available for parents with small children, if they want to leave their children with the camp specialists as they disembark for the day, or participate in some other form of ship entertainment after dinner. Ship staff avail themselves for private babysitting, too.
I saw lots of little kids on our Carnival Cruise, and I hear that Disney is also, as you can imagine, geared totally towards children. You have a mix of available activities during most of the daytime, and into the evening hours for the older ones, too.
Onboard Entertainment. Each night there is entertainment onboard in different locations on the ship. Ours included song-and-dance shows, comedians, gymnasts and jugglers. There was a magician one night, who also performed for the kids at various times throughout the week.
3. LENGTH OF CRUISE. This is often dictated by the school calendar. (When the kids were all still in elementary school and even Middle School, we didn't worry quite so much about the calendar. As soon as High School rolled around, however, the message the school administration sent was ominous: miss a day of school and you'll be scarred for life, not to mention never get into a decent college or get a job or be able to support yourself for the rest of your life. Wow--was one or two extra vacation days really worth THAT? Probably not.)
Cruises can be as short as 2 nights, and as long as 21 days. Much of the traveling actually occurs at night, when it's dark and while you are sleeping. But there are "days at sea" where you stay on the ship the whole day.
4. DAYS "AT SEA." This may seem like a silly consideration, but it kind of goes back to the previous question, what type of vacation are you aiming for. For us, it was all about the places we were visiting. We wanted to explore and experience the nature, wildlife, outdoor activities and shopping the ports of call had to offer. The ship was very nice, but it was not the reason we went. If that is your thinking, you would probably try to get a cruise that has fewer "Days at Sea." Maybe two days at sea, max.
Often the ship will sail all day the first day and night, so you have the first day "At Sea." That is fine because everybody is fresh and excited to start their vacation. After that first long stretch, the ship anchors during the day and sails all night to get to the next stop, so when you wake up you can disembark. There are some cruises, however, that have 3 and even 4 days "At Sea." Recognizing that the ship itself can be entertaining, this may or may not be good for the kind of vacation you want.
5. EMBARKATION PORTS. You might be within driving distance of a major port, like Port Canavaral in Florida, or Houston, Texas. Ships also leave from Los Angeles, CA and San Diego. VacationsToGo gives a list of ports in the United states at http://www.vacationstogo.com/cruise_port/United_States_(Continental).cfm Princess Cruises gives a comprehensive list of Ports of Europe at http://www.princess.com/learn/ports/europe/index.html
Your travel to the embarkation ports may include flying or taking a train, to even get to the starting point. This could eat up your vacation budget before you even start! Just another point to consider.
At some point we would love to see Alaska. As thin-blooded as I am, that trip will not take place any month besides July or August. It will involve a whole different set of research criteria, as we someday make plans to travel north. This trip, however, was all about being warm.
7. FLEXIBLE DATES...OR NOT. Like with the answer to #4, if you are traveling with school-aged children, most likely you have a limited window of time in which to plan your vacation. (Elementary-aged children may have less make-up work to do than high schoolers, or less pressure from teachers to NOT miss school.)
Summers, spring breaks, and the last half of December are very popular times for cruise lines. They will be more likely to sell out all the cabins, and probably advertise fewer discounts. You can still find discounts. They just don't really need to "bribe" people to come stay with them during school breaks. If you are in a life stage where you will not be traveling with children, perhaps you want to choose a time during the off season. The weather may not be ideal, but the crowds would probably be smaller.
8. ROOM LOCATION. The square footage in the room may be similar (usually small...people only sleep in their rooms, so most of them utilize every square inch and don't give you extra lounging room), but the view can make all the difference.
If you are claustrophobic, you will probably need some kind of natural lighting. This will increase the price of the room some. A porthole at sea level gives natural light, although not much and the view is limited to a fish-eye perspective of the ocean surface. The higher up you go on the ship, the MORE water you can see, as you travel. And when the ship is docked, you can see a little more of the port city you are visiting. The cost increases the higher you go on the ship, and inside rooms are generally less expensive.
9. EXCURSIONS. Referring back to question #1, you can consider what type of vacation you want. Maybe your read-on-the-sand vacation will only require you to find a suitable beach and a taxi to it. You might ask the ship's entertainment crew where they would go to enjoy a beach. Kitchen and cleaning staff work all day while vacationers are exploring the port, but the dancers, comedians and evening show people have the days to themselves. They generally don't hang out on the same crowded beaches as the rest of the cruise travelers.
If your interests are varied and more adventurous, you should research ahead of time. If the days get away from you and you wait until you board the ship to think about excursions, you'll be locked in to their choices for excursions. This is fine, overall. They may sell out, though, so you have to make some quick decisions once you're on board, if you're considering the more popular excursions.
We planned our excursions long before we actually went on the cruise, but you don't have to plan that far ahead. The ship offers many of the same excursions we found online. For us, half the fun was planning our outings. We would take an interest poll at dinnertime: "Who wants to go snorkeling? ATVing? Number your top choices 1 to 3, and we'll try to plan at least one #1 activity for each person in the family."
We did book a snorkel trip for the day we spent in Belize. We took a shuttle to a small airport and boarded a little plane to a tiny island. Once there, we sped in a motorboat to "Shark & Ray Alley." This is where fishermen used to bring their fish, clean them, and dump the leftovers into the water. The sharks and rays got used to being fed regularly, and the population of those sea creatures grew. Swimming with these animals was a definite highlight for our kids.We probably saved some money by booking directly with the organizations, but not really that much.
10. AVAILABLE DISCOUNTS. If you are a AAA member, you may get some discounts here and there. Your bank may offer some travel discounts if you use their credit card to pay for the vacation. You can get on the email list of VacationsToGo.com, who send out cruise discounts periodically. Some cruise lines also offer discounts to those who have cruised with them before.
Our cruise was one of our family's favorite vacations together. The kids were great ages for it: they were allowed the freedom they craved as teens, on an enclosed vessel where they couldn't go too far. Meals were varied and top-notch, and the selection was fabulous for every meal.
Babies and toddlers of course won't appreciate all the amenities, but cruises are still a nice family reunion idea since the moms don't have to cook or clean up after everybody.
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