Not everyone is a big fan of cruising, but we are and here’s why. Crusing is perfect for when:
1. You have vacation-planning-fatigue. You want a getaway free from; booking hotels, considering everyone’s entertainment preferences, finding restaurants that accommodate both your supertaster and your pescetarian.
2. You want to be with the kids and need a break from them at the same time.
3. You just want a plate of bacon for breakfast, every breakfast, and don’t want to clean up the mess.
As I write this, I’m sitting on my balcony in pj’s overlooking the Bahamas with fresh coffee and fruit that was delivered to my room.
Cruises are excellent for multi-generational trips, girlfriend getaways, multi-family trips. We’ve tried all of these, and it’s brillant. You only need to agree on two things, dates and ship. On board, arrange as much togetherness as desired. There are entertainment options to keep everyone happy. We’ve gone on six cruises. One was with a group of other friends, one was a girls’ cruise and multi-generational in the Mediterranean, four were with our family.
On our Mediterranean cruise we sat at the Captain’s table. He clarified for us that it is not a ship, it is a wessel (add thick Greek accent to change v to w). We stand corrected and have called it that ever since.
The girls have an ample variety of activities geared to their respective ages.
Favorite wessel activities of our ten year old include: making a teddy bear in the kid’s club, scavenger’s hunts, being old enough to check herself in and out of the kid’s club, sleepovers at the kid’s club, tie-dying shirts, the giant slide that goes into the pool, magic shows.
Favorite activities of our fifteen year old include, the 24-hour ice cream station, midnight pizza party with the other teens, late night comedy shows, guitar-hero tournies, mini-golf.
Favorites of our 19 year old include, 24-hour coffee bar, sleeping in a room with no windows so she can sleep endlessly, the Salsa dancing classes, sushi bar, the movies under the stars by the pool, and toasting in the hot tub.
Favorites for parents include not cooking, not cleaning, not driving everyone everywhere, not dealing with kid’s entertainment. Instead we great food we didn’t have to cook, 24-hour included room service, dance, walk on deck, lounge by the pool, and my number one favorite ship activity–doing a whole lot of nothing!
My favorite is the bacon, something we don’t buy at home, and waking up to a different Carribbean island to discover, something we also can’t do at home. The girls go with us to the island then later plug into other activities, if something interests them. It’s a nice balance.
Cruising with Kids:
– Make sure you have the same emergency muster station as your kids. If you are in a different room, you may be in a different zone. Change your zone so you end up with your kids should an emergency take place. Kids under 11 will usually have an arm band.
– If you use cell phones, be prepared for roaming fees, or turn off your data.
– For cell phoneless kids, if there are any of those left, bring walkie talkies. They are also handy for parent room to kid room communication.
-There are usually some loose guidelines for dinner attire, like no flipflops, sleeveless shirts, athletic clothing, etc. It depends on the formality of the ship, but make sure your kids have clothing to wear to dinner, variety optional.
– If younger kids wake up earlier than older kids, order room service the night before to be delivered at a certain time. Then they can have breakfast in bed while watching cartoons.
– Shore-excursions – often you can get the same activity for much cheaper once you hit the shore. But only do this if you don’t mind a bit of bartering with a dash of unpredictability.
– Night-lights for kid’s or windowless rooms.
– Book the early seating for dinner if you have any younger kids, so that the little ones aren’t dozing off during dessert.
– Bring along a travel cups if your kids get thirsty often. Then you aren’t constantly running back to the beverage station with their little cups. Take a coffee travel cup for you. That way you can get more than one tiny cup of coffee at a time (unless that’s all you need).
Cruises provide a wonderful mix of opportunities for alone time, couple time, and family time. There are activities to enjoy for each individual kid, many that can be done as an entire family, or enjoy the simple sweetness of doing absolutely nothing, alone or collectively. Enjoy your wessel wacataion.