Planning A Family Cruise Vacation Can Be A Job In Itself

On the other hand, a family cruise is a vacation where almost all of the planning is done for you.

• your itinerary
• your meals
• your transportation
• your entertainment

Consider the hassle of planning a family vacation.

Rental car. (Is it big enough? How long are the lines at the agency? Do we bring our own car seats or rent them from the company? How do we find our way around?) On a family cruise…no rental car.

Food. (How are we gonna feed everybody? Make the meals ourselves? That doesn’t sound like a vacation. Restaurants? What can we afford? And the kids don’t eat anything.) On a family cruise…all inclusive meals at a variety of restaurants where the kids are free to order anything on the menu – or make their choices from a huge buffet. You can even arrange for the kids to safely eat on their own – so you can enjoy something more sophisticated than peanut butter and jelly!

Entertainment. Okay, we know what we like, but how are we going to keep the kids from being bored out of their skulls? On a family cruise…a plethora of entertainment, from pools and shows to oceans and outings.

The cruise lines offer safe, supervised onboard entertainment for kids

Most of the cruise lines have special programs – day camps, essentially – for children as soon as they’re out of diapers. And of course the activities differ based on your children’s ages. Carnival has Camp Carnival, Norwegian has Kid’s Crew, Royal Caribbean has Adventure Ocean, Princess has Love Boat Kids, and Disney – well, Disney has the whole dang boat! (After all, here’s a cruise line that built itself specifically for family vacations!) But let’s be clear here: families include parents. One reason these kids programs are so appealing is that they allow parents to take a few hours’ worth of vacation away from their kids each day to go and do parent things! (Some parents take this a step further even, bringing a nanny, babysitter or au pair along on their family cruise. All inclusive cruising can make this an affordable – and liberating - option.)

Family reunions are a popular family cruise option

Have you ever tried to put together a family reunion? Not so easy, is it? Everyone wants to host, no one wants to host. This branch of the family wants a leisurely vacation, that branch wants an adventure. Nobody wants to coordinate all those desires and requirements. There’s a reason so many families have family reunions on a cruise – because it’s easy. Pick a date, pick a departure port, and everyone can make their own arrangements. Then, once you’re on the cruise, you can just focus on enjoying each other.

Expand your children’s horizons

Cruising allows you to take your children to different ports, different cities, even different countries, on a single trip. In addition, the cruise lines are starting to add a more educational component to their shipboard kids activities. For instance, Royal Caribbean has a “mad science” program, and Princess has an environmental education program designed by the National Wildlife Federation. A family cruise means you can have a vacation that gets your kids away from video games and cell phones, and that, by its very nature, gets them outdoors. Kids can meet new friends in a safe and supervised environment and get a perfect mix of time with and away from their parents. How can you improve on that?

Author: Otis Whitley
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: US Dollar credit card