The world of family travel has a lot to like when it comes to cruising. Big ships feature plenty of interesting activities and features, custom designed to have something for everyone.
Smaller ships have more of an off-ship focus and can be one great way for kids to learn about history, geography and more. That’s for families in general. What about your family? Should you even consider a cruise with the kids? Your answers to a few questions can bring accurate answers that
Do They Like Other Kids?
A simple enough question, we’re looking for how well being on a ship with a bunch of other kids might go. If they don’t seem to enjoy meeting new kids, don’t let that rule out a cruise. The closed environment of a cruise ship may very well be the exposure to other children from different backgrounds that you have been looking for. In other words, under the guise of a fun cruise, your kid learns social skills in a different environment than real life might enable.
What About Their Attention Span?
If your potential young cruiser needs a lot of stimulation to keep them interested, there might be no better place than on a cruise ship. Large ships simply have so much to do that they might not be able to try everything. Frankly, if you can’t keep them occupied on a cruise, there is little hope that some other travel alternative will be better/
Do You Have A Picky Eater?
Have Special Dietary Requirements? A cruise ship is for sure the place to be for discerning kids that won’t eat just anything. Cruise lines that target families have plenty of popular choices for every meal and times in between. Your child will not starve, even your teenage boy who seems to eat everything that lands in their path.
Do You Really Want To Bring The Anyway?
If planning a family vacation, it is kind of difficult not to include the children…but maybe you should. There is nothing quite like leaving the kids behind for some ‘us time’ for mom and dad. Bonus reason to travel without children: They will know where you are at any given time easier than travel by land. All they really have to know is where the ship is located at any given time, easy enough to find out online.
We started sailing as a family after a couple of more expensive land vacations that were less than wonderful in comparison. By the end of the first day on the ship, everyone agreed it was our best family vacation ever. By the end of the cruise, the only regret we had was that it did not last longer.
Looking back, if I could change one thing about our cruise history it would be more Mom & Dad cruises early on. Once we locked into cruising as our go to family travel option, it was hard not bringing everyone along. Then we blinked and the kids were grown and gone, leaving Mom & Dad to learn how to sail all over again. Family cruising is one thing, couple cruising quite another. Enjoy both.
Chris Owen shares frank, inside information about cruise vacations on ChrisCruises.com
