Mom2008

Hi:

We have our heart set on a warm weather vacation, hoping for something on the Atlantic side. We've already done Mexico (Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, Cabo San Lucas). We'd like to travel during our son's spring break, March 15 to 30, but could move to another time if the price was a lot better.

I made the mistake of doing a search on flight times from Vancouver to Florida and it came up with six hours so I thought, OK, that's doable. But...i's only six hours if it's direct, as the crow flies, and there are no such flights. There's always at least one stop, either in Toronto, LA or Houston, and trip times are 11 to 12 hours, or more.

Also, when I first checked, the prices were $500 to $600. Tonight, checked again, each time we check, the price goes up, and it's up to $900 for a flight to Miami. I've signed up for some alerts, to let me know when the price goes down, but I don't know if they ever will.

Can't decide whether to just book one of the very cheap cruises, as we're into the deep discount period, and hope to find a decent price for a flight (or just pay the $900 for a flight). Or find a place with the cheapest flight, then book a cruise to match. We'd probably ending up booking a hotel, at least for arrival, but that's another discussion.

I'm hoping to keep to a budget of $2,000 per person for six people, all expenses, for the entire trip.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Thank you.

I would look at the sell off to keep you in your budget

Any cruise for Florida would work for you

NCL. RCL or Carnival would cater to the young people more

 

 

How about cruises from California to Mexico it would be shorter flights

 

Good luck

It would be shorter for us, but longer for my Dad, who's flying from Winnipeg. Plus, we've already been on a Pacific-side Mexican cruise via San Diego.

Trying to find a balance between doing too much research, and trying to find the best cruise, cruise line, ship, ports etc., that I should just bite the bullet. I give myself another week or so and just make the final decision.

Thanks.

We're back to planning a cruise vacation. BF is not coming now, and without his extra help, the land-based vacation just became too challenging.

We're looking at Caribbean/Bahamas, 7-day cruise last two weeks of March.

Thanks.

Just thought I'd give an interim update. Daughter's boyfriend has let us know he will not be able to come on a trip with us. For a variety of reasons, we have gone back to the idea of a cruise.

It will just be the six of us: Dad (84), myself and hubby (52/50), daughter 19, son 16 and daughter 12.

We are narrowing it down to the last two weeks of March (spring break), for a seven-day cruise somewhere warm, Caribbean or Bahamas, with a departure port that has not very expensive airfare from Vancouver, Calgary and Winnipeg. Probably Florida, but could be Houston (Galveston) or New Orleans. We'll stay in a hotel for one night at each end, to keep it relaxing. That's what we did when we went to Mexico, and it was very low-stress.

We will go for balconies, probably a bigger ship as it will have more choice of activities, my Dad likes shows and good food. At sea days are great too.

I saw discount tickets, $589 for a balcony on Norwegian Epic (original price $3,999, though I have a hard time believing that), and it's hard not to jump at something like that.

We want a warm place to sit in the sun, snorkel, visit a bit, low key. Martinique would have been fun, it's French territory, so we could say we were in France :D, and we could speak French there, but cruises that go there start in places with expensive airfare, so not in our range. We like cultural experiences too (well, I and my husband and Dad do).

At this point, affordable airfare to departure port is a big deciding factor.

I'll let you know if there are any further developments.

Thanks everyone.

I see that the granddaughter is 19 and cruising with her boyfriend. Not sure of his age but most cruiselines insist that someone in the cabin be 25 if there are under 21 yr old people in the cabin. There are ways around this if they wish to share. You just have to get creative in who is booked in which cabin and then sort it out when you get onboard the way you really want it. Stateroom accounts can get messed up though as all billings will be made to the room the cruise line thinks a person is in as opposed to the one they are actually inhabiting. Secondly I she she is from Alberta and of legal drinking age here. On the ship it's 21 unless cruising in Europe where it is lower. Her dad may be able to sign a waiver and she will be allowed beer and wine, again depending on the cruise line. If she doesn't drink then this isn't an issue. Ships have a lot of up and down travel. Yes there are elevators but depending on where your cabin is substantial walking may be required. This is a potential issue for your mobility impared guest.

 

Our family does an AI every year and the wife and I also cruise. If cost is a factor then an AI is going to be cheaper in the long run. The AI also has the benefit of allowing all to do as they please and not being confined to the ship where quite frankly there isn't a lot for underage older teen to do. Most cruise lines don't cater well to this age group. Great for over 21 and great programs for the younger ones.

 

I would recommend checking out the policies of the cruise lines you are looking at with respect to ages of people allowed in cabins before you decide which way to go.

 

The wife and I are die hard cruisers but it might not work all that well for your age mix

Thank you Gunner. BF is 26, so luckily that's not a problem, but I didn't know about needing someone over 25 to be responsible for a cabin. But the drinking, yeah, something to think about, she does like to drink, and is responsible when she's with BF.

One cruise we are considering is a repositioning cruise from Honolulu to Vancouver, so only one-way airfare, but there's five days in a row at sea, could get stir crazy. AI has the advantage of being able to go where they please when they please. Or we could just plan a land trip, rent a condo or airbnb and find someone to hire to cook/clean. It has to be a vacation after all.

For land vacations, check out the tripadvisor forums.

Thank you. That's a good start.

I do not think OPs caught $500 reduction in PP allowance.Europes out on 2K. Renting a condo and cooking, cleaning for 7,not a vacation, no way.What if you book unsuitable All Inclusive and are stuck on tiny island for a week? Cruising Caribbean with long multiple flights makes no sense when you can have same situation in Hawaii with only one flight. Seems logical to me. The April 28 Celebrity Solstice 10 night shows on a discount cruise site for $1274 Outside.Taxes only $100 more.This eligible for Celebrity 1-2-3 offer We are not allowed to mention agency name. Begins V. .2 days HNL, cruise islands,then back to Vancouver.This will sell out so book now if interested.

That's a great repositioning cruise ending in Vancouver, would only need one way airfare. Five+ days at sea...not sure. Thanks for the info.

For the $12k he has offered, you could rent an amazing four BR/five bath villa for a week on a Caribbean island or even Hawaii that would come with a housekeeper and cook.

Total price has to include airfare and everything else, but I'm having trouble finding something like this. I'm on information overload trying to do research on the internet. Cruise Critic has been great for cruise info, airbnb dot com for info on renting a house or condo, other than that, it's hard to find something with useful information.

I think the appeal of cruising is you know what you're getting, thousands of other people have done it so you can read their reviews, and it's not new or different. Easy peasy.

Leaning towards Hawaii, but even the cruises there are $$$

Hi everyone:

I'm starting a new thread. I had a great discussion on another board soliciting information on an eastern Europe cruise, but after careful consideration, and a change in the amount of money available for the trip, decided to forego a European trip in favour of a trip to some place warm during spring break, last two weeks of March.

Summary of my parameters: My 84 year old Dad has offered to take our family on a cruise, and the maximum total cost per person has to be under $2,000, including airfare, cancellation insurance, taxes, tips, transfers, everything. Though we can contribute to anything unexpected that takes us over, we'd like to stay within that range. There will be seven of us travelling: 84 year old dad, myself and my husband (early 50's), our 19 yo daughter, her boyfriend, 16 year old son and 12 year old daughter (ages at time of travel).

We live in Vancouver, Dad lives in Winnipeg, daughter and boyfriend are in Calgary. Dad likes the idea of cruising, but when I mentioned the possibility of an all-inclusive resort, or a land-based vacation, he was happy with that too. March will be a time when we'd all like to be some place warm. We've all cruised before, and the part we like is that we can unpack our bags and stay in one place, and have all the food prepared and available, no decisions about which restaurant, what to order based on cost, it's all included and you can eat as much as you want (kids especially like that part). We all like swimming too.

My Dad recently had his second knee surgery, but he still moves slowly, he can walk for maximum 20 minutes at a time, he can do it without a walker, but prefers to have it "just in case".

So I'm looking for feedback, obviously about cruises, since this is a cruise board, but if this isn't blasphemy, I'd like info about any trips seniors have taken with family, and which is more relaxing. We like the idea of Hawaii, which is about a six hour flight from Vancouver, but Bahamas or Caribbean would be shorter for Dad to get to. Mexico could work too. I just don't know where to start.

Thanks.

Instead of a resort, I'm thinking renting a house (single story) on a beach someplace might be an option. Maybe someplace with a nice porch overlooking the dunes where he could sun himself while the kids play on the beach.

 

 

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Hmmm, that's certainly an option, though one of the things he likes about cruising is all the food that's included and the variety available, but again, he'll be cruising with my other siblings, so this trip, (house or small resort) could be an opportunity to have some local food. We could hire a cook :D

Dear Mom2008,

 

Your dad and family is fantastic and I will admire the way you are looking into creating a holiday for all of you. As I said before, I traveled with my disabled aunt and it created an unique set of challenges. Since I'm European, and only traveled extensively in Europe (except for a quick USA city trip) I won't have much to add to this thread anymore.

 

We once had a 5* resort in Turkey that consisted of many steep steps towards bungalows, the lobby up top, with an elevator going down to the hotel pool and the MDR, but not down to the beach (more steep steps) and all the other restaurants on the resort (5). Supposedly there was a little train that went Beach-Lobby and Lobby-Bungalows, but it often drove erratically or not at all. When we got out, we saw one woman who was on crutches! I saw her face crumple and she immediately switched from bungalow to hotel room, but I heard that rooms left over weren't very good. I doubt she saw the beach that holiday. Another man told the porter that he'd bring his own bag to his bungalow. We met him stranded 3 minutes later. None of the people were aware of the steep nature of our hotel and bungalows. It was build on the cliff wall. We were because it was in the brochure, but often TA's can be misinformed or the brochure will be much nicer then the truth.

 

So the only tip I wanted to give you, is that if you are looking into a land holiday at a resort, here in Holland we have several TA's specialized in trips for the elderly/disabled. They will have excellent knowledge of resorts that are wheel chair accessible, even though your dad can walk, it will be easier when he does need a walker if there aren't any silly steps or other problems. They can sometimes also assist in having care abroad and know how well equipped the handicapped rooms are.

 

Enjoy your trip and please do update with what you end up with!

Thank you CB. That sounds like such a horrible experience. Your aunt was very lucky to have you accompany her on such an adventure.

Yes, the cover can sometimes look much more appealing than the book. I'll make sure to ask some hard questions about accessibility and stairs. My FIL stayed in a resort where you had to take a shuttle/golf cart to get to the beach.

As much as my Dad loves cruising, with his mobility issues and weak stomach, I'm thinking a quiet resort would allow him to relax more. He'll be cruising with the other five siblings' families in 2015 and beyond (no one else is planning anything for 2014, what with the nephew's wedding Thanksgiving weekend), so if I don't take him on a cruise, he'll get his fill in the future.

sounds like dear old Dad who is footing the bill has become an after thought. even a passing thought of taking a 84 yo to Disney is nuts.

Well, I've never been to Disney, which is why I posed the question. Thank you for your kind evaluation of my mental state ;). Dear old Dad is very much at the forefront of the final decision.

Do not do Disneyland. My husband and I did a day there last summer, and it was exhausting for two adults who are in great physical shape.

 

I still think the resort option would be the best choice. If you can find one with a three bedroom condo type it might be ideal. One other thing to keep,in mind with cruising is that you never know when you might hit rough water where balancing could be a serious problem for your father.

 

 

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Kind of what I thought about Disneyland, more fun for us and the kids than for my Dad. None of us has ever been (except my husband as a kid), but that will be on our list for another time.

Dad gets nauseated very easily, so anything with rough seas could be a problem, BUT, he LOVES cruising. Though he'd love a beautiful, warm-water, sandy beach resort too.

We're now considering a few options

1) a repositioning cruise to/from Vancouver or West Coast, but I need to find one within our price range (now $2,000pp total)

2) a regular cruise end of March to the Caribbean, somewhere warm

3) a flight to an all-inclusive resort near a beach where we can just veg out.

There's talk of Disneyland, but I don't think that would be relaxing for my Dad.

I got the list of all the ships sailing into or out of Vancouver and am working back from there to see which ones might suit us, earliest arrival is end of April. There's one, HAL that sails from Tokyo to Vancouver, I've seen inside fare as low as $699, but that would be one loooong flight for my Dad. It could be something the family could do another year, as we have close friends in Japan.

There's another HAL from Ft Lauderdale leaving end of April, but those are 20 or 21 days, a bit long for us.

Still looking.

If you are thinking about heading to the Caribbean instead, I would figure out which ports you can get to with reasonable airfare first, and then find a cruise that fits your travel dates. There are plenty to choose from. Coming from Canada it might be cost effective to fly into St. Maarten or another Caribbean departure port instead of Florida/NOLA/Texas, keep that in mind. It might also be more cost effective to so ply take a land-based vacation at an all-inclusive, Cuba might be a terrific option for you.

It doesn't necessarily have to be Caribbean, just any place warm where we can swim in the ocean, and most of all relax and spend time together.

Yes, first order of business is looking at the cost for flights, finding the most economical, and going from there. St. Maarten doesn't seem to be much cheaper than flying to Ft. Lauderdale, but I'll look harder. Flight time to Fort Lauderdale from Vancouver is 6 hours, from Winnipeg is only 4 (for my Dad).

Cuba does sound very appealing. So does Costa Rica; a neighbour went there for a family member's wedding, and it is an amazing country, very progressive and diverse. I might head over to the seniors forum to ask about planning a warm destination vacation for March, as this thread (unfortunately) is no longer about Eastern Mediterranean. But I'll post our final destination here once it's finalized.

`Hello again,

This is a wonderful friendly thread. you really have got a lot of us rooting for you.

If you are now thinking warm in March have a look at Celebrity they have their 123 deal on at the moment and there may be incentives that appeal to you. Mind you, it looks as though this weekend may be the time to book any cruise line as black friday prices apply even north of the border.

I am doing the Caribbean with Celebrity on the 22 March.

I am sorry the Med is no longer happening but looking on the bright side; a nice bit of Caribbean sun after the wet left coast winter is everso enjoyable. I know we have decided Feb-Apr is our favourite time of the year to cruise.

Your dad sounds like a great guy so I am sure hewill be happy with the idea that the people are more important than the destination.

Do, please, keep us all up to date with your decisions.

Cheers, h.

Yes, this thread has been very friendly, I've gotten some good advice.

My kids and my Dad and I are very much of the opinion that as long as we're together, that's what counts. Dad is offering a cruise, he likes the all-inclusive nature of it, that's what we'll do, though I am sometimes tempted by the idea of finding a great all-inclusive resort some place warm.

Yes, Caribbean sun in March sounds great, but anywhere warm would be great. My family loves the idea of being able to swim in warm ocean waters.

The CC cruise search doesn't seem to have March 2014 as a search option any more :-( so I'm searching other sites. Yes, black Friday deals are great, but this isn't something we want to rush into, still a lot of careful consideration (I'm a very cautious person). But I guess as we get closer to the end of March, there are more last-minute deals available, so that's a good thing.

As always, I'll keep you posted.

Update: just got off the phone with my little brother. He's helping my Dad manage his money, and doing a great job of it.

Bottom line now is, maximum contribution from my Dad is down to $2,000 per person. That makes a lot more for us to make up the difference in cost for us to get to Europe, probably too much.

Sooooo, re-grouping and figuring out what to do from here. Perhaps a warm vacation the last two weeks of March will be the best option after all, and my Dad can go to Rome some other time. Too bad there weren't any ships sailing out of Vancouver in March, we'd save on airfare.

Again, thank you for all the advice and feedback. I'll keep you posted.

It is too early to get real DEALs on 2014 Euro cruises. Maybe starting in January Wave Sale season.Europe is in poor shape financially.Should be good rates later. My last few Spring cruises have had extensive rain, especially in Italy. Consider Fall; late Sept. or early Oct. Seems to me NCL has family cabins sleeping 5. Anyone know which lines have large basic family cabins? .Definetely leave the BF at home. Its a family situation. Its going to be very stressful on you. Someone mentioned getting it down to your husband, Father and you. Great idea. One city of your Fathers choosing since he is paying.3-5 days. Stick with American oriented ships; Princess, RCL,NCL or Celebrity. Celebrity takes very good care of elderly cruisers. Spend some time with cruise/port reviews here and with travel books from your library.Discount cruise only travel agencies on the web offer discount rates often with OBC. Somone on CC has a spreadsheet. Look at top of this page under search. for this and other info.

Turns out HAL doesn't have shorter (7 day) eastern Med cruises, so for now it doesn't look like we'll be cruising with them this time. Thanks for the tip about waiting until January for better deals.

A spring trip would likely be May. My son has provincial exams in June so we must be back for that. We could do September, but not October as we have a wedding to attend in Winnipeg on Thanksgiving, October 11.

FWIW, BF is a big part of our family, much loved by all, his absence would be deeply felt. He engages with all three kids, and he acts very much as a peacekeeper. Even if my Dad didn't pay for him, we all agreed we'd find a way of bringing him along.

This thread isn't about who is or isn't coming, that's already firmly established. But I do appreciate all the wonderful advice about time of year to travel, cruise ref's, tips to make it easier on my Dad, and how best to plan this trip realistically and economically.

None of the major cruise lines, including HAL, include gratuities. HAL calls it a service charge. Sometimes you will find travel agent deals where they will include the gratuities for the first and second in a cabin. Otherwise, budget $12 per person per day for gratuities.

 

Another thing that I've found in scheduling and rescheduling cruises is that although the shore excursions are pretty much the same from cruise line to cruise line, the prices can vary a lot. For example, an excursion on my upcoming cruise is quoted at $170 for HAL. Another cruiser is on Celebrity the same month, was asking about the same excursion on their sailing. Celebrity was charging $99. It's often difficult to find out pricing until you've booked. So, try and do some research on what those costs would be.

After the first two shore excursions in Alaska with HAL, we figured out we were better off booking our own on shore, and have been very happy doing that. We had already booked a gold panning and salmon bake which was fun, but were surprised to see that we could have bought a bus ticket for $6/person to see the glacier, and the bus was parked right off the dock.

For this trip we would most likely look at hiring a private taxi or driver when we'd disembark, which is what we did in Mexico where 12 of us fit into a big van and we had the driver for a few hours.

I'm very interested to read what kind of trip/cruise you decide on. My DH, 16 and 14 year old children, and I are going on a Princess Med cruise next Aug. Our air from Edmonton to Munich and then from London to Edm on Icelandair is $1250 per person, with another $200 per person for the local flights (Munich to Venice where the cruise starts and Barcelona to Lon. Flying to Munich was a lot cheaper than into Italy.). We're doing 3 nights after the cruise in Barcelona and two in London. I have researched like crazy and the minimum that this trip will cost is $4700 per person. (I also grew up on the Prairies and the $ is harder to stretch when it's at .9440 US! Yikes). However, our cruise is 12 nights, so it is $1700 per person. I am a jr high school teacher/admin and am not able to go in off peak times. Also, my kids, too, would not want to miss school. We are porting in Dubrovnik and I'm quite excited about it!

 

Good luck with your decision making! Come back and tell us what you decide.

Wow! Sounds like you've planned the trip of a lifetime. Would love to hear how your trip turns out.

Good old Prairie stock, we can always find the best deals. Yes, I will check back in when we've finalized the plans, and afterwards, I'll try to find the energy to give an update on how it turned out.

While I'm firmly in the 'don't be overly ambitious' camp, don't discount Paris just yet. It might be significantly cheaper to fly there, and then you can take a TGV train straight to Milan, from which you can transfer to a train to either Rome or Venice.

 

Yes, there are great variations both in terms of which cruise lines offer discounted/free 3rd/4th person rates, and which cruises they're offered on. In general, the best offers are on NCL, HAL and MSC (how's that for your fill of TLAs :D). No need to call - you can do a dummy booking at an online TA to compare pricing.Remember, when comparing prices, you need to look at the total, not just the lead '10 days for $799' prices.

We'll see about Paris, it's energy more than cost that's a deterrent at this point.

LOL! I got the first three then had to look up what TLA means (3-letter acronym). And yes, totals do make a difference. I do remember that HAL included gratuities. There can be lots of "hidden" costs.

Thanks for the feedback.

The Norwegian Jade looks good to me as far as itenerary goes and the pricing is realy reasonable. Look at the ocean view family cabins if you are wanting to get 3 in a cabin. If there is no price break for the 3rd person you may as well do 2 to a cabin. You do know that there is a single suppliment that can be anywhere up to 100%.

Glad you are back on the Europe and admire your dad for spending your inheritance on you while he can enjoy it too ;). What a lucky extended family you are.

Cheers, h.

Yes, if no price break for three, then we'd do two cabins with two people and one with three. And yes, it's spending the inheritance so we can all share in the luxury together, and spend some quality time too. Thank you.

The NCL prices are good and they frequently run sales, sometimes offering 3rd and 4th, sometimes OBC - they seem to rotate. 3rd and 4th is only in same cabin. Cunards current rates include prepaid gratuities and some decent OBC even for insides ($350) - so price is pretty close to NCL. No free extra passenger offers that I see. MSC also does a couple low priced Eastern Meds out of Venice. Only your 11 year old would be free. NCL itinerary out of Venice has a plus in that it does both Split and Dubrovnik in Croatia. I've sailed the Jade and liked her. Not spiffy new, but has a great friendly crew. If you go with NCL try and negotiate some OBC since you'll be booking a number of cabins. RCI also has a ship doing a 7 day out of Venice. Cunard was the only reasonably priced ship that I saw that went into the Adriatic out of Rome. The QE does a back and forth 7 day Rome to Venice (or reverse) through the summer.

That's great. Thanks for all the research, very helpful. OBC could come in very handy. Good to know you enjoyed the Jade.

Since you are set on Europe (and most importantly it's Dad's choice), I took the approach of trying to find reasonable priced cruises that might work using a online TA's search engine (try to find one that has an advanced search function, allowing you to put in a range of dates across months and ports desired). Believe it or not the Cunard Queen Elizabeth might be a great choice. Insides start at around $1,000. Goes from Rome to Venice - saving the train ride.

 

FriJul25Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy 9:00pmSatJul26At SeaSunJul27Corfu, Greece 9:00am5:00pmMonJul28Kotor, Montenegro 8:00am6:00pmTueJul29Dubrovnik, Croatia 8:00am5:00pmWedJul30At SeaThuJul31Venice, Italy 8:00amFriAug1Venice, Italy Disembark

 

If you did a your transatlantic flights into Rome and out of Paris, and add a one way flight from Venice to Paris - you just might be able to pull it off. You'd definitely have to throw in some money because the budget won't be enough.

Thank you for that research. Looks good. Thinking still that Paris might be too much though, energy wise for my Dad.

Just wondering, I see great prices for Norwegian Cruise Lines, usually Norwegian Jade, starting at $799 for inside, $899 for ocean view. Do cruise lines differ much in offering third and fourth persons free, and is that only if you all share the same cabin? We'd probably do three cabins, though for deep discounts, we might try two. My fear of starting to call is that I'll be offered this great price, and then be forced to make a decision before I'm ready as it will be a limited time offer.

With you being in Vancouver I would imagine, like me, you have done a lot of looking at snow covered mountains, hiling over glaciers and browsing through dense forest, so an Akaska cruise wouldn't hold the same appeal to your family as it would to most. Has your dad spent much time on the west coast? Would he enjoy something like that?

Hawaii would be good , it has a lot of sea days or the Caribbean, it is more port intensive. Oh! oh! I know (sorry just thought of this), look into a Panama Canal cruise. It could be one that pleases everyone.

Personally I would ditch all land tours and do a Med cruise which included Croatia; one of your dads wishes.

I bet you have more input than you ever thought. Good luck deciding what to do.

Cheers, h.

Living a half hour walk from the cruise ship terminal, and having already thoroughly enjoyed an Alaska cruise, my plan is to do more last-minute, deep-discounted ones leaving from Vancouver after I retire in 8-10 years.

My Dad has done Alaska and Panama canal with Mom before she died, he was telling me how much he enjoyed the latter. Mom was Croatian, but born in Canada, so being able to visit Croatia holds meaning for him (for me too).