For you who cruise alot

[eboon]

Looking through these threads I often wonder how people can cruise so often. I have kids in their teens and we just cannot take the time to cruise right now with them unless we do a short cruise (3-4 dayer). The only way we can cruise longer is if we go without them which we did do once. So I just wondered what was up with everyone. Are you older without kids, younger without kids, older/younger with kids and take them/don't take them....what's your story?

 

I personally loved my cruise and want to go ALL the time which I cannot. But when I get the chance will go. So I'm just interested to hear your stories! :)

[Frick_&_Frack]

We're a 40-something and 50-something couple. I have no children. His are grown. We both work full-time jobs; but can cruise since the internet makes us available for work.

[maxs mom]

We've been able to cruise a lot because 1) We're a little older...50's....2) We're DINKS (Double Income No Kids) 3) My husband was retired for a few years and 4) I teach in a year round school. However my husband got bored and now has gone back to work, so we are back to cruising only once a year now :( ....Twice if we're lucky. We also book at non peak times and book on board whenever possible to get the on board credit. We book inside guarantees (lowest fare on the ship). All of that saves us a little money. We also use frequent flyer miles to save on airfare.

[lauren0309]

We're in our 40's. One son is 23 and out on his own now. Our other two boys are 13 and 18. We have taken 4 cruises so far. Two of them we have gone by ourselves (7 day) and left the boys with my MIL and the other two cruises we have taken the boys. (4 and 5 day). We are going on another cruise in January (7 day) and are leaving the boys home again with my MIL.

[amarco]

We have taken around 40 cruises since 1985. Our youngest is almost 19 and has been on close to 25 cruises himself. We would cruise during Spring Break and/or the week before Christmas (if school was out.).

 

Now that he is older and in college, we cruise during May with him and in December without him. After we retire, my DH and I hope to cruise a whole lot more during the year.

[Buccaneergirl]

We are early 40's and no kids. I have my own part time business and take May through August off and DH has 4 weeks vacation per year. Besides our cruise in April, we will be in Key West for 5 days in May and then in July we are going to San Francisco and Sonoma for a week. I consider us to be very lucky to do so much traveling! The only down side is our dog has to go to the kennel when we are gone:( .

I would take more cruises but DH doesn't enjoy them as much as I do.

[ssolomon56]

My DH is now 56, and I will be celebrating my 50th on our cruise next month. This will be our 21st cruise since May 2000.

 

Our kids currrently range in age (six girls) from 20-30. We've really only had to be concerned with the youngest one...and she's gone with us on 4 of these cruises. When she can't cruise with us we've left her with her one of her older (married) sisters, or with my mother-in-law when she was younger...and in the past year or so, we've let her stay home alone - she's now a sophomore in college.

 

My DH owns his own business, and his busy season generally dictates when we can cruise. I was working contract for awhile and had small hunks of un-employed time between 2001 and 2004, so we were more free to cruise at that time. Now that I'm a permanant employee with Lockheed Martin, I am less flexible ....and we're lucky to get away for 1-2 a year. :(

[ribarfly]

We did our first cruise for 25th wedding anniversary and have been hooked ever since, at first it was one cruise a year but it wasn't long when we started doing two a year then three a year. I guess we will keep that up until we are all cruised out. We both feel that life is very short and if you have your health, income and the time to travel, go for it! I hear about to many people that wait until they retire only to become sick and go nowhere. Our freinds refer to us as DINKS! "Dual Income No Kids" Ok, so it allows us to travel. But there is alot to be said about being blessed with children, something we will never have:( Oh well that is what life deals you, so its time to cruise again, leaving April 1, Serenade of the Seas, 1st one up for this year:p

[ssolomon56]

We did our first cruise for 25th wedding anniversary and have been hooked ever since, at first it was one cruise a year but it wasn't long when we started doing two a year then three a year. I guess we will keep that up until we are all cruised out. We both feel that life is very short and if you have your health, income and the time to travel, go for it! I hear about to many people that wait until they retire only to become sick and go nowhere. Our freinds refer to us as DINKS! "Dual Income No Kids" Ok, so it allows us to travel. But there is alot to be said about being blessed with children, something we will never have:( Oh well that is what life deals you, so its time to cruise again, leaving April 1, Serenade of the Seas, 1st one up for this year:p

 

You hit it right on the head! My DH and I have had this conversation many times. Often, you will see a much older group of people on cruises. They wait until they are retired. I think we're at the perfect age to bump up the vacation and cruise time - our kids are all grown up...but, we're about 20 years until retirement. We still have that DINK factor, money is available...and we're young enough to participate in most any activity we want.

[atlcple2]

We have cruised 4 times without the kids and only once with the kids (last week on the Mariner). We all had a great time, but it is very expensive to take the kids so instead of 2 cruises a year, we will be only doing 1 cruise a year on the years we take them with us. We booked the same week for 2007 while we were still on the ship last week since the kids will have Winter Break that week, but the next year (2008) will be cruising without the kids. We want to do a B2B cruise for our anniversary and they have school. We also have 2 older grown children that we have not taken with us on a cruise. We have the younger 2 kids 1/2 the time (the other times they are with their Mom) so it gives us time to travel. We typically cruise once (or twice) a year, go to Upstate NY for a week and then do a land vacation for a week in the fall. I live for vacation! Looking forward to being a "DINK" myself!

[nanner10]

My DH has 5 weeks vacation per year and I am a self employed. I have an assistant who works part time and is available to cover for me when I vacation.

 

We are in our early to mid 50's, I have two grown kids and DH has none. We hire a person to stay at our house with the 2 dogs and 3 cats when we travel.

 

We spent a number of years working hard to pay off our mortgage early. Our house is quite nice, but, other people might choose something bigger or fancier, it is all a matter of priorities. For us, right now, this is where we are choosing to spend the $$ previously going to our mortgage.

 

After spending our entire adult lives being mature, responsible, financially conservative people, we decided to be wild and crazy for a bit while we are still healthy! We may not chose to, or be able to, continue taking as many cruises and land vacations as we have in the past few years, but, for now we are in heaven!!!!

 

As ribarfly noted, life is short! You never know what tomorrow will bring or even if there will be a tomorrow! As long as we continue to put money away for retirement, take care of all our responsibilities and can do it, we want to be sure we don't reach old age thinking ...we coulda, we shoulda!!!!!

[KillaFee]

I'm 24 and my boyfriend is 28. We both work full time and have no children (well, a dog and 3 cats). I work to go on vacation and enjoy life!! When I buried my father 5 years ago I'll never forget when the funeral director told my family that it sounded like my dad had a full life (he traveled alot & never waited to do something he wanted to do) and the director continued to say that he buried way too many people that waited until retirement to start living and they never made it till then. Don't get me wrong though, I'm responsible and still pay my bills and save money, but we usually book far in advance during non-peak times. If you book way in advance and have a good travel agent you can usually find a deal that breaks down to about and extra $75-$100 a month, which is a drop in the bucket compared to the fun that's to be had!! :D ;) :p

LaUra

[Nliedel]

When the kids are old enough to fend for themselves (I am thinking 10, everyone agree) we are OUTTA HERE! Cruising every few months. They don't need to inherit NUTHIN! Seriously I cruised a lot before the boys came into out lives. Until they are older we will take shorter cruises than I would like. Of course I would like to be on an around the world cruise so there.

[Jeepers385]

We cruise 2 times a year. My kids are now on their own, have put them through college have money in accounts for them for weddings and outside of that whatever is left after I go they can have. But we worked too hard for many years not to take advantage at our age now to enjoy it. We're 51 & 50 and have worked since we've been 16 w/o any time off except for paid vacations and holidays.

I lost my younger sister when she was 40 and that was a definite wake up call that life is too short and I'm going to enjoy it.

Debbie

[QTBabyNurse]

We are a couple in our 40's with a 20 year old son in college. We both have fairly well paying jobs, I'm a nurse, so when I want to go away on vacation, I usually just pick up a few extra shifts to pay for it!! Our son has cruised with us 3 times and he will be joining us again in May on the Explorer of the Seas. We tend to take the 5 day cruises because they save a bit of money and we also live in Florida, so there are no airfare costs for us. We have worked way too hard for way to many years to NOT enjoy ourselves.

[eboon]

Keep the stories coming please! I love them! :D I'm 36 and my DH is 35. We just went on our first cruise 2 weeks ago (actually our first vacation ever) and I'm hooked! My kids are older (They will be 14 and 16 this summer) and we will be quite young when they graduate almost 42 when the youngest graduates so I KNOW I have plenty of time but I want to go NOW along with THEN! :p So I have to plan short vacations for the family and hopefully convince the DH that a week cruise just for us every year or every other year till the kids are out is what we need! My Mom is single so it works out great for her to come stay at our house and watch the kids also.

[MEGADAN]

We can't afford it but we do it anyway! lol We take one cruise a year with our kids, 14 & 12. We also took 2 Cruises before we had kids and 2 cruises without them when they were little.

I guess, seriously the way we manage it is that vacation is the only major expense that we incur each year. It is just priceless to be able to spend uninterrupted time with our kids, family and friends.

[SharonCruise]

We are a couple (46 and 54), husband is retired but we still own two businesses (Rental Units and Sports Bar) who like to cruise about 3 times a year. To be on vacation, we HAVE to be out of town and a cruise ship is perfect because we are not readily available for every little thing that goes wrong. Our 3 sons are for the most part grown (2 married and out on their own, son 19 still at home but leaves for the Navy in June).

 

I book months ahead of time and make payment several times a month until they are paid for....then I add cash credits and pre-pay for some excurisons. We really do not miss the cash and when the time comes to go, most of it is paid for already.

 

Life is short and we feel very fortunate to be able to travel somewhere about every other month. It keeps me sane! We are not wealthy people by any means but you always make room for your priorities and for us (me, especially), that would be cruising!

[cyscopup]

My wife (32) and I (46) have sailed on average four times a year for the past several years. I am self employed and my wife has five weeks of vacation time per year. We try to cruise around holidays to extend her vacation time. Her company generally gives employees four day weekends on most holidays so that helps too.

We have a cruise schedules for this Friday thru Monday on Monarch, A week trip to Alaska in May ( Memorial Day) then back to back on Empress in December. I am trying to talk her into a NE cruise out of Boston for the fall.

[mrstrod]

We, my DH (32) and I (33) cruise at twice a year, once in spring then again in either late summer or early fall. The kids DD (6) & DS (3) alway come with us on at least one of the cruises and they stay with their grandparents for the other (except for last year when we also brought the grandparents).

 

I guess for in some minds, we cruise a lot. I won't say that it's easy to afford - but I guess we just prioritize differently than others do for instance- my bathroom could really stand a makeover but - I'd rather cruise than poop on a prettier potty.:D

But eaven though cruising is not cheap - I still say it's cheaper than we would spend on a land vacation.

[Disneycruisers]

I'm 48, and DH is 44. We have an 11 year-old DD, and are about to take our sixth week-long cruise. We've cruised once per year since 2002 (well, two last year.)

 

I'm a SAHM, and DH usually has 3-4 weeks off per year. We DO cruise at peak times (school vacations) but start paying on it one and a half year's in advance. Life hasn't always been this fruitful. I've been a SAHM since DD was born, and most everything we owned was second-hand. We drove very old vehicles, rarely ate out, didn't exchange Christmas presents with one another (only for a few years) so DD could have a nice Christmas. You get the picture. About 8 years ago, DH got a better job (I'm still thanking the good Lord for that, LOL). We had not had a vacation (even a 2-hour drive to stay in a motel!) since 3 years before DD was born. Now we're making up for it. We are cautious when it comes to spending, and realistically, I think if we had more than one child, we wouldn't be able to vacation as often. Don't get me wrong. I'd much rather have had another child than the nice vacations. (another thread entirely, LOL!) You're doing well for your teenagers!

[DJan07]

Hello, I'm 16 years old (a junior in high school) and I have a little brother who is 15 (a freshman in high school). My parents are both 43 and we all seem to have fun on the "family vacation." My brother and I are both tri-athletes at our school and we play on traveling teams, summer leagues and anything else you can name. I play golf, basketball and baseball and my brother plays football, basketball and baseball. Because we play so many sports nearly all year round we have about a 2 week window to take a vacation. We have only cruised twice because of this and possibly plan to cruise every other year so we can experience differnet places and cultures. I LOVE cruising and wish I could go on a cruise every week or at least every month, but because of you extreme schedule, we cannot. I have a 4.06 in school right now and even though he is a freshman, he has a 4.0 right now. School work also affects our possible cruise/ vacation time. Life is so crazy sometimes for me I feel I need to just live on a cruise ship! :D Thanks for sharing all of your stories and such. It was very interesting to learn a little more about everyone. Happy Cruising!

 

Derek

[98Charlie]

DH & I are both 58 and will be 59 this fall. We were dutiful parents of our 3 children, taking them to Fla from Ohio on every spring break for more than 20 years. When the last fledging flew the coup a few years ago we tried another Fla land trip and found it o.k. but not what we were looking for in excitement for our ``empty nest'' lifestyle.

 

We took one 5-night cruise in Nov., 2002 and have never looked back. Just completed our 13th cruise and have #s 14 and 15 booked for 2006. #s 16, 17, 18 and beyond are soon coming to our booking channel.

 

We're not retired yet - still have a few years to. DH gets 4 weeks of vacation a year and we plan to be on a cruise those weeks, not staying home doing house repairs or doing BBQ with our family on the patio.

 

Met many a couple over the years who put off heavy travel vacations until retirement. Many of those couples never met their retirement dreams as either health problems or death of a spouse interrupted their plans.

 

We intend to travel the world now while we both have the health to enjoy what we see and do together. Our kids understand our lifestyle. We tell our friends who question our cruise additiction that cruising is our hobby, just like some people play golf, join a bowling league or make trips to gambling boats.

 

Until we retire we have four weeks a year to do what we want to do - and for now those weeks will be spent on the sea - doing what we want to do, when we want to do it - and collecting memories together for the years when we can only sit back and remember the memories we made together.:)

 

Dianne

[jphc318]

My wife is 36 and i am 39 we have 4 kids (15,11,9,8)we crusie with and without kids aroughly 4-5 times a year.We both work.We have no vices exept for crusing!

[sicsinohio]

I am 50 and work part-time. I can take a week or two off each year without pay. DH is 48 and retired. We're trying to cruise once every year or two if we can afford it. Older DS is 20 and out on his own. Younger DS is almost 17 and a junior in high school. Neither DS has ever been cruising with us because of school and sports schedules. Younger DS plays high school baseball, so even though we are cruising next week, he is staying home (friends are watching him for us). However, he wants to go for his high school graduation present, so we may book a 4-5 day cruise with him for summer 2007. Older DH doesn't like hot weather and isn't a "water person" like the rest of us. He'd rather go camping/canoeing in the north woods than go on a cruise.