For you who cruise alot

[CMurph]

I am in my mid-40's and my husband is in his late 50's. I have 2 kids 21 & 14 and DH has none. We have taken 4 cruises with the kids and 4 without. Those without have been with my hubby's family (brother, sisters, in-laws...all adults). Our last cruise on the Mariner was his family and our kids and we had a wonderful time. In about 26 days we will be on the Brilliance 11 night cruise celebrating our 10 year anniversary. This cruise will be our first JUST THE TWO OF US!! We are fortunate that we are able to travel often (cruises, Vegas and other places) and Hubby and I make sure we have our special trips alone. It works for us because I have family here for the kids to stay with and with the oldest now almost 22, he is responsible enough to help with the task of getting my daughter to and from her high school activities. My hubby can see his retirement on the horizon and we plan many more cruises...alone & with family.

[weechloe]

We are 55 and 58. For 30 years we always did last minute all inclusives. We love to travel. I was the one who always said " know I wouldn't like cruising" and then in November 2004 we took our first cruise. I cancelled it and rebooked twice because I knew I wouldn't like it.:D Now I'm hooked. Life is too short and we'll enjoy every day.

[mercedesmom2002]

My DH is 46 and I am 50 and we've been on 2 cruises with #3 coming July 1st. When we took our first one which was my 30 year class reunion cruise we became addicted to cruising. We decided as long as we were financially able and physically able we were going to try to cruise once per year. My parents and brother think we're crazy as does our 18 year old DD who thinks we could better spend our money on our house. I agree we could, but it wouldn't be as much fun. Our only entertainment is to attend concerts and cruise so we tell them it's our money and we'll spend it the way we want to whether they like it or not! We are taking our 17 yr. old DD on this cruise as a friend is going and taking his 18 yr. old DD who is friends with our DD.

 

So we say, let's cruise when and as often as we want and can....

 

Sue

[Naismith]

I'm in my 50s. Half of my cruises have been with my husband. As others have mentioned, we love the "unreachableness" of being on a cruise, cut off from the cares of family/work.

 

Half of my cruises have been with my mother-in-law. She is in her 80s, and has a hard life right now, caring for her husband who has a hearing loss, cognitive impairment, and various health issues. She loves it because I make all the arrangements, and pamper her on top of the cruise line pampering, so she never has to worry about anything.

 

When I am with my MIL, my husband watches his father (they live 3 blocks away, moved here to be with us). When I am with my husband, his mother and father watch our children.

 

We have five children, two of whom are still at home. We do other kinds of vacations with the children. We also have two grandchildren, one of whom takes a fair bit of our time (he has cancer, and we all help).

 

The cost is not so much a concern, because we live within 2.5 hours drive of two ports and don't have the airfare issues. We do 3-5 night cruises, and can pick up last-minte deals, or book off-season.

 

Our biggest challenge is the time issue, since we both already travel a fair bit for work and have a lot going on.

 

I don't know if we'll continue cruising after we retire. Right now, cruising provides a respite from our hectic lives. When we no longer have the hectic lives, we won't need the break, and there are lots of other things we want to do.

[cruz1234]

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.

 

We have cruised by ourselves and with out DD. She is now going into her first year highschool and it will be more difficult, but we have already planned a Med. cruise, during summer and a trip to Atlantis in the fall. Our school system seems to have lots of teacher in service days so kids are off a Thurs/Fri combo sometimes Wed/Thurs/Fri combo..we add a day onto those and take shorter trips. She will only be here 4 more years until college so we are trying to fit it all in :) We started cruising with her when she was 5. She loves all types of travel and we have taken her everywhere from cruising to skiing in Colorado, to Hawaii and soon to the Mediterrean. Anything we can include her in we do now. The way I feel is she gets good grades and missing a day of school here and there is not going to change that and when we look back she'll have so many wonderful memories, family time is as important to us and school. :)

[Nitra]

I dont cruise as much as I used to but I get 7 weeks vacation a year and I cruise now without hubby, before I would cruise with friends or alone, mostly alone, and loved it. I have no kids, I am in my early 40s, the cats do just fine alone for a week. After getting married it is harder to go but I still try to go once a year if I can.

[CRUSINGFAMILY]

We are in our 40's and we live to cruise, we have two boys 14 and 18 and have brought them with us since they were babies. We always travel in the off season, fall and spring and do repo cruises when the third and fourth pass are cheap. We did Jewel of the Seas in Nov with just my one son for 12 days from Boston to Miami inside cabin 769pp and son was 299. We stayed in Boston for two days at the Ritz Carlton which someone on this board found on Expedia for 40 dollars per night instead of 600.

We always have taken our children out of School and never had any problems. The experiences that they have had will always be better than what they missed while in school. Traveling during the Summer months or school breaks or the Christmas season is too!!!!!!!!!!!! expencive. There is no value in traveling at that time, same as going to Disney and such at busy times.

If you look at the Transatlantic cruises the kids are only 299 for 12, 16 or 18 days, thats a lot of food LOL.

We are on our way to Hawaii in May with our kids, we booked early, we are Diamond Members, we are stock holders of RCCL stocks and we booked on the ship. We paid 3955 for the whole family for 14 days on Radiance plus we have 450 dollars on board credit.

Booking early and booking on board helps you save money.

 

Enjoy cruising

 

Brian J

[tennesseecruisermom]

Our family has an 11 and 13 year old. We used to take them out of school. Now, we have to go over Christmas and Spring Break. It is more pricy. We aren't able to get as good a rooms as we used too.

[OPSoccermom]

We are parents of two great kids - 16 and 12 years old. We understand your issue on taking the kids out of schools. Our kids go to private schools that have strong academic standards and are not thrilled about parents taking kids out of class, esp. since they get 2 weeks off for spring break. In addition, our son plays varsity sports and cannot hurt himself and his team by taking off in the middle of a season. We did take them out of school for two weeks in 2004 to cruise the Galapagos and visit Ecuador, but feel that the Galapagos was well worth missing classes and their teachers agreed.

 

We are leaving on what will be the kids' 10th and 9th cruises this spring break. Yes, the cruises are somewhat pricier and have more people on them, but we still see "value" in being able to travel with our children, whenever we get the chance.

[Jsme]

We are in our later thirties. DD is almost 13 and DS is 11. Lately we have been cruising at least once a year but I try for twice a year, plus several other vacations as well during the year. It is hard to do this though. Normally we only have one 7 day cruise and the other is a shorter cruise. The shorter cruise is without the kids. I work in the school system in a different county in which I live. Meaning my kids go to a different school system. Our times off are totaly different. We try to cruise during my breaks which helps with the cost because our fall break is during hurricane season and this is a cheaper time to cruise.