How to Decide on a Family Cruise?

[peachcreamsicle]

Last year, my in-laws celebrated their 50 year anniversary.  At the time, my husband and sister-in-law decided that in lieu of getting an anniversary gift, they’d treat their parents to a family cruise.  This seemed like a great idea at the time.  My in-laws don’t spend much on themselves, and treating them to a cruise where the whole family can spend quality time together seemed like a no-brainer.  

 

Fast forward to nearly a year later, and my husband and SIL have yet to book this family vacation.  We’ve tried on a few occasions, only to run into scheduling conflicts and conflicting ideas of what would constitute an enjoyable cruise.  My husband and I are recently married and do not have kids yet.  As a result, we can take vacations anytime, often capitalizing on off-season discounts.  My SIL and her husband have two teenagers (17 and 16), and need to plan around their kids’ school and activity schedules.  Any cruise they book must take place during summer, Christmas or spring break and have an abundance of waterslides and ziplines to keep the teens entertained.  As a result, these cruises tend to be far more expensive and packed with children. 

 

On her most recent cruise, my SIL spent $12k on a weeklong Carnival cruise over March Break (inside cabins).  My husband and I just got back from a Celebrity California coast cruise (balcony cabin) for under $2k for both of us. I’ve tried so many times, but I just can’t justify paying so much to take my 80 year old in-laws on a loud / obnoxious booze cruise.  Am I being a jerk for not wanting to go along with my SIL’s wishes? Should I just give in and book? 

[Essiesmom]

You don’t say where you are coming from…I see Toronto for you, but how about the others?  How far would they be willing to drive/fly to board the ship?  I read the suggestions on your Celebrity thread, but I suggest lookin at MSC.  They will shortly have a ship sailing year round from NYC.  EM

[mjkacmom]

We have 5 kids, our cruises on NCL out of nyc with 2 balcony cabins cost about $8000 all in, not on official school holidays but during weeks when they already had a day or two off. At 16/17 it’s hard to miss school for vacations. As a parent, k do understand wanting to make it enjoyable for kids since I’m paying for them.

[kitkat343]

Essiesmom is correct - NY is my homeport, and I can confirm the last time I looked there were some summer  sailings over the summer on MSC leaving from NY that were much less than on the Oasis.  

 

I strongly believe in the value of travel, and pulled my 3 kids out of school in January because that was the time that the most interesting itineraries sailing from NY sailed.  

 

 Even though I personally wouldn't have been even the slightest bit concerned if my oldest child's grades fell a bit due to the absences (he's in 6th grade) he actually asked that we not travel during the school year again because he had a lot of work to make up.  College admissions to highly selective schools is now terrifyingly competitive, so if that's these teenager's path they might be very anxious if you pulled them out of school for  week.  

 

Has anyone actually discussed the cruise with the teenagers?  Is it possible to choose an itinerary that they are really interested in so they'd be willing to accept an older ship with fewer bells and whistles?  Some teenagers just want the waterslides and beaches, but other teenagers might love the chance to visit Alaska, Norway, a Baltic cruise or the Mediterranean.  From the east cost, the most interesting cruise I've taken was the 10 day roundtrip Panama Canal cruise, which stops in Cartagena (which is absolutely gorgeous), Costa Rica and lets you transit through the canal.  

 

Not that you need anyone making your planning more difficult here, but I did want to note that NCL is now changing a lot of itineraries after final payment for nonemergency reasons (on my cruise they cancelled one entire port and the morning of another after final payment to help the environment) and kept advertising the cruise as having the original itinerary for a month and not letting people cancel or reschedule so we didn't even get to do the two activities that were the reason I'd booked the cruise during the school year. NCL has been doing this  a lot, so if itinerary is your priority I'd consider a different line ( 

 

Getaway has been sailing out of NY Harbor, so you can see there's a lot of people who have been frustrated by the myriad of itinerary changes on this ship   https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/getreviews.cfm?action=ship&ShipID=651 .   

 

Edited April 15, 2023 by kitkat343

[Tapi]

On 4/15/2023 at 8:37 AM, peachcreamsicle said:

On her most recent cruise, my SIL spent $12k on a weeklong Carnival cruise over March Break (inside cabins).

$12K on a Carnival cruise in an inside cabin?? Something doesn’t add up. I don’t think I’ve ever spent more than $3K on a 7 night Carnival cruise for our family of 4, even sailing during school breaks and in a balcony stateroom. Heck I’m taking my family to the Norwegian Fjords this summer for 1/3 of that! Not even when we did a 7 night Disney cruise over Thanksgiving did we pay that much. 

We faced a similar dilemma when my father turned 80 and the whole family got together to take him on a cruise. How did we figure out which one to take?

 

- First and foremost, we asked HIM where he wanted to go. It was HIS cruise. 

- Second, we compared everybody’s summer schedule and pinpointed one week that would work for everybody.

- Third, we asked what everybody’s budget was. 
 

Once we had all that information, we picked 3-4 choices, sat down, and then made our final decision from there.

 

We actually ended on a 4 night cruise to Cuba aboard an older, smaller Royal Caribbean ship. It wasn’t anybody’s dream vacation, but it was what met everybody’s needs. We all had to compromise to make it happen. Nobody got exactly what they wanted, but we were so happy to be traveling together. 
 

At the end of the day, it was a wonderful cruise experience. Super memorable to have everybody there to celebrate my dad’s 80th birthday. Believe me, nobody must HAVE water slides and zip lines to have an amazing family cruise. 
 

Don’t want to fuel the fire, but if your SIL must have the cruise that meets all of her needs without taking into consideration other’s needs and budget, she’s not planning this trip to celebrate the in-law’s 50th birthday; she’s planning it for herself. Find a way to amicably meet somewhere in the middle.

Edited April 17, 2023 by Tapi

[Itchy&Scratchy]

On 4/15/2023 at 8:37 AM, peachcreamsicle said:

my SIL spent $12k on a weeklong Carnival cruise over March Break (inside cabins).

wow. Is that just the cruise portion or everything combined??????? Doesn't make any sense. I wouldn't spend this kind of money on a cruise, unless it was for a bunch of people in some kind of a Royal Suite. But for an inside room on Carnival? Doesn't make any sense, unless you are including ALL the charges.

 

We have just got off the $2,500 weeklong RCI cruise (inside for 3 ppl, but they don't have these prices anymore). Also booked a $2,300 MSC cruise for the fall school break (balcony for 3 ppl). Looking at booking a $2,000 MSC cruise for next spring break - balcony for 3 ppl.

Edited April 20, 2023 by Itchy&Scratchy

[quagmire0]

When you're trying to accommodate a large group, something has to give.  Usually it's the ship and itinerary. Don't lose track of the intention of the cruise, which is to celebrate your in-laws anniversary.  Just make sure they are taken care of (maybe a nice balcony cabin) and then do your own thing (inside to save money?). Figure out what works best for schedule and then just book it.

 

12k is kind of crazy for 4 people.  We're spending about 8k for 6, and that's including transfers, airfare, insurance, etc. 

[Kerry's Girls]

With teens at that age I understand having to book during school breaks.  College applications will have to be done soon and every grade/day in school can make a big difference.  I found Baltic/N. Europe cruises to be less expensive, even taking into account airfare, than the other usual summer offerings of Alaska/Carib, etc.  On those cruises the bells and whistles of ships don't matter because your time is spent wandering a new city every day.  With a family you could book private tours in each port for less than ship excursion costs and do exactly what the family wants.  Or depending on when their breaks are, leaving immediately when they get out in May or June or right before they go back to school in August, those are often less expensive times for Alaska cruises.    

[MississippiMom]

Pick your dates, first.  Depending on the teen’s extracurricular activities, college campus visits, possible college orientation for the oldest, etc., this may be your biggest challenge.  The older they  get, the harder it will be, since college calendars and high school calendars rarely match up, plus there will be possible internship or summer course conflicts. 
 

Then, decide what’s a reasonable port to travel to/from.  As an example, a less expensive cruise near Disneyland/Universal or Disneyworld/Universal could allow the teens to enjoy some theme park time without it costing you extra.  We have never had the pleasure of cruising in Europe, but my understanding is those are port intensive, not ship intensive sailings.  That might allow for a less bells & whistles ship.

[SimplyMarvie]

I have teens and frankly, once they get into the kids clubs with other teenagers I hardly ever see them and they couldn't care less about the waterslides. I'd compromise on the ship -- and talk to the teens about what their 'need to haves' are versus their 'nice to haves'. At 16 and 17 they know their own minds. 

 

(And second Kerry's Girl that everyone should come to the Baltics... but the expense of getting passports for the kids might be tough for your sister. Still, if they're over 16 it's a great gift to give them the ability to travel for 10 years without having to worry about a passport renewal...)