I will never go on a cruise, I said. And now I have gone on a cruise.
When deciding on where to go on vacation we thought about going on a safari (kids almost a bit too young) or travelling through California (long day trips - kids a bit too young) and in the end decided on trying a cruise. On a cruise you can see different places without having to drive long distances. And there are lots of activities for the kids during sea days on a ship.
In the end we enjoyed our cruise, but I don't think we will ever become big cruisers, for us it is a bit too crowded. It felt like being on a tourist hotel on Mallorca or something. Fun, but you see less of the country you are in. I think taking a cruise in the Mediterranean could be something I might take in the future, or perhaps also a long cruise without the kids. I would also like to go to the Caribbean, where we were supposed to go had the hurricanes not destroyed the islands we were going to, so I cruise could be an idea. Let's see...
When deciding on a cruise there are so many things to think about. First of all what company to choose. We went with the Royal Caribbean since they are very child friendly with a very good kids club. The ships are big with many activities like surfing, rock climbing, zip line and many pools. If our are travelling without kids you might choose another one, perhaps a smaller ship, or if you want to party you might choose Carneval for example. Disney cruises are great for kids, but also very expensive (that's why we chose RC instead).
After you have decided on what cruise to take you need to reserve it. There are often good deals to be had. If you reserve via a travel company you might get onboard credits or perhaps a free drink package. If you reserve directly with the cruise as we did, you can find deals like 2nd person 50% off and kids sail free. Like that the trip is less expensive.
Also you need to decide on what type of cabin or state room to choose. We had a cabin with a balcony, which was nice, but an inside cabin is cheaper. Also we chose a cabin in the middle of the ship, as I easily get sea sick, and those cabins move less when the ship is rocking. Also try to avoid too low cabins as you might hear the ships engines, or close to the pool deck (chairs being moved by staff) or under the disco...
When you reserve a flight think of not arriving the same day as the cruise, because if your flight is delayed you might miss the ship... And probably better to go back a day after the cruise as well, to avoid the stress. Though if your ship arrives early in the morning, you wouldn't have a problem to catch an evening flight back.
You can get lots of more information from pages like Cruise Critic.
We had chosen to take the Eastern Caribbean route, but unfortunately there were two big hurricanes which destroyed the islands we were supposed to go to. Very sad for all people living on those islands. For us this meant that we instead went to Mexico. It was also quite nice, but I would personally not have chosen to go there. But I still think we did interesting things on both stops (Cozumel and Costa Maya) so we enjoyed our cruise.
Kommentarer
Skicka en kommentar