Cruises for people who hate cruises

[Anonymous]

My mother has generously offered to take our family (two parents, one preschooler, one young elementary) on a cruise next summer. Thing is, DH hates cruises and finds the prescribed activities and structure oppressive. He says he could imagine a cruise in Alaska being fun, but I can't imagine the flight there being great. My mother also thought we (wisely) choose a cruise with a kids program.

Any suggestions on what we should consider? I could leave home in DH insists but I am not the biggest cruise fan either for some of the same reasons so that's not really a complete solution. I'd like to go because we've gone on vacations with the in laws before (they have a beach house) and my mom is really a great grandma and I (And DH, he really likes my mom too) would enjoy time with her.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Disney

The smaller ships (wonder and magic) will feel less crowded.

My DH said he hated cruises...and then we took the kids on a Disney cruise. Most relaxing trip ever.

You don't have to participate in any activities, but there's plenty to do if you feel like it.

Our kids had a blast! Our youngest was 2 when we took our first cruise, and he enjoyed the Disney show every evening after dinner.

They aren't cheap, so it's a bonus if grandma is willing to pay for it.

[Anonymous]

I would not take a Disney cruise if you paid me.

If he says he doesn't like cruises, wouldn't it make a lot more sense to go to a Beaches or Club Med type of place? You would have some pre-planned kid activities, plus you have more food options and more physical space to go to the ocean or beach or bars or do activities like snorkling, etc.?

[Anonymous]

Alaska cruise is fine. flight isn't too bad...only a couple extra hours in the air. but more time on ground between flights

every single cruise ship now had a kids program

good idea on going to an all inclusive resort.

[Anonymous]

You take the kids and let your mom choose. DH begs off that he doesn't have the vacation time (or whatever). Let your mom make a couple of suggestions, review for whether or not you think it will be fun and work for the kids' needs, and think of this as grandma-kid time, with you in the mix to supervise. Bring a novel and a bathing suit, and have another family vacation somewhere that you and DH really want to go later in the year.

[Anonymous]

Alaska cruises are great. You can fly to Seattle and do a week roundtrip from there (or fly to Seattle, train to Vancouver and start there).

No reason for "prescribed structure and activities"-- do what you want.

You could also cruise to Bermuda from Baltimore but that would be a bit more "at sea" time so maybe your husband would like it less.

[Anonymous]

Has your husband ever been on a cruise before? I find that you can do pretty much anything you want, or nothing at all. Sure on most cruise lines you if you want to do the main dining, it is at a set time, but you don't have to do that, you can always eat at the buffet or the other restaurants at any time. For the ports, you don't have to do any of the shore excursions, you can just go to the beach, or walk around the town, or do what ever you want.

The best part about a cruise with a large group is that not everyone has to agree about what to do. Some people can sit by the pool, some can go to the show, some can go sea kayaking or whatever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Alaska cruises are great. You can fly to Seattle and do a week roundtrip from there (or fly to Seattle, train to Vancouver and start there).

No reason for "prescribed structure and activities"-- do what you want.

You could also cruise to Bermuda from Baltimore but that would be a bit more "at sea" time so maybe your husband would like it less.

Both of these sound interesting. Which lines did you take and would you recommend them?

[Anonymous]

Has your DH been on a cruise or does he just assume he'll hate the "prescribed activities and structure"? We've only been on Disney cruises so take it with a grain of salt but on a Disney cruise he could sit all day in the adults area and do nothing. Or he could hit a movie, play putt putt, whatever. No one is forcing him to do Disney trivia or karaoke.

[Anonymous]

With three other families (good friends - total of 11 kids), we chartered an 8-bedroom "gulet" along the Turkish coast and the price wasn't that different from a regular (giant) cruise but we had the boat all to ourselves (they have smaller ones, too). They do them in Greece as well. We had a captain, a chef and a first mate on board. They fed us amazingly well all week. It was a wonderful, active vacation. We hiked along the Lycian trail, swam, snorkeled, did water sports, caught our own dinner, visited cute villages, etc. We're not cruise people either but this was fabulous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alaska cruises are great. You can fly to Seattle and do a week roundtrip from there (or fly to Seattle, train to Vancouver and start there).

No reason for "prescribed structure and activities"-- do what you want.

You could also cruise to Bermuda from Baltimore but that would be a bit more "at sea" time so maybe your husband would like it less.

Both of these sound interesting. Which lines did you take and would you recommend them?

We did Holland America from Seattle to Alaska and enjoyed it. It's not really a kid-oriented cruise line, but there are other lines that do that route as well. There are only a couple of lines that do Baltimore to Bermuda- I think one is a bit more upscale than other but I don't remember. Cruisecritic.com has a ton of info (and forums) on cruising-- can help you understand the differences between cruise lines, and what to do when in port, etc.

[Anonymous]

Disney is the best for kids, hands down

Our kids LOVED their kids club and wanted to spend all their time there. We kept saying, "but don't you want to..." No, no they did not. Nothing beats their kids club. They do a really really good job with it. Your kids will be begging to go.

[Anonymous]

Last summer we did a cruise on Princess to Alaska with a 3 year old and it was our best vacation yet as a family. It was round trip Seattle (the flights went fine, we had an ipad and our daughter slept most of the time). Disney was too expensive for us but Princess was wonderful. She did great in the dining room, had plenty of kid-friendly food to choose from, and enjoyed walking around the ship on sea days. On the port days we found wonderful family friendly shore excursions to do. Overall a fantastic trip and I can't wait for our next cruise!

[Anonymous]

Alaska. I hate cruises but I would agree to this one.

[Anonymous]

Prescribed activities and structure? On our last cruise we were not import we literally sat by the pool in the hot tub the entire day. We had my time dining for dinner so we went to dinner whenever we felt like it. It was wonderful.