Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree that Grand Cayman is easy.

Cruises are the easiest. You literally don’t need to worry about dinner reservations, activities, etc.

But they are also super trashy.

Sigh.

No, cruises are not super trashy.

Go price out a spring break cruise on Disney, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, etc. leaving from Florida and you’ll see how expensive it is. Hint: not cheap to fly to FL, stay in a local hotel, then cruise for a week…plus excursions.

I was a reluctant cruiser who quickly discovered how relaxing a cruise is. Sitting on a lounge chair in a quiet area while the kids go do other activities is bliss. Not having to worry about getting dinner reservations in touristy cities or islands is Heaven. Hitting 3 or 4 Caribbean islands and taking a cab to a quiet beach is awesome.

There’s nothing trashy about it.

Plus: I love the live music. Royal Caribbean has different kinds of live music all over their ships day and night. It’s fun.

Trashy and expensive are by no means mutually exclusive. Especially when it comes to cruises.

This

We are a foreign service and military family, speak six languages and have lived in some real hardship posts. We have taken trips where you are the only people in the village who speak English, where you go fishing with the local fisherman, where someone slaughters and roasts a lamb etc. and those trips are without question completely awesome, But we are getting ready now to take a vacation after nursing my father through a long illness and his death, moving my mother to a nursing home, selling the family home etc. And we are taking a cruise to Canada. We are not looking for a challenging adventure. We want predictability, rest and not to be asked to do things outside of our comfort zone. There are lots of different kinds of vacations.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:San Antonio was easy for us. However, I really think the deciding factors are not the location per se but the dynamics of the people and being realistic about what everyone can handle.

That includes adults getting along or not, children getting along or not, how flexible each person is, bedtimes and how changing them affects your actual kids (not how you think they "should" be affected or how you want things to work but what is actually true for your kids, which may vary by age, personality, etc.), wake-up times and changing those affects everyone, how much money you're spending if that's a source of stress if you think anything wrong is wasting money, how well everyone functions in cars/planes, and on and on.

Do you need more rules or fewer rules for things to go better? Strict bedtimes or leniency? Packed and time-sensitive itinerary or flexibility? More or less down time? More rooms/beds/privacy? Opportunities to split up if someone doesn't want to do an activity? Being realistic about all these things without any judgement is what has really made our trips much better and "easier."

To OP: I just saw your update about heath issues (I'm very sorry) so most of this may not apply to what you're looking for, especially since we walked all over San Antonio! But hopefully having realistic expectations and knowing you don't have to fit any one script to have a good trip will help you in thinking it over.

This may not be what you are looking for either, but I found a direct flight to Atlanta, taxi from the airport to Embassy Suites by Centennial Park to be very easy and great for kids because there is so much to do right there. Playgrounds, children's museum, very nice aquarium, World of Coke, pool at the hotel, college football hall of fame, splash pad depending on the season, carriage ride, ferris wheel. The person with health issues could probably get wheelchairs or scooters at the museums if needed, but I'm not sure. You can also take the streetcar to MLK stuff, but there will be homeless people on it.

If you are going to Atlanta and anyone in the family is a walking dead fan, you can visit many of the sites where they film. It’s about an hour from Atlanta. There is a small museum in one of the cities and you can take some awesome pictures of the Alexandria walls, the railway from Terminus and the city where the Governor lives. I am a real film geek and love to visit things like this

Anonymous wrote:Cruise out of Baltimore. Drive up, park and hop on the ship. So easy and stress free. Loved it!

You will be waiting a little bit for this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree that Grand Cayman is easy.

Cruises are the easiest. You literally don’t need to worry about dinner reservations, activities, etc.

But they are also super trashy.

Sigh.

No, cruises are not super trashy.

Go price out a spring break cruise on Disney, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, etc. leaving from Florida and you’ll see how expensive it is. Hint: not cheap to fly to FL, stay in a local hotel, then cruise for a week…plus excursions.

I was a reluctant cruiser who quickly discovered how relaxing a cruise is. Sitting on a lounge chair in a quiet area while the kids go do other activities is bliss. Not having to worry about getting dinner reservations in touristy cities or islands is Heaven. Hitting 3 or 4 Caribbean islands and taking a cab to a quiet beach is awesome.

There’s nothing trashy about it.

Plus: I love the live music. Royal Caribbean has different kinds of live music all over their ships day and night. It’s fun.

Trashy and expensive are by no means mutually exclusive. Especially when it comes to cruises.

This

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great wolf lodge is frankly the easiest for elementary kids. Everything is done for you. Kids love it. Wish the food was higher quality but it’s fine.

I second this, just expect to see A LOT of fat people.

Why does seeing fat people bother people so much?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree that Grand Cayman is easy.

Cruises are the easiest. You literally don’t need to worry about dinner reservations, activities, etc.

But they are also super trashy.

Sigh.

No, cruises are not super trashy.

Go price out a spring break cruise on Disney, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, etc. leaving from Florida and you’ll see how expensive it is. Hint: not cheap to fly to FL, stay in a local hotel, then cruise for a week…plus excursions.

I was a reluctant cruiser who quickly discovered how relaxing a cruise is. Sitting on a lounge chair in a quiet area while the kids go do other activities is bliss. Not having to worry about getting dinner reservations in touristy cities or islands is Heaven. Hitting 3 or 4 Caribbean islands and taking a cab to a quiet beach is awesome.

There’s nothing trashy about it.

Plus: I love the live music. Royal Caribbean has different kinds of live music all over their ships day and night. It’s fun.

Trashy and expensive are by no means mutually exclusive. Especially when it comes to cruises.

DP here. Sounds better than standing in a 1 hour shuttle line to go hiking at a national park with all the “not trashy” people like we did this year. Oh and peeing in those national park toilets that don’t flush!

Drove to nyc for 4 days. It was not laid back but everybody got to do something there liked. Central Park, broadway show, restaurants, Nintendo store, fifth avenue shopping. No hassle or expense of flights.

Anonymous wrote:I’ll jump on the Williamsburg bandwagon. We had a good time. There are plenty of hotels and restaurants so easy enough to get dinner etc without having to have reservations or a super long wait. My kids loved Busch gardens. We also got the bounce passes and it made it easy to do a historical site in the morning and then go to Busch gardens later in the day. Colonial Williamsburg is fun. There are fun participatory things like talking to various historical figures, participating in a trial etc. there are neat things to see like the printer. There are fun places to run around like the gardens in the governors palace. Jamestown. Yorktown battlefield. Etc.

We also spent last week in Williamsburg and had a really good time! It was inexpensive, conveniently close and we never ran out of things to do. DH and I were swamped at work leading up to the trip and the only planning we did was to compile a list of potential activities and a few restaurants. We planned each day the night before with the kids, taking into account the weather and our interests, so it kind of felt like a choose your own adventure.

We did all the standard attractions already mentioned - Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, Busch Gardens, etc. - but also mixed in some "everyday" activities like Go Ape zip-lining, Go Karts Plus, tennis and swimming at our rental, and Bowlero and the movies, when the weather was bad. The bounce pass was great and allowed for unlimited entry (and free parking) at CW and BG. Jamestown and the indoor bounce house center were big hits with our 8yo and 15yo DD really enjoyed the art museum at CW and shopping at the outlets. Everything is located in such close proximity that you can easily fit a lot into a single day without feeling rushed or stressed. As far as easy, low-key vacations go, Williamsburg was definitely a winner!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree that Grand Cayman is easy.

Cruises are the easiest. You literally don’t need to worry about dinner reservations, activities, etc.

But they are also super trashy.

Sigh.

No, cruises are not super trashy.

Go price out a spring break cruise on Disney, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, etc. leaving from Florida and you’ll see how expensive it is. Hint: not cheap to fly to FL, stay in a local hotel, then cruise for a week…plus excursions.

I was a reluctant cruiser who quickly discovered how relaxing a cruise is. Sitting on a lounge chair in a quiet area while the kids go do other activities is bliss. Not having to worry about getting dinner reservations in touristy cities or islands is Heaven. Hitting 3 or 4 Caribbean islands and taking a cab to a quiet beach is awesome.

There’s nothing trashy about it.

Plus: I love the live music. Royal Caribbean has different kinds of live music all over their ships day and night. It’s fun.

Trashy and expensive are by no means mutually exclusive. Especially when it comes to cruises.

I’ll jump on the Williamsburg bandwagon. We had a good time. There are plenty of hotels and restaurants so easy enough to get dinner etc without having to have reservations or a super long wait. My kids loved Busch gardens. We also got the bounce passes and it made it easy to do a historical site in the morning and then go to Busch gardens later in the day. Colonial Williamsburg is fun. There are fun participatory things like talking to various historical figures, participating in a trial etc. there are neat things to see like the printer. There are fun places to run around like the gardens in the governors palace. Jamestown. Yorktown battlefield. Etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree that Grand Cayman is easy.

Cruises are the easiest. You literally don’t need to worry about dinner reservations, activities, etc.

But they are also super trashy.

Sigh.

No, cruises are not super trashy.

Go price out a spring break cruise on Disney, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, etc. leaving from Florida and you’ll see how expensive it is. Hint: not cheap to fly to FL, stay in a local hotel, then cruise for a week…plus excursions.

I was a reluctant cruiser who quickly discovered how relaxing a cruise is. Sitting on a lounge chair in a quiet area while the kids go do other activities is bliss. Not having to worry about getting dinner reservations in touristy cities or islands is Heaven. Hitting 3 or 4 Caribbean islands and taking a cab to a quiet beach is awesome.

There’s nothing trashy about it.

Plus: I love the live music. Royal Caribbean has different kinds of live music all over their ships day and night. It’s fun.

I see the loads of obese people those ships disgorge. It’s disgusting. Plan your own trips and make your own experiences. Cruising is the Applebee’s of travel, and a true race to the bottom (not to mention an environmental nightmare).

DP. I've never been on a Caribbean cruise, but the fact that you won't be on board makes it sound appealing.

Perfect response

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree that Grand Cayman is easy.

Cruises are the easiest. You literally don’t need to worry about dinner reservations, activities, etc.

But they are also super trashy.

Sigh.

No, cruises are not super trashy.

Go price out a spring break cruise on Disney, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, etc. leaving from Florida and you’ll see how expensive it is. Hint: not cheap to fly to FL, stay in a local hotel, then cruise for a week…plus excursions.

I was a reluctant cruiser who quickly discovered how relaxing a cruise is. Sitting on a lounge chair in a quiet area while the kids go do other activities is bliss. Not having to worry about getting dinner reservations in touristy cities or islands is Heaven. Hitting 3 or 4 Caribbean islands and taking a cab to a quiet beach is awesome.

There’s nothing trashy about it.

Plus: I love the live music. Royal Caribbean has different kinds of live music all over their ships day and night. It’s fun.

I see the loads of obese people those ships disgorge. It’s disgusting. Plan your own trips and make your own experiences. Cruising is the Applebee’s of travel, and a true race to the bottom (not to mention an environmental nightmare).

DP. I've never been on a Caribbean cruise, but the fact that you won't be on board makes it sound appealing.

Williamsburg and Busch Gardens. Lots of fun and not crazy busy. Everyone had fun.

Anonymous wrote:Great wolf lodge is frankly the easiest for elementary kids. Everything is done for you. Kids love it. Wish the food was higher quality but it’s fine.

I second this, just expect to see A LOT of fat people.

Great wolf lodge is frankly the easiest for elementary kids. Everything is done for you. Kids love it. Wish the food was higher quality but it’s fine.