The Everything Family Guide To Cruise Vacations: A Complete Guide to the Best Cruise Lines, Destinations, And Excursions

Introduction

Back in 1995, about 4.5 million Americans took cruise-ship vacations. Today that number has doubled—and is still rising—with the majority of bookings coming from families. It seems that everybody and their brother (and their sister and parents and grandkids) is clamoring to climb aboard and set sail. As more and more families choose to cruise, more and more ships are launching with bigger and better facilities to meet demand all over the world.

Cruises used to be vacations that you could book at a reasonable price in the Caribbean or for a few dollars more if you wanted to see the Mediterranean. Not anymore! Those traditional cruising grounds are still there, of course, but they have expanded widely during the past decade. Ships that carry anywhere from 300 to 3,000 passengers now ply the waters of Northern Europe, the South Pacific, the African Coast, the Far East, Antarctica, and more. They charge anywhere from a couple hundred dollars for a few days aboard to nearly $200,000 for a four-month worldwide voyage in a penthouse suite. And they offer all kinds of excursions, land tours, travel insurance, and airfare options that can add to your experience along the way.

Now, when a vacation promises to add to your experience, your first thought is likely to be, Okay, how much is it going to add to my bill? Will it really be worth my hard-earned vacation dollars? And my family’s time? Am I making the right choices when it comes to our ship, our itinerary, and our activities?

You should be able to answer those questions definitively and book your vacation with confidence after you read The Everything® Family Guide to Cruise Vacations. It explains the worldwide cruise-ship marketplace, which brands of ship offer which amenities and facilities, what price ranges you can expect to pay for specific cruises with each company, and what extras you may end up wanting to add to your list. You’ll learn which cruise lines cater to young children and which to teenagers, parents, and grandparents; which cruise ships travel to the places your family wants to see; and which excursions you might enjoy the most once you get there. You’ll be able to book everything from a babysitter to a seat at an art auction by the time you reach the last page.

In short, this book helps you figure out exactly which cruise is right for you—and then shows you how to make your vacation vision a reality. You’ll even find indexes that include contact information for all the major cruise companies, along with independent Web sites where you can go to do further research on your own, work with airlines directly, and more.

Whether you’re a first-time cruiser or part of a family that wants to head off the beaten path for a change of pace, The Everything® Family Guide to Cruise Vacations can help. Put on your Hawaiian shirt and Bermuda shorts, kick back in your favorite La-Z-Boy recliner, and turn to the next page. Your family vacation of a lifetime is about to begin.

CHAPTER 1

Choose to Cruise!

AH, VACATION. IS THERE any sweeter word? It conjures the smell of salt air, the warmth of summer’s rays, the sight of water so sparkling blue it’s blinding. While it’s true that you can bathe all five of your senses in such pleasures at a vacation resort on land, there is simply no better way to enjoy changing views and multiple destinations than a vacation at sea. You can select from dozens of ships based in hundreds of ports around the world. Welcome to the wide, wide world of cruising.

Why Choose a Cruise?

You worked hard to save your vacation money. If you’re like most people these days, you only have a week or two to relax before you have to get back to the grind. Your goal is to make the most of your time at a price that won’t break your budget and in a way that will give your family enough memories to last until well after your vacation ends.

Luckily, cruise-ship vacations are available at all different prices, in all different places, and with facilities and services designed to satisfy all kinds of families. Those qualities alone don’t set cruise ships apart from land-based resort vacations, of course. What does set them apart is the fact that they move from place to place throughout your vacation—giving you and your family a chance to see and do far more than you likely would if you booked a hotel room ashore.

Another thing that sets cruise ships apart is that, in many cases, they are specifically designed to appeal to families. You can find cruise lines that offer everything from adult cigar bars to teen hangouts to children’s activity areas to infant babysitting, all aboard the same ship. Excursions ashore range from historical tours to vineyard wine tastings to swimming with dolphins. Dining areas include everything from elegant sit-down halls to family-style buffets to Johnny Rockets burger joints. Even if you’re traveling with a family that spans three or more generations, there are ships that have something aboard for everyone to enjoy. You will also find plenty of things for your family to enjoy together as a group.

Financially, cruise ships can make a great deal of sense, too. Cruise companies that compete for family bookings want you to be able to afford their vacations, and you can often find bargains that will cost you far less than you would pay for a resort vacation on land. In many cases, you can even work with your cruise-ship company or travel agent to combine a land vacation with your time at sea, still for a lower price than you would pay if you tried to do both kinds of vacation travel on your own.

FAST FACT

More cruise companies than ever are competing for bookings by families, and they’re bringing in some big names to help get your attention. In the coming year, you’re likely to see promotions for cruises that feature Mickey Mouse, Crayola, Fisher-Price, and more.

Safety is another factor that sets cruise ships apart from other vacations. As long as your children know that they should not enter any strangers’ cabins or leave the ship without you, then they are, by definition, within a contained environment. You can introduce them to interesting new countries on guided excursions without having to worry about getting lost, and you can monitor your youngest children’s time by signing them up for prearranged group activities on the boat. Some ships go so far as to require young children to wear identification bracelets to give you further peace of mind.

Even hard-to-handle teenagers can’t get very far while aboard a cruise ship. Though some of these ships are quite big, they are, after all, still ships. There are only so many places a child can go, especially if a ship designates some areas off-limits to kids.

Last but not least, there’s the food. The word smorgasbord does not do justice to the caloric cacophony offered aboard cruise ships these days, and on some of the more luxurious lines, you’ll be eating recipes created by chefs from institutions as famous as Le Cordon Bleu. The dining can be so tantalizing that some people choose to cruise simply for the food. Where else can you eat all you want of whatever you want at multiple restaurants within walking distance of your bed?

If all of this sounds good to you, it’s time for you to set about choosing the best cruise vacation for your family. With so many options out there, you may feel daunted at first, but this book will help you pare them down to a manageable number. The world of cruise ships quickly becomes much easier to navigate if you first figure out a few things about your family. You’ll be able to use your preferences to weed out cruise companies that don’t offer the kinds of services and facilities you might need, and you’ll be able to concentrate on comparing prices and cabins aboard the ships that complement your vision of an ideal trip.

Start by asking yourself some basic questions:

What is your budget?

How old are your family members?

Are you planning a family reunion with teenagers or older family members, or are you traveling with three or more children younger than ten?

Is it important to you that your ship visit specific places, or will any itinerary in, say, the Caribbean be fine with you?

Do you want to spend all your time aboard together as a family, or would you prefer that there be an extensive kids’ club so the adults in your group can have some time alone?

These are just some of the questions you will need to answer as you try to find the cruise vacation that is right for you. As you read through the pages that follow, consider taking notes in the margins about cruise ships, facilities, services, or itineraries that sound like they would best suit your needs. When you’re done, you’ll have a good idea about which cruise companies fit your style, and you can contact them through your travel agent or directly by using the information listed in Appendix A.

For now, you’ll want to start with an overview of the companies, ships, and itineraries that are designed specifically with families in mind and that tend to get high marks from families who have cruised them in the past.

Top Family Cruises

It’s impossible for anyone but you to decide which cruise ship makes the most sense for your personal vacation. Your budget, your family members’ personalities, and your ideas about ideal ports of call are going to be key factors in any cruise vacation you book.

Having said that, a few cruise companies are doing their darnedest to get your family vacation business, and they consistently rank highest in multiple surveys done by several sources throughout the industry. The reasons they tend to score highest include affordable pricing, good kids’ activities and clubs, good onboard facilities and areas for children, and good adult amenities within the context of the family environment.

These cruise lines are not typically known for setting the uppermost standards of excellence in terms of luxury and refinement, but they are usually favored when it comes to getting the best family-vacation value for your dollar. The companies, in alphabetical order, are as follows:

Carnival Cruise Lines

Disney Cruise Line

Royal Caribbean

Holland America Line (HAL) is in the process of trying to push itself more consistently onto this list, and the cruise line is expected to continue adding family-friendly features to its ships in upcoming months and years—especially for children in the three- to five-year-old age range. You would be wise to include HAL in your search for a family-friendly cruise, as long as you pay attention to the particular programs and facilities offered by any specific ship that you choose within the company’s fleet. Also keep in mind that you may be among far fewer families than you would be aboard other cruise lines.

FAST FACT

Contact information for the top three family-friendly cruise lines: Carnival Cruise Lines: 1-888-CARNIVAL www.carnival.com Disney Cruise Line: 1-800-951-3532 disneycruise.disney.go.com Royal Caribbean: 1-866-562-7625 www.royalcaribbean.com

Celebrity Cruises, Crystal Cruises, Princess Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL), and Radisson Seven Seas Cruises also sometimes get high marks for family-friendly cruising. Still, they can cost more, and their facilities and services for children can differ from ship to ship within their fleets and from itinerary to itinerary. You very well might be able to find an excellent family cruise with Celebrity, Crystal, Princess, NCL, or Radisson Seven Seas. Each does have a children’s program, but you will need to do a tad bit more sleuthing on the particulars of your chosen dates, your destination, and the most suitable ship within each fleet. This little bit of extra research on your part could pay off with big dividends, though, in terms of your vacation enjoyment.

Top Ships for Teens

Teens are a special breed of cruise-ship passenger (just as they often seem to be a special breed in need of entertaining back on land). Older teens, especially, don’t want to be lumped into the kiddie-pool area, but they also will not be allowed into the grown-up spaces aboard cruise ships such as casinos and wine bars, even if they are more mature than half the people already inside. Teenagers can often feel stuck in between two catered-to age groups on cruise ships, just as they occasionally do back home.

A handful of cruise ships have lounges and discos created especially for teens. In a few cases you can even find a teen center separate from the children’s activity zone aboard. For the most part, a cruise ship with a lot of outdoor activities as well as at least one indoor teen-friendly area will work for your older children—especially when combined with excursions that they will find interesting ashore.

As is the case with the best boats for family cruises in general, Carnival Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean are the companies that most frequently pop up in surveys ranking the best cruises for older children and teenagers. Holland America, Celebrity Cruises, and Princess Cruises also get the occasional nod, just as they do for cruises with younger children.

The popular and informative Web site CruiseMates.com did a survey of teenagers themselves to find out which particular ships their age group prefers. Royal Caribbean and Carnival dominated the list.

Here is what CruiseMates.com ended up ranking as its Top Ten, with the most popular ships for teens listed first:

Mariner of the Seas (Royal Caribbean)

Navigator of the Seas (Royal Caribbean)

Adventure of the Seas (Royal Caribbean)

Voyager of the Seas (Royal Caribbean)

Carnival Glory

Carnival Conquest

Carnival Miracle

Carnival Victory

Carnival Spirit

Celebrity Constellation

Each of these ships has the kinds of amenities you might expect teenagers to rate highly, from teen-friendly clubs with names like Fuel and Frankenstein’s Lab to onboard activity areas including rock-climbing walls, ice-skating rinks, and miniature golf courses. These ships also tend to have more teenagers aboard than any other cruise line—more new friends for your child to hang out with—so perhaps that factors into the survey results, as well. If you plan to spend the majority of your time aboard the ship and not in port, or if you are taking a cruise to nowhere, you may want to book one of these ships so that your teenagers will have plenty of options for keeping busy.

TRAVEL TIP

As with family-friendly cruising in general, your teenagers will also find dedicated activities for their age group aboard Disney Cruise Line, Celebrity Cruises, Crystal Cruises, Holland America Lines, Princess Cruises, and Radisson Seven Seas Cruises—but perhaps in a less-abundant, subtler way. Instead of a water slide and a basketball court, for instance, you might find a pizza party or a teens’ card tournament.

No matter which cruise company you choose, if your child is a more studious type who would rather read books and learn about your cruising destinations than scream all night in a disco, you might consider putting your vacation dollars into a trip that offers an exotic itinerary instead of a rock-climbing wall. That way, the ship won’t be a destination unto itself, and your teenager can join you in focusing on a bit more adventurous exploration ashore.

Cruising with Infants

If you plan to cruise with an infant—any child younger than age two—your cruise-ship options dwindle quickly. Some cruise companies reserve the right to refuse boarding to children in this age range, and even the ships that have extensive programming for children and teenagers don’t always have facilities or services available for babies. This is beginning to change, but the movement toward better infant cruising options is still, well, in its infancy.

By far the best company for family-value cruising with infants right now is Disney Cruise Line. It is the only mid-range cruise company that has a nursery for children between twelve weeks and three years old, and group babysitting is available. (Cunard’s Queen Mary 2, the largest cruise ship in the world, does have a nursery and British nannies available for infant care, but Cunard’s prices are far higher.) Disney’s nursery and infant care is offered along with its children’s programming for your kids age three and older. If you’re traveling with one kindergartner and one toddler, Disney is the only family-priced line where you will be able to use group services for both kids at once.

Royal Caribbean is working to make a dent in Disney’s business, however. In 2004, the cruise line announced a partnership with Fisher-Price toys to develop fleetwide programming for children as young as six months old. There are play-groups and other activities that use Fisher-Price toys, as well as a Fisher-Price television channel that you can watch in your cabin.

However, unlike Disney Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean does not offer babysitting services for children younger than three years old. So even though there will be plenty of activities for you and your infant to enjoy together, you will have to bring your own nanny or babysitter aboard if you want to enjoy any nightlife on your own.

You’ll read more about industrywide children’s programming and babysitting services in Chapter 17, which breaks down details for every cruise line individually.

Cruising with Grandchildren

For the most part, cruising with young grandchildren is a lot like cruising with young children—kids are happiest aboard the ships that cater to them. The difference when you are a grandparent cruising with grandchildren is that your health needs may require a little bit of special attention too, and you will want to be aboard a boat that can provide those services.

You should start by making sure that your cruise ship has a children’s program full of activities that will give you a break from your grandchildren during the day—while making them feel like they are part of something special at the same time. You can check on your particular ship’s facilities and programming with your travel agent or your cruise company, or turn to Chapter 4 of this book for specific information about what each cruise line offers for special-needs travelers.

TRAVEL TIP

If you are elderly and want to cruise with your grandchildren, make sure your ship has as many facilities and programs for you as it does for the apples of your eye. Half the fun of cruising with grandchildren is getting to spend time with them—which you can’t do if, say, you are in a wheelchair without access to some areas aboard.

Next, you should select your itinerary carefully. Some ports of call require cruise ships to anchor in a harbor instead of pulling right up to a dock, in which case it can be difficult for older people to get on and off the ship, especially if they are in a wheelchair. If you fall into that category, or if you are traveling with an elderly grandparent who does, you should select an itinerary that ensures that you and your grandchildren can both get ashore together—if you prefer not to stay aboard while the kids go exploring on their own. Ask your travel agent or your cruise-ship company about the docking situation at every port of call on your itinerary—and, while you have them on the phone, check on handicap access aboard the ship.

Family Reunion Cruises

Some families cruise together without any small kids at all. In fact, cruise ships are a popular place for large-scale reunions of adult siblings, smaller-scale vacations in honor of a college graduation, or celebrations marking a grandparent’s eightieth or ninetieth birthday. You can even hold your wedding aboard some cruise ships if you want to add a new member to your family in the middle of your get-together vacation!

If the majority, or even all, of the people who plan to cruise with you are adults and older teenagers, you might consider choosing a cruise line that does not cater so much to children. Obviously, the more activities and facilities that are aboard, the more kids and younger families a cruise ship is going to attract—and if you are part of a mature family, you might want to share your experience with a more mature crowd.

You might even consider booking your trip aboard a higher-end cruise line that does not encourage children to come aboard. Silversea and Seabourn are two examples—both are excellent lines, and they focus on luxury instead of lollipops. Swan Hellenic also tends to appeal to a more mature crowd, as does Cunard. Of course, you are also likely to pay higher rates aboard these more exclusive ships, but this option is available if you think you might prefer it.

TRAVEL TIP

You can book small public rooms aboard most ships for family-reunion fun. Consider setting up a relatives-only card tournament, or a Trivial Pursuit round robin, or even a test-your-knowledge contest about the ports of call on your ship’s itinerary.

If you like the idea of fewer kids aboard but aren’t opposed to their presence—and want to try to stay more in the mainstream in terms of pricing—consider one of the cruise lines that offer children’s programming but balance it a bit more with adult interests. These include Celebrity, Crystal, Holland America, Norwegian Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, and Radisson Seven Seas.

Budget-Conscious Cruises

There are two schools of thought about how to get the most budget-conscious cruise fares. One is that you should comb last-minute Web site deals. The other is that you should book as much as a year in advance to take advantage of the cruise companies’ early-bird discounts.

A good rule to remember is this: If you don’t care what kind of cabin you get on which itinerary, you may save a few extra dollars by waiting for a last-minute deal. But if your goal is to be aboard a specific boat in a particular level of cabin on the itinerary of your choice, you are much more likely to get the best deal with the companies’ early-booking programs. (You’ll read more about how this works in Chapter 3.)

In general, if you want to try out cruising without busting your budget, you should look for short, two- to four-day itineraries in non-exotic ports of call. Simply choosing a three-day cruise, say, round-trip to New York that is all scenic cruising with no ports of calls will save you at least several hundred dollars because you will have no extra fees for excursions. If you can find a ship leaving from a city near your home—someplace like Fort Lauderdale, Florida, or San Francisco, California—you also will be able to put your limited budget to more use aboard your ship, as you will have no airfare expenses.

FAST FACT

In the past, the last-minute deals have been the best, but that is beginning to change. As cruises have become more popular, many of the cruise lines are seeing more demand than they have cabins available—meaning they have no incentive to offer last-minute deals because their ships are already full.

Booking an inside cabin (without a view) is another way to stretch your vacation dollars, and in some cases, you really won’t be sacrificing all that much. If, for example, you’re the kind of person who likes to be out and about constantly, who only goes back to your cabin to shower and sleep, then paying for a balcony or an ocean-view suite really makes no sense for you. You might as well save your limited funds for excursions instead.

Sometimes, you can find longer itineraries that are good deals. Norwegian Cruise Line, for example, promotes its repositioning cruises as excellent bargains. Repositioning means the company needs to move its ship—for example, from the Caribbean at the end of the winter to the Mediterranean at the beginning of the summer. These cruises are bargains, if you don’t mind sometimes skipping favorite ports of call or cruising during shoulder seasons (just before or after the summer rush, for example). Norwegian knows it cannot get top dollar for its cabins during a shoulder season going across the Atlantic Ocean with limited chances for you to get off the boat, so it lowers its rates to get at least some income during the trip. For you, this can sometimes mean cruising aboard for more than a week at less than $100 per day.

Budget-Busting World Tours

Okay, so you may not have money to burn, but if you do—or if you just like to take a peek into the lives of people who do—you can check out one of the worldwide cruises that some cruise companies offer. We’re talking three to four months straight at sea, broken up into legs of about two weeks apiece in case you don’t want to complete the whole shebang at one time.

Holland America calls its 105-day grand world voyage the Circle of the Sun. It goes round-trip from Fort Lauderdale down through the Caribbean to South America, off the tip of Cape Horn to Antarctica, east to Cape Town, South Africa, and up the African coast before detouring east through the Indian Ocean to Cochin, India, and then cruising back west and up through the Red Sea to the Mediterranean (with ports of call in Rome, Italy, and Barcelona, Spain), before beginning the westward transatlantic voyage back to South Florida. Whew!

What? Not enough? You’d rather do the South Pacific and Asia instead of the Caribbean and South America? You’re in luck. Crystal Cruises’ Empires of the Sun 101-day voyage goes one-way from Los Angeles, California, west to the Hawaiian Islands before heading south to Bora Bora and the South Pacific, both islands in New Zealand, plus Australia before navigating north through Indonesia to Hong Kong, China, and other Asian ports including Phuket, Thailand, and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It then turns westward across the Indian Ocean to Africa, up the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, around Turkey, Greece, and Croatia, and then visits western Mediterranean favorites like Venice, Italy, and Lisbon, Portugal, before finally arriving in London, England.

These cruises sure are exotic—and so are their prices. To do the whole Holland American itinerary, you’ll have to fork over at least $19,599 per person for a standard cabin, or $149,299 for the nicest suite aboard. The lowest-priced cabin aboard the Crystal Cruises itinerary will run you at least $63,545, or $38,504 with the early-booking discount. If you want the Crystal penthouse, you’ll have to pay $182,289 even with the early-booking rate.

Cruising Seasons: When to Go Where

Whether you’re cruising the entire world or just a little part of it during a weeklong vacation, the weather will play a key role in your happiness. It can also make a difference in how much your trip costs.

In general, the best time to visit the Caribbean is the winter, starting in December. The temperatures in that part of the world are lovely during the fall, as well, but that’s also hurricane season, and you could lose your entire vacation to rain if you happen to catch the wrong week. The high season in the Mediterranean is the summertime, from late May until early September (though it sometimes gets a bit chilly there in September). Alaska is also a summertime destination, for obvious reasons, and the South Pacific and Australia are good wintertime options, since their seasons are the reverse of whatever is happening in North America. The Galapagos Islands, which straddle the Equator, are a good year-round destination. Just be aware of the rainy seasons in such places. Galapagos, for instance, gets most of its showers between December and May.

FAST FACT

In order to maintain high ship occupancy and take advantage of peak season rates around the globe, cruise lines occasionally move their itineraries from one part of the world to another. For example, a cruise destined for the Caribbean may end up touring the Mediterranean. This is called a repositioning cruise, and it can save you a lot of money because the cruise line will offer large discounts to customers who are willing to be flexible about their itineraries. You many not see all the sights you had originally planned on, but you will get all the amenities of the cruise ship for much less.

These peak weather windows are, of course, the most sought-after times for cruise-ship bookings—which means that if you go when the weather is at its best, you are likely to pay top dollar. If you can live with a shoulder season, right before or after the peak times, you can sometimes save a little bit on your fares. And what you will give up in less-than-perfect temperatures, you will more than make up for with less-than-moblike crowds.

If you have your heart set on cruising to a destination during its peak season, you can still sometimes save a few bucks by booking your trip during a weaker week within the rush period. For example, weather in the Caribbean is about the same during the entire month of December, but the week before the Christmas holiday typically generates far fewer bookings than the celebration week itself. As such, you might be able to find a good deal if you’re willing to disembark and be on your way back home in time to collect any loot that Santa Claus brings.

FAST FACT

The Lonely Planet travel-book company has an excellent and free Web site, www.lonelyplanet.com, where you can often find weather information about ports of call you are considering for your cruise. Check for seasonal predictions of rain, typhoons, hurricanes, and temperatures before you book your trip.

The same holds true for weeks before and after collegiate Spring Break in February, elementary-school break in March, the Fourth of July, and Thanksgiving. Ask your travel agent or your cruise ship company which weeks tend to be the slowest, and then look online for Web specials being promoted for those dates.

CHAPTER 2

Cruise Costs

HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU expect to pay for your family cruise vacation? It’s a simple question, but the answer depends on various decisions you make. Will you cruise for three days or three months? Do you want the most spacious, top-level cabin with a private balcony? Do you want to stay aboard and enjoy the ship’s free amenities? Or will you add as many shore excursions as possible? Your answers to all of these questions—and more—will determine the price of your cruise.

How Cruises Are Priced

Cruise ships are priced to appeal to people with different levels of income. As with land-based vacation resorts, you will find some cruise ships that are dirt cheap while others have prices so high that they induce nose bleeds. The trick is to determine