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My 13 Favourite Things About Cruising #Travel

I am a cruising fangirl. I can’t get enough of cruising. We have only just recently, in the past 2 years, discovered cruising as a wonderful form of family travel. We returned late last year from our second ever family cruise which helped reaffirm for us that cruising works for our family. We love cruising for a host of reasons. Here are just a few reasons family cruising is one of my favourite forms of travel.

cruising

There are so many great reasons to travel with your family and so many ways to make that happen. From resorts to deep travel, to vacation homes, lifestyle communities and even timeshare properties, there’s something out there to meet the needs of every traveller. My own family used to rely almost exclusively on All Inclusive Resort travel with kid’s clubs that were heavy on the family activities and excursions. We have branched out though in the last couple of years. The kid’s ages have, in one way, made it simpler to expand our vacation needs and in another way, have also made us more available to exploring and taking chances. My one caveat here is that kids who are over the age of 12 are more expensive to travel with, so be warned about that if you are budgeting.


cruising

When we took our first family cruise we were nervous about how it would work out. But we loved it more than we ever imagined. As a travel blogger I am more adventuresome than some travellers, but when it’s my family trip for the year and I am using those precious few vacation days that my husband gets as well, then I am cautious and I want to be pretty certain that our trips will be memorable and worth the money that we spend. Cruising so far has exceeded our expectations that way.

My 13 Favourite Things About Cruising:

cruising

  1. New horizons: Waking up in a New Destination almost every day. This is my joy when I cruise with my family. Going to sleep in one country and waking up in another is exhilarating. My favourite memory of this occurred on our first cruise. After sailing all night, we woke up in Honduras. It was green and lush and breathtaking. It was magical! You step outside on the balcony and there it is a brand new adventure ready to explore. Roatan, Honduras made me so happy. Such a beautiful view to wake up to. Same can be said of Bahamas.cruise-girls
  2. Family Time. Cruises are very family friendly and when we are all on a cruise ship we get to share several days with each other, without any interruptions. Just family time. That is precious, especially as the kids get older.
  3. The amazing activities aboard. The two cruise ships we have been on had numerous water slides and the last one on Norwegian Escape had a ropes course, a high ropes course, mini golf and a plank out over the ocean. SO so much fun! You really could just stay on the boat all week and be happy.
  4. The excursions. There are so many great things to do off the ship too. It’s always hard to choose because there are too many fun options. We filter by age and size. Sometimes things like zip lining and scuba diving or snuba diving say you must be a specific age, say 14 plus so that helps us narrow some of the options down.

    carnival-creme-brulee
    This is the creme brûlée on the Carnival Pride ship. Their food is exceptional.
  5. The food. Simply awesome on both cruises we have taken. Exceptional food!
  6. The service. They treat you well and staff ratio is very high on cruise ships we have been on. My daughter actually made friends with the man who made up our room every day. That was on our first cruise and he went out of our way on the Carnival Cruise we took to make sure everything was perfect. roatan
  7. Being disconnected. Oh sure you can pay extra for minutes of wifi at sea. Or you can happily enjoy that you are not connected for a couple of days. Maybe take the full week off of tweeting and posting to Facebook. I feel like there are very few places in the world anymore where I can disconnect. The cruise ship is one of those places.
  8. The sleep. I swear to you. I am not joking when I say that I sleep amazingly well on a cruise ship. Some of my best sleep ever has taken place on a cruise ship. Maybe it’s because I am exhausted or maybe it’s the movement of the boat. Not sure why, but BOY do I love sleeping on a cruise ship. I feel great after a good night’s sleep there.
  9. Kid’s activities and clubs. I feel like this is a crucial part of our holiday wherever we go with kids but on a cruise ship they tend to do this really well. The kids have loved kid’s clubs.
  10. The view. There’s so much to love about an ocean view. I talked about this with my older daughter recently. She says: I love the ocean because it makes me feel the world is very big and I am very small. I personally love to see the size of the ocean up close because it reminds me how remarkable the world is and how fortunate we are to live right now, right here.  [tweetthis]There’s so much to love about an ocean view. #travel[/tweetthis]
  11. The sail away party. You work hard and you deserve a vacation. When it’s time for the cruise ship to finally set sail, and for the holiday to begin, you can’t help but feel excited. You are ready for a break and you want to celebrate. The sail away party is cathartic. People get right into it. The kids do too. Have fun!
  12. Towel animals. I know that sounds silly, but towel animals are fun. They are the adorable little touch that you only find here on a cruise ship.
  13. Ports of call. Ports of call make me happy, because where else could you possibly visit 4 different countries or islands in one week and sample each one? Maybe you will find an island or other destination you want to return to and explore at length in the future. I love getting a day long peek into a place like Atlantis, Bahamas, or Roatan, Honduras. It’s like sampling all the desserts on the menu. Cruising is a great way to spend a family vacation. It can be very affordable too.

Mom of two beautiful active girls, traveller, fitness junkie, social media consultant, and keeper of the sanity.

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