It was a long 2 years before our family could finally cruise again and we are so thankful the seas are open once again. Let’s take a quick step back to 2020 when COVID began. We all saw the toll it took on the travel industry and it was quite the ripple effect. The cruise lines were no exception. Imagine hundreds of ships with hundreds (sometimes thousands of workers) from hundreds of countries and there was no way to get them home. If you follow me you know I love to cruise and am an advocate of the cruise line industry. I was happy to see that they came together to postpone sailings, a decision that they came to, not something forced upon them by government.

What we needed to do to cruise again

So, cruising halted for no one knew how long. Days, months…..years. Fast forward to December, 2021 and our family was finally able to cruise. We re-booked three times! We still had hoops to jump through that were nerve wracking. If families planned to travel you had two options: rigorous testing pre and during the cruise or vaccinations. The pre-boarding tests were done via a testing facility or with a proctor online.

Our kids received their vaccinations in time and even with those we all did a negative covid test prior to embarking. We purchased our tests through e-med at the time and that was a quick and easy process and the most cost effective. We made sure though to have backup tests with us and to this day we continue to carry them when traveling.

Time to open again

As I type this we are almost a year since that particular cruise and have cruised since. Testing is still something we did for those cruises. It was nerve wracking. There was a part of me that waited to pack for our trip until we had the negative tests. Alas, many restrictions have eased and we are here to let you know the basics as you plan for your vacations in the New Year! The following are some of the major cruise lines for families. When looking into your cruise line always go direct to the source for confirmation. As with COVID-19 we know things can change in an instant.

Carnival Cruise Line: No requirements necessary to sail on cruises 15 nights or less. Cruises 16 nights or more guests 18 and older must show proof of vaccination and testing requirements are in place.
Disney Cruise Line: No requirements necessary to sail effective November 14, 2022.
Norwegian Cruise Line: No requirements necessary to sail globally effective October, 2022.
Royal Caribbean Cruise Line: No requirements necessary to sail, with a few exceptions. At this time (12/12/22) only the following sailings have requirements: cruises from the US and Caribbean that visit Colombia, Transatlantic Cruises and Cruises from Australia.

Happy sailing in 2023! To make sure you are up to date on all policies always go direct to the source before sailing.

The post Cruising During Covid: the latest updates on cruise requirement for your family appeared first on Cruising with the Family.

I belong to several groups on FB and this question has been posted countless times. Each time, it strikes a chord. Here is the direct question.

“I’ve been on a few RC cruises before and I’ll be going again on Grandeur. In the past, we pretty much have only eaten in the Windjammer because we have two small kids with us. Am I missing out by not going to the main dining room? Will I regret bringing the kids there? If I only choose to go to the main dining room a couple nights, are there any particular nights I should go?”

anonymous from FB community group Cruising with Kids

YES, you’re missing out!

So my answer is always YES you are missing out on dining in the main dining room with the kids. When I had to convince my husband Dan years ago to cruise one of my top reasons why cruising with our kids would be best is for the mealtime options.

For starters, I don’t want to have to think about what restaurant we go to on vacation, or let alone having to drive there and as a mom of a child with allergies that adds an entirely new component.

Even more importantly. I want to feel waited on. I want to feel that way all the time! Moms are a jack of all trades, am I right? We are the cooks, cleaners, nurses, chauffeur, teachers, entertainers, schedulers and so much more. So, why not at least on vacation let someone wait on you?

This question always leaves me wondering, why would you not want to sit down and have a meal in the dining room? Is it because you have children? Would you go to a local restaurant to eat with your kids? What would be the regret? What makes you nervous?

Will I regret bringing the kids?

Not that you directly asked me but it’s my job to be a resource and tell it like it is and so NO, you won’t regret bringing the kids.

What if my kids don’t behave?
What if they are loud or cause a fit?

To that I will say as a parent you just need to plan in advance. The dining room on any cruise line can take awhile. In my experience if you can get through the first night you’re all set. The wait staff will get to know you and your likes/dislikes and the timing.

Timing of dinner

First thing is timing dinner appropriately. We do the early or anytime dining. Anytime is just that you can choose when you eat every night. If you decide to do an early dinner one night the next you can do a later time. I don’t recommend switching it up though as it’s best to keep to a schedule. You’ll have the same waitstaff and table and the more they get to know you the more enjoyable the evenings will be. And if you dinner time is say 6:00pm by the time you actually eat it could be closer to 6:30pm so take that into account.

How to keep the kids entertained

As for preparing in advance we bring with us sticker puzzle books and on occasion our old iPhones. When we upgrade our phones we keep our old ones (currently iPhone 6 and 8). We wipe them clean and start them over for the kids. We only download educational books, games and fun apps for them to play. We do also have at least 1 movie downloaded. Most often than not we just spend time playing with a travel tic tac toe or the puzzles. And you can’t go wrong with crayons and a coloring book or even better the mess free ones by Crayola.

Which nights to actually go to the dining room?

The final part to this particular question is: “If I only choose to go to the main dining room a couple nights, are there any particular nights I should go?”

I think this depends on what you want to experience while on vacation. If you care about the food options obviously check the morning of to see what is being offered. If you can’t find something to eat then skip it.

If you want to get dressed up then make sure to take them on ‘formal’ night. It’s fun to see those who choose to get dressed up and usually the waitstaff will perform a song and dance if you’re lucky. Enjoy the time you have with the kids and opening the door to new experiences for everyone. Least you can do is try it. If it’s one thing I can say you can ask others for their opinion (we all have them after all) though you won’t know if you’re missing out unless you give it a try.

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This begs the question, since most Caribbean itineraries visit, are the Bahamas ready for visitors again after Hurricane Dorian?

Yes!

The Bahamas are ready for travelers again and especially the cruise lines. While you won’t be able to visit the Abacos given the devastation, Freeport is open and ready for business.

So, let’s talk Freeport.

The best way to get there these days is via cruise ship. If you prefer to fly and stay you’ll need to catch a connection through Nassau until their airport is ready. A few hotels are open and ready for your business too. Since we focus on cruising that’s what we’ll talk about.

We love Freeport. It’s a port near and dear to us. We purchased my engagement ring in a small jewelry store and both of our wedding bands. I have been to Rum Runner’s on many occasions for drinks and food. Port Lucaya has lost several stores over the years and isn’t quite what it used to be which is sad. However, there are still stores to visit, music to be heard, Junkanoo parties and Unexso. They offer a variety of excursions.

The pigs are back for swimming too! Something we haven’t done. Read on for your way of helping out some piglets via the Humane Society. Your tourist dollars help the island in ways you’ll never know and so while you may think there isn’t enough to do on the island that’s just a misconception.

Do it Yourself

We have always done our own ie: DIY excursions when we visit Freeport. We have taken cabs to the beach and Port Lucaya. We haven’t had many hours in port so just a few at a local beach is really all we need as a family.

On our last visit to Freeport in November of 2018 it was a bit overcast and we didn’t let that stop us. We grabbed a cab (shuttle that fit about 8) and headed to Taino Beach. Our driver offered us a deal to drop us at the beach, pick us up and take us to Port Lucaya and was there when we were ready to head back to the Pier.

Dan and I didn’t really want to swim so we hung out on the beach while the kids played in the sand and ran in and out of the water. We spent about 3 hours at this gorgeous beach which was plenty for the girls.

While you’re there…give back

We all know the islands suffered terrible destruction. If you have time and want to do something a little different to help out and give back while you’re in Freeport here is just one idea:

Humane Society of Grand Bahama: Contact them to help socialize with the animals. Yep, you can spend time volunteering and playing with cats, dogs and even rescue piglets. They also have a cool program where you can borrow a dog for one on one time! Their contact phone number is: 242-352-2477. Visit them on Facebook for up to date information.

There are various ways to donate and help the islands. Check out the tourism site for information and if you want to learn more the Washington Post had a feature on the Bahamas.

Nassau and the famed pink towers

Clearly more hustle and bustle occurs in Nassau. It’s definitely a popular location and one that we have personally visited at least 8 times over the years. Nassau was spared any major damage and has stepped up to help its neighboring islands. Pulling into port here your possibilities are endless.

We have done Nassau ourselves and also with excursions. Our favorite excursion that everyone MUST do at least once would be visiting Blue Lagoon Island. You can enjoy a relaxing day at their beach, swim with dolphins, have an encounter with dolphins or sea lions and so much more.

We have also taken a water taxi to the Atlantis to walk around, shop, eat and gamble. It was ok. If you want to experience Atlantis schedule a time to go and stay. If you want to save money check out the neighboring hotels. Sometimes it’s cheaper to get a hotel room for a night (even though you won’t use it) when they may come with free passes to their water park.

The long and short of it. YES, the Bahamas are ready and open and can’t wait to have you visit! Let us know when you visit we can’t wait to hear what you decide to do to see the island.

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So how to make it happen more often?

Time and Money. Those seem to be the two things to hold us back every time. We hear our friends say “we don’t have enough time to take a long trip due to school, work or our kids activities.” And it’s too expensive…especially to cruise! That last one…it’s a myth not a fact. So, here are my top 5 tips to save money on your next cruise vacation.

Tip #1

Book early and on a promotion. When you book early you simply put down a deposit. This allows you to pay off the trip overtime until final payment is due typically three months before you set sail. It’s like layaway for your vacation only no extra fees or interest.

When booking find a promotion that will save you money. We never cruise Royal Caribbean without booking during a kids sail free promo as an example. Plus on promo you have the chance to get free money in onboard credits, free airfare and so much more. Don’t leave money on the table!

Tip #2

Avoid peak seasons. Peak seasons are those times when the majority will travel. Think spring break, holidays and summer break from school.

Look to book in the months of January, early February, May, August, September, October and the first part of November. These times are off-peak. Do keep in mind that August through November is technically Hurricane season for the cruise industry–make sure to purchase travel insurance.

Tip #3

Cut out the Extras. Just like the excursions the extras can really add up. We are talking about drink packages, gambling (including BINGO), speciality dining and the most controversial of all gratuities.

Drinks

We have never purchased a drink package. EVER. Our kids don’t drink a lot of soda to begin with and the ships offer complimentary juices and milk which is all we do for them on a normal basis. They aren’t missing out and neither are we. We will buy a few drinks when we cruise and also bring on our own. Did you know that you can bring your own on some lines? I’m always going to tell you to double confirm however, on several lines you are allowed one bottle (per/person) of wine/champagne when you board and that lasts us quite a while.

Speciality Dining & Gambling

We haven’t done speciality dining unless it’s a special occasion or for a rare date night when we travel with the grandparents. If you wait to book onboard you may see a savings of up to 50% discount. We budget for gambling and on some trips don’t do it at all. And BINGO holy cow that’s pricey so save up or cut it out.

Gratuities

Let me start by saying this is one of the most controversial areas of cruising. We always pay gratuities for the adults. We NEVER prepay gratuities. Children under a certain age are not expected to pay gratuities. We have in the past removed the gratuities for our children and used the cash to tip various staff. This is a controversial topic as many believe when you don’t pay gratuity you are hurting the worker’s lives. Literally taking money out of their pockets. That’s not entirely true. The workers are on a contract and get paid a salary. They also earn extra from the lines for various reasons, but those gratuities, the cruise line gets to decide where they go and you will never know.

Read more about gratuities and how to save in this area! BONUS….we were featured in the article published on September 23, 2019. Cruise Fees go Overboard. Here’s what to watch for, from automatic gratuities to service fees by Christopher Elliott, special to USA Today.

Tip #4

Hold off on excursions. These can be a high ticket cost on your cruise. Some popular excursions can run $75 (and many more much higher) per person. For a family of four that’s $300 alone for a 3-5 hour experience. Is it worth it? We rarely go on excursions, we prefer to DIY (do-it-yourself). We save a ton of money this way and still get to see and do activities that the cruise line is charging for.

Tip #5

Choose your location wisely. We often overlook that which is right under our nose. Look at the ports closest to you. It may not have the newest and prettiest ship but I’ll challenge you….what do you really need out of a vacation?

Our closest port is Baltimore, MD and she happens to have two amazing smaller ships. One from Royal Caribbean and one from Carnival. They both happen to be favorites of mine. We are also within a five hour drive of New Jersey and New York which opens up the possibilities then to NCL and other lines and some of the newer classes of ships.

We prefer the smaller ship out of the closer port. The overall cost is worth not having the latest and greatest and when we sit down to talk about what we all want out of a vacation: pool, entertainment, dancing, kids club….well any size ship has what we want!

If you skipped to the bottom that’s ok! Here’s what you missed. The top 5 ways to save. 1. book early and on promo. 2. travel off peak 3. cut out the extras 4. hold off on excursions and 5. choose your location wisely.

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Welcome to our cruise report on Royal Caribbean’s Adventure of the Seas.

Our voyage went a little like this:

Bayonne, NJ —– at sea —- Bermuda —- at sea —- Nassau, Bahamas —- CocoCay, Bahamas (private island) —- at sea —- at sea —- Bayonne, NJ

So, what we have for you is all the information from our trip! You’ll be able to see the dining menu’s (which have changed a little from our last trek in November), schedules and information on the kid’s programs, daily calendar of events and even shopping specials on board and in port via the port maps. Once you click on the images below a new window will open with pdfs of all the details.

Activities a plenty while cruising

The Cruise Compass is Royal Caribbean’s paper schedule provided in your stateroom each evening. They are a great way to plan your day. They detail out dining hours, dress for the evening, activities, port information, weather and of course specials in the onboard shops.

I’ll have 1 of each….dining options

Dining is one of my favorite’s! I don’t usually pay extra for speciality dining unless there is a special occasion to celebrate. Why not? Well why spend extra when some amazing choices are available. It’s nice to view the menu early in the day and if you don’t see something you like can always go to the buffet.

Here is a sampling from the buffet breakfast. Options are dining room or buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Then there are some speciality restaurants for evening or lunch. We did do Johnny Rockets on our first day as the buffet was the worst line we have ever experienced. We paid for lunch and had unlimited food and drinks (except for milkshakes). It was delicious especially the apple pie!

We are cruising with the family after all so let’s look at the kids programs!

Kids can go to the camps for FREE. Yep, you’d be surprised how many families I’ve talked to that didn’t realize it’s FREE. If you have a toddler that is under 2 there are some options for you however, they may cost and that varies by line. Our kids are always so excited to go to camp. They love to meet the counselors, play games and do a multitude of arts and crafts. They typically will participate on sea days. Sometimes spending the entire day there and other times just a couple of hours here and there. Family comes first for us and now as they get older we look forward to spending time with them at the pool and doing other onboard activities. However, every parent likes to have a break. Am I right?

The gift shops will get you every time!

What isn’t included in your cost (and don’t forget you can read all about our costs in either All Inclusive or Elusive or Anatomy of an Onboard Account) are purchases in the various gift shops. Your compass will always have extra papers that tell you the deals of the day!

If you are up for buying in the islands, which we strongly suggest, you’ll want to make sure that you know what specials are out there. Your shopping specialist on board can help tremendously if you are in the market for something in particular! Ours over 12 years ago helped us get my engagement ring and our wedding bands and we spent a fraction of what it would have cost here in the state.

As you can see there is plenty to do and see both onboard and on the islands. Personally, we can’t wait to get back to Bermuda since there is so much to do–one day just isn’t enough!

Where are you headed next? We can’t wait to hear!

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Private Island Time

A fantastic view of the island! The tower in the middle is a water slide! You can see it from all areas of the island. To the far left is a beach area. Behind the bridge on the left is a lagoon area with beach and calm waters. Near the balloon is the freshwater pool and kids splashaway bay. To the right is the thrill water park.

So, what’s new?

The upgrades included adding a water park with massive slides ($$), a hot air balloon ride over the island ($$), more cabanas ($$), freshwater pool, swim up bar ($$ unless have beverage package), more restaurant locations and two splash areas for the kids.

For those with teens this is where it’s going to get a bit costly.

YOU HAVE TO PAY TO PLAY.

For those with young kids the splash pads are a fantastic break and those in swim diapers YOU GET TO GO IN!

Choose your own adventure

Visiting CocoCay is a choose your own adventure. You’ll receive a map to the island in your cabin the night before. If you are already booked I’m sure you are already getting the many marketing emails to upsell the various attractions that cost money.

You have a day at their private island. We were there from about 8am until 4:30pm. One of the best parts of this private island is that you dock at the island. No more tenders which takes time away from enjoying the beach.

The Galleon Ship

Galleon Ship. This is located as you walk in and is great for little kids. Word of caution: the slides which come from the various levels of the boat and end up on the bottom where you see the blue area are very fast! Our kids ended up sliding all the way to the brick walkway.

Oasis Lagoon Pool

Oasis Lagoon Pool Rules. Chairs line the pool and there are lounge chairs in the water too! The zero entry is great for kids and they have plenty of life jackets available for all ages. The water is padded until you get to about 3 1/2 feet depth. Be prepared for plenty of chairs to be taken with no one using them in sight–they are all off doing other activities.

Splashaway Bay

Splashaway Bay. Slides are to the left, pad in front with water buckets and climbing structures! There are also showers for washing off.

Chill Beach

Chill Beach is the original beach area and one that we love. That’s the family walking to secure chairs. It was quiet and located next to a snack stand, games and near the kayak tour counter. Word of caution: this area is open to the ocean. On our last visit our little little was stung by a jellyfish hiding in the seaweed. Note: we now carry a small spray bottle of vinegar to help get the sting out if it happens again! This time around we saw some beautiful stingrays swimming and even a reef shark that we caught on our gopro.

As with all cruise ships there are plenty of activites

Free airbrush tattoos! SWEET! The kiddos loved their free airbrush tattoos that they got on their way out. We got there late so there was just one color to use (yellow) and endless patterns. They lasted about a week!

Not so perfect…downright made me mad

I’m a less is more kind of girl. Since I’ve been cruising since I was about 8 I have enjoyed the relaxing aspect of cruising. I think that’s why I am drawn to the ships that are more midsize with not all the latest and greatest thrills.

So, here is what made me angry and I am sure other parents will agree. See the images below. My little little is 5 years old and measures 40″ when we went on this trip. On the Adventure of the Seas they have two splash areas for kids. The purple slide in the image on the left you need to be 42″ to go down. The staff from Adventure Ocean manage the stairs.

So, my daughter got denied. She was devastated. I was devastated for her. They said she could be in the yellow slide on the other side. You can catch a glimpse of this on the right side of my photo. Well, in this area moms let their babies in swim diapers just sit in the water area at the bottom of the slide. So, my kid would have flown down and knocked them over. She was way too big in my opinion no matter how small she is to be in that area.

My anger at Royal Caribbean

Well, let’s fast forward to our private day now in CocoCay. See that purple and teal slide on the right? My kid is allowed to go down! This is why I am ticked off and angry? An island OWNED and OPERATED BY ROYAL CARIBBEAN. My kid can go down this large slide and yet not allowed on the small one on the ship? Not to mention I saw smaller kids on the ship’s slide later in the week smaller than she is go down.

I try to play by the rules. I don’t expect any favors and come on. Are you kidding me? When our kids were in swim diapers we knew they couldn’t go into the pools no matter how low the water or splash pad. I get the whole kids can’t swim until potty trained on the ship and this though it’s outrageous.

So, if you skipped to the end here are some tips to enjoy your Perfect Day at CocoCay

1. Get room service on the ship for continental breakfast and eat early or bring it with you (boxes of cereal are perfect) to the island to enjoy even more time. There is plenty of food to have for snacks when you need them.
   
2. Head to the beach first then pool area. We had no problem getting chairs at that time.
   
3. Save time for the splash pads in the afternoon (that way you wash off the beach before heading back to the ship.
   
4. Try the funnel cake! What an awesome surprise. We had quite a few. Located in the snack shack near Chill Beach.
   
5. Try to get it all in, unless you already know you are heading back again.

Honesty is the best policy

Overall, we really enjoyed ourselves and had a semi-perfect day at CocoCay. It took time to get the lay of the land, when we didn’t need to before. This go around wasn’t quite as relaxing as in the past. Again, we didn’t have to deal with kids saying they wanted to do the big slides or having to go here or there. It was grab a chair, pay for an umbrella and enjoy the water and sand.

Now that we’ve been and know what to expect we can map out our plan in advance. Overall our day worked well moving from beach to pool and slides so we’ll do that again for sure! We did have a HUGE bahamian downpour during the day and that helped clear some of the crowd away!

There was only our ship in port that day however, there will be up to two ships at one time so think midsize like ours plus small. One of our favorite ships, Grandeur of the Seas, is expected in port the same day at Adventure. That means there will be close to 6K people versus our 4K when we were there.

It’s a personal decision on what to spend your money on. I’m here to help save you time and money and I don’t see the justification.

We can’t wait to go back and enjoy even more though we’ll stick to the FREE parts and not worry about paying to play!

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Spring break is done in Northern Virginia, but now is the time when many families are considering and preparing for summer vacation and what to do with their children and hopefully keep them well entertain.  Many parents schedule summer vacations and of course as parents we want to photograph every moment.  It’s the best time to record your kids playing freely and enjoying themselves during the summer.  Unfortunately, the lighting is not always the best when we’re attempting to take pictures of our children or when we want to do a family selfie.  Here are a few tips to get the best family vacation photos.  

1.  Avoid Back Light

Have you ever taken a picture with the person’s back facing the window?  The light behind the subject will cast a shadow making them hard to see.  The best way to correct this is to have the person face the window.  This will put the light on their face instead of their back.  This is true for a room light as well.  Although sometimes those pictures can come out cool.

2.  Best Light (Optimal Light Conditions)

The best time of the day to take pictures outside is immediately after sunrise or before sunset.  This is due to the optimal lighting conditions.  Taking pictures in the shade will also give your pictures wonderful color and you’ll also avoid the annoying squinted face.  

3.  Focus on your child

Living so close to Washington DC and all the different monuments and museums that are readily available.  It’s easy to just tell our children to stand in front of the monument and as parents we want to get the monument and our child in the picture.  However, I encourage parents to get down to your child’s eye level and experiment with different angles instead of wide-open overhead angles only.

4.  Photo the moment

Does your child have a favorite way to stand?  If so, break away from the posed picture and photograph that funny stance.  You may be surprised how the picture turns out.  A great idea is taking a picture of your child trying a new food or drink; walking on sand for the first time or taking a plane ride.

5.  The Best Mode

Oh, my goodness it’s so hard to take pictures of kids with your cell phone especially if their moving.  Have you ever taken a photo and it dark and blurry?  Me too.  Moving around is their job, so it may be difficult to get a picture of young kids standing still.  Therefore, the best camera mode is to use “action” or “sport mode”.  This will help the speed of your camera by increase the shutter speed to freeze fast action.  Think of your shutter speed as your eyes blinking.   

6.  Don’t just photograph the destination; capture your family

Taking pictures of your family enjoying the vacation will be the best and most interesting photos of your vacation.  These are the pictures that will make you smile, cry, and/or laugh.  Not the picture of the scenery of your vacation location.  It fun to take pictures of your favorite Disney Character.  However, the picture of your family members enjoying the go carts at Disney will be more valuable to you.  

7.  Give everyone a camera

One thing I like to do is give my kids a camera.  You’ll receive a totally different aspect of your vacation.  Giving your kids a camera will also keep them busy and entertained.  You’ll also see a different version of your family vacation.  A disposable camera or an inexpensive digital camera is a great way to keep the expense low.  

Moms, although you’re typically the one photographing your family’s summer vacation, make sure you get in some of the pictures as well.  I often forget to do this myself and when we come home from vacation, I’m in a limited number of pictures.  If you ask a stranger to take pictures of your family while on vacation, ask them to take more than one or two pictures (preferably four).  Doing this helps ensure you have at least one picture where everyone has their eyes open, looking at the camera, and smiling.  These tips will help tell the story of your family’s vacation experience.  Have fun on your summer vacation.

Tamieka lives in Woodbridge, Virginia with her husband, two boys (14,10).  She the owner of Tamieka Smith Photography.  In addition to creating a fun atmosphere for family while taking professional portraits, Tamieka enjoys taking vacations with her family and photographing every possible moment.  You can find her on Facebook, Instagram, or on her website.

The post How to get the BEST family photos for summer vacation appeared first on Cruising with the Family.

Overcoming Obstacles

In order to convince my husband to travel more when our kids were young, taking them cruising was a big pitch. I felt like I had to have the presentation perfect complete with statistics, video with slides and cost analysis.

Okay, I totally did the cost analysis and also had all the answers to his objections.

Creating experiences is what matters for us so to this day that’s what we aim to accomplish. What do we want to experience? How do we want to experience it? How can we share our experiences with others so they’ll want to do the same?

Tell me Thursday

Today is tell me thursday….we want to hear from you our readers and followers. We have answered private messages this week from followers on drink packages and how to work around them when not everyone in the cabin drinks or wants to spend the money. We’ve also answered questions on island excursions to St. Kitts, Thomas and Nassau, Bahamas.

SHARING IS CARING

We come across articles all the time about the value of travel. This one we felt was too good to pass up! Enjoy reading and then go, book that cruise you’ve wanted to do or vacation. Start making those experiences happen.

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How do I keep the kids entertained while cruising?

We asked our followers on Facebook what’s one question they have about cruising and that question made me smile! Simply because I feel like I’ve perfected this.

It’s one thing to think about keeping kids entertained when flying or waiting at the airport or riding but when you are cruising you have other times when you are ‘waiting’:

Waiting to board ship, waiting during the muster drill, waiting during meals, waiting for shows to start, waiting for the kids club to open, waiting for excursions or tenders, and of course waiting for mom to finish getting ready for dinner!

First things first, if you haven’t already signed up to the Blog to get the downloadable packing list I say go for it right now! Just head over to https://cruisingwiththefamily.com and hit the subscribe button at the top or fill in the form on the pop-up! Ok?

I’ll wait for you.

#1 Download our Packing List

You’re back! Great job. Guess what? That was the 1st step to keeping the kids entertained.

This is my top item because we’ve culled this list from all of our journeys since our kids were infants. So this is all inclusive for the ages you’d need up to ours currently (4 and 7). We also continue to expand so if you see we are missing something let us know! Just add it in the comments to this blog.

We offer an area on the list specifically for kids to help keep them entertained. The entertainment really happens the moment you begin the travel whether that means by car or air. Make sure that each child has their own small carry on and if they are too young just make sure you have one pocket within your diaper bag for easy access. Our favorite all time travel bag is this one and it just broke!

Pack small toys that are easy to put into your purse for when you are onboard. It’s helpful if they can pack it themselves and if they are younger make sure you choose some that don’t get much use.

#2 Pre-Shopping

If you are like me you shop in advance for the items you need such as toiletries, so why not items to keep the kids entertained?

I always start my pre-shopping with a trip to the Dollar Tree. If you don’t have one near you they are also online. This is my first stop because even working on a tight budget for let’s say a 7 day cruise I can spend about $6 total per/child and get them at least one new item or toy per day!

We all know kids LOVE getting new items. Some of my favorites that we get from there are:

– coloring books (I bring a baggie of our own crayons)
– sticker books
– education books such as numbers, alphabets, reading comprehension
– seek and find books
– stampers

My favorite items can be purchased on Amazon. Check out our Setting Sale page. The sticker puzzles are my kids’ favorite. It takes them quite a while to do the larger ones and the smaller ones have kept my little little busy while waiting for meals and she loves them! They have ones for boys and girls! And guess what? Great time right now to grab some on Amazon and put them in baskets for Easter coming up if you do that!

Some parents take the time to wrap the new items to make it even more exciting. Let me be perfectly honest with you. I don’t have the time for that when I’m preparing for us all to travel so I usually put them in their carry on’s after they’ve chosen what they want!

All of these items that you buy I’d bring a new one out each night to help entertain.

#3 Visit the Library

This happens to be the best idea ever. We visit the library often for books, puzzles and moves. Our library offers Launch Pad Tablets and they are ingenious.

The tablets (check out the video below) are fully loaded and require NO WIFI. Plus they come preloaded with books, puzzles and games. They are for ages Kindergarten through 5th Grade.

So, I don’t need WiFi for my kids and don’t need to spend tons of time downloading programs, movies or games on our old phones or tablets.

Now, we do bring with us those old phones of ours. Our kids love listening to music and we have a few games such as color by number, cooking games and when they were little books like The Monster at the End of Book.

So, check out your local library! You never know what they have and it’s FREE! The rentals are week long. Sometimes I login to renew while we are traveling so that I don’t incur late fees.

#4 Go ‘Old School’

Going ‘Old School’ for me means back to the basics of NO electronics. Our parents didn’t have those options and we all survived.

I have come to learn that if someone complains because my kid is causing a scene or fit, it’s their problem. Clearly, I will remove them if it warrants and discipline as necessary. We also know we can plan ahead and try to avoid anything negative happening.

My parents have given our kids travel Tic Tac Toe and Hangman and they love it! It’s super easy to carry and it doesn’t get old! You can also just pack pen and paper and play both!

Bring binoculars for when you dine in the buffet area. It is tons of fun to sit near the window and look through them to find flying fish! And we’ve found tons of them and even pointed them out to others who had no idea!

Since I have a 7 year old girl she is into “hand shakes” as she calls them. So for instance, Miss Mary Mack or for those who are closer in age to me we used to call it Miss Suzie.

Lastly, pack some snacks. It’s not quite ‘old school’ and you may be thinking why would I do that when I’m cruising? I mean isn’t’ there food available all the time? While there are quite a bunch of food options it’s not always available and it’s not all SNACKY food either. So look at the packing list we gave you a ton of examples.

The post 4 ways to keep the kids entertained when cruising appeared first on Cruising with the Family.

Mom & Dad are on TV?

True Story. Back in April 2018 Dan and I went as we always do the Love & Marriage game onboard the Granduer of the Seas. If you can go see this show on whatever line you are on do yourself a favor and GO. RUN.

More on how to participate in these games to come.

Low and behold though all those events they do from the belly flop to the game shows are shown in all staterooms on a loop and our kids were super confused when they saw us on the TV in the room!

TV offerings on 3 cruise line

Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL): We cruised them back in December of 2016 on the Escape. We didn’t seem to use the television that often as we had a balcony. The girls would sit outside while we got ourselves ready.

Most would agree that NCL does not have very good station offerings. There are standard cable networks and movie rental channels. As with most lines they do offer movies in their theatres.

Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL): Just recently updated their offerings and thank goodness for that because I was getting sick of the same cartoons for kids that they had already seen. This time there were newer old shows like Family Ties, 7th Heaven, Nickelodeon shows and more. Plus the news channels were MSNBC and Fox News so pleasing to all. One negative on the older ships there are no movie rentals available in cabins.

Carnival Cruise Line (CCL): Just updated their offerings about 3 weeks ago! All guests now in North America will have newer top-rated network channels such as HGTV, Food Network, Travel Channel and Discovery. Nickelodeon programming and a kids central (usually a mix of various cartoons) are there to entertain the younger kids! The news source will be a CBS National News channel that will provide original reporting, interviews and breaking news 24 hours a day. 

All lines still offer movie channels* and their original content programming such as shopping channels, excursion channels and their own channel for location & speed, highlights from the day and your schedule. 

*please note that some of the older ships may not have the same offerings as newer ships.

Thanks for tuning in!

The post Let’s talk TV options when cruising because hello we are cruising with kids! appeared first on Cruising with the Family.