Love Group Cruising

I absolutely love family group cruise vacations! I recently returned from a family group Caribbean cruise vacation and from start to finish everyone had a very good time. There was enough time together as a family and enough get away from the family time to make it a fantastic cruise. These are significantly better than the old school family reunions!

Now, at the start both a land reunion and a sea reunion are very similar. Someone takes the lead and tries to get as many of the family to agree on a week far enough in the future so that everyone can plan school and work vacations. This can put one's patience to the test however, once a date has been agreed upon, the land nd the sea reunion take vastly different paths.

By land your next challenge is to come up with the sleeping accommodations. Are there enough family members local to host family members traveling from afar? Which families should stay with each other? Do the kids get kicked to sleeping bags on the floor and visiting adults get the kid beds? Will you need a shower schedule to get through the morning? Certainly the family members who offer to host others in their home will need a vacation to recover from their own family visitors.

By land, now that the accommodation arrangements have been made, how on earth are you going to feed everyone and make sure all the dietary needs and varied tastes are covered? Who eats meat and who doesn't. Who is carb-free and who is sugar-free. The dietary restrictions are enough to make your head spin and you still haven't fought the battle for who will be the cook(s)!

Then you can worry about the beverages. What kinds of beverages does every body prefer and will they all BYOB? Really? There is always one or two who "forget" and consume the beverages others brought to the event. You know that a beverage that someone else has paid for always tastes better than the one you paid for.

So those are three huge hurdles to work through but you are not in the home stretch yet. Will you have enough fun things to do to keep a 5 year-old active? How about a 95 year-old? Some like country, some like rap, some like classic rock. Like for food the tastes are all over the charts. You like Bunco but do you think that everyone else will want to play yet alone have an idea what it is?

You, the poor sole who volunteered to organize the family get-together, will rarely receive acknowledgment of the work you have put in to get the shin-dig in action. You can bet that you will surely hear from the ones who offered no help but are quick to criticize and voice their petty gripes about sleeping arrangements or the food, or...etc. Do you really want or need that kind of aggravation? Oh heck no! You know, there is a much easier family reunion.

A family reunion by cruise ship can deliver all the above without all the stress and headache of dealing with your own family. Work with a group cruise travel planner and all of the headaches but choosing a date are resolved and you can take all the credit for pulling it off.

On a cruise reunion, each family gets their own comfortable accommodation which comes with a cabin steward to freshen the room a couple times per day. Fresh towels, evening turn-down service, and 24-hour room service are much better than staying at the relatives house. Another huge benefit is that no one has to cook or CLEAN DISHES and the variety of food options is nearly endless.

Most of the well known cruise lines have great youth programs so that the youngest family members can have a great time and free mom and dad to, well, do mom and dad things. With scores of activities, casinos, production shows, and music venues, no matter what the age group, there is truly something for everyone. Your family can do things together or do their own things and reconnect in the evenings over a fancy beverage.

So you, the designated family (or class, or neighborhood) reunion coordinator, which sounds the best for you? By land or by sea? When you work with a group cruise planner all the details are handled for you including chasing everyone down for fare payment. Once a date is set you can sit back and get the word out then take credit at the end when everyone lifts a glass to applaud you for doing a great job organizing your reunion. Contact your group cruise specialist today 877-805-3948.