Why Should We Try a Cruise?

Value

While most cruises are not all-inclusive, your cruise fare covers accommodations, food and entertainment. Cruise fare varies by cruise line but anywhere around $100 per person per day is a good deal. In addition to your cruise fare, gratuities and port taxes there are always extras. Many ships have an upscale restaurant that charges a premium to dine there. There are charges for excursions at the ports of call, spa treatments, many beverages and of course and shopping you do on or off the ship is extra.

To put it in perspective, one year we wanted to go out west for our vacation. The airfare alone was going to cost us more than a week long cruise! I still haven’t seen the Grand Canyon but that year I visited the eastern Caribbean instead.

Activities for All Ages

You will never be bored on a cruise…unless you want to be. Personally, I like to play games, attend classes and get involved in the activities around ship while my husband loves to sit by the pool and relax. Some Sea days on a cruise we will go our separate ways between meals and that is ok. We both enjoy vacation by doing what we love.

When we cruised as a family the boys were tweens. They enjoyed spending a lot of their time in the tween club hanging with kids their own age. They joined us for meals and some of the evening shows but at other times they were off with the new friends they had made-enjoying vacation their way.

Exotic Ports of Call

I have cruised both the eastern and western Caribbean and I have favorite ports of call and excursions on both. This year we will be visiting 2 ports for the first time San Juan, Puerto Rico and Grand Turk. I am excited to learn about and visit new locations.

Before you cruise with your kids teach them about the places they will be visiting. They will enjoy the ports of call more if they know some of the history or what the area is famous for.

If you have never considered going on a cruise, I hope you will. It is a great way to travel.

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“All of Carnival Cruise Lines’ ships operate safely today. Each vessel already has effective systems in place to prevent, detect and respond to emergency situations, and we meet or exceed all regulatory requirements,” said Gerry Cahill, president and CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines. “However, by applying lessons learned through our fleet-wide operational review after the Carnival Triumph fire and by taking advantage of new technologies, we have identified areas for enhancement across our operations. These initiatives reflect our commitment to safe and reliable operations and an enjoyable cruising experience for the nearly 4.5 million guests who sail with Carnival Cruise Lines each year.”

The initial increase in emergency generator power across Carnival Cruise Lines’ fleet of 24 ships will be completed over the next several months. An additional emergency generator will be installed on each vessel to provide for 100 percent of stateroom and public toilets, fresh water and elevators in the unlikely event of a loss of main power. The work is already underway and will not affect scheduled itineraries. Upon completion of the initial phase, the line will install a second permanent back-up power system on each ship to provide an even greater level of hotel and guest services if main power is lost. These additional services will include expanded cooking facilities and cold food storage, as well as internet and telephone communications.

What are your thoughts? Have you cruised Carnival before? Would you cruise them now or in the near future? I’d love to go, I’m thinking the October 26 sailing of the Carnival Liberty out of Miami sounds great at $409 per person for a 7 night Eastern Caribbean cruise. Hey, a girl can dream.

Disclosure: This post is for informational purposes only and is not sponsored by Carnival Cruise Lines. All opinions are 100% mine.

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This can be summed up in a photograph.

A Disney Cruise

As you know, we are HUGE Disney fans and we LOVE to cruise so we dream of taking a Disney cruise!

What vacation would you like to take this year? Leave me a comment and let me know.

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In 25 days my husband and I leave on our 20th anniversary cruise. I am so ready to relax and enjoy the beautiful blue waters of the Western Caribbean.

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This trip is different from any we’ve ever taken because the kids are going to be staying at different places while we are gone and this adds on more to the organizational end of the trip preparation. Saturday and Sunday the boys will be staying with Nana & PopPop. They will ferry them to all of their Sunday church activities. Monday morning when Nana takes the boys to homeschool bowling, Jordan will have all of his things with him because he is spending Monday-Thursday at his best friend’s house. Aaron will leave from bowling as he does every Monday and got to SCF for his dual enrollment classes. On Monday & Wednesday his best friend drives him to and from classes but Nana or PopPop will be playing taxi on Tuesday and Thursday. Aaron will be spending the entire week with Nana & PopPop. Add to this the fact that both boys have an Economics class at church on Tuesday and rehearsals at church on Wednesday night, it is getting busy. Oh, and I forgot to mention that Jordan takes the PSAT Wednesday morning too-I hope he remembers his #2 pencils! Thankfully the boys are each packing for themselves and each will have a key to the house in case they need anything.

Ok, now that the kids are taken care of I need to organize clothes for daytime, shore excursions and dressy evening clothes for my husband and I. We also need to pack all of the toiletries, make-up and medicine e may need. I have learned that it is best to pack in outfits so I have a list with each outfit, accesories, undergarments and shoes all listed so that nothing will be forgotten. Once this list is comlpete then I go over it to see where some things can be condensed. Do I really need 3 pr of Crocs, 1 pr black heels, 1 pr Teva and 1 pr brown flats? Umm, yes. Ok that was a bad example but you get the idea.

Packing for my husband is a whole ordeal in itself so he gets his own list. I create the list and then I have him approve/edit the list and then we work together to get his stuff packed.

Whew! All that work just to go and relax! Yes, but it is worth it. I know how expensive things are on a cruise so I don’t want to be caught mising an important part of an outfit and having to purchase something on board.

I am so excited to have this opportunity to get away with my husband and relax. I will try to post a few times from the ship but Internest access is expensive so I’ll do what I can.

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