1. Use a Travel Agent with Group Cruising Experience

I am not just saying this because I am a travel agent. When we went on our first group cruise, I was not a travel agent. I used a travel agent with group experience and she made all the difference in the world. A travel agent’s service are FREE the destination/cruise line pays them for booking and servicing their clients. Travel Agents are trained to help get you the best deals and make sure all your needs are met. Most cruise lines will assign you one of their in-house travel agents for group travel anyway because it is too much for a lay person to handle. In my experience, you are better off choosing your own travel agent over the in-house ones. In-house travel agents care more about the bottom line and upselling you every chance they get. Personal travel agents want to make their guests happy and meet their every need.

2. Appoint a Group Leader

Choose 1 person from the group, someone who is organized and capable to be the group leader. They are the one in touch with the travel agent and doing the extra work of regularly communicating with the group. As a bonus, on most cruise lines if you book 16 berths (beds) and/or 8 staterooms you earn 1 free berth. So, the group leader could cruise for free if the group meets the cruise line’s requirements. bonus!

3. Start a Private Facebook Group

A private Facebook group is the easiest way for group members to communicate about the trip. Questions can be asked and answered, information can be shared, plans can be made and everything is in one central location. We also use this group to share photos after the cruise.

4. Set some Ground Rules

Our multigenerational cruise groups have 3 basic rules:
a) We eat dinner in the main dining room together each night. The exceptions for this are if you arrive back late from a shore excursion and don’t have time to dress for dinner, or if you are dining in the steakhouse with your spouse for a special evening.
b) At least one person in each stateroom with an iPhone gets the social media internet plan. This way we can communicate via iMessage. We send out messages like “Ron and I are going to play Sorry on deck 5 at 11am anyone want to join us?” or “We are eating lunch by the pizzaria we have room at our table if anyone wants to join us.”
c) We set aside time before dinner on one night to have a group photo taken. Unfortunately, on our last cruise 1 couple didn’t show up so they aren’t in our photo

Those are our “rules” This is a vacation, it’s YOUR vacation, you don’t want a bunch of rules to follow. Have fun, go your own way, meet up for dinner and share with everyone else about your adventures. Spend as much or as little time with the rest of the group as you would like.

5. Plan for the oldest and youngest in Your Multigenerational Cruise Group

Cruising with extended family is awesome. My kids loved to cruise when they were young, I couldn’t get them out of the kids camp to spend time with us! Make sure the kids get to plan some of the activities. Also, make sure parents with young kids get a break, and plan this in advance. Maybe mom and dad would love to go zip lining in St Thomas but 5yr old Tommy is too young. This is a great opportunity for grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends to step up and bless this couple by offering to either stay on board with Tommy or take him on an age appropriate shore excursion. Either way you are making memories.

Cruising with senior citizens who may also need some extra assistance is still fun, if it is planned. Maybe Grandpa uses a scooter and get tender off the ship in Grand Cayman but Grandma really wants to go to Sting Ray City with the teenage grandkids. Plan for someone to stay on the ship and do activities with Grandpa so he doesn’t feel left out.

I love going on multigenerational cruises with our friends and family. Yes, it takes a little more work, but the fun and memories are worth it. I always remember to bring the items on my Top 10 Must Pack Cruise Essentials List. If you are ready to plan your cruise Email Me I work with Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Disney Cruise Lines and I am excited to help you.

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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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•  Reserved dolphin experience
• Unlimited access to signature experiences including:  The Grand Reef, free-flight Explorer’s Aviary, Serenity Bay, Wind-Away River and coming soon Freshwater Oasis
• Freshly prepared breakfast and lunch plus snacks throughout the day
• Beverages all day long, including sodas, water and alcoholic drinks
• All swim gear (mask, snorkel, and swim vest or wetsuit), towels, locker, sunscreen and other first-class amenities
• All day self-parking at Discovery Cove
• A complimentary photo portrait of guest and their party upon entry to park
• A pass for 14 consecutive days of unlimited admission to SeaWorld and Aquatica in Orlando before, during or after Discovery Cove visit.

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Take your family on a great vacation and celebrate 50 years of fun at Silvery Dollar City with Hilton’s Silver Dollar City Package. This year Silver Dollar City unveils their new attraction, River Blast Adventures, a river raft/super soaker water adventure for the entire family! This is my kind of attraction-you can ride the ride and shoot onlookers with water guns at the same time!

A Branson vacation is a great family trip because you can spend 2 days at Silver Dollar City and then explore the wonderful nightlife of Branson in the evenings. I’d love to see the Andy Williams show and the Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede Dinner Attraction while in town.

The exclusive two-night, three-day Hilton package starts at $455.00 plus tax for a family of 4 (2 adults and 2 children ages 4-11). The package includes deluxe accommodations for two nights at the Hilton Promenade at Branson Landing or Hilton Branson Convention Center Hotel, as well as two adult tickets and two children’s tickets (ages 4 to 11) for two full days of fun at Silvery Dollar City. It even includes a $25 food and beverage voucher for Level 2 Steakhouse located on the second floor of the Hilton Branson Convention Center Hotel. To book this special package go to the “Hotel Specials” button on the Hilton Promenade at Branson Landing or Hilton Branson Convention Center Hotel websites.

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I did have some time while on vacation to digest the great information I learned at IZEAFest and I am putting a plan in place to make some changes around this blog. I’m working on a new logo and trying to find the right (affordable) blog template to upgrade the look and feel of this blog. I’m also trying to finish up some reviews and giveaways that I have in the queue and in the future I’m going to be making sure that I only review and giveaway products and services that truly fit in with my blog’s vision.

I have a lot to share with you including SeaWorld Orlando, Epcot Food & Wine Festival and The Party for the Senses, our cruise-as well as reviews, giveaways and of course-parenting tips and information. I hope to get started on these tonight but I wanted to pop in and tell you what’s up here.

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BabySafeTravel.com has great information for traveling with infants, toddlers and with mutiples. There is a store full of safety products and blogs with first-hand information on traveling with young children. Check out BabySafeTravel for all of your baby travel needs.

This post is sponsored by BabySafeTravel.com

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Oh, did I mention that this is a FREE service? Here are 2 of the results that it brought back for my search. Hmmm, Toronto would be a nice change from this Florida heat. Checkout FatPassport for all of your family vacation ideas

This post is sponsored by family vacation ideas

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