What is Family Cruising and is it for me?

Catherine Mackey on 25 May 2019
Absolutely GONE are the days of a cruise being an ‘old’ person’s holiday. If you love a land-based resort holiday packed with loads of activities for the children, kids’ clubs and great entertainment, then you will love a family cruise.

Everything is included in your cruise fare, often even your ice creams, very much like an all-inclusive land-based holiday, but way better value for money, as not only are you able to access full on family fun on board, you will also be waking up in a new destination every day waiting to be explored!

For families wanting to experience a cruise for the first time, there are several cruise lines to consider, each with different on-board experiences and price brackets. My clients receive a full consultation with me about their holiday likes, dislikes, hopes and dreams before I match them with the right ship and itinerary for them.

With first-time cruisers, it’s super important to make sure you pick a combination of the both the perfect itinerary and perfect ship to ensure the best possible introduction to family cruising and keep you coming back time & time again. For most of my families, I’d be recommending either Royal Caribbean, MSC, Norwegian, Disney, Princess, or P&O.

A recent research study showed that Leisure Time, Convenience & Safety are the top three priorities for UK travelling families. Cruise can offer the convenience of not even needing to fly – just turn up at Southampton or your local cruise port and unpack once - how many other multi-centre holidays can you say that about? And there are lots of all-inclusive cruise options giving families the ultimate convenience. And with both the on-land excursions and the ever-evolving onboard leisure facilities you will be hard pushed to find a hotel anywhere in the world that can match a modern cruise line for family facilities. Also, with the rise of cruise line technology some ships even offer a wearable bracelet so you can monitor your little ones in real-time and know where they are at any moment.

There are no shortage of activities available to families on board the best family ships, including full size water parks, virtual reality experiences, interactive race-car simulators, flight simulators, laser tag arenas, climbing walls, surf simulators, ice rinks, go-cart tracks, escape rooms, football pitches, crazy golf, kids clubs from toddlers to teens, babysitting services, and almost all of this is included in your cruise fare with nothing extra to pay once on board.

Watch this space for next year's launch of the first ever rollercoaster at sea!

And don’t worry, Wi-Fi is available at sea on all cruise ships!

You can read more about the cruise I did with my family last year at https://www.travelcounsellors.co.uk/catherine.mackey/Profile-Blog/OurFamilyCruisefromLiverpool

And you can see my children’s kids eye view of cruising in their ship tour video here: https://www.facebook.com/CatherineMackeyTC/videos/2191259741161238/

To find out more and book your first, or next, family cruise with an accredited CLIA Cruise Master, please get in touch on 0161 826 4970 or catherine.mackey@travelcounsellors.com