Family Cruising with Royal Caribbean

With over 2 million people choosing to cruise in 2018, the industry is set to rocket further in popularity this year. My family and I love to cruise. We have just booked our 6th cruise so we must love it. We think it ticks all our list of wants on our precious family holiday and here is why.

Combination of pool time and adventure

Having time by the pool, relaxing with my favourite book or watching the kids in the splash pool is great fun but I wouldn’t do this every day. Now combine this with going off and exploring every other day is the perfect combination to us. It’s all a balance. I want to show my kids difference places and experiences as well as having that down time by the pool.

Food

We just simply want plenty to choose from and I think you have more choice on a ship than one main buffet restaurant and one a la carte restaurant in a standard resort hotel. Generally, you have several food choices from cafés, ice cream parlours, 24hr dining rooms to a handful of speciality dining places as well. My kids loved the getting fresh pizza during the late afternoon whereas my hubby and I liked Chops Grille, a speciality restaurant, for a juicy steak!

Activities

Will I be bored? No way! These cruise ships have plenty to entertain you from morning until night. Your ships daily newsletter will pop in your cabin the night before, so you can plan your day. More and more fantastic facilities from a zip line, ice skating rink, indoor sky diving to sports hall, bumper cars, a climbing wall, flow rider and crazy golf are being added all the time. Again, I’ve never seen a resort on land with so much going on for kids. Then there are kid’s clubs too, all age appropriate, from tots to teenagers offering themed areas to state of the art video making, gaming and sports clubs.

Entertainment

Royal Caribbean has won a Tony Award for Winning Cruise Ship Entertainment. You are quite simply spoilt for choice, but these can be ship dependant. Each night there is something new from comedians in one of the smaller bars, to a West End Style Show in the main theatre, a pianist in the main atrium, an ice-skating show or perhaps a set from a lovely jazz group. If you are a late-night owl, there’s a disco too. Royal Caribbean is the first to offer shows in their amazing aqua theatres, offering two 30-foot diving platforms that set the scene for mesmerizing dive spectaculars.

Adventure

In as little as a week, you could experience a handful of new destinations, allowing you to see different cultures and cuisines. You could even add on a stay in the port before and after your cruise to extend your holiday. I love showing my children new cities and countries and it’s a great trade off when it’s for one day or every other day. On our Northern Europe cruise, we visited Hamburg, home to the biggest miniature wonderland, Oslo, where we visited a Viking ship museum and Bruges. We had a tour of a chocolate making factory and meandered through the streets sampling waffles and took a boat ride through this pretty town.

Choose to cruise

Overall cruising to me is about quality, value for money and memory making. Resorts offer activities and experiences but there's no level of quality and attention quite like that on a cruise line. When you go on a cruise, you have so much more than unique shore excursions to look forward to, you find top-quality Broadway-style shows, comedy nights and musical performances. In addition to the onboard entertainment, there are also spas, art auctions, poolside activities, and plenty of opportunities to learn. As for the cuisine, a wide array of world-class, internationally inspired dining options. It just ticks all the boxes for us a family. If you’ve not tried it, give me a call and let’s go through some ideas.