Discovering The Joy Of Cruising

Aren’t Sure You’ll Like Cruising?

For us the year was 1999 when we booked our first cruise. Every year for a number of years we always took a family driving vacation. Me, my wife and two boys out exploring Yosemite or the Grand Canyon or the Blue Ridge Mountains and there was always someone upset; “I’m too tired to hike”, “I’m hungry”, “when are we gonna be there?” and always my famous rant “Don’t make me stop this car!”.

In 1999 we flew to Seattle and spent several days seeing the city before taking a bus to Vancouver. A few more days there before boarding a Royal Caribbean cruise for seven days cruising Alaska.

On board we settled into our stateroom and that’s when it hit us – we didn’t have to pack and unpack as we visited five different ports in Alaska. Within 24 hours I thought I had gone to heaven.

The youngest son joined the kids program and that kept him busy for the entire cruise. He was having such a good time he had us pay extra for the evening kids programs. There were a couple of family sessions where we played games (I actually won a pair of Royal Caribbean boxer shorts).

The teenager right away took to the Teen Club and became friends with several other teens that he has stayed in touch with for years. In a couple of ports he went off on his own fly fishing and he and I went sport fishing on the day in Ketchikan . One of the salmon he caught was sent back to the ship and was presented at our dinner and shared with the table.

Mom and dad found plenty of time alone together and while my wife had an issue with motion sickness, and came well prepared, it turned out she did just fine – no seasickness. Every evening we sat down for a family dinner and there were no worries about finding something that appealed to the kids or who ordered what or how much the check was going to be.. And in port we all went ashore as a family.

Over the next several years, taking a vacation usually meant cruising and after the kids left home we started cruising even more. We met a lot of new friends our age and over a decade or two we’ve stayed in touch with a lot of them. With two couples we met on a cruise we now travel together at least every year or two. Oh, and we have now taken 75 cruises and still planning more.

Today, we’re convinced that the people who don’t like cruising are mostly people who have never cruised. If you like travel and have never been on a cruise, you’re really missing out. Still not sure cruising is for you? Do you and your family a favor and just try a taste – there are plenty of 3 and 4 day cruises leaving from a number of ports and we’ll guarantee you that it won’t cost much more than a family weekend get-away on land…