I recently went on my first cruise with my daughter, a friend of mine, and my friend’s two kids. I have been wanting to go on a cruise for years. After my husband passed away I decided my little kiddo deserved a really awesome birthday present, and this cruise idea was hatched. No one in my immediate family has ever shown any interest in taking a cruise, I explained to my friend, and it might be tough to take this trip solo. “I’ll go on a cruise with you!” she said. That same day we started researching, and after a couple weeks of contemplation decided on the cruise we would take. It would have to be a short cruise – three or four days maximum. We wanted to take a Disney cruise for optimal kid activities. They offered a three day Bahamas cruise that seemed to hit the mark, allowing for enough time for fun, but not enough time that the kids would go insane and end up fighting the whole time. This was especially important for us when taking into account the information that my daughter and her son are both four years old and have a tendency to argue about everything.
In order to go to the Bahamas, we were required to either get passports, or bring along several forms of identification. So I got us passports, and I’m very excited about this because it means that now there’s one less barrier to traveling out of the country in the future!
I was unsure of how much I would like the cruise, another reason for choosing a shorter duration. I was pleased to find that neither my daughter nor I had any sea sickness. I loved the food and the food selection, and I loved that there was a self-service soft serve ice cream machine onboard. I loved the free entertainment and the constant stream of activities that are available – whether or not you choose to participate. In particular, each night there are two performances of a Broadway-quality, kid-friendly show. The two showings occur during dinner time, so you can always attend your assigned dinner time and the show during the other dinner time slot. Because my daughter tends to get a little cranky at that time of night, we only ended up going to one show, which was Beauty and the Beast. It was truly amazing. I was unsure how my four year old would react – if she’d be scared by the Beast, if she’d be bored…but she loved it! Granted, we ended up leaving right after Tale as Old as Time because she was about to pee her pants, but everything up until then was outstanding.
I may have to write more about the cruise in another post because there is absolutely so much to talk about, and I had meant for this to be more of a, “yay! I did it!” post.
By the end of the cruise, I could definitely see why some people go on dozens of cruises and absolutely love it, and I could also understand why some people never ever have any desire to cruise at all.
In a very general sense, the pros as I see them are that everything is truly taken care of. You don’t have to worry about cooking, cleaning, transportation, plans. There is a definite luxury in having everything you really need within walking distance.
Generally, the drawbacks as I see them are that you are in very close proximity with a whole lot of people and you can’t easily escape or isolate yourself. There is also the fact that any place where a cruise ship pulls up will naturally be much more touristy, so you’re not necessarily getting the authentic local flavor.
So naturally, after disembarking, I began looking at more cruises to see what types and destinations there are available. The ones that really caught my attention were three to four month long world cruises. Now that really does sound like a unique experience! Yes, they’re expensive, but I have to imagine they’re worth it! That’s your room, board, meals, and an actual vacation all rolled into one. I’m sure those ships are full of retirees, but imagine visiting dozens of countries while maintaining a constant home base onboard. The biggest opportunity I see is that you can get a taste of each country or region and decide which you’d like to visit again in the future, if any.
Therefore, without further ado, I’m officially adding “travel around the world” to my bucket list! I figure that by the time I actually go to do it, maybe I’ll have worked out a plan that includes multiple forms of transportation, so I’m leaving myself a little wiggle room there. In terms of cruising, I’d most definitely do it again!