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I don't know if this is where I should be posting this, but since many of you have traveled the world over I would greatly appreciate your insight and recommendations. Our children are 11, 8, 6 and we have always dreamed of giving them a good glimpse of the world before the oldest graduates from High School. Here is what we have planned, please give any suggestions you have.

 

2018 Disney Caribbean Cruise

2019 Disney Alaska Cruise

2020 Disney Mediterranean Cruise

2021 Disney Northern Europe Cruise

2022 African Safari

2022 Australia and New Zealand Oceania Cruise

2023 Japan, China, Singapore Crystal Cruise

2023 South America (30 day) Oceania Cruise

2024 Europe land and river cruise (60 days)

2025 Full World Oceania or Crystal world cruise (depending on the itinerary at the time)

 

Is there a part of the world that you love that is not covered here? Would you do these destinations in this order?

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If you want your children to have truly valuable, local, real experiences you should take them on land trips, not Disney cruises.

 

 

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I have seen Europe by land and by cruise and I agree with you. The reason I chose cruising is that we wouldn't have to change hotel rooms. Thank you so much for your feedback I'll look into come cruise land combos.

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This is wonderful and the cruises would work.

 

It does not have to be by land.

 

The middle east would be great to see as well because it is a reminder about how diverse and different the world is and hopefully that would be covered by the world cruise that you have listed.

 

We have sailed eight World Cruises (seven full so have seen much of the world by cruise ship.

 

When you are in various places try to show the children not only the tourist areas but from time to time if you can get into neighborhoods and even local churches, restaurants, schools etc (maybe on a private tour) that would be nice. Even having someone arrange a visit with a family I think that will be good for the children's education and something we did for our children.

 

I applaud you for this planning.

 

Keith

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This is wonderful and the cruises would work.

 

It does not have to be by land.

 

The middle east would be great to see as well because it is a reminder about how diverse and different the world is and hopefully that would be covered by the world cruise that you have listed.

 

We have sailed eight World Cruises (seven full so have seen much of the world by cruise ship.

 

When you are in various places try to show the children not only the tourist areas but from time to time if you can get into neighborhoods and even local churches, restaurants, schools etc (maybe on a private tour) that would be nice. Even having someone arrange a visit with a family I think that will be good for the children's education and something we did for our children.

 

I applaud you for this planning.

 

Keith

 

Keith,

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to give your insight. You are definitely well traveled.

 

I love your ideas, especial the one about going to church. It would be incredible to sit and talk with the people and then go to dinner at a church member's house.

clear.png?emoji-wink-1685

 

I agree the middle east would be incredible and should be part of the world cruise. I really want to see Jerusalem and the Red Sea in Eygpt along with pyramids.

 

Do you think teens would prefer a world cruise on Crystal or Oceania? I like that both lines won't have many teens onboard because we will want to spend times as a family. Maybe I should rephrase that;) and say I want my then teens to spend time with the family without other distractions. Does Crystal offer unlimited free laundry service and free unlimited internet? How much should I budget for excursions around the world? I know excursions in the Caribbean are relatively cheap compared to Europe, the Middle East, etc. I've looked at Crystal and Oceania and it looks like I would need to budget around $200 a day per person for excursions and extras. Do you agree with this amount? How much do you usually budget per day per person for a world cruise?The reason I ask is that we are already starting to save for this trip.

 

Thank you!!

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This is wonderful and the cruises would work.

 

It does not have to be by land.

 

The middle east would be great to see as well because it is a reminder about how diverse and different the world is and hopefully that would be covered by the world cruise that you have listed.

 

We have sailed eight World Cruises (seven full so have seen much of the world by cruise ship.

 

When you are in various places try to show the children not only the tourist areas but from time to time if you can get into neighborhoods and even local churches, restaurants, schools etc (maybe on a private tour) that would be nice. Even having someone arrange a visit with a family I think that will be good for the children's education and something we did for our children.

 

I applaud you for this planning.

 

Keith

 

Have you ever taken a Crystal River Cruise?

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CruiseCriticMamaB....

 

I can't comment on Oceania but I can on Crystal Cruises as all of our World Cruises have been with Crystal Cruises.

 

What I can say is that on several of the World Cruises we have had one or two teenagers taking the full World Cruise. My wife and I knew the Parents very well and because of that we spoke with each of the teenagers who enjoyed the cruise and I feel they grew quite a bit from it. The teens did spend a lot of time with the family while also participating in some of the programs.

 

One of them took a college computer course that was offered and one of them took a memoir writing course.

 

Crystal does offer unlimited internet service and there will be other items that are included that might not be on many other lines. Laundry is not included. However there are complimentary self service laundry rooms.

 

For tours we do not do a tour in each port. Because of the length of the cruise putting money aside doing a tour in each port to me would be too much formal touring. In some ports we can tour on our own without a formal tour. I some ports we will do a private tour and in others a ships tour. Sometime just a HOHO bus will be very educational. I think the budget is a good idea.

 

Maybe budget based on doing a tour in every other port and you can always adjust that a bit.

 

Keith

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Have you ever taken a Crystal River Cruise?

 

We have not yet taken one although we had planned to take one or two last year. We will be taking them in the future.

 

Several people we know from sailing on the Crystal Ocean Vessels have and each person loved the experience.

 

Keith

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CruiseCriticMamaB....

 

I can't comment on Oceania but I can on Crystal Cruises as all of our World Cruises have been with Crystal Cruises.

 

What I can say is that on several of the World Cruises we have had one or two teenagers taking the full World Cruise. My wife and I knew the Parents very well and because of that we spoke with each of the teenagers who enjoyed the cruise and I feel they grew quite a bit from it. The teens did spend a lot of time with the family while also participating in some of the programs.

 

One of them took a college computer course that was offered and one of them took a memoir writing course.

 

Crystal does offer unlimited internet service and there will be other items that are included that might not be on many other lines. Laundry is not included. However there are complimentary self service laundry rooms.

 

For tours we do not do a tour in each port. Because of the length of the cruise putting money aside doing a tour in each port to me would be too much formal touring. In some ports we can tour on our own without a formal tour. I some ports we will do a private tour and in others a ships tour. Sometime just a HOHO bus will be very educational. I think the budget is a good idea.

 

Maybe budget based on doing a tour in every other port and you can always adjust that a bit.

 

Keith

 

Thank you so much for your feedback. Do you usually plan what you will do in each port before the cruise starts or is that something fun to do on sea days?

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CruiseCriticMamaB....

 

I can't comment on Oceania but I can on Crystal Cruises as all of our World Cruises have been with Crystal Cruises.

 

What I can say is that on several of the World Cruises we have had one or two teenagers taking the full World Cruise. My wife and I knew the Parents very well and because of that we spoke with each of the teenagers who enjoyed the cruise and I feel they grew quite a bit from it. The teens did spend a lot of time with the family while also participating in some of the programs.

 

One of them took a college computer course that was offered and one of them took a memoir writing course.

 

Crystal does offer unlimited internet service and there will be other items that are included that might not be on many other lines. Laundry is not included. However there are complimentary self service laundry rooms.

 

For tours we do not do a tour in each port. Because of the length of the cruise putting money aside doing a tour in each port to me would be too much formal touring. In some ports we can tour on our own without a formal tour. I some ports we will do a private tour and in others a ships tour. Sometime just a HOHO bus will be very educational. I think the budget is a good idea.

 

Maybe budget based on doing a tour in every other port and you can always adjust that a bit.

 

Keith

 

Do you know where I can find out more about Crystal's University at Sea? Is there a way I can search Crystal's class offering? This would be a HUGE plus since I will be homeschooling the kids while we are on our big voyage.

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Thank you so much for your feedback. Do you usually plan what you will do in each port before the cruise starts or is that something fun to do on sea days?

 

We do plan this before the cruise starts so that we have most things lines up ahead of time.

 

Keith

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Do you know where I can find out more about Crystal's University at Sea? Is there a way I can search Crystal's class offering? This would be a HUGE plus since I will be homeschooling the kids while we are on our big voyage.

 

The course that they typically offer does provide college credit. It's been offered most years since 2007 but can't guarantee it will be offered when you are ready.

 

If it is offered then it will be listed on the Crystal Cruises website under the enrichment/entertainment section for that sailing.

 

This is the write-up from this years world cruise for that particular course:

 

Keith

An updated series of "Everything Apple" courses developed and taught by Professor Stan Leja is again being offered on iPads, iPhones, iTunes, iWork, iLife, and iCloud. This Apple training provides several different, Continuing Education Unit, CEU, granting courses, from Del Mar College designed to improve your ability to understand and use your Apple devices. Each course will contain different in depth lectures and experimentation with various applications on iPads, iPhones, and Apple computers. Photography, music, navigation, communications, business applications, videos, social media, and web surfing with Apple devices will all be covered during different portions of World Cruise 2018. A fee will be charged to attend these courses.

To fully participate in this coursework, you need to come onboard with the following: One (1) iPad Air or later iPad; or iPhone 6 or later iPhone, with the latest iOS 11 installed and cellular data (GPS) capability. Having international cellular data activated prior to joining the world cruise is also suggested. The latest versions of the following applications must be downloaded and installed on your iPad prior to joining this voyage: Pages, Keynote, Numbers, iMovie, Dropbox, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Adobe Photoshop Express, Kindle, MotionX GPS HD, Connect Drive by SanDisk, Speedtest by Ookla, and Find My iPhone.

If you have an Apple notebook computer, please bring it with you. On your notebook computer, please make sure it has the latest version of the macOS Sierra or later operating system and the latest version of the notebook applications: Pages, Keynote, Numbers, Photos, iMovie, Dropbox, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Adobe Photoshop Elements 15 or later, and Kindle. If you do not have an Apple notebook computer, you can use the desktops in the CU@Sea classroom, which will all have the updated required software.

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The course that they typically offer does provide college credit. It's been offered most years since 2007 but can't guarantee it will be offered when you are ready.

 

If it is offered then it will be listed on the Crystal Cruises website under the enrichment/entertainment section for that sailing.

 

This is the write-up from this years world cruise for that particular course:

 

Keith

An updated series of "Everything Apple" courses developed and taught by Professor Stan Leja is again being offered on iPads, iPhones, iTunes, iWork, iLife, and iCloud. This Apple training provides several different, Continuing Education Unit, CEU, granting courses, from Del Mar College designed to improve your ability to understand and use your Apple devices. Each course will contain different in depth lectures and experimentation with various applications on iPads, iPhones, and Apple computers. Photography, music, navigation, communications, business applications, videos, social media, and web surfing with Apple devices will all be covered during different portions of World Cruise 2018. A fee will be charged to attend these courses.

To fully participate in this coursework, you need to come onboard with the following: One (1) iPad Air or later iPad; or iPhone 6 or later iPhone, with the latest iOS 11 installed and cellular data (GPS) capability. Having international cellular data activated prior to joining the world cruise is also suggested. The latest versions of the following applications must be downloaded and installed on your iPad prior to joining this voyage: Pages, Keynote, Numbers, iMovie, Dropbox, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Adobe Photoshop Express, Kindle, MotionX GPS HD, Connect Drive by SanDisk, Speedtest by Ookla, and Find My iPhone.

If you have an Apple notebook computer, please bring it with you. On your notebook computer, please make sure it has the latest version of the macOS Sierra or later operating system and the latest version of the notebook applications: Pages, Keynote, Numbers, Photos, iMovie, Dropbox, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Adobe Photoshop Elements 15 or later, and Kindle. If you do not have an Apple notebook computer, you can use the desktops in the CU@Sea classroom, which will all have the updated required software.

 

Thank you so much for all of your help.

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CruiseCriticMamaB....

 

Crystal does offer unlimited internet service and there will be other items that are included that might not be on many other lines.

 

Keith, is this new? On the 2016 WC, we were limited to 1 hour per person per day. It was cumulative, so the limitation was not a problem, but it was a limitation.

 

Also, CruiseCriticMama, if you are considering using the internet to work while on the cruise, be aware that the service is spotty, and at times non-existent, so you should not count on the ship's wifi being available when you need it.

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Keith, is this new? On the 2016 WC, we were limited to 1 hour per person per day. It was cumulative, so the limitation was not a problem, but it was a limitation.

 

Also, CruiseCriticMama, if you are considering using the internet to work while on the cruise, be aware that the service is spotty, and at times non-existent, so you should not count on the ship's wifi being available when you need it.

 

They actually have been doing this since 2007 but for two years it was not offered and one was 2016 and the other one was 2015.

 

 

Keith

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Keith, is this new? On the 2016 WC, we were limited to 1 hour per person per day. It was cumulative, so the limitation was not a problem, but it was a limitation.

 

Also, CruiseCriticMama, if you are considering using the internet to work while on the cruise, be aware that the service is spotty, and at times non-existent, so you should not count on the ship's wifi being available when you need it.

 

Yes, I will need to stay in contact with the office, thank you for letting me know it is spotty. It may be easier for me to call the office a couple times a week.

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They actually have been doing this since 2007 but for two years it was not offered and one was 2016 and the other one was 2015.

 

 

Keith

 

Do you know if the internet reliability is getting better? I assume if it is constantly getting better that by the time I go there will be no problem staying in contact with the office.

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On the 2017 RTW we had two small kids traveling with their parents for the entire 180 days. It was lovely to see them spending time as a family instead of being placed in a kids program. Several of the passengers befriended them as aunties and uncles.

 

Another passenger brought her teenage grand daughter along. The experience of seeing new places and interacting with adults on a regular basis helped to transform her from a teenager into a more mature young lady. Very positive change I thought. And the education she got by visiting places around the world ... well, that was priceless.

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Keith, is this new? On the 2016 WC, we were limited to 1 hour per person per day. It was cumulative, so the limitation was not a problem, but it was a limitation.

 

Also, CruiseCriticMama, if you are considering using the internet to work while on the cruise, be aware that the service is spotty, and at times non-existent, so you should not count on the ship's wifi being available when you need it.

 

Oops, I think I answered the wrong questions.

 

Unlimited internet rolled out on both Crystal Ocean Vessels last October so yes on the 2016 World Cruise it was one hour per day and cumulative but as of October of 2017 it is unlimited.

 

Keith

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Do you know if the internet reliability is getting better? I assume if it is constantly getting better that by the time I go there will be no problem staying in contact with the office.

 

Overall the internet is better then it was a few years ago.

 

There are still moments though when it can be slow. Other times it is fine.

 

You can stay in contact with office but there could be an outage from time to time based on technical issues and/or where you are sailing but overall you should be able to stay in contact with the office.

 

We have friends who sail World Cruises who own businesses or work in business and they area able to stay in contact with the office.

 

Keith

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  • 11 months later...
On ‎3‎/‎3‎/‎2018 at 11:47 PM, CruiseCriticMamaBear said:

I don't know if this is where I should be posting this, but since many of you have traveled the world over I would greatly appreciate your insight and recommendations. Our children are 11, 8, 6 and we have always dreamed of giving them a good glimpse of the world before the oldest graduates from High School. Here is what we have planned, please give any suggestions you have.

 

2018 Disney Caribbean Cruise

2019 Disney Alaska Cruise

2020 Disney Mediterranean Cruise

2021 Disney Northern Europe Cruise

2022 African Safari

2022 Australia and New Zealand Oceania Cruise

2023 Japan, China, Singapore Crystal Cruise

2023 South America (30 day) Oceania Cruise

2024 Europe land and river cruise (60 days)

2025 Full World Oceania or Crystal world cruise (depending on the itinerary at the time)

 

Is there a part of the world that you love that is not covered here? Would you do these destinations in this order?

I've put four through home school into college and we are on #last and he is 15.  I have a couple of suggestions:

 

If you truly want to introduce them to cruising, do it now while they are younger and you can get them involved with the kids' programs on ship.  We didn't take our kids on our cruises except for the youngest who did one at 12 and just returned from one at 15.  He was nearly the only kid his age on the first and was the only teenager on the ship for the second.  He wasn't exactly miserable but it could have been much better experience for him if there had at least been a few people his age on board.  

 

Be prepared for them to want/need to be able to stay connected … wifi on ship or on shore.  Some of that can be mitigated if you have a good phone plan.  Verizon (our carrier) has an international plan that is just $10/day/phone to access your normal at home plan … but they severely choke the data speed after about 5 GBs so apps may be useless.  So when budgeting you really need to keep this in mind.  Once they are older and more social you aren't going to get a good result if you ask them to go cold turkey on a longer cruise.

 

We've used a computer-based curriculum (not online) for years so if you do the longer cruises but are concerned about still completing those basic core curriculum subjects and/or benchmarks for a school district portfolio you could still do a minimum of school work that way for the longer cruises if they happen to fall during the traditional school year.

 

If you are looking to use the cruises in your portfolio there are a ton of ways to accomplish this and I'm sure you've thought of more than a few already.  Lots of opportunities for mini unit studies and/or electives and/or culminating activities for a full curriculum using the shore excursion and ship board activities.  

 

I know I am pretty late on this thread but I'd be interested in hearing your experience with the cruises you've already taken.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 3/4/2018 at 5:18 PM, CruiseCriticMamaBear said:

 

Keith,

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to give your insight. You are definitely well traveled.

 

I love your ideas, especial the one about going to church. It would be incredible to sit and talk with the people and then go to dinner at a church member's house.

clear.png?emoji-wink-1685

 

I agree the middle east would be incredible and should be part of the world cruise. I really want to see Jerusalem and the Red Sea in Eygpt along with pyramids.

 

Do you think teens would prefer a world cruise on Crystal or Oceania? I like that both lines won't have many teens onboard because we will want to spend times as a family. Maybe I should rephrase that;) and say I want my then teens to spend time with the family without other distractions. Does Crystal offer unlimited free laundry service and free unlimited internet? How much should I budget for excursions around the world? I know excursions in the Caribbean are relatively cheap compared to Europe, the Middle East, etc. I've looked at Crystal and Oceania and it looks like I would need to budget around $200 a day per person for excursions and extras. Do you agree with this amount? How much do you usually budget per day per person for a world cruise?The reason I ask is that we are already starting to save for this trip.

 

Thank you!!

 

Jerusalem in particular, but a lot of Europe and the middle east, are just not optimized for cruise travel. The closest you could get would be Haifa (or maybe Ashkelon?) and you're talking about a 2-3 hour drive to get to Jerusalem, and then a very limited view of the city. You'll have really similar problems in some places in Europe, and with the Pyramids. 

 

Maybe consider some land trips to your major destinations, where you can stay in one place for a while and do day trips out into the hinterlands. We're serial expats and have been since our kids were small, and there is a big, big difference between seeing a place as a port of call, and having the opportunity to live somewhere, where you grocery shop, meet people, and explore. I'm not saying one is better or worse than the other, they're just different. But if you're really looking to raise well-rounded globalist children, giving them both experiences is key. 

 

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Oceania would probably be dead boring for kids.  There are almost none onboard, at least from what I hear (I've only done one cruise with them, but most luxury lines have very few.)  And the full Oceania ATW cruise is 6 months long.

 

Even if you want to spend quality time with your children, they do need to play with their peers sometimes.

 

I would think that taking them to these places on land trips, and perhaps staying in one place for a while to soak up the ambience, play soccer with the local kids, hang around the playground, you know, mingle.  Unless you're on a ship geared for kids, there's going to be little of that.

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On 3/16/2019 at 10:25 AM, Wendy The Wanderer said:

Oceania would probably be dead boring for kids.  There are almost none onboard, at least from what I hear (I've only done one cruise with them, but most luxury lines have very few.)  And the full Oceania ATW cruise is 6 months long.

 

There are 3 children on our Oceania world cruise right now and they're going for the entire 6 months. They're all in the same family...ages 13, 10 and 6. They're having a ball, are participating in many activities and are well behaved. Their mom is home schooling them while onboard but normally they go to a school. We see them out and about each day. I heard that the whole family is taking quite a few overland excursions. It's been nice to have this family onboard and watch the children being involved with ship life such as skits, talent contest, making crafts, enrichment lectures, and art projects. 

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