Help me convince my parents to join us!

[Visigoth]

I'm really pleased that this worked out for you. My wife and I have often wished that we had been able to introduce our parents to cruising. Both fathers were navy men that served during WWII and I know they would have enjoyed it a great deal.

[AmyJA]

(y)

Just wanted to post a quick update. I went down to visit my parents for Labor Day weekend and helped them do their online check-in and printed out their eDocs and luggage tags. I think they are both really looking forward to the cruise now.

 

My mom told me that everyone is shocked that my Dad agreed to go along with it. She ran into a friend and mentioned she was going on a cruise. The friend said "I can't believe Jim is letting you go on a cruise!" My mom said, "no no, he's going to." And apparently the friend screamed "WHAT?!?!?!" so loud it got the attention of everyone else in the post office!

 

So it occurred to me how and why my dad actually agreed to this after having talked to my aunts who came to visit a few weeks ago and my parents again over Labor Day. I have four siblings. Over the years, *I* have been incredibly fortunate, but my siblings have all had various tragedies and financial hardships to deal with. My oldest brother's wife passed away at the age of 41, my other brother has had to be bailed out of jail more than once, my older sister lost her daughter, and my youngest sister has four young children and went through a divorce that has left her very tight on money. My parents have been there to support all of my siblings and helped out financially many times. I think that when my partner told my dad that I really really wanted them to go on this cruise, it transformed from him thinking about it being money spent on himself to money spent on *me* and somehow that is easier for him to process as a parent.

 

(y) Like button...

[kopiko]

Awesome!

[vacation44]

Jamie, I enjoy reading all of your posts and hope you have a fantastic cruise with your parents. Looking forward to reading about it.

[JamieLogical]

Jamie, I enjoy reading all of your posts and hope you have a fantastic cruise with your parents. Looking forward to reading about it.

 

Only 11 days to go! Talked to my mom a few days ago and she had bought a new bag for her carry-on, new sandals, and new swim trunks for my dad. I think they are getting really excited. My older sister and her husband just came back from their first cruise a little over a week ago. They were on the Getaway to the Western Caribbean out of Miami. They had an AMAZING time and couldn't stop telling my parents all about it. So now that they have two kids hooked on cruising (plus my brother is going on his first cruise this weekend!), I think they are really interested in seeing what all the fuss is about.

 

There is now even talk of scheduling a huge family cruise a year and a half to two years out from now with myself and my partner, my parents, my older sister and her husband, my brother and his girlfriend, my younger sister and her boyfriend, and all three of my mom's sisters. How fun would that be?!?!

[Sweetnspicy]

Good luck! I have been trying to get my in laws to cruise for years. We invited them on our next cruise to Mexico in January, but they flat out refused. We even offered to pay for it! I think they would love it because they are anxious travelers. Airports and hotels stress them out, constantly making plans stresses them out and they love to just sit and relax and not worry about plans.

 

My MIL has an inner ear issue a few years ago but it seems to be resolved now. I would love for them to try it just once. We are thinking about renewing our vows in 2020 and doing it on a ship. I think that *might* get them on board but I’m very doubtful. My SIL went on her first cruise last year and hated every minute of it. It was a RCL cruise from Galveston and it was during spring break so the ship was filled with kids. None of us have children so she was pretty out of her element. She also hated the food [emoji849] and said that she was bored by the 3rd day. I think for some people it’s just not the right fit. I hope it works out with your parents but don’t push too much. I don’t agree with taking them on a short cruise at all. Those are booze cruises and unless they are into that I think it would give them the wrong impression.

 

 

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[kathy884]

Only 11 days to go! Talked to my mom a few days ago and she had bought a new bag for her carry-on, new sandals, and new swim trunks for my dad. I think they are getting really excited. My older sister and her husband just came back from their first cruise a little over a week ago. They were on the Getaway to the Western Caribbean out of Miami. They had an AMAZING time and couldn't stop telling my parents all about it. So now that they have two kids hooked on cruising (plus my brother is going on his first cruise this weekend!), I think they are really interested in seeing what all the fuss is about.

 

There is now even talk of scheduling a huge family cruise a year and a half to two years out from now with myself and my partner, my parents, my older sister and her husband, my brother and his girlfriend, my younger sister and her boyfriend, and all three of my mom's sisters. How fun would that be?!?!

 

Jamie, Please report back to us on how the cruise goes. I'm not really that into cruising per se, but it's really a nice way to go for a large extended family group. My son 23 really wanted to do a cruise again and that's my dad's (age 82) favorite kind of vacation as he as so much activity right there and can just relax on his balcony and visit with extended family (always gets a larger balcony) when tired. Any way it was started out me, DH, DS, and my mom and dad and now we have a party of 11 (my brother and his girlfriend joined the group, my godparents joined the group and one of their sons and his daughter (a grandchild of their around my son's age) are joining too).

[vacation44]

Only 11 days to go! Talked to my mom a few days ago and she had bought a new bag for her carry-on, new sandals, and new swim trunks for my dad. I think they are getting really excited. My older sister and her husband just came back from their first cruise a little over a week ago. They were on the Getaway to the Western Caribbean out of Miami. They had an AMAZING time and couldn't stop telling my parents all about it. So now that they have two kids hooked on cruising (plus my brother is going on his first cruise this weekend!), I think they are really interested in seeing what all the fuss is about.

 

There is now even talk of scheduling a huge family cruise a year and a half to two years out from now with myself and my partner, my parents, my older sister and her husband, my brother and his girlfriend, my younger sister and her boyfriend, and all three of my mom's sisters. How fun would that be?!?!

 

Thank you for the update. It does sound like your mom is excited and your whole family will be hooked.

 

We always cruise with our large extended family last time with my husband's and the time before that mine and they are wonderful, precious memories. On our next cruise it will just be us--my husband and I and our 20 year old daughter and our 19 year old son. It will definitely be a different experience.

[17cruisesnsl]

Have a wonderful cruise. Haven't read all the posts so I don't know if anyone recommended Quease-ease for your mom. Heard about it on these boards - you take a whiff of what is basically a mix of oils like eucalyptus and peppermint when you feel nauseous. I get seasick, but still think cruising is the best vacation, the nsl in my board name stands for no sea legs. The wrist bands plus a whiff or two of Quease Ease has served me well on recent cruises, plane rides, etc. I order it online but some stores/drug stores will carry it and there is no drowsiness or OTC medication/adult beverage interaction. I still bring the OTC meds as backup but haven't needed them; the patch doesn't work for our family - we had allergic reactions.

Wishing you a wonderful cruise and calm seas

[mrbucky]

I recently returned from a HAL cruise. I told my then 85 year old parents that they would have enjoyed it. They should go because there were many people their age, and that those people had brought THEIR parents.

[Shidah]

I always enjoy your posts and hope you all have a great time! This time next week you will be in the terminal! Wanted to add I was nervous about getting seasick on my first cruise, and did some research and found glowing reviews about these electronic wrist bands that send electronic pulses on your wrist. Anyway, bought two (they were a little pricey) from Amazon and have never had to use them on 4 cruises yet. I was going deep sea fishing this summer and took one then just in case. Still didn’t need it, but it got me curious to see if they still worked (if the batteries were still good). I put one on and you can adjust the strength, but it was pretty cool in that you can feel tiny electronic pulses from your wrist to your middle finger. Anyway, I can’t say if they work since I haven’t been sea sick yet but something else to look into maybe.

[JamieLogical]

Returned from our Escape sailing to Bermuda on Sunday. My parents both seemed to have a good time. My mom really loved it and had ZERO problems with motion sickness or any of her phobias. Even with our final sea day taking us through a pretty serious storm and with the ship rocking and rolling quite a bit, she did fine. She fully embraced the relaxation element, the food, the drinks, and loved to just walk around the ship.

 

My dad, I think, was a little lost. It was maybe a little too much out of his element? He was out of his routine, which I think had him a little on edge. Several times he struggled to find "normal" enough food on the menus, especially at the specialty restaurants. An apparent recent menu change at La Cucina left him particularly at a loss. I had picked La Cucina for one of our reservations, because he typically likes lasagna. But they have removed it from the menu now, so he ended up ordering pepperoni pizza "without the green stuff" (basil). He did rave a lot about the quality of service we received everywhere. He was VERY impressed with the work ethic, attentiveness, and friendliness of all of the staff.

 

Our only really negative experience was when we went to see the Brat Pack. I don't know if it was just our seat location or what, but they were constantly shining VERY bright lights directly into our eyes from the stage. It was literally physically painful how bright and direct they were. My parents left about two minutes in and my partner and I left about five minutes later. I just could not pay attention to or enjoy the show at all. I spent the entire time wondering and worrying when the next time they were going to blind me again was coming. I generally have no sensitivities to lights like strobe lights or flashing lights. But imagine having a high powered flashlight shining directly into your retinas at unpredictable intervals, over and over and over again. That was our experience with the show.

 

In all, they both seemed to have a good trip. I think my mom would really like to cruise again, but my dad doesn't seem inclined. Maybe my mom can join us on a future sailing or take a cruise with her sisters at some point?

[YVRBassElectric]

thanks for letting us know how it went. Hopefully your Dad will give it another chance, having an idea of what to expect will probably make it easier. I find the MDR & Cagney's menus to be less adventurous. I am sad your Dad had pizza at La Cucina, I've had 5 meals from the new menu and the pizza was my least favourite

[JamieLogical]

32 minutes ago, YVRBassElectric said:

thanks for letting us know how it went. Hopefully your Dad will give it another chance, having an idea of what to expect will probably make it easier. I find the MDR & Cagney's menus to be less adventurous. I am sad your Dad had pizza at La Cucina, I've had 5 meals from the new menu and the pizza was my least favourite

 

 

Yeah, he seemed to have much more success in the MDRs and liked that they were "free", even though we had the specialty dining package, so our three meals in those were "free" too. He also liked O'sheehan's.

 

Oh, I forgot to mention that he also loved being on the ocean and being on such a HUGE ship as much as I thought he would. He was constantly in awe of the scale of the ship, how well it handled the rough seas we experienced, and all of the logistics of it being so self-contained and self-sufficient. The Q&A with the Captain and Chief Engineer was one of his favorite parts of the cruise. I had wanted to do the behind-the-scenes tour with him, because I think he would have loved that, but no way was he going to pay $79 per person for it.

Edited October 23, 2018 by JamieLogical

[mef_57]

Though I was a silent follower on this thread, thanks for coming back and giving us the outcome.  Kudos for being persistent and introducing them to something different....and kudos to your parents for moving outside their comfort zone. It sounds like Dad actually liked a lot of the trip; just different to Mom's enjoyment. 

If there is talk about future cruising, maybe ask Dad to list his favourite and least favorite things before the favourite things disappear from his list.  Maybe you can assure him he doesn't have to do the least favorite things.  For the 'normal food, perhaps agree that he doesn't have to eat in the specialty restaurant.  That here were several alternatives that he did enjoy. Even if in a group, people should be free to do their own thing.  If the dining perk means nothing to him, maybe there is someone in the group who doesn't care about it either, and they can dine in the MDR together...would depend on rules I guess, but if it is a chosen perk, then be prepared to waste it for him.  He might be one to just wander the ship for the logistics of it all, and then go back somewhere for a sit and read, nap, whatever.  Buy him the behind the scenes as a gift, so he can't say 'no'.  However, some are just not cut out to be out of their comfort zone, so that should be respected if he really can't see it as more of a plus than a minus; but I think it is worth a try to reinforce the positive, and offer him alternatives to the negatives.

Mom is now free to cruise with sisters or en group with family and doors are now open to all.

Congrats!

[JJAuckland]

I have also followed along silently on this thread as I so love your posts and was hoping you would come back & report how it went. I am glad you had a good time (except for the Brat Pack show) and that your parents had a good time (even if your Dad was out of his comfort zone a bit). I hope you do manage an all inclusive family cruise in the future. I try to persuade my family to come on a cruise but I am always met with objections so I am glad you got to experience one with your parents. Thanks for sharing

[JamieLogical]

2 minutes ago, JJAuckland said:

I have also followed along silently on this thread as I so love your posts and was hoping you would come back & report how it went. I am glad you had a good time (except for the Brat Pack show) and that your parents had a good time (even if your Dad was out of his comfort zone a bit). I hope you do manage an all inclusive family cruise in the future. I try to persuade my family to come on a cruise but I am always met with objections so I am glad you got to experience one with your parents. Thanks for sharing

 

Next up is my little sister. I am hoping to take her on a cruise with just her and myself, because I get more vacation time than my partner does. She has four kids, so it is a matter of scheduling a full week for them to stay with their father (she's divorced). She shouldn't have much trouble getting time off. She is one of those people who usually has so much vacation time saved up she has to use it or lose it.

 

If my brother and his girlfriend (cruising now as far as I know) end up liking their cruise and my little sister likes ours, then the next step will be trying to get something coordinated for maybe late 2020 or early 2021 for a big family cruise.