pkrchkr Posted November 4, 2007 #1 Share Posted November 4, 2007 We are trying to organize a first ever family reunion cruise. We have not decided on a cruise line yet (enter suggestions at will).We also have not decided on a destination either( enter more suggestions please). We are just in our early preparations and have a budget of 20,000 for a family of(9 grand children,5 adult children, and two seniors). Grand kids range in age from.23-4 years of age, boys and girls.All the adults execpt two have cruised before.Any suggestions on destinations,ports of call,hotels, Suites verses rooms, etc.Any suggestions of any kind would be helpful.:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larronry Posted November 5, 2007 #2 Share Posted November 5, 2007 First I would say Max 7 days that way it's enough time to spend with each other but not too much time for the kids. Although doing something exotic would be nice then the ports of call would be part of the attraction and you really need the attraction to be the reunion so I would stick with simple like the Carribean. This is assuming of course you are from the U.S. Don't mandate that everyone has to be next to each other cabin wise. I think that families need to be able to be in cabins that are appropriate for the size of their family. As far as cruiseline everyone has it's personality and your family has it's needs and you have to see which one's mesh the best. For example if the kids are picky eaters and you know the 4 year old will eat mac & cheese and Carnival will serve mac & cheese every night then that is a plus for Carnival. However Carnival in not likely to lend a helping hand in the Buffet area (this is based on what I have heard in this forum and no I didn't get help on Carnival in the Buffet area either) this might be a problem for the seniors who might need help getting drinks or carrying trays and the parents who might need help with the same so that would be a minus. Didn't get help on NCL for the same. Celebrity helps in the Buffet area. I've read that RCCL does help. Princess doesn't use trays in the Buffet area so if you are trying to get food for yourself and 2 kids you are juggling 3 plates and if you add a bowl of cereal or a bagel plate well you get the idea. You also need to look at the hours of the kids programs if the adults want to spend some time together. This is all I can come up with on a Sunday night. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebeccalouise Posted November 5, 2007 #3 Share Posted November 5, 2007 I am a big fan of Celebrity and Cunard. The youth program on Celebrity starts at 3 years. I have also done NCL and had a fantastic time on all four of those cruises. The differences in the line are Celebrity and Cunard are formal and NCL is more casual. Celebrity and Cunard have bigger staterooms than NCL. Carnival has big staterooms. Royal Caribbean cabins are a nice size on the newer ships. As for destination- most people like the Caribbean best. Alaska is my favorite destination. I have done that twice on NCL and twice on Princess. I would not sail Princess again- because we had such bad service on Sapphire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusinmama06 Posted November 5, 2007 #4 Share Posted November 5, 2007 How old is the youngest? You have .23...is that 23 months? Pick a cruiseline that will help with the kids. Carnival and NCL's kids programs start at 2. RCCL's starts at 3 RCCL has in cabin babysitting Carnival changes diapers...no one else does (I don't think) Cunard QE2, RCCL Freedom class ships and Disney ships allow non-potty trained children in certain pools. With that budget you could easily get 4 balcony suites on any of the above cruiselines. What past cruiselines have they sailed? The seniors would qualify for Senior discounts on RCCL (off the top of my head, I don't know if other cruiselines do that) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
escentialssoycandles Posted November 5, 2007 #5 Share Posted November 5, 2007 Do you have a TA? My opinion is Royal Caribbean. We have cruised RCI once before and will be having a family reunion cruise for Thanksgiving in a couple weeks and are sailing 2 other times next year with our kids. Not a fan of Carnival - too obnoxious for my taste and not as nice, but everyone has their own opinion on Royal vs. Carnival. We have kids ages 3-10 and adults in the 30's-60's. I prefer the Western Caribbean because of the ports and the pricing. I lived in Puerto Rico and have been to the Virgin Islands, so that is not as appealing to me. I guess the easiest way to start your planning is to ask alot of ?'s........ Where are the majority of people coming from? Will you fly or drive? What time of year? What is important to your group? Dining, Entertainment, Kids Programs, Ports of Call? Prioritizing your choices will help in planning the cruise. Hope this helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandy toes Posted November 5, 2007 #6 Share Posted November 5, 2007 First, welcome to cruise critic. Take some time to read some of the posts, learn some things about the different lines, ships and itineraries. It will help you make some good choices once you have things narrowed down a bit. I plan a family/friends cruise each year. Some things I do at the start is make up a list of questions that I ask everyone. You have 2 past guests. What cruise lines did they sail? They will get a discount that will help keep cost down. Also, the seniors will get a discount (Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity). What cruisinmama said above about the kids camps on ship is important as you want the children happy and it is nice to provide some time for Mom & Dad to have some romance. Visit the main lines, look at some of the itineraries, see which ports are of interest. Ask your family which ones they would enjoy seeing. Keep a list of which ports have the most interest. Then, try to find an itinerary that offers as many of them as possible. Remember, sea days are also something that many people enjoy, especially the last day on ship as a chance to just relax before returning to the "real world" http://www.carnival.com http://www.celebritycruises.com http://www.cunard.com http://disneycruise.disney.go.com http://www.hollandamerica.com/ http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/home.html http://www.princess.com/index.html http://www.royalcaribbean.com You have a great budget and will be able to find some wonderful choices based just on your budget. I do not know if that is the cruise only budget or your cruise and excursion and flight cost budget. Either way, there will be mult-choices available. You should even be able to find something that will give you the tip money and some shopping dollars to spend in port from your budget. If you have any questions, ask. There is no silly question hear on CC. Someone will have the answer or know just where to find it for you. Have fun planning your cruise! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abitaturbodog Posted November 5, 2007 #7 Share Posted November 5, 2007 We've traveled with lots of family on almost all of our cruises. My suggestion would be to not go overboard on the cabins because you won't be in them much at all. You will all be doing your own thing around the ship and meeting up at meals and on the lido and the promenade. You won't be getting together in the cabins, because even the suites don't fit many people inside. I'd book a couple of balcony cabins in a row and get the steward to open up the dividers to make one big balcony. Also, with the money you've saved you can plan a nice family excursion or two. Also, if you're thinking about Carnival and have any veterans, retired or active military in your family, you're able to get 3 cabins at the military rate if you book in November! This is the lowest rate Carnival ever offers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cailysmummy Posted November 6, 2007 #8 Share Posted November 6, 2007 Depending on where the budget is coming from, I can tell you what my father in law did. He went directly to carnival cruise lines and booked the entire family(17 in all ) cruises. Except for him he booked us at the cheapest rate and we had the option of upgrading. We paid the difference. Those who had cruised before could contact Carnival to request the upgrade. We have to fly in and it was much more expensive to fly in the package deal so my father in law booked the flight independently the day before and hotel rooms and it was still cheaper. Plus if there is anyone with miles you may be able to get some free flights out of it. I've always wanted to ask him since he booked everything under his name and paid under his name does that give him credit for 17 cruises. Theres a total of 6 cabins. hmmm.... You may want to check that out as well, perhaps some future perks;) !!!! Also, he wanted to book the Christmas cruise but it was very expensive compared to the thanksgiving cruise. He recieved a great rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dsnyluvr Posted November 6, 2007 #9 Share Posted November 6, 2007 I've just started doing the same thing. 17 people in my family going to Alaska. If your family's anything like mine, they said "we want to go here. Plan it." That's all the input I'm going to get. So, I looked at which ship had the most things that our group would like (ages 2-70). I decided on the Radiance of the Seas with Royal Caribbean. We're not going until 2009, so I'm hoping that things will stay the same until then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larronry Posted November 6, 2007 #10 Share Posted November 6, 2007 I've just started doing the same thing. 17 people in my family going to Alaska. If your family's anything like mine, they said "we want to go here. Plan it." That's all the input I'm going to get. So, I looked at which ship had the most things that our group would like (ages 2-70). I decided on the Radiance of the Seas with Royal Caribbean. We're not going until 2009, so I'm hoping that things will stay the same until then.I've heard (read) people say that Princess has the best Alaska Itineraries. Something to do with they've been doing it the longest so they get more inside passages or the better route or something. Having not done an Alaskan cruise I am certainly no expert, but it is certainly something to look into. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebeccalouise Posted November 7, 2007 #11 Share Posted November 7, 2007 I had a great time on all my Alaskan cruises. I have done four and would go again. It is just lovely. The scenery is spectacular and the air is so clean. You really feel like you have found the final frontier. It is a relaxing type cruise. I did two on Norwegian and two on Princess. I think the most important thing is to have your own balcony to sit in your robe and just take it all in. Make sure they supply the soft white robes! That would be my only criteria. The pros of Princess were... many nice places on board to view the scenery. They have a wraparound deck, which is nice. Also good hot tubs! The pro on Norwegian is the ships are more fun, there are younger people and the food IMO was better. But the cabins are smaller on Norwegian. My favorite line is Celebrity but haven't done them in Alaska. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadianTwosome Posted November 7, 2007 #12 Share Posted November 7, 2007 Another pro for NCL is the freestyle concept. You can eat when you want, which we have found is really nice with just one child, so I imagine it would work even better with a group of them. The kid's program is really good, and on the newer ships they've even got a kid's buffet area. My advice is to decide when you can all travel first, then see what's available. Send out itineraries to everyone who is going to come and decide as democratically as possible. Ask people to tell you which they would like to do and also which they wouldn't. There's a difference between going to your second or third choice and going someplace that you really don't want to be at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shellie100 Posted November 7, 2007 #13 Share Posted November 7, 2007 We are trying to organize a first ever family reunion cruise. We have not decided on a cruise line yet (enter suggestions at will).We also have not decided on a destination either( enter more suggestions please). We are just in our early preparations and have a budget of 20,000 for a family of(9 grand children,5 adult children, and two seniors). Grand kids range in age from.23-4 years of age, boys and girls.All the adults execpt two have cruised before.Any suggestions on destinations,ports of call,hotels, Suites verses rooms, etc.Any suggestions of any kind would be helpful.:) How wonderful! We recently went on an extended family vacation (last November) with 11 people (7 adults and 4 small children). We did an 11-day Celebrity Mercury Mexican Riviera, out of San Diego. I have no complaints, it was just perfect. Except for the single brother, the rest of us paid extra for a balcony room (mom and dad paid the inside rate, approx $700 per person, and the upgrade to a balcony was about $1400 per room). It would be a hard sell to convince me to ever cruise again with kids without a balcony. We are in the room soooo much more with kids...nap time, bed time, early morning, etc. It was a dream to be able to put the kids to sleep and then go sip wine (in the evening) or coffee (in the morning) on my balcony. Really that made up for not getting to participate in many of the ship activities. As a mom, I just wanted to relax and have someone else do the cooking and cleaning! I don't think that 11 days was too long. We all love cruising, so it was perfect. Also, the worse part about a 7-day cruise is that you have to start packing up again as soon as you got unpacked, LOL! With kids, we were really able to get into some routines with the longer cruise. Also, I highly recommend a itinerary with lots of port days. The kids can get a little restless on the ship, and the little ones can't even go in the pool until they are potty trained. Not to mention the pool is usually really cold. We try to hit the beach or snorkel on every port if possible. Good luck planning. Shellie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusinmama06 Posted November 7, 2007 #14 Share Posted November 7, 2007 Good luck planning. Shellie Hey Shellie! Nice to see you back around here. :D Don't be a stranger! Sorry OP, a little off topic...lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shellie100 Posted November 7, 2007 #15 Share Posted November 7, 2007 Hey Shellie! Nice to see you back around here. :D Don't be a stranger! Sorry OP, a little off topic...lol. Hi Michele! I've been online planning our next trip. We're doing a 4-day Bahamas cruise next month. Its waaaay too short for my taste, but my MIL is coming with us to "test" cruising to see if she likes it and doesn't want to do anything longer than a weekend cruise. It's also so cheap (a ocean view for four for $860 total- you can barely get a hotel for that!). I'm only going without the balcony because it is a super short cruise and we have a port every day. LOL! I know you understand, my fellow balcony devotee! BTW, love your new pictures! Shellie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrp96 Posted November 7, 2007 #16 Share Posted November 7, 2007 Shellie, just be prepared for how TINY the oceanviews are on Majesty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shellie100 Posted November 7, 2007 #17 Share Posted November 7, 2007 Shellie, just be prepared for how TINY the oceanviews are on Majesty. Yes, I've heard they're even smaller than the cabins on the Celebrity Century, and those were pretty tiny! Yikes! I think I'm mentally prepared for it, though. I'm going to really limit how much stuff we're bringing, which should be OK for such a short cruise. We're leaving alot of the extras and "just in case" stuff at home this time (unlike the 11-day cruises where we bring everything but the kitchen sink, hahaha!). We're going to play hard every day, so we'll be hitting bed hard every night. My MIL is alone in the connecting room, so we may spill into her room a bit. I'm excited though, it sounds like the Majesty is in great shape after her docking last spring. Yippee!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larronry Posted November 7, 2007 #18 Share Posted November 7, 2007 Another pro for NCL is the freestyle concept. You can eat when you want, which we have found is really nice with just one child, so I imagine it would work even better with a group of them. But that could also be a downfall to freestyle cruising with a large group. Now maybe someone who has done this with a family group could speak up because I did this with a group of 50 but on NCL they wouldn't let us make a reservation until after 9pm and we just wanted a bunch of tables near each other so we just had to go there stand in line and wait. Waiting in line with a bunch of kids is not always a good or fun thing. You would need a couple of tables so not as long a wait. Just something to think about. And most lines are freestyle or what ever they call it on their line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shellie100 Posted November 7, 2007 #19 Share Posted November 7, 2007 But that could also be a downfall to freestyle cruising with a large group. Now maybe someone who has done this with a family group could speak up because I did this with a group of 50 but on NCL they wouldn't let us make a reservation until after 9pm and we just wanted a bunch of tables near each other so we just had to go there stand in line and wait. Waiting in line with a bunch of kids is not always a good or fun thing. You would need a couple of tables so not as long a wait. Just something to think about. And most lines are freestyle or what ever they call it on their line. I agree that a dedicated time and place is a good thing for group travel. Could you imagine trying to choose a time and place every single night??? Everyone should feel free, though, to skip a dinner or go to the buffet or whatever on any given night without feeling guilty. Or just say that everyone is required to be at formal nights, but the other nights are optional, or something like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrchkr Posted November 7, 2007 Author #20 Share Posted November 7, 2007 How old is the youngest? You have .23...is that 23 months? Pick a cruiseline that will help with the kids. Carnival and NCL's kids programs start at 2. RCCL's starts at 3 RCCL has in cabin babysitting Carnival changes diapers...no one else does (I don't think) Cunard QE2, RCCL Freedom class ships and Disney ships allow non-potty trained children in certain pools. With that budget you could easily get 4 balcony suites on any of the above cruiselines. What past cruiselines have they sailed? The seniors would qualify for Senior discounts on RCCL (off the top of my head, I don't know if other cruiselines do that) We have a 23 year old ( oops).We have cruised on Carnival( not to keen on doing again)and RCCL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrchkr Posted November 7, 2007 Author #21 Share Posted November 7, 2007 Do you have a TA? My opinion is Royal Caribbean. We have cruised RCI once before and will be having a family reunion cruise for Thanksgiving in a couple weeks and are sailing 2 other times next year with our kids. Not a fan of Carnival - too obnoxious for my taste and not as nice, but everyone has their own opinion on Royal vs. Carnival. We have kids ages 3-10 and adults in the 30's-60's. I prefer the Western Caribbean because of the ports and the pricing. I lived in Puerto Rico and have been to the Virgin Islands, so that is not as appealing to me.I guess the easiest way to start your planning is to ask alot of ?'s........ Where are the majority of people coming from? Will you fly or drive? What time of year? What is important to your group? Dining, Entertainment, Kids Programs, Ports of Call? Prioritizing your choices will help in planning the cruise. Hope this helps! We come from all over Canada.My folks are coming from Vancouver Island in British Columbia.My sister and her family live in Calgary, Alberta. ANd my brother and I come from Manitoba in central Canada. All of us have kids.The 233 year old is also coming from Vancouver Island. We will be flying, and planning on a early December 08.We really just want a family vacation( dad is in second stages of Alzheimers so he doesn't have alot of time left//he is on meds!!!)Kids programs are totally a new thing for us and sound fabulous but I know little about them. We are looking more toward the Mexico area as it stands now.My Dh and I did the Acapulco/Ixtapa/Manzinillo.Carnival thing a couple of year ago but I don't think I'll do the Spirit again any time soon.We have never done Cabo san lucas,Puerto vi arta( sorry!)or Mazatland.My Dh and I are thrill seekers and are happy doing all kinds of demanding activities,DS is a bit of a stuff shirt and won't do much,DB is like us a bit wild.I love snorkelling!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrchkr Posted November 7, 2007 Author #22 Share Posted November 7, 2007 My DM is thinking of the Saphire Princess.I read some one did not have a good experience on it what can you share with us?We are looking at the Visions of the Seas as well( my first ever cruise was on this one)And the Carnival Pride , the sister to the Spirit.Any opinions?:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larronry Posted November 7, 2007 #23 Share Posted November 7, 2007 We have a 23 year old ( oops).We have cruised on Carnival( not to keen on doing again)and RCCL. Although I agree with out about Carnival there new ship has really intrigued me and we have decided to give it a try. Decor is seems like it will be different then some that I've seen pictured here for Carnival and layout seems better. The ship actually wasn't originally built for Carnival but for Costa. I am nervous about the people on board and am hoping that I don't experience the horror stories. I didn't the last time I was on Carnival so hopefully not this time. The kids area from the description seems like it will be fantastic. Hopefully I will be getting some pictures not up on the web by Friday and I can see more for my self. That said you know RCCL, My experience on Princess wasn't perfect but nothing so bad that I wouldn't sail again (just little things here & there that could happen on any ship), and my favorite would be Celebrity. One of my favorite little things about Celebrity is that they don't make 100 announcements during the day about all the activities going on. Something that frustrated me on Princess is that while you are sitting by the pool on a nice sunny day watching a movie that they mute for 15 minutes while the tell you about the bingo tournament and whatever else. NCL is a cruiseline that I will never go on again. What almost happen to me and my now husband and then fiance is not supposed to happen or almost happen, but we'll never trust them again. For us it was being on a ship excursion in Cozumel bus broke down finally managed to get taxi's but we were the last 2 back to the ship running down the long, long, long pier (downtown) and the gangway was going up. There actually was another excursion on some kind of boat (to dark to see) that came on right after we did (not fair they didn't have as far to run). Had we not gotten there for them to stop and lower the gangway those people wouldn't have gotten on at all. For us I could say that they might of thought that we were off on our own since the rest of the group was back but what was the excuse for the other excursion? (no answer required) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larronry Posted November 7, 2007 #24 Share Posted November 7, 2007 oops double post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wentworth Posted November 7, 2007 #25 Share Posted November 7, 2007 Although I agree with out about Carnival there new ship has really intrigued me and we have decided to give it a try. Decor is seems like it will be different then some that I've seen pictured here for Carnival and layout seems better. The ship actually wasn't originally built for Carnival but for Costa. I am nervous about the people on board and am hoping that I don't experience the horror stories. I didn't the last time I was on Carnival so hopefully not this time. The kids area from the description seems like it will be fantastic. Sharon, I'm glad your giving Carnival another try. We have done 7 cruises, all on Carnival with our 8th coming up in March. I've read some of the horror stories on this board but we have never experienced the situations brought up by some of the cruisers. I'm not saying that they didn't happen, just that we have not seen it. We tend to migrate to the pool on the lido deck aft which is much quieter. There is a LOT of activity going on by the main pool, mid ship and we like to walk by and watch for a while. We've cruised with friends, by ourselves and with children and grand children. The times we've sailed alone we met some fantastic people who we keep in touch with today. Our cruises have all been 6-7 days and on the newer ships in either February or March. We even sailed out of San Juan twice and loved both cruises from there.:) Joyce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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