Cruise Drama- HELP!

[Bree]

I would skip the wedding. It's 9 hours away and you are an adult and can make your own decision as to whether or not you want to attend. It would be a cold day in you know where before somebody told me it "was not an option" and tried to made me cancel my vacation for their plans.

Totally aware that this is a grumpy post, but I'm having a grumpy day.

 

[hardis5]

If the mix is a must wedding and either the parks or a cruise, as others have stated and IMHO I'd pass on the parks and still do the cruise. It sounds as if the wedding, getting to and then down to FLA would be a rush and adding on the rush and hustle of the parks I personally would not enjoy. The other side, a cruise is a much more structured and relaxed pace vacation (even if doing excursions) and you can plan to be as busy as you wish to be (or not) on the ships. Definitely do not try and do it all if throwing the wedding into the same pressed time period.

 

[Hundredacre]

SKIP THE WEDDING! !

 

[MUN]

So myself, my parents, my sister, BIL, and new baby nephew have been going round and round on this for several months. We wanted to do either a full cruise or a land and sea. We finally settled on a date in October. There is the excitement of Halloween, Food and Wine, fall weather. It just hit on all cylinders, and my sister's heart is SET on this particular cruise. With the cruise running M-F, it doesn't leave a ton of time for park days. Our thought was maybe doing a split thing, going down Friday evening or Saturday morning, for a couple of days, then the cruise, then F-S for park days as well.

Our plans just got blown out of the water, finding out my cousin is getting married about 9 hours from us, on 10/29. We were going to drive to/from the wedding, but now...who knows. The suggestion was made that now we would need to fly to the wedding, then fly to MCO. Mom is against that, probably for expense reasons, but also just the...rush rush rush of it. Plus, we would lose the days before the cruise...at least one, probably 2. So, we would really have only one full day in the park. Or...we'd all...all 5 of us, have to be able to get an additional day or two off. Which I don't think will happen.

My dad can't switch his weeks at work...we could travel a different week he has off, but none of it matters because, as I said, my sister's heart is set on that particular week, and mine too, a bit. Missing the wedding is not an option (I checked.)

Our next option is scrapping the cruise altogether and doing an all-land trip. Hello, I'm on the cruise board. We all know how amazing DCL is. This is obviously a last ditch scenario.

This a huge family vacation that we have been planning for a while; if you were in our shoes, what path would you choose? Or do you have another plan that you think would work?

Skip the wedding. It's just a cousin. You've been planning this vacation longer than your cousin has been planning the wedding.

Give your cousin a nice gift. It's a win/win for them. They get the gift and they don't have to spring for your dinner & drinks at the reception. Trust me, they won't miss you.

Enjoy your vacaton!

 

[Magnolia85]

I would skip the wedding if your not apart of the bridal party or if they are paying your expenses.

 

[cedricandsophie]

I would definitely skip the wedding. But If skipping the wedding Will cause a huge riff in the family, I would just do the cruise. I can't quite figure out the timing of your wedding vs. cruise, but you could go a day or two ahead and stay at Vero beach resort which is about an hour and half from the ship. We have done that several times and love it. Or stay after the cruise. Or, just do DW but I wouldn't try to fit both in.

 

[Dug720]

I'm with the skip the wedding group. Of course, I was always in the family that lived away from the grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, so I'm not super close to any of my cousins - 4 of them have had weddings (one is now divorced) and I neither attended any nor feel guilty about not attending. And those didn't even involve 9 hours of travel and/or previous plans.

 

[ForMyBoys]

I would go to the wedding. Of course I have only 3 first cousins and can't imagine missing any of their weddings I would still go to the cruise. I would suck up the extra cost and fly to the wedding then to Orlando. Or i would drive to the wedding and fly from there to florida and then back to the same place and drive back that last Sunday. Even if you flew out early Sunday you would still have almost 2 full park days the weekend after the cruise if you really wanted to also do park days.

 

[FindMeAFishingSpot]

A lot of 'skip the wedding' votes here, so I'll just say that I also couldn't see myself missing my cousin's wedding. And I really couldn't imagine my parents missing their niece or nephew's wedding either. But then again, we are a very close knit family.

We enjoy the cruise more than we enjoy the parks, so we would definitely skip the park time.

Good luck with whatever you choose!

 

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

We would skip the wedding if we had plans all set for a vacation. If that is not an option, I would do fewer land days and go with the cruise. And hope for a WDW vacation in the future. We LOVE to cruise.

 

[cmwade77]

To me, the only weddings that are not to be missed are brothers, sisters and your children, otherwise, I would skip the wedding. You already had plans made and I am sorry it is not convenient for them, but it sounds like you made the plans first.

 

[ILovePixieDust]

I think it really depends on how close you are to your cousins. As an aunt I could not imagine missing my nieces or nephews weddings. I could not imagine my siblings missing my children's weddings either. We are very close. On the other hand, I am not close to any of my cousins and haven't been to any of their weddings. That will depend on you. And then if you go I would choose cruise over park! You might get a different answer on the park board

 

[Kerrigirl]

Just ask her to change the date of the wedding if she really wants you all there

 

[DHSbutcher]

Today I just made the hard decision to skip my cousins wedding in may and instead book a 2 week Transatlantic cruise on the Disney Magic! EEEEP! So worth it. Who schedules a wedding over a holiday weekend anyways(Memorial Day)? ugh

So on that note, skip the wedding, cruise.

 

[timrousbeastie]

I'd feel terrible if I were your cousin and later learned that you had sacrificed the only opportunity this year to go on the vacation. Could you talk with your parents and see if there is any alternative solution that might work for them? Is the wedding the only time that you/they will get to see the extended family or will there be another opportunity? Could you/they explain the situation to your cousin/uncle/aunt and ask if you could visit them after the vacation to have a belated celebration? The wedding is important, but my honest feeling is that family vacations, like the one you are planning, are even more important, especially when it is so difficult to find a time that works for everyone. It's a very difficult situation and I really hope that you can work with your family to find a compromise. Even though I admit that I'd feel frustrated if I were in your shoes, I'd keep telling myself that both the wedding and the vacation are meant to bring people closer together, not the other way around.

 

[kcpinwdw]

We had this last year, had an 8 night WDW trip booked and my husband's first cousin planned his wedding right in the middle. We sent our regrets and went on vacation, our trip was scheduled first.

 

[shelbell77]

So I can't tell from the original post if you had actually BOOKED the cruise and WDW trip yet, or had just decided on dates and a plan. To me - those are two different things with different options.

If nothing is actually booked or paid for yet - and YOU don't want to miss - then I would say go to the wedding. Note - "and YOU don't want to miss". I would never let anyone tell me I HAD to go to something when I already had other plans. I understand its more complicated with a family involved, but you guys should be having a discussion on this - not getting a mandate.

If you have actually incurred some costs for this trip already - then I'm in the skip the wedding bunch. You should not have to incur costs to go to travel to a wedding when you already had something else planned. The bride and groom will understand, not everyone they want at the wedding will be able to attend.

If your family agrees you want to somehow do both, I would skip parks in favor of the cruise. But honestly I think you will be so stressed trying to get to/from everything that it would probably spoil both trips and its just not something I would do.

 

[hrhdhd]

Today I just made the hard decision to skip my cousins wedding in may and instead book a 2 week Transatlantic cruise on the Disney Magic! EEEEP! So worth it. Who schedules a wedding over a holiday weekend anyways(Memorial Day)? ugh

So on that note, skip the wedding, cruise.

My wedding was on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. Our thought was that people coming to the wedding would have an extra day to travel. It wasn't an evil plan to ruin everyone's Labor Day weekend.

Enjoy the TA--that was my one Disney cruise and it was great.

Anyway, I would pass on the cousin's wedding. I also would not travel with a large group of family, so I'm not particularly close to family.

 

[Nancyg56]

A lot of 'skip the wedding' votes here, so I'll just say that I also couldn't see myself missing my cousin's wedding. And I really couldn't imagine my parents missing their niece or nephew's wedding either. But then again, we are a very close knit family.

We enjoy the cruise more than we enjoy the parks, so we would definitely skip the park time.

Good luck with whatever you choose!

I agree. We found out that the date of my nieces wedding and all of us changed our WDW date to the day after the wedding. It was rushed, but not one of us would ever have missed her wedding day.

I also saw that the "skip the wedding" was not an option, so IMO, the suggestion is not helpful.

OP- I would skip the parks and go on the cruise.

 

[ktate82]

My wedding was on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. Our thought was that people coming to the wedding would have an extra day to travel. It wasn't an evil plan to ruin everyone's Labor Day weekend.

Enjoy the TA--that was my one Disney cruise and it was great.

Anyway, I would pass on the cousin's wedding. I also would not travel with a large group of family, so I'm not particularly close to family.

We got married on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend too!

I have skipped a cousin's wedding to go on a WDW vacation. I had been planning and saving for it for over a year, and it was the only week of vacation I got that year.