Cruising With Family + or - ??

[magic cruiser]

Don't misunderstand me....I love my family and I can hardly wait until our family reunion cruise on the MAGIC, July 10 BUT how do you organize everything ? There are 13 of us, 8 adults, 5 children...ages 80 to 1 . Since we are all from different areas of the country and hardly ever see each other, I'm hoping to have much quality time with everyone. BUT, I don't want to be too bossy or dictatorial about how everyone spends their vacation.Any suggestions ?

 

[hannahandkatesmommy]

We have cruised with a smaller group, but nontheless, still family that doesn't see each other very often. My husband and I were the only ones that had cruised before and it seemed like everyone wanted us to make their fun for them.....Fun just seems to follow us around, but my family needs fun to hit them in the head first before they recognize it....... Anyway, I do love my family but sometime during the week, we got together and laid out the expectations like, everyone do your own thing during the day and we meet for dinner. It sounds harsh, but I tell you it worked. We acutally ended up spending more time with each other bc no one felt like they were doing something they didn't want to do for the sake of the group. That also got my sister and her husband thinking about what they wanted to do. If it sounded fun, the group followed but no pressure. Then at dinner, it is fun to share your day with everyone. We are cruising with friends on the May 1st Magic and have all set the same expectations as a group ahead of time. Makes for a much more relaxing vacation.

 

[MO Disney cruiser]

Last September we gave an RCL cruise to my in laws for their 40th anniversary. We gave it to them early in the year and sailed in Sept. By the time everyone heard about it, we had 27 people going.

The best thing to do is set the expectations early. We met for dinner at night. During the day everyone did what they wanted. We were the only ones who had cruised before. We told everyone "here's what we're doing. You're welcome to come or do what you want". For the most part that worked very well. (except for 1 aunt, but we knew that would happen)

Just remember, you need to enjoy this too. My DH worried about everyone else a bit much early on.

Good luck

 

[katerkat]

We cruised with 16 people (our neighbors and good friends) last February. It was a lot of fun - we all saw each other for dinner, and met up at various times around the ship. We mixed and matched with shore excursions - some I did with just my parents and sister, I went parasailing with our neighbor's daughter, and Dad and Mr. W did their birthday regatta together. Sometimes we all went to the show, sometimes my sister and I borrowed the kids and did a kiddie event with them, sometimes my sister and I escaped to the adult areas.

Before the cruise, I would collaborate on shore excursions and book in advance. On the cruise, just let everyone do what they please. It's not that big of a ship - we bumped into our group a lot more than we were expecting.

 

[Rence]

In December I traveled with a large family group, mom, dad, myself, my partner, sister & two nieces, sister brother-in-law and three nieces.

When we were booking I contacted our TA and requested a room on a different deck far away from the other family rooms. I know my sisters and they would think it funny to send the nieces to knock on my door at 6am. I knew I would need away time and this worked great. My room was my sanctuary.

We spent 4 days together at WDW prior to the cruise so we had plenty of group time there.

On the cruise we always had dinner together. The rest of the time it was on-your-own. This worked out real nice. I could spend time with relatives in smaller groups. Go see a show with one sister and her daughters. Spend time on the beach with other sister and her daughters. Spend some time with just my folks.

Looking back, I enjoyed the smaller group activities the most. Spending time with just two of my nieces as CC was so much fun. Going with my other niece to get her hair braided etc.

The cruise really lent it self well to everyone doing their own thing but still spending a lot of time with family in both large and small groups.

 

[#1Mouse]

Last September we went with a group of 14 - all family, ages 9-80. We linked our reservations together so we could be seated together for dinner. We set up a Yahoo Group for the 14 cruisers. It was fun with all the e-mails going back and forth - helped add to the excitement and no one was left out of any info. Everyone did their own thing, and most of the time we were always running into each other. I did mention any excursions that we were doing and everyone else was more than welcome to join in with us if they wanted to. The key is to make sure everyone is aware that they are not expected to do something if they don't want to, and that they are free to do as they choose. I did explain the Navigator to them and gave them copies of old ones I had so they could get an idea of the many things that are available to do. Did I mention with the exception of DH, myself and my parents everyone else was new to cruising!!!!!

We had so much fun that we are doing it again Feb 2005 (this one is with RCCL - ohhhh, I feel like such a traitor!!!) This time we have 26 going (DH and I really need to contain our excitement about cruising!!!) - all adults and 3 children, ages 15 months to 81 YO. Same rules apply - we'll meet up for dinner but everyone is responsible for their own fun. It can be alot of fun as long as everyone knows what to expect before hand.

Enjoy!
Gail

 

[magic cruiser]

Thank you all so much for your advice and sharing your experiences !! To let everyone be aware of the activities, but to just let everyone make their own fun is the way to go.I tend to be to much of a planner...and I know I could really get on everyone's nerves.Especially one certain dil. So I'll contain myself. Happy cruising to you all !!

 

[Rock'n Robin]

I also appreciate the input--I am going in July with my parents, my sister, BIL and 2 nieces as well as my own family. Dad wants us to meet every night for dinner but otherwise we are keeping it open--literally, DS will be sleeping in parents' room and we have connecting rooms!
Robin M.

 

[magic cruiser]

Robin...from the looks of your counter, you must be cruising a week before us.We're on the Magic July 10. I know what you mean...we have connecting rooms w/ my mil and sil. I don't know how that happened !!

 

[4nana]

Our family of 16, incl. Nana, Pop, 3 DD's, 1 DS, 3SIL's, 7 grands ~ ages 1 to 65, planned our reunion Magic cruise 2 yrs in advance for the week before Xmas 2002. They voted yours truly as the organizer and I did most of the research. Had update meetings with our local kids....the out of state ones did emails/calls. It was so much fun ~ no one felt left out...all the anticipation, calling, planning, shopping, researching boards, saving, gathering ideas and voting on options, etc. paid off. We all ordered videos and brochures to get the feel.

All flew into Fla. night before and met at The Radisson. The next morn we arrived at the ship all refreshed, ready to rock and roll. We all had connecting rooms on deck 2, which worked out great. Deck 2 was very quite, convenient, and smooth sailing. The portholes were wonderful! Connecting rooms were ideal for us ~
the adults could enjoy their private time or quite time for grands, yet each helped out with the kids if adults wanted to go to Palo, show, etc. The men even watched the grands while the ladies had a ladies hot tub meet...LOL! Needless to say, the grands enjoyed hopping from room to room! We took walkie talkies, sticky notes for the doors and xmas clingies to mark our doors making them easily recognizable.

Being four families, we knew we'd mix and match activities. However, as some live so far away, we did end up spending much of our time together (by choice). Other times we did our own thing. It worked out great! The cousins did not care for the clubs and spent a lot of time getting aquainted and having fun together. We always had dinner together and Dis accomodated by having 2 lg. tables joinned.

We'd arranged via internet our island excurions. On St. Thomas we had a guide for the day. We enjoyed a tour of the island, took the kids to Coral World, while the men went parasailing. Later we all met at adjacent Coki Bch for swimming, snorkeling, and a picnic we'd brought from the ship. On St M we split into 3 groups and did our own thing...swimming, shopping, etc.

Disney has something for all ages to keep you busy! It's big ship, you can have as much togetherness or space as you desire. Have fun making magical moments with your family. We sure did!!

~ Sandie