How do you pick

[SteffyLou]

Hi everyone!

DH and I have been on 8 Disney cruises before we had kids. We’ve done Alaskan, East and Western Caribbean, and 3 day Bahamas.

This November we are finally taking DS and DD in a 4 day out of Miami.

Thanks to the craziness of the last 2 years we have a lot of airline credit and miles. We think we would like to take a cruise next summer, but don’t know how to decide.

Our kids will be 8 and 10. We live in the Chicagoland area. We are both teachers and have the summer off. We have never been outside of North America.


We are looking at :
Alaska
10 night Iceland, Norway, France
10 night Southern Caribbean
7 night Mediterranean with Greek Isles from Rome
7 night Western Europe from Barcelona

Is there one over the other you would recommend? My kids are pretty active and don’t like standing around much.

Thank you for your help!

 

[TestingH2O]

We just finished Alaska with my 10 year old and had a blast. (We also loved it when she was 5.) I think it’s the best balance between relaxation and activity. Plus the break from the midwestern summer is a plus.

We did the Med when she was 6. That was also great but it’s a grueling trip. As a teacher, I didn’t end that summer with the feeling of relaxation I had after Alaska.

As far as the Southren goes, well, I kind of feel like all the Caribbean trips are kind of the same. If you’re looking for something to be really memorable, I’d definitely pick one of the other itineraries.

 

[Cheburashka]

Hi everyone!

DH and I have been on 8 Disney cruises before we had kids. We’ve done Alaskan, East and Western Caribbean, and 3 day Bahamas.

This November we are finally taking DS and DD in a 4 day out of Miami.

Thanks to the craziness of the last 2 years we have a lot of airline credit and miles. We think we would like to take a cruise next summer, but don’t know how to decide.

Our kids will be 8 and 10. We live in the Chicagoland area. We are both teachers and have the summer off. We have never been outside of North America.


We are looking at :
Alaska
10 night Iceland, Norway, France
10 night Southern Caribbean
7 night Mediterranean with Greek Isles from Rome
7 night Western Europe from Barcelona

Is there one over the other you would recommend? My kids are pretty active and don’t like standing around much.

Thank you for your help!

I would sail the 10 night Southern Caribbean. I'd personally save Europe & Alaska for a few years from now, when the Covid protocols are further in the past. Also, older is better for Europe in general, and imo Europe is better explored via land than ship if you've never been before and really want to immerse yourself. Everyone will have different opinions on that, though. YMMV.

 

[holula]

I’d either do Alaska or the 10 night Southern.

For me I prefer Europe not on a ship. Or if I am going to do a ship, one that doesn’t have DCL pricing since so much time is spent at the ports.

 

[Chipmunkmaniac]

Between the Europeans I would advice to look into the ports and see which are most appealing (taking into consideration size op ports, things to see and do but also weather) I ve done a regular med, Greke isles and doing Iceland next week. I loved my greek isles because of the weather and the small crowd on the ship but as far as ports go I thought it was a lot of the same. I didn't have that feeling during my regular Med. I'm European and Iceland was a bucketlist item. It's gonna be very cold and most likely rainy so if weather is an important factor for your cruise I wouldn't pick that.

Other than that factors that determine my pick for cruises: length of the cruise (the longer the better), price of the actual cruise but also the excursions I would want to do and the feasibility of actual travel (airfare, hotel, number of days required for the travel to and back)