Is cruising right for us?

[MissDisney121]

My family and I are thinking of doing the land and sea package next august and I was just wondering if you all could give me your opinion on whether or not cruising is right for us. It would be my parents both in their 40's, me (21) and my brother (15). we are all pretty shy and I know for a fact my brother will not do any of the teen clubs. Is there enough stuff on board for all of to do together? will we be uncomfortable? any advice would be great.

 

[atinkerbellmom]

I think the land/sea package is the perfect thing to test the waters (say to speak). Take the vacation and you will soon see if you are one of us that are "hooked". Happy vacation.

 

[frdeb1999]

I 2nd it on your gonna be hooked! I think you'll all do fine. There are plenty of things to do as a family if your not comfortable venturing out on your own.

 

[PurdyBertnie]

My mom and I were in the same boat (no pun intended) we are both very shy and we decided to do the land and sea. Let me tell you by the time I set foot on the ship I wished we had done a 7 day and skipped the land part, we rebooked for June 2010 and I have every intention of applying for a job with DCL as soon as I graduate. So my advice is go for it but be prepared to rebook cause you will love it. In answer to your question about the activities, there is soooo much to do I would check to see if any recent cruisers have their Navigators scanned in so that yo ucan see the types of activities going on right now.

 

[mikehn]

What does being shy have to do with cruising? Its not like a frat party on board or anything.

 

[MelissaE1]

I think you will really enjoy yourselves. My husband and son are very quiet in large groups of people they don't know, my daughter and I are not. All of us have a great time on DCL and are planning our fourth cruise with them. There are family activities, swimming, ports to explore, nightly stage shows, movies, etc. that you can do as a group. You can request a table for four in the dining room if you think you would be uncomfortable sitting with strangers. You may surprise yourselves, though... my quiet son (almost 15) actually DID decide to go check out the teen club the first night, and there were many solitary kids doing their own thing, drawing, listening to music, etc. He actually went back quite a bit, which I never expected. He made a friend that spoke his language (soccer) and had a great time.

A couple of thoughts:

- You can check out recent navigators (ship activity guides) for an idea of what goes on here: Recent Navigators.

- I highly suggest the 4 night sea instead of the 3 night -- the four night is really only 3 full days, and in all my 7 years on this board I've seen tons of people say they wished they had been on the ship longer, but never that they had been on for less time.

- You can often save money by booking the cruise and the land part separately.

Prepare to become addicted.

 

[westjones]

If you like to relax, do the 4 night cruise, but if you want to be so busy you will not have time to relax, do the 3 night. As for your 15 year old brother and the teen club. Please try to encourage him to give it a try. I have twin DD's and one is very outgoing and the other is so extremely shy that at school (I kid you not) students have actually told my outgoing DD that they never notice her twin sister before when she tells them about her twin.

On the cruise it was amazing! My shy DD made friends that she is still talking to! She only came to the shows with us the first and last night. At CC her sister came back on the ship long before she did. I have to say, DH and I were rather shocked. We thought she would be with us most of the time. This was our 9th cruise, my the first one for my girls to be in the teen club....they both said this was the BEST cruise yet and they both loved the teen club. We hadn't planned to do it again, but we just had to book again for next year (because I know that they can only enjoy the teen club for a couple more years).

DJ