Why do you cruise?

[yorkieteacher]

We cruise because we find it is the most relaxing, yet also adventurous type of vacation. So much is done for you, and you really feel pampered. We also do all-inclusive resorts frequently if we want relaxation, and traveling/sight-seeing vacations if we want adventure. Cruising is the happy medium. We are taking a Disney Cruise to introduce our three year old grandson to Disney. We hear it is less stressful that the parks, which we have done with our kids numerous times while they were growing up. Someone always ended up mad or crying from stress/exhaustion at the parks, but we still love The World. But we always came home from the parks needing a vacation from our vacation, and have never come home from previous cruises exhausted. But we have only cruised RCCL, Norwegian, and Carnival before, and have another Norwegian scheduled for just DH and me. We'll see if Disney is worth the difference in cost soon!

 

[MunFam]

The West bound Panama Canal cruise ends in San Diego. The East bound one begins in San Diego.

Ooops. Yup. We were on the Wbpc.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Ooops. Yup. We were on the Wbpc.

We did the westbound one in 2008. Loved it. Actually that was our very first cruise ever.

 

[MunFam]

We did the westbound one in 2008. Loved it. Actually that was our very first cruise ever.

It was our first DCL cruise.

 

[xQuizx]

My wife and I enjoy cruising. When we had a little one I figured Disney would be the best to catering to her. Plus I didn't want to feel overly conscious traveling with a toddler.

The first night of our Disney cruise we were hooked on DCL.

Our cruise last month, the little one was 3 and a half and she had blast meeting all the characters. I loved being able to meet 5 different Disney characters in the span of an hour and only having to walk up and down for decks. Afterwards we got a snack and rested in our room, you can't beat that.

We weren't much into Disney, but now I am totally into it, especially since my kids love Disney. It's wonderful reliving all the magic through my kids eyes.

We take other vacations through out the year but that normally includes hustling and bustling out of cars, wondering what to eat or making meals. On a cruise we can truly relax and not have to worry about anything. Plus we can drop the kids off at the clubs and my wife and I can relax together.

I can't see us cruising with anyone else in the foreseeable future as long as we've got one in the nursery.

 

[NCConch]

We cruise because it has something for all of us (family of 4) and it is all inclusive as far activities. I am from South Fla, living 5 hours from the beach in NC. I need my vitamin sea. My son uses a wheelchair, so not having to get into our van to drive to dinner, or a show or a movie is a big help.

 

[avgsuperheroine]

We cruise because I like to keep super busy and my DH likes to relax and we both get to do what we want. Also, it's the only vacation we've ever taken where as the mom I don't feel like I'm doing the hard-work kind of mom stuff all vacation--instead I get to do only the fun-mom kind of stuff!

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Boating is in my blood. I grew up around boats and lived my entire young life on an island. Oh, and my parents are cruise addicts on top of all that. So, cruising has always just been a natural way to travel to me. Only since I met DH have I been taking more land-based vacations (DH is not good with boats). I took him on a cruise once when we were newly married and...let's just say he was not in love with it. He agreed to try it again, but only if it was Disney. So, here we are.

 

[bumbershoot]

Also, it's the only vacation we've ever taken where as the mom I don't feel like I'm doing the hard-work kind of mom stuff all vacation--instead I get to do only the fun-mom kind of stuff!

That's #1 on why my cousin looooooves cruising. She just gets to relax.

 

[budamacdvcr]

We started cruising to break up time at DaWorld as DW was getting tired WDW and wanted to do something else for a change but me and kids still wanted Disney. So, we did a 4 night land / 3 day sea DCL package. We then learned to do at least 4 nights on cruise and to always have cruise as last half of land / sea package. Then we started doing 7 night DCL, have done a B2B on the Dream, sailed concierge and next summer will be sailing on our 10th DCL so Platinum here come.
We love the ships, the relaxation, the high quality of everything DCL, love the Caribbean (especially CC), love being "unplugged" and though you can't anymore, being able to sit back on a veranda with a cigar and bourbon brought onboard was a "happy place". We are also DVC members and still get our fill of the parks - DW has come around to loving the parks almost as much as me.

 

[disneybass]

Cruising is one of the things we talked about for 30 years and just never did. We like and trust the Disney brand so when they launched the Dream we took our first cruise and loved it. After 6 DCL cruises and lots of price increases we are taking our first RCCL cruise next month and I'm sure we will love it. No kids just the 2 of us in our 60's

 

[kaseyC]

The Love Boat!! Growing up in the 70's, watching the Love Boat every Saturday night, I always wanted to take a cruise. Took my first one in the early 90's for our honeymoon and have been hooked ever since. Absolutely adore sea days so the long transatlantic cruises are my favorites.

 

[BelleWannabe4]

I never thought I would like to cruise, but I love going to the beach and sitting in the sun. Being on the water is SO peaceful and being on a cruise can be even better than the beach because my email doesn't work. I've worked through way too many vacations and cruises are a great excuse to actually not respond to emails/calls. Some might even call it magical

I went on the first DCL cruise as a fluke - I was a CP and had wanted to try out DCL after seeing all the advertising. Once I finally could afford a cruise, it seemed like a natural choice. And now I'm kind of hooked on Serenity Bay and Disney service. I'm sure other cruise lines are great too, but when you really only get one week off a year, it seems like too big of a risk to try something I'm not sure about.

 

[asamklove]

Because I don't have to cook, fix food, clean, or run errands...because I can just look at a list of FUN stuff for the day and do as much or as little as I want....because my kids loooove the kids clubs and I can have a couple dates with my husband in cool places....buffets at breakfast & lunch means no thinking and easy to throw a balanced meal on a plate for picky lil eaters...delicious fruity cocktails handed to me while I sit...

 

[bethy]

Because I don't have to cook, fix food, clean, or run errands...because I can just look at a list of FUN stuff for the day and do as much or as little as I want....because my kids loooove the kids clubs and I can have a couple dates with my husband in cool places....buffets at breakfast & lunch means no thinking and easy to throw a balanced meal on a plate for picky lil eaters...delicious fruity cocktails handed to me while I sit...

Going on our first cruise in 2 weeks and am doing it for all of these mom reasons. I cannot WAIT to try it and maybe actually get a vacation for *me*. The only thing that could ruin it would be seasickness and I'm praying it won't be an issue. I'm bringing every type of med available!

 

[asamklove]

Going on our first cruise in 2 weeks and am doing it for all of these mom reasons. I cannot WAIT to try it and maybe actually get a vacation for *me*. The only thing that could ruin it would be seasickness and I'm praying it won't be an issue. I'm bringing every type of med available!

Ohhhhhhh-you're gonna LOOOOOOVE IT!!!!
It's the perfect vaca for a mom They will even cut your kids food so you can eat dinner while it's hot - true story!!
Don't stress too much about being sick - I'm prone to motion sickness & the only time I got sick was after a pirate boat excursion...never on the ships.
HAVE FUN!!!!!!!

 

[bethy]

Ohhhhhhh-you're gonna LOOOOOOVE IT!!!!
It's the perfect vaca for a mom They will even cut your kids food so you can eat dinner while it's hot - true story!!
Don't stress too much about being sick - I'm prone to motion sickness & the only time I got sick was after a pirate boat excursion...never on the ships.
HAVE FUN!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Ofinn]

Despite the complaining about the prices I find it to be the best value for my family. I have two preteen boys with metabolisms I wish I had. They eat constantly and stay skinny. It's only going to get worse as they enter the later teen years. I love the all inclusiveness of a cruise. I love the fact that I pay it off months in advance and then I'm pretty much done. It's so easy to budget a cruise vacation when you know the cost of everything upfront.

 

[bumbershoot]

They will even cut your kids food so you can eat dinner while it's hot - true story!!

OK, setting good expectations here...they *will* do that. They don't ALWAYS do that. They haven't for us and thank goodness b/c that would irritate me. (and confuse us because what is there to cut with mac&cheese?) They did for my cousin's kids. Our server did something with the tablemate-mom's food one night, in a "you take care of your kids, I'll take care of you" way (she had something in a shell? something complicated). She appreciated it in a way I would not (but being vegetarian means never eating out of a shell LOL)

But they don't *always* do it.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

My son uses a wheelchair, so not having to get into our van to drive to dinner, or a show or a movie is a big help.

This is one of the big reasons we continue to sail. My mother uses a wheelchair and it's so nice to not have to deal with the in and out of vehicles. It tires her out more than actually going places because she uses a transfer seat to get in and out so it's physical excursion for her.

Plus, we're terrible at the "Where do you want to eat? What do you want to do? Where do you want to go?" Game. We go through several rounds of "I don't care." and "I don't know." and "Whatever you want".