Dear reader, when I say family cruises every one's involved here.  Infants, adolescents, older teens, mom, dad, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunties and grandparents. There will be something on board ship for every one to enjoy and participate in either on board or on shore.

Family cruising is safe, all the crew having been trained in basic fire, health, hygiene, safety and security subjects prior to embarking. Teams of security and fire watch men are also on duty 24 hours a day who report back directly to the Staff Captain. Not only that, but there are, on larger vessels, over 1000 crew members working at any time so if any small child were to wonder off, crew will be at hand until your kids are happily re-united with you.

Firstly, on a family cruise, you will be placed in adjacent cabins on the same corridor to your family members. This makes life much easier when wanting to arrange meeting times and to simply check up on them.

Family Cruises - Dining

Your evening's dining tables will be arranged, so that you will be seated together. If you are more than 8 or 10 people in the party, larger than most table-tops hold, there will be 2 separate tables next to each other for you. Here you should then be served by the same waiter.

If you're a family of 4, you might be sat at a table with another family of 4 or 5 . In this case, the Maitre d' will sit you with the same age group of fellow cruisers.

Dining is often one of the highlights of the cruise, even if your family don´t often dine together at home, it will be fun for you all. The crew will take great care of you and make sure that you enjoy every minute of your meals. Often you will be invited to get up and dance, after the main course, with the rest of the crew´s dining room waiters nightly entertainment. Yep, dancing waiters.

If you are concerned about the mandatory evening dining-room dress code, and your children really don't and won't wear anything other than shorts and T-shirts, then there is the buffet option for them to use at dinner. During the day, as  the dining rooms are less formal, casual attire is also fine at these times. You will be able to rent a tuxedo on board if you don't want your family to miss out on one of the two formal nights per week. They are great fun and 99% of the guests go out of their way to look their very best and enjoy the evening.

How often can you simply walk into a restaurant  at home, without prior booking and get a table for your whole family? Here the tables are set for you every night regardless of the size of your family. Same time, same place, unless you opt for an open seating: some ships have free style dining, which I don´t recommend if travelling with a large family.

Once on board, all of the food is free, (you will have to pay extra for specialist cakes and chocolates), so you and your family can enjoy as much as you want from the buffets and the dining rooms, and all of the other food outlets (pizzeria, deli, chinese etc).  Order away, try a selection off the menu, if you don't like it, order something else. All of the waste food is recycled anyway, so there will be a happy farm animal or fish at the end of the cruise. 24 hour room service is also available on most vessels (free of charge).

Family Cruises - Destinations

The ships itineraries are always fun and educational regardless of where you set sail. MORE INFORMATION.

Family Cruises - Settling In

There will be many other children on board the larger and more popular cruise ships, sometimes up to 800. I can guarantee you that your child will find his or her way around in a couple of days and will be wanting to go off and play with their new-found friends, making your life easier as well. Also there are many hosted activities for the kids to sign up for, where they can make full use of the ships' kids and teens facilities.

Family Cruises - Special Occasions

On board ship, gifts and cakes can be purchased at the reception or arranged online prior to embarking. The waiters will literally make a song and dance out of a birthday or wedding anniversary on the night you specify the cake to be served. Cabins can also be decorated. Also ships' photographers will be at hand to snap away. (though I suggest you bring your own camera as they can be a little pricey. It's worth the money if you don't want to be bothered taking foto's yourself. The quality the photographers deliver is generally decent, and you only pay for the foto's you want to have.)

The ships will have 24 hour movies, satellite t.v. and free room service, not that I suggest you stay in your cabin all voyage, but just to know it's available if needed.

Internet is available on board with Internet credit cards available for purchase at reception, so your entire family can keep in contact shoreside. Also, on some newer vessels in-cabin wifi is available.

The on board ship credit card will need to be swiped for all on-board purchases from the gift shop, from casino to liquor. If a minor member of the family decides to go AWOL and purchase a beer or a shot, the crew will know at source not to serve them as it will show up on the swipe card register and will be blocked instantly. You as the responsible adult will be notified shortly afterwards to reactivate the card thus finding out about any mis-adventures.

18 is the on board casino gambling age. So if all your family are using your credit, i.e. you paying for all the on board spending, put an individual limiter per day on each card at reception so they cannot go overboard with your credit.

There is a ships' doctor on board with 2 to 3 nurses at hand.  24 hours on standby. They will have opening hours in the morning and early evening. If you are on prescription medication, take a form with you from your doctor advising what you are taking and your diagnosis.

Cruise ships food and beverage staff are well aware of food allergies, which are fairly commonplace now. When booking your cruise, simply make sure you specify what food allergy you have, so we get the heads-up before you arrive. In extreme cases, especially seafood- or nut-allergies, to name but a few, get your doctor to write down a list of can and can't eat products, photocopy it and fax it to the travel agent, also bring a copy on board.

Another plus about cruising is that you cut out a tremendous amount of driving time, and you are not stuck in the same resort. On a cruise, your resort goes with you. Not only do you have the ship to explore and enjoy, you will have a different view and location every morning to wake up to. Ships often set sail at night, so this is the perfect time for you to take advantage of the ships' on board entertainment

The bottom line here ladies and gentlemen, is that you are taking an experience and a memory away with you that you won't regret. Let the crewmembers take care of you and your family whilst you relax and enjoy your well-deserved time together.

Browse through my site to avoid missing out on any pieces of information that will come in handy, and to determine where you might want to travel, bearing in mind the ages of your family. The itineraries you choose are up to you and your budget, though I certainly remember seeing the younger families around the Caribbean, on the beaches scuba diving, snorkeling and swimming with the dolphins, and the older children (16 to 20), in Europe experiencing other countries, cultures, arts, foods and history.

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