Get on a boat?

Shawnasee

I'm coming back from deployment and my wife and I want to go on vacation.
We have two children, 9 and 7 and we're looking for...well, we have had plenty of ideas:

We were going to go on a multi family vacation and rent a big house on the beach at St. George Island but the other two families backed out due to funds.

So now we're looking at either going on a cruise or VRBOing it down somewhere in Florida.

My question is cruises:

I would imagine this is peak time so when is a good cheap time to go?
Our dates are pretty flexible but maybe August or Sept time frame.

Where should we start with cruises? Anyone have any good experiences with one or another?
I've heard quite a few stories of cruise food making entire boats sicks but I am sure these are very rare occurences. Right?

Is a cruise cool for kiddos?

Also I have an irrational fear for my families safety so are there places/destinations I should avoid? Unsavory stops that might net my family into the clutches of evil foreigners I should know about? I would hate to have to unleash my inner Liam Neeson on some tiny carribean island.

Bagginses

I've always had fun charting sport fishing boats, and you can get a lot of sun lazing around in the seats.

Thanatos

Pretty much anywhere that a family-friendly cruise is going to go is going to be very safe.

Shawnasee

Are there dodgy companies to avoid? Ones that suck more than others?

Kate of Lokys

If you don't mind a bit of cold, my family had a fantastic experience on a late August cruise to Alaska. It was one of the last cruises for the season on that run - peak time for Alaska is high summer, June-July, so the end of August was a fair bit cheaper, and the boat wasn't crowded at all. We went with Princess, on their seven day "Inside Passage" itinerary: depart from Seattle, one day at sea, stop at Ketchikan, spend a morning cruising up a fjord to the foot of a glacier, stop at Juneau, stop at Skagway, one day at sea, stop at Victoria B.C., back to Seattle. All of the Alaska stops are 8 hours minimum, so there's plenty of time to get off the boat and go exploring.

The main selling points of an Alaska cruise are the scenery and the relative isolation. The views are absolutely magnificent, and it's just *neat* to spend an entire day steaming slowly through fjords and waterways without ever seeing another boat, or plane, or human habitation. You just don't get the sense of crowding that you often do on, say, Caribbean cruises. And while there aren't exactly any warm sand beaches to enjoy, the pools on the ship are all quite nicely heated, and on sunny days, you can quite comfortably sit out on the deck in jeans (or even shorts) and a t-shirt.

As far as activities for kids goes, I think pretty much all cruise lines have some sort of entertainment program - I remember seeing groups of kids doing arts-and-crafts stuff during our cruise, and they also showed Disney and Pixar movies in the on-board movie theater during the afternoons.

One minor suggestion: don't bother upgrading to some fancy oceanview stateroom with a private balcony for a family trip. You're only going to be using your room as a place to sleep and change between other activities, so just get an interior stateroom. It will be tiny, but you have the whole rest of the ship to explore and stretch out in during the day - plus the shore excursions, of course.

Also, bring Gravol or some similar anti-nausea meds. I'm normally very strong-stomached, but I did feel a little queasy on the first day of our cruise. I took a Gravol during the evening, dropped unconscious for twelve hours, then woke up feeling just fine.

jclast

Haha I was just going to recommend an August cruise to Alaska. My wife and I took one for our honeymoon, and it was great. Lots of great sights to see, lots of activities that kids would like (we went whale watching, took a train ride, and took a jet boat tour, but other things (for those with a bit more money) included dog sledding and a helicopter tour as well).

Kate, did you cruise NCL? That's who we went with, and it sounds like your itinerary and mine were the same.

Accomodations were great (small, but they always are on a cruise ship), and the restaraunts were all good. We never got sick at all, and the only night we ever really felt the ship rock at all was the one night it stormed. I would recommend the windowed room though. You won't be in your room a ton, but if you just want to hang out away from a crowd the deck was really nice, and being able to open the shades makes your small room feel a ton bigger.

Another good thing about NCL is that you don't have assigned meal times and tables. You make a reservation or hit a buffet whenever you want.

antherem

I did the "voyage of the glaciers" one through Princess in late August for my honeymoon. Enjoyed the hell out of it. I agree with Kate of Lokys re:scenery and non-crowdedness. If it were just a two person thing I'd go with a balcony (really liked mine, especially for the bit where they parked the boat in Glacier Bay and spun it around for a while and brought us a 3 course champagne breakfast) but kids probably aren't going to want to sit around in the room that long. Aside from Vancouver it's all the good old US of A and I never felt unsafe.

Saw a fair number of kids, there seemed to be stuff for them to do (such as school me at putt-putt golf).

What they don't tell you in the brochures: it rains in southeast Alaska that time of year. A lot. Buckets. Not hard rain, just constant. Also, the little port towns (especially Skagway) are major tourist traps. Also also, plan to get to the city where your ship departs from a day ahead of time.

Kate of Lokys

We did Princess, but yeah, every time we stopped at a port we ran into at least one competing cruise line. It was kind of funny, actually.

The ship we were on had a 24-hour buffet, then dinner was your choice of traditional-style (set time, set table) or "anytime dining," where you either just show up whenever you want, or you call a few hours ahead of time to book a reservation for a time of your choice.

My sister was actually so impressed with our family Alaska cruise that she ended up going back for her honeymoon, too. It's just an awesome trip.

Shawnasee

I think my kids would be REALLY down for some whale watching and a train ride!
I take it, that it being Alaska passports aren't needed?

antherem

Shawnasee wrote: »

I think my kids would be REALLY down for some whale watching and a train ride!
I take it, that it being Alaska passports aren't needed?

If you just go to Alaska straight up? No passport required.
Unfortunately, cruise ships always have at least one international stop (it's actually some sort of law) so you need a passport to ride a cruise ship. It shouldn't be a problem to get passports by August, it's something like a three week turnaround.

e: unless you start and stop at the same, United States port, and are only going within the Western Hemisphere, but then you need a birth certificate and (if you're at least 16) government photo ID.

jclast

When we did the Alaskan cruise you did not need a passport, but it was 6 years ago so things may have changed.

antherem

jclast wrote: »

When we did the Alaskan cruise you did not need a passport, but it was 6 years ago so things may have changed.

The WHTI fully kicked in in 2009, the rules are a little screwy now, and it turned out that I was slightly incorrect (and am editing my previous post accordingly):

You need a passport to fly or drive to Canada anyway, so if you start or finish there you'll need one.

If you are on a cruise that does not start and stop in the same place, you need a passport, full stop.

If your cruise starts and stops in the US at the same port, you don't need a passport, but you need a birth certificate and (if you're at least 16) a government photo ID. I would strongly recommend just getting passports, because if god forbid you have an emergency and need to disembark and fly back from, say, Victoria or Vancouver you are boned if you don't have one.

e: Which I hope will not scare you off from the cruise idea because it really is an amazing time.

lordrel

I did a Carnival Cruise two years ago for New Year's Eve. Week long out of Ft. Lauderdale, stopped in Costa Rica, Belize, and Panama. I only did organized shore excursions and never felt unsafe. As long as you stick with those, you shouldn't have any problem. It's when you get off the beaten path that you can encounter the less savory. It was plenty warm for swimming, ect even in December/January. I knew both Carnival and Disney lines have lots of activities for the kiddos. Day camps, activities, heck I even saw a pretty decent water balloon fight. You can do a cruise pretty cheap if you skimp on the room. It is possible to only use the room for sleep, so you don't technically need much. I sprung for a balcony for mine, knowing I would needs some, er, recovery time. ; )