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It all started almost a year ago: "You know," my father remarked one day while we were on the phone, "I'm going to be turning 70 next year. We've been thinking maybe we should try to get everyone together." Inwardly, I groaned. Dad's birthday is mid-January, just when everyone is finally settling back into school and work routines after the craziness of the holidays. Could we really work in a 1,000-mile trip home at that point without major disruption? Still, turning 70 is kind of a big deal.
But it turned out that when he said "everyone," he meant all the kids and grandkids, and when he said "together," he meant that, after multiple consultations with me, my brother, and stepbrother, my father and stepmother, a plan was hatched to take all twelve of us on a Caribbean cruise. In June, because January (it turns out) was no more convenient for anyone else than it was for us.
To explain the enormity of this gesture would be an entire 'nother post; such a trip is, quite simply, an extravagance. We are blessed by my parents' generosity and their ability and willingness to finance such an adventure. And while my father said it was for him, so he could see his far-flung family all together for once, it was such a gift to all of us, both to have a vacation and to be able to do so together.
But that's not really what I want to talk about today; today I want to talk about the nuts and bolts of this kind of travel with kids. None of us had ever been on a cruise before, and we weren't sure what to expect.
There was the preparation beforehand; my husband and I had to renew our passports, and we had to get passports for the kids. (Oh, that was a fun day: I blogged about it here.) Because I'm divorced, I also needed paperwork from my ex in order to get the kids' passports. I was told to get additional paperwork to bring with us to certify that the kids' father knew we were taking them out of the country, too, and after jumping through ninety-seven hoops to get aaaaaaall of that in order ... our passports were glanced at exactly twice (while boarding and leaving the ship), and the "my children's mother has my permission to travel with them" letter never even got unfolded. Though surely if we hadn't bothered, it would've been a problem.
Packing was a bit challenging, both because 1) There are some dress code requirements for dinner on the ship and 2) I can't remember the last time we went somewhere for a whole week without doing laundry. We managed, though. My kids are tweens, which meant that -- aside from packing clothes -- they each easily packed books and hand-held video games and the like in their backpacks. My stepbrother's family had a preschooler and a toddler in tow, so I can only assume they brought one suitcase entirely full of diapers and another filled with toys. This made me immensely grateful for the fact that bigger kids seem to require less extra "stuff."
The ship itself is glitzy and huge and loud, which was a bit of a challenge when it came to my son (who has sensory sensitivities). I actually did a detailed review of our experience with Carnival if you want the breakdown of the entire cruise experience, but here are what I think are the pertinent items when it comes specifically to cruising with children:
1) Inter-generational cruising is a fabulous way to have your family all get together and have "away" time, too. Having family there meant we could do things with the kids or pass off one kid or even pass off both, if we wanted. That was a really nice side benefit, even beyond getting to spend time with relatives we don't get to see often enough.
2) Although many cruise lines, like Carnival, offer kids' programs, you can't assume they'll be right for your family. In our case (as detailed in my review), we ended up not utilizing the kids' programs for a variety of reasons. As we had plenty of hands around, it wasn't a big deal, but had it just been the four of us with us assuming the kids would have "camp,"
