Most families are scattered all around the country. Work, school, and just life make it hard to stay close. Getting away from it all on a cruise to celebrate with the extended family is a great way to keep the love of your family together.
We just got back from a 60th birthday/Thanksgiving Caribbean extended family cruise on Allure of the Seas. It was fantastic and I would highly recommend it.
We have children and grand children that don’t live close to each other and a family cruise is a great way to reconnect a family. Only expectation was that we would meet for dinner in the main dining room every night.
The end results after this week was that family relationships were renewed. Although, the renewed family bonding really started prior to the cruise with all the planning.
Here is a little about our trip and things I recommend for a holiday cruise.
A few years ago we decided to do a family cruise party for my husband’s 60th birthday. His birthday is November 26th and it is always Thanksgiving week. In fact he was born on Thanksgiving day. This week worked well, since most schools are closed for the holiday. One thing to consider, traveling at this time is more expensive. Thanksgiving is the heaviest time of the year to travel and our cruise ran Sunday to Sunday. Therefore hotels, airlines, parking, and car rentals were priced higher.
As soon as the cruises were available we started looking and reserved our cruise rooms on Allure of the Seas out of Fort Lauderdale. The prices on cruises seem to be the most reasonable when they first come out or at the very end right before sailing. We wanted balcony rooms and wanted to pick the exact ones. Therefore, our best option was to reserve the rooms as soon as the cruises came out. Also it gave us time to slowly pay off the cruise reservations. Big hint here: Watch the prices through the next 2 years and if the price goes down call. Royal Caribbean will honor the price drop.
There are 11 of us with 5 children (ages 4, 6, 8, 14, and 16) and we booked 5 rooms.
Four of these rooms connected and therefore the parents and children could be together but not in the same room. You have to reserve each room with one parent and one child. Every room on a Royal Caribbean cruise must have one person 21 years or older in it. The extra child we put in our stateroom since it slept 4 and there is only my husband and myself. The connecting rooms only slept 2. When you get on the ship, ask the room attendant to open the balcony dividers and connecting doors so the kids can sleep in one room and mom and dad in the other. Also, at that time you can request the beds to be arranged how you want them. If your children are young, there is a lock on the balcony door that you can use so they cannot go wandering onto the balcony from the room they are sleeping in.
Here are some highlights with a few pics.
Birthday
1) We had custom t-shirts made for everyone and met at the cruise port wearing them. This was fun, united us, made for great pictures, and designing the shirts together as a family created excitement for the cruise. We wore the shirts the first day getting on the ship and also on my husband’s birthday. These were created and ordered through customink.com. They do a great job and their website is easy to use to design your own. I have used this site before and am really pleased with them.
2) My daughter had magnets made from magnetgirl.com and placed them on the stateroom doors. They made everyday festive and finding your room easy. Funny thing though, I had a hard time remembering my room number. I always just looked for the decorations to find the room.
3) My daughter-in-law decorated the cabin on Steve’s birthday from decorations purchased from Amazon. Here’s links to the items she purchased.
4) Steve’s birthday dinner was great my daughter and her husband ordered Champagne for the table, had balloons placed on it, cake with candle, and waiters sang Happy Birthday. I think Steve felt well loved and appreciated.
Thanksgiving
The decorations, events, and dinner on Thanksgiving day were just perfect. Just enough to make it festive and nice. There were 2 decorations on the ship for the entire week. A very large inflatable turkey and a Happy Thanksgiving sign on the promenade deck. Everyone loved the turkey and you saw many people taking pictures by it.
On Thanksgiving day they had a special menu and they made that night formal night. It was a really nice dinner.
The Cruise Compass did acknowledge Thanksgiving. Some of the events on board were Thanksgiving Trivia, Face painting, and of course the NFL football game showing in the Pub.
Port days
Philipsburg, St Maarten – Had a great day at the beach. I love this port to just walk and not take an excursion. There are many good excursions though. But for our family trip we We walked off the ship, through the port and followed the sidewalk to the left all the way to the beach on Front Street. We walked by people who were trying to rent us beach chairs and umbrellas to the Lazy Lizard Beach Bar & Grill 29 Front Street. I had read good things about this place online and felt comfortable using them. We rented beach chairs, umbrellas, and got a bucket of drinks (water, beer, soda, etc). The price was $20.00 for 2 chairs, one umbrella, and the bucket. Included in this price is wifi, buckets and shovels, bathroom use, locker use, and floating mats. We were in the second row of chairs from the water.
Advice: Get off the ship as soon as you dock in order to get ocean front beach chairs and check out beach towels on the ship.
On the beach you will have a great view of your docked ship, access to many merchants selling their wares, jet ski rentals, people wanting to do massages and hair braiding, and can easily walk to all the local shopping.
Old San Juan, Puerto Rico – We were at this stop on Thanksgiving day for the morning only. We all wanted to go to the forts but since it was a holiday they were closed for the day. Therefore, we got off the ship and at the end of the pier walked to the left. There will be many vendors on the sidewalk. I prefer not to buy the common souvenir items so I pass these right by.
If you keep walking you will come to craftsman who are making and selling their own wares. This jewelry was beautiful.
A little further and you will be strolling along Paseo la Princesa which ends at the Raíces Fountain and the bay waterfront. Strolling to the Bayfront and fountain you find many stalls of vendors lining the road and cultural entertainment as well. Towards the evening it is much livelier, but this trip was a morning only stop. The products are wonderful and talking to the craftsman is fun. It is always hot here so be sure and bring water for your walk. Other trips we have done are a horse and buggy ride (they have been discontinued) and the Bacardi Rum excursion.
Perfect Day CocoCay, the Bahamas – This is a Royal Caribbean owned island and therefore you can use your card for drinks. There are many paid activities such as the water park, but we elected for the sit on the beach and relax day. We went to the left at the end of the pier and went to the second beach. Location is near bathrooms, bars and food venue. Water was nice clear and warm. There was a huge sting ray and a few shark swimming in the water. We rented snorkel and fins and had a great day hanging out. Had lunch no charge at the food venue and also saw a huge Iguana. Very hot but relaxing day. There is a little village of huts that sell items. I find them a little high priced and nothing unusual for sale.
Ship Activities
Water diving and ice shows were fantastic. Another show Blue planet was not to my liking. I was stuck away from the aisle or I would have left 10 minutes into it. There is also Karaoke, trivia, music and dancing every day for all ages. Rock climbing was so much fun for everyone. Zip lining was enjoyed and pools were really nice. Don’t forget the ice skating, flow riding, and arcade. Free to all was the face painting, carousel rides, parade, cotton candy, popcorn, balloon animals, scooped ice cream cones.
Children’s swim area was fantastic.
Shopping on the ship is great from Michael Kors, Coach, and $10.00 item sale.
We liked going to the complimentary breakfast dining in Johnny Rockets. It was quiet and food was excellent.
Food was all good in the Main Dining room for dinner. We had the very best waiters. These guys made us feel special every night. They made our trip. Thank you so much Iputu and Eduard.
All I can say is wow. Do it – you will not be sorry. It is something your loved ones will remember forever. One last piece of advise take lots and lots of pictures professional and non professional. Build those lasting memories.
For additional information on the Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas click here: http: https://deestimes.com/allure-of-the-seas/