Best Book Early for Family Fun!

 

As you may have heard me say, book early or you may be disappointed by what is available by the time you get around to searching for your next great cruise.

This is especially true if you are traveling with family and friends requiring more than a double occupancy room.

Baby Boomers dominated the cruise market for decades.  Now, younger generations have awakened to understand the great convenience and value of cruising.

A huge factor has been the adaptations of cruises to attract those younger generations, including the introduction of larger ships that are basically floating amusement parks.  

That's one big reason that Norwegian and Royal Caribbean have become so popular.

Another reason is their tremendous selection of huge suites that work well for families whose travel is more constrained by time than money.  Third, diverse choices for alternative dining means younger foodies who dine out several times a week when at home have lots of different restaurants to try on board.

There's also Disney Cruise Lines for families ready to splurge.  For those on a budget, MSC and Carnival are right there with lots of fun infrastructure like virtual reality and ropes courses.

Princess is testing the waters with new mega-ships but for now remains geared to "meaningful travelers," with less of the amusement park feel.

Speaking of amusement, private islands have also stretched beyond the comforts of a private beach with dining and pools to include more rides and activities to make going ashore for family fun a breeze...actually, a celebration!

Royal Caribbean's Perfect Day at Coco Cay seems to be the most anticipated cruise port ever based on passengers lining up to go ashore on my Bahamas cruise a couple of years ago.

Carnival is no slouch at figuring it out what the competition is doing.  They have introduced their new Celebration Key in hopes of generating just as much excitement...at generally lower pricing than Royal Caribbean.

And other lines visit private islands of their own, or share them with a sister brand, such as Celebrity visiting Perfect Day at Coco Cay.

In any case, family cruises in particular are booking so rapidly that cruise lines are already opening the 2026-27 season.

None of this means you can't contact me for a fourth quarter of 2024 or early 2025 booking.  Just remember that when you see something that suits you, book it.  

And if like me you enjoy going to the traditional dining room for dinner and a few other meals, supplementing that with other free options around the ship, you have more choices available, especially if you are flexible about dates and destinations, as retirees can be.  You might even prefer a calmer scene.  If you have kids, share this blog post with them.

Wes