There is a rule of thumb when you want to bring your family with you on a trip: the adults can only really enjoy themselves when the children do. What is exciting and entertaining for an adult, such as historical sightseeing or visit to a world-famous art museum, could be an absolute chore for preadolescence or teenagers to go through. Naturally, it is a parent’s joy to see their children happy and besides, having to drag someone who is majorly bored or unwilling along on your journey is something that most people would rather avoid when they are on vacation. The whole point of a family trip is to see your loved ones being happy and bonding together. And that would take some preparation. The secret to a wholesome and memorable family trip is to plan ahead and to choose activities that all members of the family can enjoy. Here are some tips for planning cruise excursions for your family:
Have a loose schedule
Traveling with your family is quite different than traveling by yourself, needless to say. Your time flexibility becomes much more restricted when you have your family with you. Everything takes longer than expected: getting on and off the ship, getting to the public transport, picking up luggage or even something trivial as buying food and drinks.
This could become quite an irritating factor if you have a tight schedule. Here are some tips:
– Always leave some spare time for unforeseen circumstances.
– Pre-book and pre-plan as much as you can. Ask for discounts, since some agencies and platforms like My Cruise Excursions offer special prices for children on their tours.
– Communicate the planned trip to your family. It’s always easier to have everyone on the same page.
Know what to bring
Generally, you would think that you should pack as much as you can since you have to accommodate the needs of every family member. On the other hand, maybe an abundance of luggage slowing you down when everyone is rushing to catch a bus is not a very comforting thought. Try and pack only the essentials and to minimize consumables or items that you can buy on the fly or at the decided location. You might want to save some extra space for souvenirs as well. Prioritize personal items that you can’t buy or some items that you specifically need (certain medications or your kid’s favorite toy). Do pay a little more attention when you travel to a less-developed country, where your shopping options might be more limited.
Let the kids pick the activities too
As mentioned before, certain activities might be much more appealing to younger members of the family. It is important to keep everyone excited, energetic and entertained. Here are some recommendations for choosing a suitable tour for your family:
- Many children have a soft spot for animals. Interacting with animals has been proven to be highly beneficial for children in many regards. Choose excursions that include national parks or zoo. Let the kids have the chance to make some adorable friends along the way.
- Tours that include active entertainment tend to be more stimulating for teenagers and adolescence. Try a theme park with adrenaline-inducing activities or maybe even an ATV tour for the young adults.
Especially with very young children, half-day tours are often more than enough. You don’t want to strain your luck
Be relaxed and flexible
Last but not least– relax and enjoy! You are on vacation, remember? Everything might not go exactly the way you planned it, but such things happen all the time. Stress can be infectious, so if you are stressed about keeping up with the plan, your family might feel the same way too. The most important thing here is to keep everyone happy, so don’t worry yourself sick over making everything perfect. Accept little changes to the plan that might occur and be flexible! Go with the flow a little. Who knows, it may even take you somewhere you didn’t know you want to be.
Leave a Reply