Planning a family vacation; have questions

If I were to go back to Cuba or DR I would probably go with a plan that didn't include meals personally. I found the resort food acceptable but not great. The local restaurants and the food provided on all the tours was excellent though.

I totally understand wanting meals provided at the resort when you've got 4 kids with you. It would not be fun having to go off resort and head to a restaurant for every meal. It is quite cheap to eat there though.

I know you have some older kids, but something else to consider is a Disney Cruise. A few of our friends have done that with their kids and they've all raved about it. They watch and entertain your kids all day if you want.

http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/

I believe it's all-inclusive except for booze. From what we've seen, it looks pretty amazing.

Cruises, in general, are quite a bit more expensive than just going to a resort though.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:Cruises, in general, are quite a bit more expensive than just going to a resort though.

I haven't crunched the numbers, but that does seem to be the rule of thumb.

shabbs wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:Cruises, in general, are quite a bit more expensive than just going to a resort though.

I haven't crunched the numbers, but that does seem to be the rule of thumb.

It appears to be the rule of thumb where I check for deals:

Selloffvacations.com, GoTravelDirect.com, redtag.ca, iTravel2000.com.

The cruise vs resort debate has always raged on with my friends. My wife and I are not big fans of cruises and love the resort/all-inclusive type of thing where you can just relax at the pool or on the beach and not worry about carrying around money for meals and drinks etc... I'm a big fan of the swim up pool bar. Heh heh.

If we did do a cruise, it would be the Disney one. The photos our friends brought back are amazing and they do treat you like royalty on there. It's amazing for the kids as well as the parents from what we've seen.

Our best experience has been in the Mayan Riviera in Mexico.

shabbs wrote:The cruise vs resort debate has always raged on with my friends. My wife and I are not big fans of cruises and love the resort/all-inclusive type of thing where you can just relax at the pool or on the beach and not worry about carrying around money for meals and drinks etc... I'm a big fan of the swim up pool bar. Heh heh.

If we did do a cruise, it would be the Disney one. The photos our friends brought back are amazing and they do treat you like royalty on there. It's amazing for the kids as well as the parents from what we've seen.

Our best experience has been in the Mayan Riviera in Mexico.

I've never gone on a cruise but, that is because I agree with you on the whole all inclusive relaxing on the resort thing.

Cruises can be cost-competitive if you live near the departure place or are willing to drive down there. Friends of ours have done a cruise with kids and are planning another one. They are slightly insane, though, choosing to drive 28 hours straight with as many as 5 kids (somewhat blended family). The best we would attempt is a 2-day drive, so then you have to add-in 2 hotel rooms (or large suite) both ways, plus the extra 3-4 days travel time. I've only got 15 days off (which includes sick days as per company policy) so those extra days would be nearly a deal breaker. Even driving straight for 28 hours, while it saves the hotel costs, it's still 2+ days of driving, you spend the first day of your vacation sleep-walking, and yuu still need the extra day at the end of your vacation before you can reasonably be expected to be functional at work.

I am currently on a family vacation with my mine and my sister inlaws. 3 Adults and 3 kids. AHHHG is all I can say what a handful.

Now as for passports, I completed ours on line and dropped them off in person. My son and I had ours within 7 to 10 days. My wife had to get a UK passport so it was a different process.

As for travel, we had to change and do lay overs. my suggestion, go direct if at all possible. My inlaws came from the UK and had the same amount of travel as we did with our flight and we flew from Calgary.

Sorry cant help with the rest about food etc but if you ever come to florida budget on having money for parking at the parks etc because they take you to the ringer. Now I gotta get back to watch 2 of the 3 rug rats. Have fun

wprager wrote:Cruises can be cost-competitive if you live near the departure place or are willing to drive down there. Friends of ours have done a cruise with kids and are planning another one. They are slightly insane, though, choosing to drive 28 hours straight with as many as 5 kids (somewhat blended family). The best we would attempt is a 2-day drive, so then you have to add-in 2 hotel rooms (or large suite) both ways, plus the extra 3-4 days travel time. I've only got 15 days off (which includes sick days as per company policy) so those extra days would be nearly a deal breaker. Even driving straight for 28 hours, while it saves the hotel costs, it's still 2+ days of driving, you spend the first day of your vacation sleep-walking, and yuu still need the extra day at the end of your vacation before you can reasonably be expected to be functional at work.

Very true. Location is key for cruises. My friends drive down to save on the air fare, which brings the costs down. These guys would literally drop their kids off at the Disney Supervision Area for kids after breakfast and then not pick them up until like 11pm that day. Not sure I could do that, but that goes to show you the amount of "freedom" you can get with those types of services.

A lot of resorts will have similar offerings where you can have your kids play under supervision while you get away for a bit to relax or go sailing etc...

Sailing? Geez! You can sail *with* your kids.

wprager wrote:Sailing? Geez! You can sail *with* your kids.

HA HA! I guess... 4 kids on a hobie cat though... ?

In the shallow end of the ocean, two by two.