Planning a cruise for friends and family

Sigh of relief: we are onboard
The terrific thing about cruising with friends and family is that it offers up a nice blend of togetherness and alone time. But you have to get comfortable with the rhythm.

Loren, for example, worried: Were we spending enough time together? What were peoples' expectations? Was the mix of togetherness and alone time similar to other "friends and family" vacations her dad and I had taken in the past?

Our advice on that one follows a very simple construct: Do what it is you enjoy doing, when you want to do it. Make the evening meal your social touchstone. And the rest of it will sort itself out as people's interests and habits align.

One morning, for example, every single one of us showed up for a double elimination family shuffleboard tournament. I enjoyed meeting up with my sister and her high school buddy for poolside umbrella drinks. Gil, my father and I are early risers so the three of us tended to have breakfast together. After that, Gil and I generally hit the Promenade Deck for some vigorous walking.

Evenings, we would all get together for happy hour in one of the cabins, followed by dinner. In fact, eight of us had four adjoining cabins with balconies and that facilitated a lot of room-hopping. Nights followed a different pattern, generally dictated by bedtime preferences. One night, Loren joined us for dinner for an 18-course meal at Sabatini's while Nick took the boys to a pajama party in the Fun Zone.

Cruise lines generally recommend that larger groups book shore excursions in advance, due to limited seating availability in some cases. But we were so overwhelmed by the vast array of choices — almost 200 touring options — that we waited until we were onboard to make a decision.

Gil and I took three ship-sponsored excursions: a pretty marginal biking/snorkeling excursion in Cozumel, a fabulous bus tour of Old Panama City and a fun four-wheel drive "country safari" in Montego Bay.

Big Lesson No. 5: If you're traveling with children be aware that some tours have age restrictions. Both Loren and I had inquired as to whether the kids could do the country safari and we were assured that they could. The tour operator felt otherwise and it wasn't until we convinced him that the boys would be safe in their collapsible car seats that he okayed it.

Pam, during her online research phase, had run across two independent operators we hooked up with — Native Way for its land-and-sea tour on Grand Cayman, and OkeyDokey Tours in Costa Rica for a zip-wire and boating excursion. In each case, we had our own small bus and guide, which is an advantage.

One other point of information: Even though we traveled with toddlers, we purposely scheduled our cruise so that it would not coincide with any traditional school breaks. Remarkably, there were only 25 passengers under 21 out of a total of 1,970 people. Let's just say the young girl with the "Sweet by Birth, Sour by Choice" T-shirt was something of an aberration.

One man in his 50's complained, "This place is like a morgue after dark," and the demographic did trend up the age scale — in part, we were told, because 10-day cruises attract a more mature crowd and seniors happen to be particularly interested in the Panama Canal.

If the shipboard demographic matters to you, it would be worthwhile to do some extra research on   Cruise Critic's message boards, for instance, before choosing your cruise.

Back home
Three weeks after the cruise, I find myself going now and then to the live bridge cam on Princess' Web site to see where "our ship" is. At the moment, it's anchored in sparkling waters off of Grand Cayman.

We all have continued to touch base with one another — if only to leave lines from "We Are Family" on each other's voice mail. Those of us who shot digitally posted our photos at KodakGallery.com, and that's been a nice way to reconnect as well.

Best of all, we're planning our next cruise. Paris will have to wait.

Cruise Critic, which launched in 1995, is a comprehensive cruise vacation planning guide providing objective cruise ship reviews, cruise line profiles, destination content on 125+ worldwide ports, cruise bargains, tips, industry news, and cruise message boards.

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