Posts Tagged ‘Cruising’
Six Areas To Focus On When Planning A Family Cruise
Cruising as a family requires special considerations. Although the cruise selection process is similar to that of other groups, families will need to employ entirely different criteria when selecting nearly every aspect of a cruise. For example, when you’re cruising with kids you’ll probably have a different criteria for selecting a cabin than someone who is cruising alone. When you’re cruising as a couple, the late-night entertainment might be important, but perhaps not so much when you’re cruising with young kids – you get the idea. When looking for the right cruise, we recommend concentrating on the following six areas and considering the answers to each of the questions carefully before booking your next family cruise:
Cruising with young kids isn’t the same as cruising with teens. Cruising with a larger group isn’t the same as cruising as a single family. Should you cruise to Alaska, Europe, the Caribbean or Mexico? Which cruise line is best for your family? All ships aren’t created equal, so which ship is best for your family? These are all questions that you’ll have to answer before booking your family cruise, so make sure that you read our cruise line reviews and other cruising resources before contacting a travel agent – you’ll be glad that you did!
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Restrictions On Cruising While Pregnant
Your third trimester has just arrived and you could no doubt use some rest and relaxation, right? Well, although most airlines allow you to travel right up until the very end of your pregnancy, most cruise lines impose more severe restrictions during this period and you just might be out of luck. Maybe traveling during pregnancy isn’t the best idea anyway, but you’ve had enough of just sitting around and waiting and you’re in need of some serious pampering, so you decide to go for it and book a cruise.
Have no fear, so long as you cruise before your third trimester (weeks 28-40), you should easily be able to find a cruise line that will allow you to sail. Although the majority of cruise lines require that you are no more than 23 or 24 weeks along at the time of disembarkation, you can find a few that will allow you to stretch it out a bit…or indefinitely, although that isn’t necessarily recommended.
There are only a couple of mass-market cruise lines that provide a bit more flexibility. Costa Cruise Lines will permit you to sail as long as you’re 24 weeks or less at the time of embarkation, which depending upon the length of sailing, could bring you right up to your third trimester. MSC Cruises also has a more liberal policy, allowing you to cruise if you’re 27 weeks or less on the day of disembarkation. In both cases, your doctor will still need to demonstrate your fitness for travel.
Moving into the specialty market will definitely grant you more flexibility. Fred Olsen Cruise Lines. Star Clippers and Swan Hellenic all allow pregnant women to sail right up to 27 weeks (based upon disembarkation date). You’ll even find a handful of cruise lines that have no formal written guidelines or allow you to cruise throughout the third trimester (AMA Waterways, Cruise West, Peter Deilmann and Viking River Cruises). However, this does not necessarily mean that there are no restrictions. At the very least, you’ll need to demonstrate your fitness for travel by providing a physician’s report and you should also fully understand the risks associated with traveling during your third trimester.
No matter which cruise line you choose, you should plan on visiting your physician the week prior to sailing. Because cruise ship medical facilities are not equipped to handle medical emergencies, you should not travel if you are experiencing a high risk pregnancy or if you are not in perfect health at the time of departure. Be sure to contact your travel agent or cruise line well in advance to confirm their policies and requirements.
Bon Voyage!
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