Help me convince my hubby....

[MaiTaiMary]

We're a family of 5 looking to book a cruise. :) Our kids have never cruised before, but we've been on two cruises in the past 10 years.

 

My hubby wants a Mexican Riviera cruise out of Los Angeles this fall. The price is good and it would be driving distance, so that would save about $2,000 on airfare for the 5 of us. The ports aren't of any interest to us as we've been to Mexico many, many times.

 

After MUCH research ;) I've decided I'd rather wait a bit and save up for a cruise we REALLY want to go on. I'm looking at the "Dream class" ships. The ships and the itineray look SO much more appealing to me!! :D

 

However, it would be quite a bit more expensive. After adding on airfare, we're probably talking twice as much.:( I need help convincing my hubby that we should just wait a bit long (I'm thinking Spring 2015) and save up for this one!

 

The ship looks like a lot of fun and the Carribbean ports (Southern, probably) would be ports we would actually be interested in visiting.

 

Our kids will be 7, 8, and 10 years old.

 

HELP!!! :D HOW CAN I CONVINCE MY HUBBY WE NEED TO SAVE UP A LITTLE LONGER AND SPLURGE ON A BREEZE CRUISE?!?? :D

[JaneyLynn]

I had the same issue, kinda. BF said he'd be willing to go but it had to be under a certain amount of money. I'm tired of Mexico too but mostly I wanted a cove balcony on the Dream. So I would look at the site everyday and moan about how the Carnival special $50 deposit would have worked for us but it only went to April... I kept saying to my BF "if only Carnival would extend the $50 deposit then we could book in the fall and pay monthly for it". I said it everyday LOL and BAM they offered it and HE suggested we book so we could pay it off.

 

Make a list, show the numbers for the cruise your hubby agrees to and a list with the numbers of the 2015 broke into months.

 

Good luck!!

[diamondcharl]

Tell him youll make it up to him somehow!;)

[wb3690]

Just try to convince him of something new. I know you'd have to save more money for the trip, but it would be worth it. I think we're doing something similar....we live in FL and will take a trip next summer for our anniversary and then take a break to save up for an amazing alaskan cruise. I'd rather do something new.

[MichelleChell]

Tell him you will have a garage sale and skip dinners out to save the $. Worked for me. LOL and I didn't have to do either n the long run.

[porcupyn]

We're a family of 5 looking to book a cruise. :) Our kids have never cruised before, but we've been on two cruises in the past 10 years.

 

My hubby wants a Mexican Riviera cruise out of Los Angeles this fall. The price is good and it would be driving distance, so that would save about $2,000 on airfare for the 5 of us. The ports aren't of any interest to us as we've been to Mexico many, many times.

 

After MUCH research ;) I've decided I'd rather wait a bit and save up for a cruise we REALLY want to go on. I'm looking at the "Dream class" ships. The ships and the itineray look SO much more appealing to me!! :D

 

However, it would be quite a bit more expensive. After adding on airfare, we're probably talking twice as much.:( I need help convincing my hubby that we should just wait a bit long (I'm thinking Spring 2015) and save up for this one!

 

The ship looks like a lot of fun and the Carribbean ports (Southern, probably) would be ports we would actually be interested in visiting.

 

Our kids will be 7, 8, and 10 years old.

 

HELP!!! :D HOW CAN I CONVINCE MY HUBBY WE NEED TO SAVE UP A LITTLE LONGER AND SPLURGE ON A BREEZE CRUISE?!?? :D

 

Post the above on http://www.bogleheads.com - folks there will do a quick takedown of your DH ;-)

 

PS: I am not kidding you!

[JimAOk1945]

We went through the same thing a few years ago. My wife sat down at the computer and did a lot of research to persuade me to get out of my comfort zone. She looked up reviews here on Cruise Critic, Youtube videos, etc. of the places she wanted to go to. Then she called me to the computer and had me look at them. Wow! When I saw what I was missing, I jumped at the chance to see these new places! Now, I let her do all the itinerary planning. :D

 

Talk to him about the differences in the itineraries and explain how much better the ports of call will be on the route you prefer.

 

Good luck. It's a big world out there. Sometimes its best to plan and wait.

Edited April 5, 2014 by JimAOk1945

[Stateroom_Sailor]

If it were me, I would take the kids to Mexico, then you and the hubby do the Caribbean for an anniversary or something. It's a win-win ;)

[frayedend]

Honestly if I was going to wait and save I would save a little more and go on Oasis. Carnival ships are okay but not great for kids that age (unless they will enjoy the kids club). I've never been to the Mexican Riviera but the Caribbean islands are all basically the same as each other.

[BeagleOne]

I'll respectfully disagree about the Caribbean islands. Different cultures on a lot of them, different histories, different sights to see...if you're going to sit on the beach on every island, yeah, then they can be very similar, but if you're going to try to see the islands, there are a lot of differences.

[KPfromCT]

Honestly if I was going to wait and save I would save a little more and go on Oasis. Carnival ships are okay but not great for kids that age (unless they will enjoy the kids club). I've never been to the Mexican Riviera but the Caribbean islands are all basically the same as each other.

 

You're kidding, right?:eek::eek:

The Dream class of ships have PLENTY to do.

Let me tell you, if you cruise on the Breeze for 6 or 8 days, and are bored, then you are doing something wrong. It's just not possible. Honestly, 8 days wasn't long enough, as we didn't get to experience it all.

Convinced DH we needed to go back this year and see the rest:D:D

[YB Nrml]

My mother always told DH and I we should save our money for retirement and not cruise. I don't regret a single penny or day that we've spent cruising, those memories are priceless. I never, ever, want to look back and think of opportunities missed because we were saving for an unknown future.

 

Our first cruise with our kids was so much fun, they didn't care what ports we went to and they were teenagers. We all still talk about that trip and it was 8 years ago!

 

Make your memories now, who knows what tomorrow may bring?

[joeyancho]

Tell him youll make it up to him somehow!;)

 

This!!! Wink, wink.

[k2excursion]

The Breeze is a great ship. Really bad shows at night, but pretty much everything else was great. The nighttime entertainment can be lacking, so some people can get bored at night. But there is so much to do during the daytime, that you will only get bored during the day if you want to be, for the young & the old. I paid extra for the 3D theater, which filled the void at night. It was worth it to me. The ropes course & waterpark & everything else will keep the kids (and us older kids;)) so busy & having so much fun, even if they don't go to the kids clubs.

 

You asked me about the serenity on your other thread. Breeze's is just like Magic's. I spent almost no time in there, because I'm one of those older kids that's constantly running around the ship. Serenity is not my thing. But it definitely looked very nice, and the people partaking of it seemed to really love it.

 

I have been to many of the Caribbean islands now, and I can say that they are definitely not all the same. Some will seem a bit similar, such as St Thomas & St Maarten have a similar look when coming into port. But each one offers very different & unique experiences. Some islands are totally flat, some are very mountainous. Some are more desert, some have a lot of forest. Each one is unique, unless you're only looking for any old beach to plop down on.

[Chrisp414]

Mmmmmmm I don't know - $2,000 is a lot of money to me. I think I would just cruise from your nearest port (plus the kids haven't done a cruise yet - so everything will be new to them) and with the $2,000 savings put it towards another vacation- either for just you two or towards a family one. That's just my opinion.

[ma_t_gus]

Forget your husband in decision making. Ask your kids which they would like to do. If the kids are not happy in the cruise, you and hubby will not be happy in cruise. Also, us guys are not picky when it comes to these things. We want to make sure the wife and kids are happy. We don't want to worry about you guys being unhappy when in vacation mode, way too much stress. If we want that stress, we might as well stay home. All we need is a beer, food and some loving and we're a jelly from there on.;)

[klaner64]

If you can take the kids out of school it might be cheaper if you can go a different time of the year and Southwest flies out of San Diego which may save you some money on air. Try looking at Eastern Caribbean to Ocho Rios Grand Turk and Nassau. You will get a little bit of everything without Mexico.

[paradiscroozin]

I live in California and have the same issue. The first cruise we ever went on was to Catalina Island and Ensenada. I hated the dirty water and it didn't even feel like I was on vacation. I usually travel to places with turquoise waters so for me it sucked. I don't even like Los Cabos in Baja California! lol

 

So you can either try and save for a Caribbean place or Book an all inclusive Cancun land vacation where kids are free and alcohol is included or book a Hawaiian cruise, or come up to San Francisco and go to Alaska!

 

I was just on the Victory out of Miami and went to the Caribbean but we ended up driving to Disney world and spent time there too. The cost of airlines is horrible. It's practically the cost of the cruise!

 

Don't they have any kids sail free to Hawaii? That would be a great 2 weeks!

[MaiTaiMary]

 

Don't they have any kids sail free to Hawaii? That would be a great 2 weeks!

 

What, what?? :confused::D :eek: Does anybody have info on this??

[jimbo5544]

What, what?? :confused::D :eek: Does anybody have info on this??

 

 

I have never seen kids sail free for Hawaii cruises. That does not mean it does not happen, but those cruises where that provision applies is usually pretty limited.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[fridaythe13th]

We're a family of 5 looking to book a cruise. :) Our kids have never cruised before, but we've been on two cruises in the past 10 years.

 

My hubby wants a Mexican Riviera cruise out of Los Angeles this fall. The price is good and it would be driving distance, so that would save about $2,000 on airfare for the 5 of us. The ports aren't of any interest to us as we've been to Mexico many, many times.

 

After MUCH research ;) I've decided I'd rather wait a bit and save up for a cruise we REALLY want to go on. I'm looking at the "Dream class" ships. The ships and the itineray look SO much more appealing to me!! :D

 

However, it would be quite a bit more expensive. After adding on airfare, we're probably talking twice as much.:( I need help convincing my hubby that we should just wait a bit long (I'm thinking Spring 2015) and save up for this one!

 

The ship looks like a lot of fun and the Carribbean ports (Southern, probably) would be ports we would actually be interested in visiting.

 

Our kids will be 7, 8, and 10 years old.

 

HELP!!! :D HOW CAN I CONVINCE MY HUBBY WE NEED TO SAVE UP A LITTLE LONGER AND SPLURGE ON A BREEZE CRUISE?!?? :D

 

Since your kids have never been on a cruise, DON'T ask them what they want to do. They won't know one ship from another unless you show them. Go this fall, don't get off at the ports, stay onboard and enjoy the space with the kids. At least it would be a different ship for you. Would flying to TX or NO be much cheaper? Maybe you could look into that while you're at it. Good luck!!

Edited April 15, 2014 by fridaythe13th

[frayedend]

You're kidding, right?:eek::eek:

The Dream class of ships have PLENTY to do.

Let me tell you, if you cruise on the Breeze for 6 or 8 days, and are bored, then you are doing something wrong. It's just not possible. Honestly, 8 days wasn't long enough, as we didn't get to experience it all.

Convinced DH we needed to go back this year and see the rest:D:D

 

Somehow I missed your reply. Anyhow I had a long thread about whether I was going back to Carnival this year or to Oasis/Allure. My kids were very bored on the Dream. They've been on it twice and they don't like the kids club. We are going to force them to try the kids club this year. But I did put in the caveat "unless they like the kids club" in my response. Other than that, what is there to do other than video arcade that adds up quickly?

 

Here were my issues on the Dream (my kids were 10 and 12): Ping Pong, BBall crowded with older kids, kids don't stop playing ping pong so you sit and wait. Comedy: After dinner all shows are adult only. Same with Karaoke. The main shows were okay and my kids did watch a few of them but some were very boring for kids that age.

 

It may be a matter of perspective. My kids live extremely active lives. They play hockey, and street hockey in summer. They have ping pong, basketball, and a pool at home. They hated the salt water in the pool so that was a turn off for them too. The water slide was okay but they tired of that quickly also (perhaps if they were younger it would have entertained them more). They went to trivia with us and would have had fun if any of the trivia was about modern stuff.

 

Anyhow the only reason we are back on Carnival is that Valor is port heavy and ports we haven't been to and we are going with our very good friends so it will be lots of fun with them.

[Chmie]

HELP!!! :D HOW CAN I CONVINCE MY HUBBY WE NEED TO SAVE UP A LITTLE LONGER AND SPLURGE ON A BREEZE CRUISE?!?? :D

 

My wife would just tell me "this is the way it is so suck it up buttercup".

Glad to see there are still women out there that actually care about their hubbies opinion. :D

[Mysticks1]

If it were me I would have a backup plan with costs ready. Does it have to be the Breeze? Have you looked at the Dream out of New Orleans or the Magic out of Galveston?

 

I am very detail oriented and would have a spreadsheet with all the costs listed, the deposits that would be necessary to book and the number of months you would have to save the rest of the amount you need.

[Dirkgun]

I agree with others... saying to do the research and find places you want to go and convince him the reasons to do so. Find reviews here about cruise you like... you mentioned the southern Caribbean (and yes it is awesome) find reviews that follow that route and read them together. get him excited about it also. There are my Victory reviews linked in my signature but there are also tons of others on the site. Read a few and have fun with whatever you decide.