Sometimes simply taking two kids with you to the local grocery store can be stressful, so what about a 7-night cruise?  Do you start getting that queasy feeling in your stomach when broaching the idea?  Does your spouse or even close momma friends starting wondering about your level of cray-cray going on?

 

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From a momma perspective, a cruise solo with two children is easy peasy!  I did a week in the Caribbean with a 9- and 5- year old, and we called it our Girls’ Cruise!  What are some of my best tips for getting the MostPerMile out of the adventure?  Well, there were quite a few ways we enjoyed the adventure, for sure!

 

Book a Balcony

Whether the kids are sleeping or you just need your space, that balcony provides solitude for anyone.  We mommas all know how to give that momma-death-threat about rules on the balcony.  Don’t ever go out there alone, don’t hang over the edge, don’t lock mommy out when she is out there… yada yada yada.  Safety is always emphasized around the ship and at muster drill, and this is just one more safety aspect to reiterate as a responsible parent. I snapped this pic when running inside to replenish my beverage, but whether you are reading a book, letting your little one have some technology time with her favorite educational games (yes, once a teacher, always a teacher!), or enjoying the fresh air away from the crowds on the pool deck, the balcony is well worth it’s money.  Ask your accredited CLIA cruise counselor for their recommendation, or I can put you in touch with a fantabulous one using the contact form below!  To me, that glorious 40 (or more) square feet of fresh air is an excellent way to get the MostPerMile on a cruise!

Enjoy Sleeping In

The traditional school year is cram packed with alarm clocks, schedules, and frantic last-minute forms to complete and lunches to pack.  The time away allows you and your little ones to close the curtains and

enjoy some much-needed rest!  Even better is the fact that YOU don’t have to make up your own bed.  As you get the MostPerMile out of your time onboard your cruise, a dedicated room steward checks on your room at least twice per day to make sure all is in order and anticipates your needs.  They work their booties off, so definitely teach your kiddos responsibility in tidying up their areas anyway before leaving the stateroom.  Nobody has ever said getting the MostPerMile out of a vacation is to go… go…. GO!  Sleeping in is an excellent way to get that MostPerMile out of your vacation!

Try New Foods and Experiences

Cruises have a variety of restaurants available onboard, ranging from complimentary (including fast food by the pool, buffet on the Lido deck, and sit-down dining with tablecloths) to specialty (additional fee restaurants that may contain more premium cuts of beef at a steakhouse, Hibachi-style cooking, fresh sushi, or others such as Italian with fresh homemade pasta made onboard) and even a Chef’s Table where the Executive Chef leads a wine pairing dinner for 12-16 attendees along with a wine connoisseur lasting 2-4 hours.   Each of these can have something unique to offer your family onboard and please the most discerning of tastes.

Once ashore, there can be many options as well to immerse in the local culture.   Ships may offer culinary experiences such as guided shore excursions including visits to local markets to gather the day’s ingredients, or local day trips that are family friendly and exposing children to a variety of new opportunities.   Each region has their own special culinary delights or their own version of chocolates, wines, and styles of cooking.  Some tours may even incorporate a variety of options, so don’t fret if you have a tequila tasting in Mexico as part of a stop and your local guide at that stop is explaining the agave plant!   When that local farmer at the market slices a fresh fruit and offers a bite from his hard-worked fingers showing years of love, labor and respect for his land, take it!  Don’t look around for the hand sanitizer and forget about not taking food from strangers… it is all a part of the local immersion adventure.  There is a plethora of ways to get the MostPerMile out of your culinary experiences on a cruise!  (But I still keep hand sanitizer clipped to our backpack we take ashore just in case!)

Be a Kid on the Lido Deck… and Elsewhere

Every cruise ship these days has a pool (or three along) with a plethora of other activities varying by ship: chess, waterslides, cruise staff activities, trivia, go-carts, miniature golf, ziplines, ropes courses, character parades, arcades, and more!  We have taken 7-night cruises and had times where our children did not step in the kids’ club a single time, and we had a fantabulous time as a family doing lots of activities around the ship!  We have also had other times where the staff-to-kid ratio was amazing due to low numbers of children onboard that our children had to be pried away from the kids’ club.  Literally! But the great thing about a cruise is that anyone can be a kid!  Miss those dates with your significant other of playing a round of miniature golf?  What about a double tube on the waterslide?  Need to triple-dog-dare someone to walk out on that 8-foot plank above deck 15 to pull the cord?  There are many activities to partake in, and a cruise is exactly what you decide to make in your endeavor to get the MostPerMile out of it!

   

Take Advantage of Educational Opportunities

Onboard and ashore, educational opportunities abound all around us!  Some ships have a bridge viewing window to observe the navigational officers and staff on the bridge, which is closed when docking or leaving a port.  However, on sea days, it is an excellent way to view teamwork along with how technology plays into successfully navigating a floating resort in shallow, narrow waterways!  Additionally, there may be additional screens of the ship’s navigation equipment set up where you can view and discuss more technical things as a family.  Why do we learn about decimals in our math class?  Which was is latitude and which way is longitude that we learned in our history class?  Where does the fuel come from to power the ship?  So many delving questions to introduce others to.  Finally, in every stateroom, the television usually has a “ship navigation channel”.  This provides a map of current location as well as distance traveled and distance to go for the next port of call.  When taking a TransAtlantic cruise, it is easy to see the “ridge” Atlantic ocean, known as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.  While we may be able to see it on the map, we cannot look out into the water and visibly see it, so it is yet another educational opportunity onboard.  If flying home from Europe after that TransAtlantic cruise, then consider a stop in Iceland to visit that Mid-Atlantic Ridge.  This brings that previous ocean crossing to life!  For divers, a popular dive and snorkel location is within the beautiful Thingvellir National Park (yes, that dive is on my wish list! I have only walked there in Iceland.)

   

Immerse in Local Cultures in Port

People-to-people interactions go a long way, and something that is crucial in our children’s develop in their journey to adulthood.  Considering a local guide for the day?  We have used them in Turkey, Grand Cayman, Mexico and other places with a day on Moorea (Tahiti) booked soon! Many companies will also employ local guides who are bilingual as well if not wanting to go through an individual.  One of my favorite things to do is to get off the beaten path.  If we are in a Spanish speaking country, we use the opportunity to have our children practice their Spanish since they are both currently in a dual language program at their public school. (It helps this momma learn as well!)  Even for lunch, in this picture below we asked specifically to have lunch where our guide would eat… not where they take the American tourists.  Getting the MostPerMile out of an excursion is exactly what you put into it!

 

 

Pack Efficiently and Arrive Early

I am not one to overpack.  In fact, I am a simple kind of girl!  I am happy leaving the makeup at home, wear blingy flip-flops as formal wear shoes, and have been known to arrive in Spain wearing my sports bra (and having forgotten to pack the standard bras…. oy…. do you know how much those things cost and finding your favorite brand in a foreign country?!?)  I like to “roll and pack”.  In fact, I use packing cubes religiously.  Our house has several sizes and colors, and we can’t even pack for an overnight without grabbing one.  Rolling my clothes helps keep the wrinkles away, and I am going to unpack and hang almost everything up once in our stateroom onboard so the luggage can be opened, laid flat, and stored underneath the bed – easy peasy.  Those khaki capris I wear to dinner?  Yep, those may be worn a few times during a week with shirts rotated through every few days.  Nobody will notice, and I’m usually not the one in front of the camera for pics, so we are good!  Those 3-in-1 laundry sheets?  Yep – if a ship has self-service laundry then I am packing those in a gallon ziploc bag.  Can I pack essential oils good for multiple purposes versus over-the-counter boxes of medicines for after-the-fact?  You betcha!   Get the MostPerMile out of the limited luggage space (and weight) you are bringing onboard.

 

Now, arriving early is something my husband probably gets sick of.  Bless him for putting up with me these 17+ years!  I despise lines, like to be early, and deplore crowds.  So if the cruise documents say that boarding begins at noon?  I am usually there by 10:00 am because I know the checked luggage can be turned in early with the porters and a line will start forming outside the terminal.  Besides, most of the time they ship begins boarding around 11:00 and having that first lunch onboard, stress-free, is so worth it to me.  I am one of those “worst case scenario” people: wreck on the bridge leading to the ship? Flat tire?  An alligator runs across the road?  You catch my drift.  I know the ship will not wait, and I am not going to

   

Don’t Tell Daddy the Crazy Stuff

If you are in a foreign country and one kid is jumping off the tables and the other is on the kayak nearby without her lifejacket, just exclude those little tidbits when reporting back in.   What Daddy doesn’t know won’t hurt him, right?!?  In all seriousness, do take time to checkin regularly and let him or your significant other know you are getting the MostPerMile out of your week alone with the kiddos, but leave those other minor details out so he won’t worry (you know you are still being a responsible parent and know the kids and their limits anyway, right?!?).

   

And finally…

Take Time for YOU!

What’s that saying…. “take time to smell the coffee”?  It is important to still take time for YOU when on a vacation as a solo parent, whether it be a solo mom, dad, favorite aunt, etc.  Relax and enjoy the bonding time you are getting to create those memories!  We all hear the kids grow up way too quickly, so take advantage of it while you can and get the MostPerMile out of your time together!