Ideas for holiday of a lifetime with 12yo & DGPs

[BigHorseLittleHorse]

Hello! Looking for recommendations for best holiday for a 12yo with me, DH and one set of DGPs.

DGPs love cruises so are keen to do that option but want to make sure we’ve thought of other ideas. So far we’ve discussed:

-Alaska/Vancouver cruise
-Hawaii cruise
-South Africa safari (DM not keen and worried the bumpy roads and accommodation might not work for her)
-Caribbean incl British Virgin Islands cruise

We love wildlife but not a massively adventurous family and DM isn’t able to do anything too physical.

DD is wary of big groups of people so isn’t a kids club type - we’d keep to ourselves on a cruise. She loves swimming and think she’d love to snorkel but none of us can swim well so we could lurk in the shallows but that’s all.

I hate people and have no wish to dress up on cruises and make friends at dinner or the captain’s table etc 😅

Budget is 20k for 5 of us. Thank you!

Cruise is the best option, avoid P&O unless you like a Grubby Butlins at sea. Royal Caribbean and Celebrity cater very well for children, never saw much of ours they loved it. I feel you might be surprised at how good the kids clubs and staff are especially if you explain she isn't good with big groups, remember, she doest have to go clubs are optional not compulsory.
You can ask to dine alone, as a family or with others it's your choice Celebrity ships have lots of quiet spaces.
On formal nights there will be plenty of other non formal dining options
Cruise critic forum is a great source of information especially when planning trips you can save a fortune,

Thanks @Funf i think I’m leaning towards that option as it will help DGPs worry less.

Do you have experience of Holland America? I’ve heard it’s a bit more relaxed and modern if that’s a thing?

Yes it was ver good better than royal Caribbean but not as good as celebrity.

Aha interesting - what makes celebrity better do you reckon?

Choice of food, massive selection, destinations (some cruise lines go to ports as they fill in a day and not really a place you would choose to visit) Service is excellent as is attention to detail. No Hand sanitisation you will not get in the eating places, other lines just don't bother, the whole set up is well managed and just worth the extra. The ship isn't rammed to capacity, plenty of loungers plenty of quiet spots on the ship too. Just more choice for everything.

Before I read your suggestions I immediately thought Alaska/Vancouver cruise, so I would go for that option 🤣 The scenery looks amazing & you could do whale watching, bear watching etc

Hawaii also sounds fab, but it’s so far away. If you cruised from LA it would take 4/5 days there and back which feels like a bit of a waste of days to me. I’m not sure if you can fly there and pick up a cruise in Hawaii somewhere… I’m sure you must be able to.

I do disagree that P&O is a grubby Butlins at sea. I’ve always found their ships really nice, with good food, drinks, entertainment etc. Yes, it is geared more towards a British clientele, but I quite enjoy a full English at breakfast & UK based quizzes etc 🤣

We have been in a few multi generational holidays and have just got back from Tanzania. The people really respected the older members of our group and it was a trip of a lifetime and catered well to all ages.

We have also been to Sri Lanka, travelling around and found that worked perfectly too.

Costa Rica was a hit, but DGP didn’t do the tubing activities but my 79 (at the time) FIL did the ziplining. Our trip covered ages 8 - 80.

Morocco was also a hit but we only did 1 week and stayed in 1 location.

We are heading to Vietnam next DGP are 80, DC 16 & 14.

Planning what you do to take out stress, tailoring the activities, adding a few afternoons off, and some RnR at the end for down time.

We like Holland America, and it might suit you. It's much 'older' than Celebrity in style and clientele but still has a kids club which tends to be quite low key. No big activities like you find on Royal Caribbean but could work for a multi generation holiday. I find drinks and other upcharges much more reasonable on HAL Vs Celebrity. It's definitely relaxed, but not modern. You don't need to eat or mingle with anyone!

If I were you, I would go for a warm weather so the snorkelling can be tried out - Caribbean is great for that.

So helpful thank you everyone! I think DGPs are set on Alaska/Vancouver currently so I’m madly trying to read up as apparently the cabins we should book have already gone 🧐😂
I’m not used to planning holidays can you tell!

I can’t see it being an option for DGPs but has anyone done Peru? DD mentioned it after doing a project at school…

I don't think you can say that you love wildlife and still think it's OK to go on a cruise ship, or does it not extend to ocean life? These big cruise liners are so terrible for our oceans, it's the most environmentally unfriendly way to travel. I wished they would just ban them.

I think@Jammedchakra has some lovely suggestions and most of them would be great to combine with wildlife sightings.

We’ve been to Peru and so have DGP but not together. Peru was fantastic but some activities such as the Inca trail would need great (not just good!) fitness. Our parents both took the train up but we hiked and that was a great part of the trip.

The Amazon stay was also fab. We stayed in a research centre and there were no walls! It really was like sleeping in the jungle.

We caught the train to lake titi, and then a home stay.

It would get my vote.

Wow that sounds amazing @Jammedchakra what fabulous memories. I think it would be too “adventurous” for us but I’m definitely going to suggest to DD she goes under her own steam at some point.

@Snoken very fair but we’re also a family of meat eaters and I went to Sea World as a child (never would as an adult but I guess when you know better you do better mostly). Just very aware of the limitations we’re dealing with.

Another vote for Celebrity here - the food is great and it caters well for kids without being too kiddie-focused, if that makes sense.

You can do smaller boats @BigHorseLittleHorse We are going on a small boat cruise this summer, but the limit of 130 people might mean you need to mix more. We are going round the arctic, but this side so Svalbard. You need to be able to get out of zodiac boats and hike on shore, smaller boats can be less stable too.

@BigHorseLittleHorse Theres nothing wrong with Vancouver and Alaska. I would strongly urge end of August and try and see wild bears and the salmon run. There should be plenty of whales too. We did a biggish ship there but have been back since on a tiny boat. I really like Alaska and seeing whales is fantastic.

Im also a huge fan of the BVIs. The big cruise ships only go to Tortola and you are seriously missing out! The BVIs are amazing. We went with DC on a crewed yacht out of Tortola and then had a villa on Virgin Gorda. Easter is best for price and money. The big ships are just vast floating hotels and simply don’t get near doing the BVIs properly. Grandparents might not be keen I guess but you can swim and see turtles and fantastic fish. Little time spent sailing and lots of beaches!

@TizerorFizz DGPs have done BVI so they did mention the big boats couldn’t get in there properly. They go with SeaDream usually which is much smaller boat. Was my idea to go as we haven’t!

Good point on end of August. DD is about to start senior school so we’d have to make sure she had time to get back and regroup before term starts.

South Africa safari is very good. I'm disabled and I've been.

The lodges can be very very upmarket. The roads aren't bumpy but if you go out on the drives (which happen at dawn and dusk) you di get bumped around a bit.

It's a well heeled and slightly older market so they are used to catering for mobility problems and food issues etc.

A real experience.

I’ve never been on a cruise so can’t comment on those but we went to Peru 2 years ago and had an amazing time! I have a degenerative sight issue so we didn’t do the Inca trail but Macchu Picchu was magical.
we’ve also been on safari in Sourh Africa and it was phenomenal! You could do a few days at a lovely lodge and then go to Cape Town, boulders beach to see penguins etc and possibly the garden route. It’s really reasonable and food is amazing!
We also loved Sri Lanka, again options for safaris but also culture, history and amazing beaches.
you could do Vancouver etc on a fly drive , we hired a car and went to Vancouver island, Squamish, whistler, Vancouver it was fab. We’d love to go back and drive up to Alaska. Whatever you do, have an amazing time!

More incredible ideas thank you!
Think we’re going to go with Holland America Alaska via Vancouver. I will keep this thread bookmarked though as some fab ideas here if we go away on our own.

How easy is it to get out of the city in Vancouver and do hiking/mountains/lake stuff? DH and I prefer that. He’s been to Vancouver but I haven’t.

When we went to Vancouver (for an Alaskan cruise too!) we drove out to spend some time in Kelowna and the wine region first. Was excellent, but v hot.

One silly but great thing about HAL is they do an unlimited laundry package, I think it's about $7 a day and you can put laundry out twice a day and it comes back clean and vaguely pressed in a day or two. We always book it and come home with virtually all clean clothes, bar last couple of day's wear. Means you can pack less too. We sailed with them with our teen several times and he loved it.

@BigHorseLittleHorse Canada is B I G! You can easily get to Whistler by road but going deep into the Rockies takes time. It’s just as easy to go over to Vancouver Island. It gets booked up though.

If you want to go to Alaska having started in Vancouver, it’s a hell of a drive! It’s around 17 hours inland. Many fly to Prince Rupert and start there.

The boat we had in BVIs slept 6. We’ve done a crewed yacht in the Great Bear Rainforest and Alaska with 10 guests. You have no limits on boats this size and it’s wonderful.

@TizerorFizz we’ll fly to Vancouver and then get on the ship to get to Alaska (I hope 😂)

@Chewbecca laundry sounds ace. Esp as we’ll need to take bigger warmer clothes I assume than one might normally take on a sunny holiday?

Yes, warm for Alaska (which isn't too cold in summer) and hot for Vancouver area, plus cruise wear (i.e. some vaguely smart stuff that is relatively warm - ships run their aircon pretty high!) so basically your entire wardrobe!