Hello Everyone,
I come from a family of 4 kids and all of us have decided to take a family vacation with my mom and all of our kids. There will be 25 of us altogether. The good news is that my mom is giving each family $2000 to travel and we pay the rest. We have never done this before and I think it will be a memory that will last forever. We lost my dad when we were very young children and each of us misses him daily even though it has been 24 years since his death. My question is where should we go? Some have said a cruise, some say Mexico to an all inclusive resort. Most of the grandchildren are grown into their 20's. Some are in their early teens but mine are the youngest. At the time of the trip which is not until June of next year they will be 4 and 7. Where should we go? Remember we also have my 70 year old mother and her husband with us so we have to accomodate the sort of senior citizen thing. I want this to be the best family vacation ever and a memory that will be in all of our hearts to cherish. Any ideas, suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm trying to stay within the $2000 mark so we don't have to pay a lot extra since most of us can't afford too much. Thanks ahead for all the ideas!!
I'd say a cruise also. Since you have so many people who will be traveling you can probably get some good group/family discounts. I know Carnival considers 8+ rooms a group which would qualify you for some cheaper rates probably.
Go to a place where there are plenty of things for everyone including your children and where mom and her husband can come along and also get some rest yet enjoy everyone on the trip.
Mexico or some place where it is during an "off" season will probably work best with hotel, air, food etc... Also you will miss out on all those other people being there and you having to wait for a place to eat...and with 25 plus people that is alot.
You are blessed to be able to do this. Take video and cameras and have each person tell about themselves and then what or where they plan to be in 10 years etc... and share it with everyone. That will be awesome memories.
My friend just used a discount website to book her cruise and some other trips and was happy with the prices she got there.
My friends just got back from a cruise and said they enjoyed it cause it includes all the activities and their food 7/24 hours around the clock or they can just lounge around.
Please get back with us and let us know where you took your trip to and how it all goes for all of you.
Take care and have fun.
EB
Hi M.
I would suggest a cruise...it is the best vacation to make a lot of different people happy. There are things for all ages - good for the little ones but also adults. Royal Carribean is a great cruise line so you may want to check it out.
I would say an all inclusive in Mexico would offer the most "bang" for your bucks.
There are some really great all inclusives that cater to kids, but are not SO kiddie that no one else will have fun. Cruises could be great too, but they generally cost more.
Either way, don't forget you'll all need passports to leave the country!!
A friend just came back from Destin Florid, and used beachreunion.com try that.
other suggestions, cruise, or Iberostar in Riveria Maya MExico
My Mom, who is now 84, wanted our famlies to be together for her 80th birthday. We have family here in the Dallas area, California, New Hampshire, NJ, etc. My Mom lives in the mountains of NC. So needless to say, it was a challenge. We decided to stay closer to our Mom, and let us do most of the traveling. If you enjoy beaches, as we do, than I would suggest a beach vacation! We went to a town called Holden Beach in North Carolina. We rented a huge house, for all 22 of us, RIGHT on the beach with it's own pool. My girls were 3 & 5 at the time and LOVED it! We paid $1800 for the beach house, but split many ways it was very affordable. We also did a group grocery shopping run when we got there and had fun cooking dinners together. We went out a few nights too. It was, and still is, one of the most memorable vacations we've ever had!
Hey M.,
I'm so sorry that we didn't get a chance to talk about this yesterday. It slipped my mind. If you want to call me and pick my brain at any time - I'm here for you!
One of my best suggestions would be to talk to a travel agent, because of the budget restrictions. They don't charge you anything... they make their money from the cruise lines.
One of the best cruises that you could probably do would be to drive down to Galveston - there are LOTS of cruises out of there. There's one cruise that is on Princess that I REALLY want to do: It goes to Belize, Honduras, Costa Maya (one of the coolest ports I've ever seen - very undeveloped last I saw it and AMAZING Mayan ruins)and Cozumel. The girls would have a blast because it's on board a ship that has LOTS to do for kids (the ship holds 2,600 people and is amazing). There's a movie theater for them, arts and crafts, and a children's program that I don't think costs you anything. You can also pay a small fee for on board babysitting (they stay in the children's area as a group so it's not behind closed doors).
I'm not sure about the all-inclusive resort on a $2000 budget with airfare, etc. But that's something that you'd know more about than I would. My best suggestion for a group your size would be to book it through a Travel Agent. They can get you all sorts of perks (shipboard credit and special treatment) for booking a large group of people.
Let me know if you have any more questions. I'm happy to help in any way I can. If you wanted to, you could also drive to Ft. Lauderdale - but that's more of a trek and might cost you a little more for gas and hotel, etc.
Sounds like fun. Can I go??!!
Hope that helped a little!
K.
For the past couple of years, we have gone to the Gulf Shores, AL area. It is a gorgeous beach vacation with lots to do. You can rent a huge house for a week that will accomodate everyone. If you want more information about that, I've got a bunch of webistes.
Also, if you want an all-inclusive vacation, check out www.cheapcarribean.com or www.worryfreevacations.com. You can see all kinds of places to go. My husband and I went to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to an all-inclusive and it was great. There are a TON of things to do, plus they have kids activities for all ages.
Cruises are always good. Just don't go cheap cheap! You will be disappointed!
Cabins:
Share the cost of stay and outdoor activities. You can do some of your own cooking and share the resposibilities. This can save you some $$$.
My family went to Estes park a lot. I've also been to Vail in the summer which was cool because you could mountain bike down the slopes or body surf down them on sleds.
I love Steamboat for the atmosphere. I'm not sure what the activities are during the summer since I ski here.
Breckenridge was ok.
Este Park has river rafting, fishing, horseback riding, and hiking.
Vail has downhill mountain biking, shopping, and festivals.
http://www.colorado.com/listing.php?listing_id=4
Have a great time!!!!
I say a cruise also!!! My husbands whole family went to cozymel on a cruise back in October and there were 35 of us. Everybody had fun from the 5 yr olds to the 75 yr olds!!!! They have alot of things for the kids and adults and we got a discount since we had so many people going!!! Hope this helps!!!
~C.
