Family Cruises Might Mean Missing Some School, But Its Worth It Feature Article Discussion Forum

Planning a family cruise around both school and work schedules can be extremely difficult. Yet, for my family spending quality vacation time together, away from the stress and schedules of our every day life, is an important part of raising my children to be loving, responsible, and well adjusted adults.

A cruise vacation can be one of the best values and also best atmospheres conducive to quality family time. However, work and school vacation schedules may not always coincided. Cruise choices for US residents are very limited during summer break as most ships have repositioned out of hurricane prone Caribbean during those months. The multitude of European and Alaska cruise offered during those months can be two to three times as expensive as other cruises, especially with the air fare required to reach the departure ports. Christmas time cruises usually sell at about double the price of a non-holiday cruise because of the demand at those times. Also Holiday and Spring Break cruises can seem like more of a "Free-for-all" than a traditional cruise with the total number of children on board approaching 1000. That leaves parents wanting an affordable uncrowded cruise experience in the somewhat uncomfortable position of having to take their kids out of school for vacation.

Many parents, families, and teachers believe that parents should not have their children miss school for a "mere" vacation. However, I would counter …