Not a Cruise Person? You Might Want to Hear This First

What Does a Cruise Day Actually Look Like?
Before diving into who cruising is for, Ryan and Julie walk through what a cruise experience actually looks like — from boarding day and the muster drill to the flexibility of breakfast options, onboard activities, port days, and evening entertainment. The big takeaway: you can be as busy or as relaxed as you want. Nobody is herding you anywhere.

Who Is a Cruise Right For?
Ryan and Julie run through the traveler types that tend to thrive on a cruise:

• Those who want to explore multiple destinations without unpacking multiple times
• Guests who enjoy being around people — or want the option to make new friends
• Activity lovers AND those who just want to find a quiet corner with a good book
• Travelers who don't love flying and can drive to a port or take a transatlantic sailing
• Anyone looking for a short getaway with strong value
• Guests who enjoy a casino on board (and plenty of lines that don't have one, too)
• Families with kids who need built-in entertainment options
• Multi-generational groups where everyone needs something different — and a dinner table to come back to

What If Cruising Still Doesn't Sound Like You?
Ryan walks through alternatives worth considering: small ship and river cruises (as few as 200 guests, exceptional service), American Cruise Lines for domestic itineraries, expedition cruises to places like Antarctica or the Galápagos, and private or semi-private yacht experiences. There's more variety in cruising than most people realize.

A Few Things to Know Before You Book
Prepaid gratuities and travel protection are typically added before you sail. Itineraries can shift and excursions can be canceled — a little flexibility goes a long way. And the more you share with your travel advisor, the easier it is to match you with the right ship, line, and timing.

Where in the World? 
Julie spotlights three families currently at Walt Disney World — including one whose trip had to be shifted last-minute when their two-year-old got sick (Disney and the Wonder and Beyond team made it happen), and another who just sent back glowing feedback that early entry and Lightning Lanes were absolutely worth it.

Ryan's Upcoming Adventure
Ryan is days away from a trip combining Las Vegas, a VIP Hoover Dam tour, a three-day Mighty 5 National Parks tour, and a two-day train journey from Moab to Denver with Canyon Spirit. Expect at least one — probably two — future episodes on this one.

Next week: the hosts tackle the burning questions they get most often as travel advisors. Ready to plan your trip? Visit wonderandbeyondtravel.com.

Transcript

Julie 0:00

Hello, and welcome to All Things Travel. We talk about cruising a lot on our podcast, but we frequently get the comment, "Cruising isn't for me," when we suggest it as a vacation. And maybe you're right, cruising is not for everyone, but today we're going to share who a cruise is actually for

Ryan 0:19

Listen in with travel advisors Ryan and Julie. I'm your travel professor teaching you everything you need to know to have a magical vacation, and she's a Disney-loving Maryland mom of three and a specialist in family travel, And together, we're the co-owners of Wonder and Beyond Travel. we're discussing incredible destinations, top vacation tips, or sharing personal stories, it's always all things travel

Julie 0:49

Ryan has a very exciting trip coming up. He talked about it somewhat recently, but now we're here and, you're traveling so soon

Ryan 0:58

it, it's so weird because in my mind the trip was always the middle of the summer, and I guess where

Julie 1:04

Yeah

Ryan 1:04

now, Julie? At least with the school calendar, we're in the middle of the summer.

Julie 1:10

Yeah. Maybe for you. We just finished our first week of summer.

Ryan 1:14

so yeah, so my wife and my parents and I leave on Sunday. This is a Friday that we're recording. We are flying to Las Vegas, and we'll be there for several days. We're doing, for the first day we're doing a hop-on, hop-off bus so my parents can see all, the old strip, the new strip, and all that kind of stuff with not having to walk quite as much. And then the next day we are doing a VIP tour of the Hoover Dam. And so we're actually, heading out there. We're doing, a top of the Hoover Dam tour and, and all sorts of stuff. And I really like the Hoover Dam. I think it's a really cool place to see. So I think my parents are gonna like that. And then we are working with a company called Moab Express, and they work with Canyon Spirit, who I'll get to in a second. And Moab Express is gonna give us a three-day Mighty 5 National Park tour starting in Las Vegas and ending in Moab. We will see all of the Mighty 5 National Parks. in Moab, we get on the train with Canyon Spirit, and then we take that for two days from Moab to Denver. And, uh, Jasmine and I watched a YouTube video a week or so ago about that trip, and it looks absolutely amazing. We cannot wait. I'm super excited

Julie 2:35

I really love this and I cannot wait to hear about it because it is different. part of the point of our podcast, right, is to share that there's different types of travel. So whatever you're interested in, like, there's something for you. It's not just Walt Disney World and cruising and all-inclusives. There's also these very cool, more unique vacations like this one. So I'm excited to talk about it

Ryan 2:59

Yeah, absolutely. So there'll be at least one, if not two podcasts, episodes coming up when I get back. But for me, what I like is, really this is three vacations in one. It's time in Vegas and those areas, it's the, national park tour, and then it's also the time on the train. So very, very excited All right, so before we talk about who a cruise is right for, I wanna remind folks, if you did not listen to last week's episode, we discussed what not to pack on your next vacation. So I'm confused, Julie, 'cause when you say who is a cruise right for, for me, the obvious answer is if you choose the right cruise, it's for everyone

Julie 3:41

Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. So,

Ryan 3:44

me

Julie 3:46

that's a regular occurrence. So first let's talk a little bit, I don't know if you hear that but I hear that frequently. Like, I'll have a client that's like, "We wanna travel from this date to this date," and I'm like, "That's pretty soon, like, options are pretty slim or maybe the budget isn't fitting." And I'm like, "Would you consider a cruise?" And they're like, "No, we're not cruise people." But they've never been on a cruise. So I just wanna,

Ryan 4:08

But

Julie 4:09

you know-

Ryan 4:09

six years ago was and didn't have a good time,

Julie 4:12

Right.

Ryan 4:13

you

Julie 4:13

Yeah, or they've seen, they've heard something that, oh, everyone gets norovirus. It happens. We can also get that other places, like school. you know, so w- w- I wanted to share who a cruise is best for, and then if these don't fit you, what to look for instead. So let's first just kind of back up a little bit, talk about general cruise planning and what a cruise day can look like. So when you're planning your cruise, and we've talked about this before, you start by picking your dates, your ship, your itinerary. Maybe you think a cruise isn't for you because there's too many options for those things, and we have so many podcast episodes that cover these things. And also, we are here, and that is our job to find the right ship and the right itinerary for you

Ryan 5:01

I always use the example, people say they wanna go to a resort in Mexico, and then you look at Cancun and you type in... I mean, this is a literal number. You type in adult all-inclusive resorts and 189 pop up. And it's like, "Okay, so what do I do now?" And so a lot of time you're frozen and you don't know, and you're going off of what friends have done or what you've seen on TV, and that might not fit you at all, right?

Julie 5:30

For sure. Yeah, So that freezing up, I think, can happen as well when you start thinking about going on a cruise. just to talk a little bit about what that cruise will look like once you do start, planning and prepping for it, you will find your way to the departure port, whether you're driving or flying. You're always gonna stay in a hotel the night before so you don't miss the ship. You're gonna have a port arrival time, which is, when you're gonna be able to board the ship, and once you get on the ship, you're gonna do your muster drill, which is the safety drill, explore the ship, and then you're gonna kind of wait for your room to be ready and let the fun of your vacation begin. And then throughout, 'cause I, I think part of why I wanna delve into what a day in the life kind of looks like is 'cause I think people also are like, "Well, what do you do on a cruise? You just sit on the ship." so let's talk a little bit about that. You know, you're gonna wake up, you're gonna have breakfast either in your stateroom by doing room service, at a main dining area or table service, like a sit-down, like a a la carte type breakfast, or go to the buffet. So I think sometimes people think you're, like, herded around, and that doesn't have to be the case.

Ryan 6:38

you could do a variety of breakfast options throughout the morning.

Julie 6:42

A breakfast, um, tour. There you go.

Ryan 6:45

yeah.

Julie 6:46

you could do...

Ryan 6:47

room, and then, yeah, yeah. I like it. Okay.

Julie 6:50

I'm a big fan of second breakfast, so I'm on board with that. Literally, ha ha, on board

Ryan 6:56

Wah, wah

Julie 6:57

there are so many activities on board that you can choose to do, you know, after your breakfast, anytime during your day. Well, I mean, one of my favorite activities is probably to go back and relax. But, you know, there's pools on various levels of the cruise ships, there's trivia, there's game shows, all sorts of classes like crafting, mixology classes, like learning about the ship, learning about destinations, you can go to the spa, water activities like slides and flow riders, or even adventure-type activities like zip lines, rock climbing, coasters at sea, bumper cars, laser tags. Every ship is different, part of our role is to advise you on what's on those things, but you can do as much or as little as you want

Ryan 7:46

and that's exactly what I was gonna say. even if you don't want to do the activities that the ship has, I've seen families sit down playing card games or,

Julie 7:54

Absolutely

Ryan 7:55

folks finding a spot to finally enjoy that book that they brought along or even do some work. I've seen people on their laptops, doing stuff. you can do whatever you want because those spaces exist and that time exists on a cruise, and that's one of the things I love about it

Julie 8:12

So after, you've done whatever type of activities you wanna do during the day, you're gonna come back for dinner. You know, you could have early dining, late dining, anytime dining, then you'll have an evening show of some sort or some sort of entertainment that you can choose to go to, or just go and hang out somewhere. If you're at a port, you'll get off in the morning, and if you're doing an excursion, you'll probably have a meeting point on the ship. and then that's your day, and then again, you come back for dinner and the evening shows. So I think the big takeaway there is you can do whatever you want, but there's a lot to do

Ryan 8:47

You can be as busy or relaxing as you want for your vacation, so

Julie 8:54

So here's the big list. Cruising is for guests who want... Ryan, start us off

Ryan 9:00

To explore multiple destinations in one trip. So one of the greatest things about a cruise is that it is a floating hotel, meaning you have to unpack once and your room is the same, but you are seeing multiple things throughout that one trip

Julie 9:18

Yes, and that's exactly why the first time we go to Europe will be on a cruise so that I do not have to unpack and repack my children multiple times

Ryan 9:28

It's also for people who enjoy being around other people on their vacation and may even like making new friends. Now, you can be around a lot of people going on a Utopia of the Seas, and so you feel like you're constantly around the crowds, or you can go on a river cruise where there's you and 180 other people, and

Julie 9:50

Mm-hmm.

Ryan 9:50

making friends because you're sitting down at dinner or you're sitting by them at the lounge. It can go either way when we're talking about being around friends. As Julie said, cruises are for guests who like to be busy and fill days with activities, or I would also add, or have the spaces to do what they want to do. Don't like to fly. So if you can drive to a port or take a transatlantic cruise that we talked about a few weeks ago and use that to get over to Europe or to get to South America or another part of the world without the flight,

Julie 10:26

So sometimes you can also find really great pricing on, a shorter cruise. So if you have just a short amount of time to get away and you're like, "Well, you know, we only have, a long weekend. We'd love to go to an island, but to fly there, get to my resort, all that kind of stuff," sometimes, a quick Bohemian cruise is the way to go

Ryan 10:47

Yeah. it really is. and when you break down the pricing of it, for some people, it's not more than they spend in a weekend of going out to brunch and, going out on a Saturday night and doing some shopping. They're really ahead almost

Julie 11:02

Cruises are also for guests who may wanna gamble. A lot of cruise lines have casinos on board, and if you are someone who's interested in cruising but don't want a casino, we also have options for that as well. Cruises have so many activities for kids. A lot of people that I see on cruises are on them because they know there's stuff for their kids to do. That being said, my children do not leave my side, but if they wanted to leave my side, there is a lot for them to do

Ryan 11:34

Yeah, and I would say the same with me. when my kids were younger, my son loved to go to the kids clubs and do all of the activities that he could. My daughter didn't. but the spaces were there for her when she wanted to do that, or her and I would take advantage of the activities, around the ship, like scavenger hunts and different things like this. And finally, we have said this a lot, cruises are great for multi-generational trips because there's things for everybody. You can have the party crowd, you can have the relaxation crowd, you can have the kids crowd, and everybody's there, and they can have their perfect day and then come together at dinner and tell Grandma and Grandpa all about what they did and how excited they are All right, Julie, so before we talk about some considerations when thinking about if cruising is right for you, I wanna talk about where in the world is Wonder Beyond travel

Julie 12:32

So I'm gonna go super current because I have three different families in Walt Disney World. I've talked about some of them before, but the other two I wanna mention real quick. These are both like shorter, very last-minute trips. And a couple unique things that I wanna highlight. The first one, they were actually supposed to be in Disney closer to last week than this week, but their daughter was sick. She's two, and their daughter was sick. You know, the worst thing is to fly with a sick baby, and obviously we don't want you taking a sick child to Walt Disney World. So very, very last-minute Ryan had to help me get on a phone call because I was not available and call Disney and communicate with my client. We were able to move their trip by just a couple of days to allow their daughter to feel better, get on some medications, and now they are there loving it. Disney is so wonderful about working with us if we have that kind of, issue arise. And it just goes to show like we are here for you to do all those things, to make those changes if we need to do that. they're also fairly unique as in they're not there for the attractions. she's really there for the food. and it just makes me laugh because we always go into her trip with such an overabundance of dining reservations. And I think Ryan, they even mentioned that to you on the phone where they were like, "I think she has a lot of reservations here."

Ryan 13:54

person was helping me move everything over to her My Disney Experience app, and he's like, "She has, like, multiple things for this and multiple... Is that right?" And I said, "Sh- I- Julie told me that she just books them and then she decides later." Now, that's gonna tick everybody off who's sitting there saying, "But I wanted that reservation." so I don't advocate always doing that, but especially if you know you're gonna cancel them in a good time, go for it. And that's also why we tell people the reservation isn't there when you try, try, try, try even when you're on your trip, because those things will pop up

Julie 14:30

So real quick, jump over to another client. I just wanna highlight something that she texted me this morning. I was checking in on them. It's their first full park day, so I just wanted to see how everything was going, and her two pieces of feedback were early entry is absolutely worth it, and so are Lightning Lanes. And this was a last-minute trip, first time to Disney for their family, and I just I love getting that feedback because those are things we spend a lot of time planning and talking about with clients, and why we think that those are helpful things. So I just wanna share that it's true. It's not just us

Ryan 15:05

a couple thoughts with that is because you do the Lightning Lanes the week of,

Julie 15:11

Mm-hmm.

Ryan 15:12

kind of leveling the playing field with folks who are doing these last-minute trips.

Julie 15:17

Yes

Ryan 15:18

shows why the advantage of staying on property is so important because of getting the Lightning Lanes before other people and having that early entry, you can really maximize your time

Julie 15:30

Yeah

Ryan 15:31

you know, a late-minute trip where maybe you didn't get the dining reservations that you wanted

Julie 15:36

And especially now, like with how hot it is down there, it is so ideal to get to the park early, experience what you wanna experience so that you are not out there in the sweltering 2:00 heat waiting in line for a ride. So we love sharing where our clients are headed, and I can't wait to hear more about their trips when they come home

Ryan 15:59

So Julie, some things to think about with this conversation about is cruising right for me. Well, what if I don't fit the mold? You know, what if I've seen people talk about cruising, or friends have talked about it, I've seen it on TV, and it just doesn't seem to fit me? Well, there's some other types of cruising you may wanna think about. So small ship cruising, like I've talked about river cruising a lot on this show. have a maximum of 200 guests on board, and just as many staff, the level of service is so high, but you don't have the crowds. Or doing something like American Cruise Line, where you're cruising in the United States and not thinking about having to go international, and seeing some of those places in the United States that you may have wanted to. Also, expedition cruises. Doing something like a small ship down to Antarctica or the Galapagos Islands or something like that where you're seeing something very unique and using the cruise as the vehicle to get there, not necessarily the focus of the trip. And then lastly, yachts. and you know, no, I'm not talking about below deck, even though you can do that. I'm talking about smaller ships that may be just your family, or may be, larger to accommodate more guests, but still have that very small ship feel. What are some other considerations when it comes to thinking about cruising?

Julie 17:20

So a few other things I wanna throw out there when you're thinking about planning your cruise are you're gonna have prepaid gratuities and travel protection added. Those are things that are typically added before you travel, so you're not walking home with a bill. you've already done it before you even get on the ship. a few notes with cruising, the itineraries can change, your excursions can be canceled. Anything can happen, whether it's an issue with the ship, something with the weather that's adjusting things around. So if you are gonna cruise, you just need to be a little bit more open-minded about it. And I'm, I don't think that these things are necessarily negative. It's just something that we need to be aware of.

Ryan 17:59

Sure

Julie 17:59

and I think those things are sometimes things that we can help to reduce the impact of. you're gonna have weather issues at specific times of year. If we go at a different time of year, you're less likely to have that kind of thing

Ryan 18:15

Basically, help us help you when it comes to thinking about a cruise, the more information that we can get from you, the easier it is to match you with the right cruise line, the right time, the right type of cruise, to really find the best option for your family. And so I guess the final plug for me, Julie, is if you're unsure about a cruise or if you're thinking if cruising might be right for you, use someone like us, a travel advisor, to help you the first time you, look at this type of vacation The world is full of wonder, and your next adventure is waiting. At Wonder and Beyond Travel, we work with you to create a one-of-a-kind journey, taking the stress off your plate so you can focus on the joy of exploring and the memories that will stay with you forever. you're ready to start planning or you just wanna dream a little bigger, head on over to wonderandbeyondtravel.com, and we'd love to help you get started. We look forward to talking to you next week on all things travel when we discuss some of the burning questions that we get all the time as travel advisors