Cruise or Theme Park: Why Not Both?

Choosing vacation plans can be a dilemma when the kids want to go to an amusement theme park and the parents want to take a relaxing cruise. Rather than try to choose between the two, why not do both at the same time? You can have a kind of “surf and turf” vacation option that fits everyone’s idea of the perfect vacation, and just may be less expensive to experience the two thrills at the same time rather than enjoy them separately.

There are a variety of ways to organize such a trip, as well. Disney Cruises and Disney World gives travelers the option to enjoy exploring the Disney World “turf” for either 3 days or 4 days while staying at their lovely resorts before you embark on the Disney Cruise that takes you to Nassau and Castaway Cay for the remaining days to fulfill a 7 day package.

If travelers want even more control over planning their combo-cation, Universal Orlando has partnered with Royal Caribbean to offer their own version of the “surf and turf”. Maybe one family would rather take a cruise first and then have time to relax in a Universal Orlando Resort, while another wishes to explore Universal Orlando first and then relax by the pool on the cruise ship Monarch of the Seas which docks first at Nassau and then on to the Royal Caribbean private island, CocoCay. The 7 night cruise can be organized into 3 and 4 day segments, or 4 and 3 day segments, similar to Disney’s. An additional choice with the Royal Caribbean / Universal Orlando vacation is that families can choose longer durations of 10 nights that are divided between the Universal Orlando Resort and on board the Freedom of the Seas. These longer cruises feature additional port calls as well that are included in the Eastern and Western Caribbean cruises.

With unlimited access at the theme parks, the kids are going to be thrilled. With all of the amenities of a standard cruise, the parents will also enjoy a relaxing and fun time. So how can you lose? To get more information on combo-cations, go to the websites of either Disney Cruise Lines or Royal Caribbean Cruises.