This story is part of Conde Nast Traveler‘s spotlight on family cruise travel.
Traveling to 4 countries in a group of 20 people—including 4 toddlers, 6 young kids under 10 years old, 2 grandparents, 3 adult siblings and their spouses, and 2 (much-needed) babysitters—is a logistical nightmare so intimidating that most families wouldn’t even attempt it. But this past summer, a Mediterranean cruise proved to be the perfect solution for a multi-generation family vacation that ticked all the boxes.
Our home for ten nights: the 3000-person cruise ship Norwegian Viva, sailing between Athens and Rome with more stops in Greece, Turkey, Italy, and France. The trip would be a special (read: six-figure) one, a worthy splurge considering the Herculean difficulty of syncing this many work and school schedules. We booked four suites in the ship’s private-access Haven area, which meant the adults could indulge in quiet relaxation at the suite-only pools and restaurants while the children were endlessly entertained by the big ship’s splash pads, slides, and kids club.
But the most important part of any family vacation, especially one this rare, of this scale, is the ability to spend quality time with one another—made all the easier when you’re transported to different cities in your sleep on a ship that does all the hard work of figuring out where to eat, where to go, and what to do, for you. —Ramsey Qubein
Mariana Qubein, 69-year-old mother
I love having my four children and their families together in one place. What mother wouldn’t? We were so excited as we planned this trip, and as it got closer, I began sharing books with the grandkids about the history and culture of the different places we were going to visit. I’m not sure how much they remembered, but I know the older kids really enjoyed seeing the places they read about in real life. It’s not the obvious moments of a trip that are the most memorable though, you know? Snapping photos in front of monuments or devouring gelato in the heat is fun. But my favorite memory is having coffee on our balcony with my husband and son each morning with places like Messina, Sicily or Istanbul as the backdrop. And the best part was when my youngest grandkids would knock on the door to come and play while their parents went to work out. Those small family moments, whether on our balcony or during dinner in one of the specialty restaurants (my husband especially loved the private Haven dining room), are what I will cherish most about our trip. I hope we can recreate them again next year, perhaps in the Baltic.
Austin, 10-year-old nephew
You wouldn’t believe how high the spiral slides were, and we could ride them as many times as we wanted! One even had a super fun tidal wave slide, and I got better and better the more times I tried it. I wish we had more sea days so that we could have tried the race cars. When we would get back on the ship for the day, my brothers, cousins, and I had these table tennis tournaments (I won twice). My favorite port we visited was Florence because I had never been there before, and my parents let me buy soccer jerseys from my favorite players and teams. My friends are going to be so jealous! We found even more jersey options at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. I ended up getting two more, and I had no idea you could bargain for a lower price. That was really cool.
Cristina Buckfelder, 38-year-old sister
Family cruises are nothing new to us, but we hadn’t been on one altogether in awhile. Gosh, I don’t remember ships being as large or packed with amenities as this one! My three young kids loved the food hall. They picked out different dishes from the tablet and pretended like they were taking our orders in a restaurant. It was a pleasant surprise when my husband and I discovered the kids’ club was free, and our kids and their cousins enjoyed spending a few nights there while the adults went out for dinner. My mom had the fun idea that we would switch up who we sat next to each evening, which was a great way to make sure everyone got one-on-one time. When I look back on our trip, I realized that those dinners were probably my favorite part. Like most families, we don’t get to see each other everyday, now that everyone is busy with school and work. I also enjoyed being the hero in brutally-hot Santorini when waiting in line for the cable car because I discovered we could use the family lane to get to the top. We saved an hour from waiting in the scorching heat! Some people say that traveling with young kids abroad can be a waste of time and money, but I feel differently. I think we have over one thousand photos from the trip! These are the best souvenirs you can bring home, and even if the youngest kids don’t remember now, one day, shared conversations and laughs will reignite those memories.
Morgan Qubein, 34-year-old sister-in-law
This was my first cruise, and honestly, I never thought of myself as a cruiser. I am now though. I wasn’t sure about traveling with my one- and two-year-old toddlers either, but they did a great job fighting off jet lag and were crawling into bed with us by morning. My two-year-old Oliver’s first requests of the day were asking when he could go with “the cousins” to the kid’s pool—shortly followed by begging for ice cream (thank goodness the soft serve was free because we had a LOT). You know what really impressed me? Those infinity plunge pools around the edge of the ship. I felt like we were in a luxury resort, not a ship floating at sea. The kids loved the splash pad area, a relief in the hot sun. The waterfalls, spraying fountains, and slides kept them busy for hours. If you’ve ever traveled with kids, you know how much you have to plan and pack, and cruises make that part so much easier. We only unpacked once! When off the ship, having young children usually means you spend less time in museums and more time looking for parks or cafes with food they will actually eat. So, I really appreciated the day we visited Ephesus in Turkey when the kids stayed back with the babysitters. They helped us to balance family time with exploring new places, all in one kid-friendly trip.
