How to get him back on board?

[NS8VN]

There is nothing that says you HAVE to cruise again if you really don't like it. You can cancel the placeholder and get your money back. Life is too short - and money too valuable - to waste time or money doing something you don't like.

This 100%. Cruising is not the kind of vacation everybody wants, and not a thing wrong with that. People go on trips all the time that boggle my mind how they find it enjoyable, but if they enjoy it then good for them. You tried it and you made an opinion based on experience, don't be ashamed of that.

 

[cruiser21]

How old are your kids? We never traveled with our kids until the youngest was 5. Never mind I see they are 6,6 and 4.

Maybe try again when your kids are older and more independent. Kids can change a lot in two years. They may love the clubs when they are older.

I've been married for 23 years. There's no rule that says you have to do everything together. My Dh and I do different things with the kids. If you want to try again go for it. Take your mom.

If you don't like the heat don't sail in the Summer.

 

[Westcoastwild]

The stuff he objects to he sounds a lot like my dad, who wouldn't see the value in any $10,000 vacation especially not a 7 day cruise. So I think at best, if you get him to go again, he may go along with it but not love it. You'd have to decide if that's worth it to you. Mom took dad on a lot of family trips that he didn't enjoy but didn't want to stay home either. He'd be ok in a beach or lake house with a beer in his hand for an entire week. That's just what he preferred.

But I agree with the others- some people don't like cruises and there's nothing wrong with that. I'll go and mostly enjoy it, but it's not something I would choose for myself. And there are relatively few destinations that interest me- I really don't enjoy cruising for the sake of cruising. Part of it is that I don't find sea days relaxing- I find them monotonous at best and nausea inducing at worst.

 

[elvispursley]

To save on cost, we always took our kids during the off-season. We arranged with our 2 DS's teachers to get their school assignments for the week they'd miss and we'd have them spend a few hours of dedicated quiet study time every day until the work was done. This last time, my oldest managed to get most of it done on the airplane trip from Seattle to MCO. But now that he will be entering high school next year (and this year asked not to miss school--so proud of him, although I think it's so he won't be away from his friends), we will no longer be able to do this. We will likely try another, less expensive cruise line to travel during the summer months. But back to the topic...

My kids hated the kids clubs. They first went when they were 8 and 10--turning 11 on the cruise. They, too, just wanted to hang out with us. I thought it would be better when they could go to Edge, even got special permission for my youngest, who was 10, to be able to go to Edge with his older brother. Nope, wouldn't go--although younger son wanted to go but wanted older brother to go with him for the 1st time. Didn't happen. We just ended up spending a lot of time together as a family, which was great. I was thrilled that my oldest kept saying he just wanted to hang out with us. I expect that as he gets older, those days will slowly disappear.

We had my parents join us on this cruise (my mom has always come with us but this was a first to have my dad come). We had adjoining rooms with verandahs and if we needed a break, we sent the kids over to my parents or they took the kids to see a movie, play mini-golf, etc. As for privacy, my DH and I never expect to get any when we go on vacation with the kids unless we are booking a condo with separate bedrooms. So it was nice to have that extra room.

After the cruise, we did 1-week at WDW/Universal with just the 4 of us. Probably was one of the first times I'd not been stressed going to the parks.

I think a good point raised is to talk to you DH and find out exactly what it was he didn't like about cruising. And your deposit is refundable, so no worries there!

 

[Geomom]

Is there a destination that your DH might be interested in? We didn't think we would be cruise people and always said we'd only do a cruise to Alaska...and then I discovered that Disney cruises to Alaska. Took a bit of work to get DH onto the first cruise, to Alaska, but he loved it--he was worried about being bored on sea days. I did the placeholder and we'll be doing a Baltic cruise next summer--right at the 2 yr. mark. Our kids are much older than yours, 12 and 16 during that first cruise, so we did get a bit of time to ourselves, not as much as you'd think as our kids do enjoy 'family' time and just visited their clubs for specific activities...perhaps if they could be in the same club, they might have stayed longer, but didn't work out with the 4 yr age gap.

If it doesn't work out, no problems, the placeholder deposit is refundable!

 

[Minnie & Daisy]

You could use your placeholder to book a 3, 4, or 5-night Dream cruise, while also spending some time at WDW. Make it a land-and-sea vacation, just like they used to offer. After that, you might find that you want to wait until your kids are older to try again, or not. Castaway Cay allows you to have a relaxing beach day with your kids.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I suppose I could always just walk away from the $250 and stick to our WDW trips

You can just leave that placeholder in place. If you don't convert it to an actual cruise within the 24 months, it will be refunded to you. Gives you 2 years to work it out.

Personally, I'm in the "if he doesn't want to go, I'd get someone else to go with" group.

 

[Dug720]

I think we're not going to be inclined to cruise another line--I probably wouldn't consider another one so soon except I booked the bounceback offer!!! I suppose I could always just walk away from the $250 and stick to our WDW trips

You can cancel the placeholder and get your money back.

 

[mevelandry]

Just bring your mom or a friend who would likely enjoy a Disney Cruise.

It's obvious that your DH/your kids did not enjoy it that much (so it's not worth spending the money).

When you are just two, the size of the room don't matter as much...

 

[DCLDVC1]

Concierge sounds perfect for him. It's is a completely different cruising experience and I think your husband would really enjoy it. Book a midship one bedroom on the Wonder or Magic and he'll have more space than he'll need. Don't give up yet!

 

[Cackyschmackers]

I think that's the problem too--feeling like the cost was worth it. Our cruise fare alone was about $12k, not including flights/hotels/photos/transfers/gratuities, etc.

We also have 3 kids, including twins, but ours were a bit older than yours when we first sailed. I say wait another year until they are older. My other bit of advice is sail in Jan or Feb, it's much cheaper. Our upcoming August cruise is more than twice as expensive as our previous cruises in Jan and Feb. Also, do not hesitate to pull your kids out of school now while they're young. It may seem like a bad idea and something you'd never consider, but guess why we had to cruise in August this time (and pay twice as much as we used to). Yep, can't miss school now that they're older. You also have an advantage in that you have twins and your kids are so close in age that they can all enjoy the kids club together. This can be very advantageous as they get older (even though i bet they don't always get along, just having their sister may a comfort factor); they may be more.comfortable starting out in one club together and maybe branch out to the other that may be more interesting. Like someone above said, on our first cruise, we didn't just put them in the clubs any old time, we picked specific activities they wanted to do then picked them back up. Last, if it won't work out to bring your husband, it's a great idea to bring your mom. But, an even better idea is bringing your mom AND your husband and book two rooms. However, you'll only get the placeholder discount on the one unfortunately. And as everyone above said, it's okay if you end up not going and getting your money back. But I think I would start wirh looking at off-season cheaper rates. Good luck!

 

[adg06]

They didn't even poison our drinks.

 

[tch121]

I have 3 kids (12, 9, 2). Because of our family of 5, we get two connecting staterooms. Often 2 inside staterooms are less expensive than one verandah stateroom. It give some us privacy plus we all sleep great in an inside! My kids aren't huge fans of the clubs either, but with the two separate staterooms, they enjoy relaxing in "their" room and they like us to order room service for them. You can also go to the buffets. I often bring food back to the room from the buffet. We like to go to shows together and family activities in the evenings. I've done cruises out of NYC but they have a higher price tag. We do prefer the classic ships (Magic & Wonder) because there are less crowds. You can snag reasonable cruises in the off season on both that leave from Port Canaveral or Miami with stops at Castaway Cay for much less than NYC cruises.

 

[stephmarty]

All the things he doesn't like are basically what a cruise is about and most are impossible to avoid. I'd take someone else or plan a different kind of vacation. If you guys are like me, your time off is too valuable to spend on a vacation that isn't fun or relaxing.

 

[3monkeys4me]

I didn't read all the replies but my husband isn't big on cruising either. We have one more cruise booked (this will be #3 for him) on a more port intensive itinerary. We did one 7 night cruise with 3 stops, one 4 night cruise with 2 stops and we are doing a 10 night cruise with 6 ports next. If he doesn't like the next one we wont be cruising as a family. I may do futures cruises with just the kids or with other members of our families joining.

I think concierge may work better better for your family if you want to eat in your room and have more space. Another option might be to get 2 connecting staterooms and just order room service, eat at the pool deck or even cabanas. While cabanas is table service for dinner the shorter time frame may just work better for your family. 2 of my kids just aren't into kids' clubs and things like that. They never have been. Now that they are older they can go off together and do activities but when they were young we just stuck with family activities, with sometimes DH or I taking a short break on our own for a little relaxation. My youngest however has always loved every kids' club she has been to. On cruises, at Aulani...where ever. So there really in no guarantee the clubs will work for your family, but they may as your kids get a little older. Perhaps try blocking out an hour or two ahead on one of the sea days and try letting your kids know ahead of time that you will be able to pick them up at xx time, but not before unless it is an emergency? I know my older two that didn't love the clubs would have been fine for a short amount of time, as long as they know what time they would be picked up.

Eta: I just read the part where you mentioned your not in love with cruising... If no one really enjoys it then why go on a another? In our family the kids and I love it and just DH doesn't love it, though he doesn't hate it. It has been a couple of years since our last cruise and we now have 18 months until our next cruise so they are really spread out. We will have taken 8 land vacations in between the two cruises so Dh isn't making a huge compromise in doing the cruise with us since some of our vacations are more geared towards things he likes more.

 

[Disney_Princess83]

Yeah, I think neither of us are in love with cruising

I think this is the real issue here. Cruising isn't for everyone. Some people love it and some people don't. We weren't sure we would like cruising to went on a 4 day Disney Dream Cruise and loved it. We are AP holders at DLR and WDW but prefer the cruise hands down. (it's a shame you can't be an AP holder on a cruise!)

Maybe skip the cruise until the kids are a little older? If you do want to try again, I would try and find out what particularly left you disappointed and see what you can do about those issues. If your husband missed the internet, pay for an internet package. If your kids didn't like the clubs, could your mother come along so you and your husband could have some alone time? If the room was too small, you could book two connecting rooms or a one bedroom concierge suite? If you don't like the dining rooms, you can eat at other quick service places or room service and eat in the room. We have also taken food from the quick service places to our state room.

 

[EllieBride]

Lots of great replies already here, but I'll add one more perspective to the mix... we took our first family cruise in June. It was my husband's first cruise and and first for our twins, who were almost 5 at the time. We're WDW-regulars (I'm into it, he humors me). He went into it with LOW expectations of liking it. He thought we'd be trapped in a room with me and our daughter being seasick the entire time (thankfully, we weren't). He was really surprised by how much he enjoyed it and the key for him was that our kids LOVED the clubs and spent quite a bit of time there. More than I had planned on, actually. Since we were on the 5-night double-dip, and we deliberately didn't plan any excursions for Nassau, this was kind of a boring itinerary. But in a good way, LOL. It gave us lots of time to relax and enjoy the ship, which is what we wanted. But during the day, when the kids ditched us for the club, it left us with not a lot to do. We did an awesome chocolate and liquor tasting, but unfortunately, we couldn't get a brunch reservation for Palo or Remy. Hopefully, next time! I know my DH missed Internet access, but he stilled played some of his other ipad games that didn't require internet. I think you may be surprised about the kids being more into the clubs by the next time you go. But as others have said, not every kid likes them. Even with twins, my two did not hang out together in the club and sometimes my son would call us for a pick up and my daughter would stay, which was fine. We let them make the choice that worked best for them.

We booked a placeholder and haven't decided where we will go next time. He wants to do Northern Europe or Alaska. He doesn't realize how much tours and excursions (and airfare!) will cost, on top of the cruise itself... But it would be fun! The kids will be 6-ish by then. I'd love to take them to Europe, but think Alaska might be better suited for that age.

If he doesn't come around to the idea, take your mom and make some great memories with her

 

[mom4fun]

I think we're not going to be inclined to cruise another line--I probably wouldn't consider another one so soon except I booked the bounceback offer!!! I suppose I could always just walk away from the $250 and stick to our WDW trips

The $250 is fully refundable.

 

[twinsouvenirs]

There is nothing that says you HAVE to cruise again if you really don't like it. You can cancel the placeholder and get your money back. Life is too short - and money too valuable - to waste time or money doing something you don't like.

Thanks to all of you who pointed out that it's refundable! I had no idea!

The kids are already begging to go back to the "cruise boat" so I'll likely give it another shot, but this is really good to know in the event that we just can't find a good trip while the bounceback is still good. I hate to pay the extra 10% but if it's a way better fit (itinerary, price, ports) it's probably worth it.

 

[DCLDVC1]

Thanks to all of you who pointed out that it's refundable! I had no idea!

The kids are already begging to go back to the "cruise boat" so I'll likely give it another shot, but this is really good to know in the event that we just can't find a good trip while the bounceback is still good. I hate to pay the extra 10% but if it's a way better fit (itinerary, price, ports) it's probably worth it.

If you can sail during the off season, it's possible to find some Concierge staterooms that are reasonably priced. The lounge and sundeck are the perfect place to kick back and relax. A 4 or 5 day cruise in a one bedroom after spending a few days at WDW is an option worth thinking about. You won't get 10% off when booking a Concierge room but you'll still get the OBC.