The prospect of spending time with the people you grew up with, reminiscing about the old days, sharing stories about your lives since you last met and re-tellings of old favorites can be the source of a lot of joy and laughter… and sometimes equally great dread. For the most part, these wonderful gatherings are looked upon with great anticipation.
Most families are composed of individuals with a wide variety of interests and tastes in food, entertainment and accommodation. They are also multi-generational, with everyone from toddlers who need constant attention and the elderly who, incidentally, may also need constant attention. This makes the choice of venue and location the most important decision, and a challenging one.
One vacation idea that checks all the right boxes for a family reunion is a cruise. Cruises, by design, cater for a wide assortment of people from all walks of life and to those of all ages. Parents will be glad for the range of scheduled, supervised activities that allow them to take the load off for a while. There are no shortage of entertainment options and distractions for adults with most cruises offering casinos, shopping, movies and shows. To top things off, the buffet style of meal options in addition to other menus is ideal for picky eaters and special dietary requirements alike.
The variety of options varies from cruise to cruise and between cruise lines, but there are generally adequate for most gatherings.
Like other vacations, a family reunion is the ideal time to get away from the usual humdrum of work and urban commutes and for that reason, a stay at a National Park holds great appeal. Many Parks have dedicated stay areas where visitors can relish the clean air and reconnect with nature without having to do without the amenities that make it a vacation.
The scene of a lake around which the family is gathered to talk and laugh, drink in hand, perhaps with a barbecue sizzling as kids tear in and out of the water with the open land, bright sun and high mountains as background is as iconic as any.
Family reunions are, for most people, the highlight of the year; the perfect opportunity to introduce a significant other to the rest of the clan, to teach kids the sports and skills they learned from their own parents decades before, to come together and relish the sound and warming camaraderie of shared laughter of the people they care most about. Don’t miss your next one.