By Sinaiyouth 
The graduation of the school is an important step. To celebrate our daughter, my husband and I have planned a trip to Europe with family friends whose son is a friend close to our daughter since kindergarten.
But when the parents started the planning process, adopting a DIY approach to a trip to several countries for four adults and three teenagers (two high school graduates and an 8th year graduate) proved to be intimidating. We considered a guided tour, but we were not sure that it was the right choice for our group. And then we found an ideal solution: a Mediterranean cruise.
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We opted for a seven night cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Travelingwho left the port of Civitavecchia near Rome and made stops in Salerne and Sicily, Italy; Kusadasi, Türkiye; And Santorini and Mykonos, in Greece, before finishing at the port of Piraeus near Athens. This allowed us to see several regions in Italy and Greece (plus Türkiye, which had not been originally on our list) without much logistical coordination on our side.
And this is not the only reason we all liked to travel this way. Here is why a cruise ended up being an excellent option to get to Europe with adolescents.
It has simplified travel planning.
Once we have chosen our cruise route, we started to consider excursions on the ground. We wanted to do something organized at each port, and we always had good options to choose on the list of the cruise ship without needing to travel a overwhelming range of choice.
We have every seven years on the level for each day to a certain extent (perhaps adults a little more than adolescents), helping to reduce options. Two of the teenagers had developed an interest in mythology after reading the Percy Jackson series, which helped conduct our decision to visit the island of Delos (the mythological birthplace of Apollo and Artemis) during our stay in Mykonos. In other ports, we have opted for types of visits to visits. We have chosen to do all the excursions together, but it would have been easy to separate from certain days if the whole group was not interested in the same activities.
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Choosing excursions to land through the ship meant that we did not have to determine the transport once we had landed or sailed completely by ourselves. And we have always tried to balance the subject of the excursions and the length of the tour with the interests and the attention periods of adolescents, leaving time most days for independent walks in the port, taking advantage of the ship’s equipment, or simply to relax for a while before dinner. Our longest day was an excursion to Sorrento and Pompeii, but the latter was an essential visit to all of us.
This allowed everyone to unpack once.
Adolescents are not known to be treated. And I know that if my daughter was to unpack and recondition every night or two while traveling across Europe, it would not be pretty, even with its embrace of packaging cubes.
But with a cruise, we could all unpack at boarding and recondition the day before departure. And for the rest of the trip, we could simply choose an outfit for the day or in the evening and continue our way. This kind of stress -free trip has been definitely appreciated by all of us.
This gave adolescents a lot of freedom.
Would I feel good about the three teenagers exploring a European city unknown by themselves? Probably not. But was I agreeing that they were traveling the ship without adults? Most certainly.
The three shared a room and had a lot of freedom when we were on the ship. So if they wanted to go to the gymnasium, try the slides, get a soft service or take a nap, they could. Beyond the excursions, our night dinner was the only activity regularly required for them, and those who ended up being the highest point of the trip. We talked about funny family memories, parents’ college days and memorable moments of our excursions (like our tourist guide in Pompeii who had a lot to say about a certain part of the male body).
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And at other points on the ship, adolescents have often ended up bringing to parents after spending time without us. Music Trivia was a great success with our crew, and at least two of the teenagers would join each time we were playing.
It made meals easier.
Part of the trips are to try local cuisine, and we were able to do it during our excursions. We sampered fresh mozzarella and olive oil in a lemon cushion in Sorrento and took a Greek lunch in Fira on Santorini, where the spicy feta dip Firstkafteri quickly became a favorite of the group. During lunch in the old port of Mykonos, the Feta Frite with honey was the bite of the day.
But traveling by cruise meant that breakfast was easy to come every day (especially when the excursions had an early meeting time), and the buffet on the ship and a pizza point helped all the noon snacking needs. A new dinner menu every night allowed adolescents to try new things – and order a backup option if he really hated something.
The day at sea provided a good break.
Adolescents cannot take as many historical facts or visits to ancient ruins and notable churches. The day of the cruise at sea fell in the middle of our trip, and it was a perfect timing.
Everyone could sleep after several mornings early and then spend the day how they wanted it. For us, he was read by the adult swimming pool and face the Flowrider for adolescents. The relaxed pace and the lack of obligations were a beneficial reset halfway through the trip.
He offered a good introduction to several regions of Europe.
Yes, you do not get an intensive cultural immersion in a region if you opt for a cruise. It is definitely a rapid type of experience. But there are advantages to that.
“It gave adolescents a taste of each place so that they can know in the future what they want to explore more in depth,” said my friend Heather after the trip. “It is also a great way to do it for the first time when you do not know the language of a country. This gives you a way to explore without feeling a linguistic manner. Although this limits your ability to take deep in various regions of a country, it is a great way to take the first steps. ”
During our cruise, we wandered through two picturesque medieval villages in Sicily, admired the emblematic buildings of the Blue Roof of Santorini, eaten pizza and bought in Sorrento, and given the ruins of the temple of Artemis and the ancient city of Ephenes in Türkiye, where we had really learned in the Asian part of the country (a bonus!). And we have discovered that mykonos ferries are certainly not for the less hearts (or those subject to seasickness).
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“It allowed you to see many places in a shorter time than you would do if you were traveling alone,” said my daughter. “Especially for people who had not been in these places before, it is a great way to see them and see a variety of things. I don’t think we could have visited as many places as we did if we had done everything by ourselves. ”
“I really liked the way it helped us see many places without spending too long,” the other graduate told me in high school. “And we have always been able to have fun between the places because we were on the ship.”
It was easy to add to the cruise experience.
We all spent two nights in Rome before the cruise and two nights in Athens after the cruise. This allowed us to see these destinations in our own way (although briefly). In Rome, my family visited the Vatican museums and the Sistine chapel, visited the golf trolleys in the city’s strengths and appreciated an excellent gastronomic tour of the Trastevere district with a food in Europe. Heather’s family visited the Colosseum and made a private visit to the city (a gift from her mother).
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In Athens, we all made a visit to the city’s private driving when we arrived (a good choice in summer heat), a fun street food tour one evening (the lukumádes in the shape of a donut were a success), and a visit to mythology one morning. In the two cities, we also had time to walk for ourselves for a good taste of travel without cruise. And following the whole trip, my daughter now has a long list of places where she wants to review with all the other places still on her travel bucket list.