I recently survived a cruise to Canada with 15 other adults and three children, and no one got hurt. No, really!
To add to the drama, two of them had food allergies and I'm prone to motion sickness.
No, really!
I slapped on a ReliefBand ($89 on Amazon, and I swear by it) and we alerted the crew ahead of time to the possible food-related medical emergencies, then headed out.
The idea of spending five days in the middle of the Pacific with that many family members might sound ... daunting. Possibly nightmarish. But I actually had a blast.
I kept one rule of thumb in mind the whole time, which is what really saved me. But here are a few tips before you call up all your cousins.
First, go for a one-way cruise. Sound crazy? Hear me out.
We departed Long Beach, Calif., on the Ruby Princess on a Tuesday in May. We were "at sea" _ meaning we saw no land _ for two days. On Friday, we docked in Victoria, British Columbia. We spent the afternoon sightseeing and had enough time for a long lunch before getting back on the ship. By dinnertime, the ship departed; we arrived in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Saturday, where we disembarked and spent the weekend. On Monday morning, we took a flight back to Orange County.
It was like having three mini vacations in one, and we weren't even gone a whole week.
