How the hoo do you afford a family holiday abroad?

[Deleted User]

We've gone for a cruise this year.. however the prices were going a bit insane - the same holiday that cost £3000 two years ago now costs £5000.

We've gone for a different cruise line, and found a pretty great deal by shopping around (managed to cut £1000 from the original prices quoted) so we've got 12 days around Europe for a little under £3k, but that includes all food, drink inc. alcohol.

My eldest loves to travel and see different cities so cruises really work for us. On this trip we'll get to Amsterdam and he's already planning on going to the Van Gogh museum.

DevilsAdvocate1

ringo_24601 wrote: »

We've gone for a cruise this year.. however the prices were going a bit insane - the same holiday that cost £3000 two years ago now costs £5000.

We've gone for a different cruise line, and found a pretty great deal by shopping around (managed to cut £1000 from the original prices quoted) so we've got 12 days around Europe for a little under £3k, but that includes all food, drink inc. alcohol.

My eldest loves to travel and see different cities so cruises really work for us. On this trip we'll get to Amsterdam and he's already planning on going to the Van Gogh museum.

We took the boys to the Anne Frank museum and they loved it. If you want to go there make sure you book in advance as its difficult to go on the day without a booking.

It made a massive impression on my children. My middle son didn't ever speak to me about it afterwards, but two years later I was called into school to see his class teacher. She told me that my son had given a fantastic presentation on the musuem and made her want to visit it.

Teacher2

One way to subsidise a holiday is to apply for a Tesco VISA Platinum Mastercard and use it to pay for everything you buy or use:- shopping, utilities, cars and expenses, repairs, the lot! It will rack up Tesco Cubcard points and, if you spend it in Tesco’s, at four times the usual amount. Save it for a year or more and then look at what you have to redeem. You can usually triple the amount by redeeming with many holidaycompanies, travel companies or use them on air miles. You can use them to contribute to a holiday. Some companies have a top limit you can redeem but the Tesco points make a large hole in the final bill.

Thirteen years ago we used to take our two children for four days in a Venice hotel with flights included for nothing using the Tesco points. It is not quite so beneficial now but you could easily get a grand off somewhere sunny.

You could use the points for Airmiles, or Avios as I think they are called now, and get a reasonable AirBNB deal. Or sign up with a house swap site and get a whole house for nothing.

Good luck!

happyandcontented

ringo_24601 wrote: »

We've gone for a cruise this year.. however the prices were going a bit insane - the same holiday that cost £3000 two years ago now costs £5000.

We've gone for a different cruise line, and found a pretty great deal by shopping around (managed to cut £1000 from the original prices quoted) so we've got 12 days around Europe for a little under £3k, but that includes all food, drink inc. alcohol.

My eldest loves to travel and see different cities so cruises really work for us. On this trip we'll get to Amsterdam and he's already planning on going to the Van Gogh museum.

Is it NCL? We found that cruise line very much cheaper for family holidays than others. That said, we accepted that overall the experience was not on a par with Royal Carribean or Celebrity for us as a couple. Going as a family the inclusion of drinks packages was the clincher.

We always book via US TA and save a lot of money.

warehouse

Last year I asked my 3 kids, (who are now 19, 16 & 12), what holidays the remembered & liked the most. Camping won by a mile over all hotels / abroads / all inclusives etc.

I was surprised.

[Deleted User]

happyandcontented wrote: »

Is it NCL? We found that cruise line very much cheaper for family holidays than others. That said, we accepted that overall the experience was not on a par with Royal Carribean or Celebrity for us as a couple. Going as a family the inclusion of drinks packages was the clincher.

We always book via US TA and save a lot of money.

No, it's MSC, and our first time.. we normally go with Princess or Royal Caribbean. We used https://www.cruise1st.co.uk who had a killer discount compared to other firms (We normally use Thomas Cook or Cruise.co.uk).

For many cruise lines you can't use a USA-based TA anymore. My parents tend to use an American TA too and pick the lines you can use.

I love that you can negotiate the price between different TAs with cruises.

DevilsAdvocate1 - Yep, we know you can book tickets 3 months in advance for the Anne Frank Museum, and we'll all be going. Thankfully my family was spared the horrors of the camps (immigrated a generation earlier), but we know many people who's family didn't. I'd like to get my kids to Yad Vashem in Jerusalem eventually but I think they'll probably go there as teenagers. I still remember the Children's memorial 20 years from when I last saw it.

On a lighter note, I also want to take the kids on their first camping trip this year and the missus is considering booking a weekend at Butlins - the Ocean hotel at Bognor Regis isn't too bad but I don't want to go unless they've finished the swimming centre.

happyandcontented

ringo_24601 wrote: »

No, it's MSC, and our first time.. we normally go with Princess or Royal Caribbean. We used https://www.cruise1st.co.uk who had a killer discount compared to other firms (We normally use Thomas Cook or Cruise.co.uk).

For many cruise lines you can't use a USA-based TA anymore. My parents tend to use an American TA too and pick the lines you can use.

I love that you can negotiate the price between different TAs with cruises.

DevilsAdvocate1 - Yep, we know you can book tickets 3 months in advance for the Anne Frank Museum, and we'll all be going. Thankfully my family was spared the horrors of the camps (immigrated a generation earlier), but we know many people who's family didn't. I'd like to get my kids to Yad Vashem in Jerusalem eventually but I think they'll probably go there as teenagers. I still remember the Children's memorial 20 years from when I last saw it.

On a lighter note, I also want to take the kids on their first camping trip this year and the missus is considering booking a weekend at Butlins - the Ocean hotel at Bognor Regis isn't too bad but I don't want to go unless they've finished the swimming centre.

Ah right, we did MSC too out of Venice a few years ago, and we loved it. It is very European, with all announcements in several languages, and there is no queuing for lifts etc!! The food was good, but the evening entertainment was, by necessity due to language issues very visually based. A lot of guests from the US weren't impressed but we really enjoyed it.

Re using a US based TA, ours seems to find a way round it by using their address.

[Deleted User]

Yes, we're not expecting good entertainment - but that just means the kids will go to their club more and we'll just relax with drinks instead.

RC and Princess have had really good entertainment in the last few years. I'm expecting visual magicians and dancing a lot on MSC, lol

Princess use to have really interesting lecture series.. I miss those

happyandcontented

I think Princess is the only cruise line we haven't (yet) tried but we will be gearing up for some long-haul trips in the near future and their itineraries look great so I suspect we will find ourselves onboard one of their ships reasonably soon!

Kim_kim

warehouse wrote: »

Last year I asked my 3 kids, (who are now 19, 16 & 12), what holidays the remembered & liked the most. Camping won by a mile over all hotels / abroads / all inclusives etc.

I was surprised.

My grandson is 6. He loves hotels, lol. Not caravans or tents, but nice hotels.
I sent them away for a pre-Christmas treat a year ago, the porters had the giant brass suitcase racks, you know the tall arched ones. He was soooo impressed that the cases were magicked into the room.

Funny I asked him the other day “if you could pick anywhere, where would you like to go on holiday?”. He said “a nice hotel”. He’ll appreciate the 5 star in Greece this year :-)