Travel Maestro’s March interview is with Nancy Schretter, Founder and Managing Editor of the award-winning family travel website, FamlyTravelNetwork.com. Nancy is an award-winning journalist who has been featured in USA Today, “The Today Show” and “CNN with Paula Zahn.” She has real world family travel experience with her two children and makes her home in Washington, DC.

1) Each age of childhood presents its own travel challenges to parents. What are popular trips for families with babies and toddlers? Elementary-aged kids? Teenagers who don’t want to be seen with the family? It’s important to consider children’s ages and stages when planning family vacations. Here’s an article that highlights 16 great choices for vacations with babies and toddlers. Parents with school-aged kids have so many options. Beach and skiing vacations are great for them, as are cruises, dude ranch vacations, ski trips and visits to National Parks. Most hotel & resort children’s programs are designed for kids in this age group. Cruises are very popular for families with teens. Teens love being with other teens and many of the cruise lines have excellent teen programs to bring them together. This article  highlights some tips and ideas for parents cruising with teens. Other great vacations for families with teens include multi-sport adventure vacations, ranch vacations, beach vacations, ski trips and volunteer vacations. Parents with teens often opt for accommodations that give teens their own room to spread out. Vacation home rentals and condo-type resorts can be particularly popular with this crowd.

2) Covington Travel is seeing a strong increase in the number of multi-generational family trips. What are some pointers for a family with a broad range of ages and interests to keep everyone engaged and happy? There’s huge growth in multigenerational travel right now, and it’s expected to boom even more. According to researchers, 40% of all active leisure travelers have taken at least one multigenerational trip in the last year and 32% of grandparents who are leisure travelers traveled with their grandchildren. Furthermore, 67% of grandparents say that children are never too old to be treated to a vacation. In the next 18 years, 77 million Americans will be turning 65. For multigenerational vacations, it’s very important to choose a destination that offers a flexible range of activities and attractions for all age groups. Planning and mutually shared expectations are key. This article provides 12 great tips for families planning multigenerational vacations.

3) What are your favorite family-friendly cruise lines and why? Cruises are often an excellent choice for family vacations, especially for families with potty-trained children ages 3 and up who can take part in the free children’s’ programs. Some of my favorite family-friendly cruise lines include Carnival, Disney, Norwegian and Royal Caribbean. Holland America and Princess are also particularly great choices for multigenerational vacations. Celebrity can be an excellent option for upscale foodie families. MSC offers attractive kids cruise free deals as well. It’s important to remember that large megaships aren’t the only option for family fun at sea. Voyages on smaller ships, including Un-Cruise, Lindblad, Paul Gauguin and Ecoventura are also great for families. There are even a few family friendly river cruises, too. A good travel agent can help in selecting the right cruise line and ship for your vacation.

4) Some independent travelers stereotype all-inclusive resorts as bad buffets and all night partying. Is an all-inclusive resort a good option for family travel? What are some pros or cons? All-inclusive resorts are actually quite popular with families because staying on budget is often one of the hardest parts of a family vacation. All-inclusive resort vacations can make budgeting and planning much easier, because almost everything is included in your stay. Staying at an all-inclusive also makes giving in to kids a bit easier sometimes – you don’t have to say “no” to that additional much-loved fruit smoothie that might cost $8 at an EP property. Hilton Hotel’s family travel study found that 61% of U.S. parents and 82% of U.K. parents were “extremely or very interested” in all-inclusive vacation options.

Selecting the right all-inclusive for your family is important, though. The stereotype of all-night partying and bad buffets couldn’t be further from the truth if you choose wisely. This is another one of the many places where a good travel agent can help in the decision process. Beaches Resorts, Franklyn D. Resort & Spa, Bitter End Yacht Club, The Verandah Resort & Spa, St. James’s Club Resort & Villas, Azul Beach Hotel, selected Club Med and IBEROSTAR properties, and many others truly cater to family vacationers.  It’s very important to clearly understand what each resort’s definition of “all-inclusive” is before booking, however. In addition, if you’re staying at an all-inclusive property – don’t succumb to spending your entire vacation on property. Get out and explore with your family. After all, the destination is an important part of your vacation.

5) In your opinion, what are the top 3 sites in the U.S. that families should not miss? Wow – that’s a tough one. Generally, the top three most popular destinations in the United States are California, Florida and Hawaii. I’d agree with those. I’m very partial to National Parks and being outdoors, so I’d say that visiting America’s National Parks is a don’t miss experience. Being from the Washington, D.C. area, I’d say coming to our Nation’s Capital is important for any family. And certainly Walt Disney World and Universal Studios Orlando are perennial family favorites. Our family has our own favorite beaches, too, including North Carolina’s Outer Banks, Sanibel/Captiva/North Captiva Islands in Florida, South Carolina’s Kiawah Island, Georgia’s Golden Isles, Delaware’s beaches and more. Beach vacations are definitely a “don’t miss” event for our family.

6) Both family travel and luxury travel are often built around engaging experiences and cultural immersion. Are family travel and luxury travel mutually exclusive? Goodness no – family travel and luxury travel definitely can go hand-in-hand. There are so many luxury resorts, hotels, cruise lines and tour operators that cater to family travel. Many upscale resorts and hotels, including Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Ritz-Carlton Hotels, and properties such as The Homestead, Mohonk Mountain House, the Grand Wailea, The Greenbrier, Mauna Lani Bay, The Cloister and many others cater to families with exceptional facilities and amenities, great children’s  programs and more. Tour companies such as Thomson Family Adventures, Adventures by Disney, Tauck Bridges, Austin Adventures, Wildland Adventures and others provide incredible soft adventure and cultural immersion opportunities for families – all with special luxury touches.

Luxury cruise experiences for families abound as well. These days, we’re seeing parents and grandparents taking children on cruises to the Galapagos, on exciting safaris in Africa, and on fascinating cultural immersion trips to Italy and Peru. Luxury guest ranches are another great option for families, including Three Bars Ranch, White Stallion Ranch, Tanque Verde Ranch, The Hideout, Paradise Guest Ranch, Flathead Lake Lodge and others. They provide activities for every member of the family, exceptional service, and luxury as well.

7) What are some family-friendly destinations for children’s first trip abroad? Many families head to the Caribbean, Mexico or Canada on their first trip out of the United States. Typically, parents are looking for safe destinations with convenient direct flights and a wide variety of family-friendly resorts. Costa Rica is another popular destination as well. Other families go across the pond to England or Ireland on their first trip abroad. It often depends on the age of the children and the family’s budget.

8) As travel consultants, we find that many of our clients have done trip research and planning on their own before they come to us. Your website, the Family Travel Network, is a tremendous resource for families to do just that. At what point in their trip planning do you recommend that families contact their travel advisor?   I think families should do a couple of things first, and then contact their travel advisor. First, get everyone together and talk about the upcoming family vacation. Kids and teens have an important say in travel planning these days. Multiple research surveys show that the majority of parents say their kids are very or extremely influential in deciding where their family goes on vacation. In fact, a recent IHG study found that almost 90% of parents say “kids’ preferences are influential when choosing a vacation destination.” It’s also helpful to have a rough vacation budget in mind before meeting with your travel advisor. Great travel agents can help families get the most value for their travel dollar. They can also help to make the trip special by coming up with places that will offer activities and amenities for every member of the family. When it comes down to getting prepared for the trip, here are ten tips that will help to make it your best vacation ever.

 

Nancy, thank you for sharing your recommendations and so much great information about family travel!

You can join the conversation about family travel on FamilyTravelNetwork.com or follow @kidtravel (Nancy) on Twitter. When you’re ready to plan your next family vacation, please contact the friendly travel advisors at Covington Travel.