Vacations for Children and Their Parents

Americans spend more than $275 billion a year on travel, according to the U.S. Travel Data Center, and lately people in the travel industry are noticing that some of these dollars are spent on children.

One cruise line, Sitmar, publicized a program for families with small children, and the demand quickly exceeded the number of cabins it had planned to set aside for them. (The limit is 200 children per cruise, with a total of 1,000 passengers.)

“We don’t really need any publicity on this program,” said Julie Benson, Sitmar’s public relations manager. “We’ve had to turn away business already. People have to book early, especially for summer cruises.”

That proves the point: Parents want to travel and they’re looking for places that let them take the children.

Cunard and Carnival cruise lines have paid attention and both have also developed cruise programs with the children in mind.

The Queen Elizabeth 2

On Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth 2 are the Queen’s Nursery for children up to age 2 and the Play Center for kids 2 to 12, both open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and both supervised by British nannies. The QE2 also has a teen and youth center, a children’s swimming pool, an early dinner sitting for the small fry, and baby-sitters available in the evening. There are recreational programs for each age group as well.

On a QE2 five-day round-trip cruise from New York to Bermuda, for example, regular rates start at $800 per person, double occupancy. Children staying in a room with two adults pay lower third- and fourth-person rates; for children under age 2 the fare is a mere $20 a day.

Carnival Cruise Line has decided to extend its supervised activities for children from just summers and holidays to year-around. There’s a junior schedule for kids ages 4 to 12 and a teen schedule for ages 13 to 18, along with discos, game rooms, children’s pools and playroom. Adults with children pay $1,195 to $2,095 per person, double occupancy, for a seven-day cruise; the kids under 17 join them for an extra $195 each.

Supervised Activities

And places on dry land are getting in on the action too. The Ritz-Carlton in Laguna Niguel has summer programs for children June 17 through Labor Day weekend. Days are filled with recreational activities and arts and crafts, and evenings feature ice cream socials and movies for kids.

The extra cost is $25 per child for day and evening activities, all supervised.

The elegant Ritz-Carlton resort, on a bluff overlooking the ocean, has 393 guest rooms ranging from $185 a night to $335 and suites up to $2,000 a night.

The Holiday Inn chain has a longstanding policy of free accommodations for children under 12 who stay in the same room with their parents. Some Holiday Inns, but not all, extend that policy to include kids through age 18.

Some other hotel chains that don’t charge for children traveling with their parents are Vagabond Inns (children 18 and under free), Howard Johnson (free under age 18), Hyatt Hotels (free 18 and under), Ramada Inns (free 18 and under), Sheraton (free under age 18), Motel 6 (free under 18) and Marriott (free 18 and under). Most places offer free or reduced rates for children. Ask before you go.

In Puerto Rico the Hyatt Regency Cerromar Beach and the Hyatt Dorado Beach resorts have free programs from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. for children ages 5 to 13. To stretch the budget, summer rates are cut by half for the off-season, to $80 a night per person, double occupancy, and children under 12 stay free in the same room with parents.

Permanent Center

The Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in Orlando, Fla., has a permanent child care center for youngsters 3 to 12, open from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. The cost is $4 an hour for one child and $2 an hour for each additional child.

Special children’s summer programs are also conducted daily from mid-June to Labor Day at the 920-acre resort: activities for tykes (“Mousercises,” puppet shows, treasure hunts and movies), an adventure camp for ages 7 to 11 and a separate round of activities for teen-agers. And the resort is just three miles from Disney World.

Club Med, once considered by many mainly as a happy hunting ground for single adults, now bills one of its properties as “a resort for all seasons, all reasons and all ages.” The Club Med-Sandpiper at Port St. Lucie, Fla., offers activities for people from under age 1 to over 70.

Tots and toddlers have their own little corner of the village, the “Baby Club,” where from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. they’re tended, bathed, changed, fed and cuddled while their parents have time to themselves.

At the “Mini Club” their siblings, ages 2 to 11, have their own clubhouse and large shallow pool, open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. They can learn how to water ski, swim, sail, picnic and play golf and tennis.

Adults at the Sandpiper pay $700 a week, May through October. Rates for kids during summer months range from $280 to $490. Other Club Meds also have programs for the kids; call (800) CLUB-MED for full details.

American Hawaii Cruises has announced a “free kids” program for summer. One or two children, ages 16 and younger, can cruise free when sharing a cabin with two full-fare adults aboard the Independence or the Constitution, sailing between the islands of Hawaii.

Hawaiian Itineraries

The program is available June 18 to Sept. 3 in cabin categories F and above; that is, $1,695 per person double and up. The seven-day itineraries depart Honolulu every Saturday and call at Hilo and Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii, Kahului on Maui and Nawiliwili on Kauai. In addition, parents and kids fly round-trip to Honolulu for about half the regular fare if they use the cruise line’s air supplement program.

The ships will be staffed with kids’ recreation directors leading such activities as pizza parties, pool games and craft classes.

For Sitmar’s popular family programs, adult fares are $1,500 to $2,200 for a 10-day Caribbean cruise per person, double occupancy. Children under age 18 sharing a room with their parents pay $750 each.

California Parlor Car Tours has special rates for children. Those 5 and under travel free with an adult and those ages 6 to 18 pay about a third less than regular adult fares. For example, a three-day motor-coach excursion from Los Angeles to Hearst Castle and San Francisco (one way) costs $145 for youngsters, $288 for adults. A Grand Canyon seven-day outing, round trip from Los Angeles, costs $322 for children, $544 for adults.

There’s also plenty of advice around to help parents plan their next family vacation.

Catalogue Available

One pair of enterprising parents, Gene and Carole Terwilliger Meyers, noticed the need for information about family travel. She is a free-lance travel writer; he is a computer expert. They are the parents of a girl, 9, and a boy, 15. Their business is called Carousel Press.

They’ve compiled a catalogue, “Family Travel Guides.” It lists travel books aimed at families, kids’ books to take along on trips, and general guidebooks. Each book is reviewed briefly and the price and publisher are given. The catalogue is free to those who send a stamped (45 cent) business-size envelope to Carousel Press, P.O. Box 6061, Albany, Calif. 94706.

“We printed 3,000 copies last year,” Carole Terwilliger Meyers said, “and we ran out. This year we’re printing 10,000 copies, and we may go to a second printing.” All of the books listed may be ordered through Carousel Press.

(Another small mail-order enterprise is “on hold” this year because a baby is on the way, so don’t look for the “Families on the Go” catalogue until 1989.)

A helpful book for planning a family outing is “Great Vacations With Your Kids,” subtitled “The Complete Guide for Family Vacations in the U.S. for Infants to Teen-Agers,” by Dorothy Ann Jordon and Marjorie Adoff Cohen. Another is “Farm/Ranch & Country Vacations” by Pat Dickerman.

Wilderness Experiences

“Great Vacations” is packed with information on accommodations and sightseeing in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., and gives names and addresses of people who offer adventure vacations such as pack trips, boating and wilderness experiences; tennis, golf and other resorts; ski lodges catering to families; farms and dude ranches; campgrounds and cabins.

Dickerman’s book focuses on back-to-the-land experiences such as dude ranches, working farms and other country accommodations in the United States, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the Virgin Islands.

American Express has put together a list of tips called “Traveling With Children.” One bit of practical advice is that when applying for a U.S. passport, children over age 13 must appear in person.

Another good suggestion is to remember, when making a reservation to rent a car, to request a car seat for children 4 and younger. Car rental agencies usually have a limited number of car seats.

All the experts agree on one bit of advice: Know where you’re going. Read about the place, find out what the attractions are and when they’re open, let the kids in on the fun at the planning stage, set some travel guidelines so they’ll know what to expect, make lists of items you want to take, make your reservations well ahead of time and be sure to ask about children’s rates.

One of the nicest things about traveling with children was noted by Reader’s Digest in its special “Guide to Family Vacationing” published in May, 1986 (reprints are still available): “Contrary to what many people may believe, children make excellent travel companions. They bring with them a willingness to be amazed and a zest for discovery.”