Latest / Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families / #757 Cruising 101: Tips for Parents, Buoys & Gulls

Transcript

#757 Cruising 101: Tips for Parents, Buoys & Gulls · Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: It's the Happy Families podcast. It's the podcast for the
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: time poor parent who just wants answers.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Now, he turned around, all gowned up, with his hands
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: in his gloves and a syringe in one hand, and
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: he takes a look at you, lying face down on
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: the bed, and he says, present the bomb.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: And now here's the stars of our show, my mom
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: and dad.
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: Okay, So, I feel like today's podcast needs to start
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: a little differently. There's a word that I want to
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: use to start today's podcast. The word is And I
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: don't know if Hamish and Andy listen to our podcast. Well,
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: I know Andy doesn't.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: He doesn't.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: Hamish maybe listens to the podcast. Hamish, if you're listening,
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: I'm so sorry. We're not stealing your word. Have you
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: listened to Hamish andy podcast?
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: Not their podcast, He's listened to the radio.
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: Okay, okay. So on their podcast, whenever they have a
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: listener doing a segment with them, they always greet the
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: listener with the same word that I think we need
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: to start our podcast with today.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Aloha.
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: I can't believe I know why you said that, because
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: we we've just come back from a family holiday and
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: we ended up in Hawaii, but no, a lower way
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: would hamish Andy say a loha.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: I can't see them saying they say a hoi hoi
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: and we've just had If you're going to say a hooi,
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: you have to do ahi.
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: You even had the go across your body, just said
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: like a hoy Like, well, you're supposed to say. Well,
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: we've just had a couple of weeks on the ocean,
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: on the open ocean.
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: We've been adventuring.
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: I don't know if that's the right word. We've been
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: on a cruise ship. It's not really adventuring, is it.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: It's pretty safe.
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: We've been on a cruise ship, and I feel like
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: we need to a hoi everybody.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: You know, we were on that boat for a long
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: time and I don't think I ever heard that word.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: I don't think it's weird.
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: I didn't say a hoi once, especially didn't say it
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: like a pirate ai. Well, this is our old I've
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: said it now, this is our older Better Tomorrow episode
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: of the Happy Families podcast. I'm justin. I'm here with Kylie,
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: my wife and mum to our six children, and we've
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: just come back from a holiday. We spoke about the
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: fact that we were going away on this family holiday.
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: Before we left, we talked about how I was worried
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: about it. Didn't really want to go, but we needed
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: a holiday better and so today's ould do better. Tomorrow
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: was really about holidaying well as a family and should
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: you take your kids on a cruise? And the verdict
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: is you're not going to give a verdict. You want
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: to talk about some stuff before we say whether we
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: should or shouldn't take our kids on a cruise. Before
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: we left, I would have said absolutely not, no way,
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: and I don't want to go either. That's the reality.
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: I didn't want to go on a cruise. I was
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: worried about all the cons to cruising.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: I thought I was There were a few cons.
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: I thought I was going to get seasick. You told
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: me that the room was tiny. You also said that
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: the bathroom was so small that I barely would have
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: room to shower. You mentioned that we were going to
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: be gone for a couple of weeks, and there were
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: no laundry facilities on the boat. I was concerned about
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: disease and all that kind of stuff. I was also
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: worried about safety issues on board the boat. I was
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: concerned about children's supervision, our child being stuck in kids club,
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: staring at screens all day. I was worried about a
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: whole lot of stuff.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: You had a big list, didn't you.
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: You convince me that this was something that I didn't
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: want to do.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: So, now that you've actually done it, how relevant was
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: that CON's list?
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: Pretty relevant? Pretty relevant? I'm going to say now I
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: should also mention. We're not going to mention our cruise liner.
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: This is not a sponsored post in any way, shape
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: or form. But I was worried about getting seasick.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: Well, let's just put it in context. Because you didn't
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: need to get set. You made a conscious decision that
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: allowed you to end up at the medical center.
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: Okay, So if you want some context we've been I
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: probably don't. We've been on the boat for three days.
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: I've been fine, and so I decided I must have
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: my sea legs. I'm not getting seasick. I won't worry
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: about the seasick tablets today. Rookie era number one. That
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: night we had dinner as usual. I ate my two
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: main meals, my four entrees, my three desserts, whatever it was,
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: and in the hotel room after dinner, I don't know
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: if we went to the show that night or not,
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: but I know that my belly was starting to feel
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: constricted and tight and horrible, and I just I wondered
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: if i'd eaten If I didn't a bad burrito. I thought,
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: maybe I've eaten something horrible at dinner and it's bad burrito.
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: We didn't have burritos. But I'm just it's just saying, like,
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: you know, I've got a sick tummy.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: It would have been six if it was bad.
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, look, you've got you feel really good about the
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: fact that I got sick. Anyway, it wasn't too much food.
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: It was sea sickness. I asked for you. I told
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: you at one point I really need help. We need
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: to find the medical center. And so you stepped down
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: in the corridor to find a staff member because you
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: couldn't find a directory to call the medical center.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: And I have to admit I didn't really believe you.
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: When you came back in, I had completely emptied my stomach.
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: I had been sick for I don't know. I felt
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: like you were gone for half an hour.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: I was gone for about two minutes.
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: I felt like you've been gone for half an hour.
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: I was so sick everywhere, like just sick, six six sick,
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: proper seasickness, sick, and you had a phone number seat
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: you called the medical center, and thus began my night
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: of horrors.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: Well, the doctor, he looked at you, and he didn't
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: really believe you.
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: Eating you missed and it's important. When you called the
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: medical center, they said that they would send somebody up.
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: They did, which and I thought that was great because
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: I got to lay on the bed, I didn't have
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: to go anywhere, and they were going to.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: And assumed as well. What I didn't know was that
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: they were sending a wheelchair up. And as soon as
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: I opened the door, I knew that this was not
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: going to end well. And you took one look at
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: it and you just said, I'm not getting in that chair.
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: So you made me sit in a wheelchair and get
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: wheeled to the medical center.
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: I didn't make you. I just acknowledged that if you
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: didn't get in that chair, that poor man had to
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: wheel the chair all the way up so that he
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: could be helpful to you.
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: And you were just going to say no, yeah, I
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: was going to walk to the medical center, but couldn't
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: even walk. You told me that you weren't going to
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: come to the medical center with me unless I sat
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: in that chair, and I clearly.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: You needed me to hold your hand because you were
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: sat in that chair.
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: I was going to say exactly that I needed somebody
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: to hold my hand. So we went to the medical center,
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: where I was once again sick because and like initially
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: they didn't really think I was that sick.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: No, when the doctor just said he was going to
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: give you a tablet, and I knew that it was
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: already costing me a bomb just to be there, and
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: I was like, if you give him that tablet and
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: then he's sick again, we're just going to end up
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: back here. But way after I'm in bed.
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: So I was violently ill in the medical center, at
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: which point they realized that this was serious enough for
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: a needle, in fact, for two needles, So they laid
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: me down on the bed.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: They give him this and this and a double dose
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: they based me. But the funniest part, and it really was,
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: it had me in stitches. In spite of the fact
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: that I was trying to have a really serious face.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: I was just glad that you were a little bit
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: out of it at the time. He turned around, all
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: gowned up, with his hands in his gloves and a
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: syringe in one hand, and he takes a look at
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: you lying face down on the bed, and he says,
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: present the bomb, Present the bumb I feel like there
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: needs to be a I don't know, you're getting too
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: much flourish of music here and the bomb. Have you
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: ever heard that phrase? I've never it's going to last
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: with last in our house for a long time. So
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: I got anyway, It worked good, didn't it?
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: Do you know what it was like? Medical centers on
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: a on a ship cost a lot of money. Apparently
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: I would have paid five times, but I paid, and
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: it was expensive. But that needle worked within about thirty seconds.
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: I took my ce sick tablets every morning and night
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: after that, and I.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: Still had your four desserts and took Yeah, I'd gained.
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: This is a big con that I didn't think about,
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: no matter how much time I spent in the fitness center,
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: and I spent considerable time in that fitness center. I
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: put a fair bit of weight on on that boat
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: with the best of intentions. I wasn't going to overeat,
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: I wasn't going to have dessert. I wasn't going to
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: be silly about the buffets and all of the food
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: that's included in the cost of the cruise, the restaurants
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: that are available, but I ate excessively.
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: Well, I went to a talk for beginners on day
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: one to just how you can maximize your time on
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: the cruise and the activities manager. Yeah, he acknowledged that
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: on average people put on two hundred and fifty grams
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: a day.
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: So that's a kilo every four days. That's about right.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: I think that's.
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: About what I did.
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: I think that's about right too.
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: I might have done more.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: Can I just say I'm really grateful that I worked
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: so hard to lose all of that weight before we
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: went on the cruise. Can you imagine what it would
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: happen if I had done that without losing that Now
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: I'm just back to square one. Wow. Wow, it's very frustrating.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: But obviously the sea sickness was pretty bad, and it
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: was it was a big deal at the time, But
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: now you've got through it, you recognize that there are
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: things that you can do to stop that. You think
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: about that big long list you gave all the cons
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: Were they really that big a deal?
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: Oh?
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: Well, no, I mean the room was great, and the
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: bathroom was fine, and there are a lot of people.
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: I didn't like being in that much close proximity within
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: that many people, especially in the swimming pool, like there's
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: a couple of pools on the boat, and the hygiene
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: issues were a little bit for me, But it was
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: it was fine. It wasn't actually that bad. I think
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: overall we had a pretty great time. I think that
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: was a pretty cool cruise. I mean, you think about it.
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: You didn't have to worry about cleaning, didn't have to
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: worry about cooking.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: I didn't have to make any decisions. The kids pretty
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: much got to eat whatever they wanted. I didn't have
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: to worry about the fact that one kid wanted pizza
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: and the other kid wanted fish and chips. Like it
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: was just all there.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: I think one of our children had a burger or
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: spaghetti bolonnees every single night for the duration of the
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: time we were gone. But I think both the pro
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: anaicon was the kids had a lot of free time
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: as well, and they wanted to be with all the
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: other kids.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: So I think that that was the biggest con for me,
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: was that in my head, I thought one of the
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: biggest pros was that there was kids club available, so
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: the kids could go off and spend time with their kids.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: That gave us time to be together without feeling like
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: we had to entertain them the whole time. But when
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: we were ready to spend time with them, the poll
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: to be with other peers was so great that they
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: actually didn't want to spend time with us. And I
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: missed the family time outside of meal time. I missed
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: the family time that we would normally experience when we're holidaying.
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: So I totally agree with you, but I also loved
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: the time that we did get so meals were fantastic,
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: we got to go to a lot of shows together,
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: and our time off the boat was really concentrated high
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: quality family time as well. So I agree that the
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: balance wasn't perfect, but we got some really great family
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: time in there as well.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: What else would have been a pro for you? I
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: guess I.
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: Would probably say that I enjoyed the fact that we
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: got so much time together. The entertainment was amazing, And
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: I mean, I won't fork out for like a mocktail
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: because I just hate paying for things. I just hate
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: paying for these. If I can say it any other way.
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: And so what I really appreciated was that once you
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: paid for the cruise, everything's included, everything's covered, And I
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: actually I would say that cruising is a reasonably affordable
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: way to get away and have that time.
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: I think for families and specifically mums and dads who
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: are sensitive to being on holidays and constantly having to
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: put the hand in their pocket time and time again. Yeah,
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: a cruise takes away the element of pain, yes, yes,
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: because you obviously pay up front.
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and you can have as much as you like
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: now once.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: You're there, you don't even have to think about money,
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: Like you don't even carry your wallet.
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: Almost all the activities are included. Most of the restaurants
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: are complimentary. There's a couple of really nice ones that
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: you can pay for and we did that for one
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: of our daughters had a birthday on the boat, and
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: we paid for one of the fancy restaurants and it
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: was so cheap really for what it was, it was
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: great value. It was a really amazing experience. And those
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: opportunities are there for the for the kind of the
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: extra experience, But if you.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: Don't want to tap into them, you don't feel like
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: you're missing out.
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, and that's all we did, Like, we didn't
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: tap into anything else that required money, and yet it
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: was still it was so great. You know what else
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: I loved. I loved the shore days. I love being
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: able to go ashore and have the kind of holiday
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: experience that you and I are used to having where
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: we go and explore adventure, fine stuff. When we were
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: in Tahiti, we stopped on the little island of Maria
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: and we got to swim in a lagoon with our
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: snorkels and goggles and fins that we took in a suitcase,
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: and we literally swam with reef sharks, like eight or
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: ten of them around any of us at any time.
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: And these stingrays that were bigger than the span of
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: my arms, Like they were massive stingrays, and we got
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: to touch them. You got particularly close to one.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: I might have kissed one.
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: You kissed a sting ray.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: That's pretty cool. My lips felt really soft afterwards.
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: That's a really strange thing to say about kissing a
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: sting ray. But we had some really nice experiences as well, so.
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: That I guess the big question then is would you
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: do it again? Because you were pretty adamant that.
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: If I was to put a list of holidays together prior.
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: To this, it probably wasn't on the list.
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: I would not even put a cruise on the list.
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: Having done it, I still wouldn't put it high on
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: my list because it's not my kind of holiday. I
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: want to adventure, I want to explore, I want to
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: do things that are going to stretch us as a family.
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: Once we got to Hawaii, we got to do some
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: really great things that were not the sorts of things
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: that we would typically do, and I love the experience
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: that we had there, Whereas on the cruise ship it
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: does become much of a muchness after a handful of days,
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: and I kind of felt like we just spent too
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: long on the boat.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So, in speaking to lots of other cruise as
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: while we were on board, there was just an acknowledgment
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: that the crews that we were on we had a
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: lot of time at sea without a break between, and
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: that there are definitely cruises out there that would allow
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: us to have more land time than see time. And
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: I think that that would have been helpful for you specifically.
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but if somebody said to me, Hey, we're going
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: to go on like a week long cruise with our family,
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: and we thought your family would be fun to join
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: if we had friends that did that, for sure, I
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: would actually almost almost definitely, not one hundred percent, but
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: almost definitely say yes, so long as I had time
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: to get my ce sick tablets organized and so LOR.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: Just putting it out there in case you didn't like
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: the people, aren't you. Yeah, I am.
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: I'm just going to have a couple of cabts there.
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: And I would also want to make sure that there
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: are plenty of days where we could get off and
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: go and do things on land. And word, do the wise,
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: do your planning ahead of time, get your bookings taken
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: care of ahead of time, because you don't want to
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: be competing with two and a half three thousand people
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: who are also getting off the ship at the same
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: time as you. Yeah, yeah, so, but I reckon overall,
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: should you take your kids on a cruise. It's affordable,
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: it gives you time together as a couple, It gives
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: the kids plenty of freedom, but you also do get
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: to come back together. And I I can't believe I'm
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: saying this, but it wasn't that bad.
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: You know, you had me like literally having anxiety fits
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: for a couple of weeks before we went away.
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: You were the one that was telling me how bad
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: it was going to be for me. Let's be honest,
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: you created the anxiety yourself. What totally just prepping you
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: prepping me. We're going to have to deal with this.
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: It's going to be that bad.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: You go, hey, do to please?
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: You know, Well, maybe I'm saying maybe I'm a little
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: bit easier to please than you think.
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: I just lowered your expectations and it worked in my
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: favor in the long.
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: Okay, So from an older, better tomorrow perspective, if we
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: were to holiday better, I still would choose something over
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: a cruise in ninety nine percent at the time, but
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: for the right cruise, for the right length of time,
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: with the right amenities and opportunities on board, I would well,
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: I'd be on board with that.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: I would say that if you had children, a number
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: of children under the age of eight we're exploring is challenging, yep,
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: because of sleep times and you know, just the age
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: of your kids, cruising would literally be at the top
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: of my list.
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: So I would probably tweak what you've just said. I
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: think with young children, particularly kids under about the age
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: of four. Cruising could be particularly challenging.
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: You know, the biggest challenge the.
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: Way other people respond to you if your kids having
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: a hard time.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we met some people and became friends with them
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: while we were there, and I was really disheartened by
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: the way other cruisers responded to their kids.
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: And you know who was I'm going to point fingers
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: right now. So the really cool story is that this
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: person recognized me because she'd purchased one of my webinars,
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: Little People, Big Feelings. Since she said, to you, doctor
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: Justin Colson, and I said, yeah, I am. And then
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: she pointed out all her kids and said, you've helped
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: me with these kids because they have some really big feelings.
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: And we had a great chat and we got to
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: know their family really well. It was a really fun
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: experience to get to know them. But the people who
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: were the most unkind and impatient with them and their
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: young family of four kids who were all under about
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: the age of eight, were the more mature adults on
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: board the boat. And I use the word mature to
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: say older people, people who are over about the age
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: of sixty really rude, really impatient.
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: We talk about entitlement, and generally speaking, we talk about
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: that in relation to our teenagers. Yeah, but the sense
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: of entitlement that these people seem to have because they'd
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: paid for a ticket to be on this cruise without
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: recognizing the fact that the two year old had paid
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: the same like, it really actually affected me substantially.
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, there were some pretty but you know what, that
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: again just emphasizes to me. Kids do struggle and the
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: crews can be really taxing on the parents. So I reckon,
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: if I had young kids, I don't know if I'd
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: be signing up for a cruise. But once the kids
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: are older than about four or five and they've got
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: that capacity for a little bit of self regulation and
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: they're happy to explore, I think that's six to twelve
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: age group is probably probably magic there.
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, Kids Club just worked a treat for Emily.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: She's right bang smack in the middle of that. And
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: what was so cute. We'd sit at the dining table.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: You've got the same dining table every night, and the
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: kids would walk in and all they'd be.
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: Like, hi, Emily, Yeah, Hi, Emily. We had a table
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: near the entry, and every kid I Emily. It was great.
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: So would your cruise again. Yes, Wow, that was a
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: strong yes. I would say, under the right circumstances.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: I'm happy to not take you.
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: It's okay, yeah, okay, Well, under the right circumstances and
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: with the right people, I'd probably be up for it
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: as well, so long as it wasn't too long and
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: so long as so.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: If he says no to you, guys, you know you're
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: not the right people or.
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: You've picked the wrong cruise. Hopefully that you're putting me
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: in there like that. Thanks so much for listening to
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: The Happy Families podcast is produced by Justin Roland from
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: Bridge Media, Craig Bruce's hairy executive producer. Have a great
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: weekend and we'll be back on Monday.
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: And if you haven't brought my book, oh.
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: That's right, I've got a book, The Happy Families.
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: Oh no, what's it called?
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: The Parenting Revolution, The Pairing Revolution. It's my new book.
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: Please get a copy of the Please, I'm saying please,
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: you want a copy of this book. It's a great
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: book and you're going to love it. And we need
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: to go