Caribbean Family Vacations

The best Caribbean family vacation usually comes down to three choices – a cruise, an all-inclusive resort or a hotel with nearby things to do.

Family vacations in the Caribbean also have other factors that make them successful. Some islands have more educational opportunities than others, some allow topless sunbathing while others forbid it and some are more or less likely to have crowds of college students during spring break.

Caribbean cruise vacations appeal to families with younger kids and those in their early teens because of the activities, the food and the freedom that the kids experience.

On-board activities typically include indoor and outdoor events scheduled throughout the day; programs specifically for younger kids and teens; and nighttime shows with dancers, singers and other entertainers.

More standard things to do are based on ship facilities. A swimming pool, spa, fitness center, casino, lounges and shopping mall are common with most major cruise ships.

Some ships also offer nightclubs with scheduled times – usually in the late afternoon to early evening – for both younger kids and teens in addition to adults.

Depending on the ship, other facilities may include tennis courts, basketball courts, waterslides, climbing walls, jogging tracks and even nine-hole golf courses.

But some of the best Caribbean family vacation experiences on a cruise ship take place at shore-side excursions.

A seven-day cruise typically will visit about four or five destinations. Most of these destinations have cultural, historical and natural attractions, but they also have at least one or two noteworthy excursions, such as swimming with dolphins, sting rays or sea turtles.

Although these excursions cost extra, they usually are the most memorable experiences on any family cruise vacation.

Families with children in their mid-teens or older might find an all-inclusive resort or a hotel at a destination with nearby activities to be the better choice.

An all-inclusive resort will have many of the same activities as a cruise, but these large properties on sometimes hundreds of acres of land – and usually surrounded by tall security fencing – allow teens a greater degree of quiet and freedom than on a typical cruise ship.

Major destinations that emphasize all-inclusive resorts include Jamaica and Dominican Republic. However, most major resort locations for Jamaica and Dominican Republic have few things to do outside of the resort property.

Other destinations with fewer resorts, more hotels and more things to do nearby include Aruba, Cancun (which is popular during spring break), Bahamas and the Virgin Islands.

It is important for some families to know that topless sunbathing is generally allowed at destinations with a French, Dutch or Spanish heritage while those with a British heritage rarely allow it.

Topless sunbathing is more common at places such as Martinique, St. Maarten and Guadeloupe and to a lesser extent at Aruba and Dominican Republic.

It is usually forbidden at Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Dominica, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, Trinidad, Turks and Caicos, and the Virgin Islands.