I know it’s been the festive season but travelling recently on the Costa Classica I was struck by what a good holiday it is for the wider family circle.

Granted Italians are great with their relations at the best of times (too good perhaps, with sons living at home way into their 30’s).

Yet the pressure is off when someone else is making those great meals – and providing the perfect wines to accompany the enormous choice of food on board. It makes it possible to enjoy the situation, without any of the normal family tensions coming to the surface.

Families, dancing, laughing and bantering together were the norm, and happy Gala evenings where everybody was dressed up to the nines and festivity was in the air!

Even the waiters joined in on a number of occasions and there were a couple of incidences of dancing between the tables. And, at the end of the evening, no problem at all as to how to get home, when the cabin is only a deck away.

Messy bedrooms and dirty bathrooms are not an issue either when there is always somebody around to help out. According to Lucia Cabel Palomino, Housekeeping Manager “I lose count of the number of people saying to both me and my staff when they get off the ship “How am ever I going to manage without you?”

Then there are the activities, ranging from religious services, children’s clubs, teenage discos, swimming pools, Jacuzzis, spas, shops, lectures, the internet and the library on board. During the cruise too a wide range of shows were available including singers, dancers, acrobats’, films and piano recitals.

All this without any worry as to where people are, whether they should be back at a certain time or if a lift home might be necessary. Grandparents can enjoy their family without feeling a burden and children can make new friends, and be their own person.

Ports of call also cater for diverse family preferences. On our cruise around the Gulf these ranged from helicopter tours, dolphin watching, desert and Wadi Safaris, trips round the Bahrain off Road Circuit, a culture excursion that included a visit to a camel farm, historical and heritage tours or Tea at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi.

Or perhaps using a private driver and guide may be a preference or even hiring a personal people carrier, and totally doing your own thing. Of course there is always the option of staying on the ship and sunbathing and enjoying the space afforded when most people are on shore!

It is all there, depending on the ages and wishes of those involved.

If the worse should happen and somebody feels ill, the comfort of having an on-board doctor adds to the stress-free family environment.

So keep grandma happy and let the children enjoy themselves, there is always time for the arguments, but they can wait until you walk through your own front door – at the end of a wonderful holiday!

Lucy Daltroff

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