Over the last couple of decades, as Executive Director of Nautical Options, I have arranged a wide variety of events on cruise ships. Many participants have experienced the wonders of cruising for the first time when we organized their friends and family reunion at sea. Often it had been held at a resort or some family members’ house. We helped them take ‘it to sea’. In almost every case the reunion, once taken to sea, remains at sea year after year.

There are a whole raft of reasons why this seems to be the case. Here are just a few:

1. Ease of organization: Reunions typically depend upon one or two individuals who bear the burden of organizing and coordinating the schedules of widely dispersed family members. Even if the reunion is held at a resort, the coordination of air and ground transportation can be daunting at particular times of the year. Then there is the issue of arranging menus, meeting rooms and having the resort accommodate the scheduling needs of the group. Cruse based events are comparatively simple to organize – particularly if you employ one of the companies like Nautical Options which specializes in them

2. Cost: Two things quickly become apparent after you have decided to take a family reunion to sea. The first is how much less expensive the event is. If you go through an organization which specializes in such events and can access the best rates, the cost of a cruise based reunion will be somewhere between 60 and 70% of the cost of the same event on land. The second thing you will notice is that a cruise based event is, by and large, a one line cost. By that I mean a single payment buys the cabin, all you can eat and unlimited, high quality food (watch out for the midnight chocolate buffet!) and all the distractions and entertainment that one could wish for. For the most part individual travelers will end up paying for their drinks, shore excursions, gambling losses and purchases in the many ports of call.

3. Onboard Entertainment: Cruise ships provide a wide range of on board activities. Every evening there is a Broadway-class show in the main lounge. In addition there are always musicians in the various smaller venues. Each day all sorts of organized activities are on offer. These range from dance classes and wine tastings to trivia games, art auctions, bingo, lectures on the next port of call and a myriad of others. In short, there is never a shortage of things for members of your group to do while onboard.

4. Meeting Rooms: This is where a company which specializes in organizing crews based events can really shine. At Nautical Options we handle all the arrangements for the meeting rooms as well as the arrangements for catering, entertainment and special events. We have managed birthday parties complete with cakes, karaoke competitions, special lectures and a whole range of other activities.

5. Ports of call: A cruise ship is a resort hotel that changes location every night. Each morning you wake up in a different place than where you went to sleep. Some mornings you wake up to a day at sea and the wonderful experience of enjoying the ship. On others you wake up in a new port of call and to all the amazing options that are available.

Cruise lines organize a wide range of shore excursions in every port. All of the vendors are carefully screened and the shore excursions are carefully reviewed. In other words, you don’t have to worry the cruise line has already done the worrying for you. In each port your group will disperse – some on shore excursions, some just heading for the beach and others looking for bargains that are always available in the shops. Dinner becomes a wonderful sharing of experiences and a chance to wear that new shirt or goofy hat that you just could not pass up.

6. Having fun and building memories: Memories that live on and on: over the years I’ve noticed one thing above all else. There’s something about the experience of having a reunion on a cruise ship that keeps the memories alive year after year. I have had clients tell me that five or six years into a series of reunion cruises they still reminisce about the first ones. Other groups post their pictures on the internet and share them with friends and family.

Cruising is an amazing experience by itself – but, with your friends and family members, a reunion makes memories that endure.