Family travel allows stress-free reunions

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Ron Pradinuk / Winnipeg Free Press There is something especially romantic about weddings at sea.

As the August long weekend signals the halfway point of summer, the travel business equally reflects a change in thinking of those who are considering winter travel.

Cooler nights and shorter days are reminders of the dark cold days they will experience only a few months from now.

Questions start to emerge that focus on different places and different styles of travel.

QUESTION: When I was growing up, the idea of grandparents, parents and children holidaying together was not given consideration.

In your story about New Brunswick a couple of Saturdays ago, you did just that, and I seem to run into many more families who are planning such vacations, even to exotic destinations.

Is it a travel pattern that is becoming more common?

ANSWER: Intergenerational and multi-generational travels, as they are called, have grown by leaps and bounds.

In instances where children may be living with their families in cities other than that of the grandparents, it is extremely common for holiday plans to be made around the goal of a complete family reunion.

An industry market-research firm recently issued a report that found close to 40 per cent of grandparents with sufficient incomes travelled with their grandchildren on at least one holiday a year and almost 80 per cent of these trips included all three generations.

The report suggests the priority for today's baby boomer is togetherness, and travel is one effective means of spending quality time in an exciting and presumably stress-free environment.

For the more exotic destinations, there is a sense of satisfaction in giving the youngest generation an education in cultures that might open their minds and actually help them as caring individuals, beyond the joys experienced in the vacation itself.

QUESTION: We are definitely going to have a destination wedding this winter.

Our first thoughts were of holding it at one of the better resorts in Mexico or the Caribbean. However, it was suggested we look at holding it on a cruise ship instead.

Are there any advantages of one over the other?

ANSWER: Two or three years ago, I might have suggested cruise companies were not as geared toward servicing all the needs of the bridal party as resorts.

But in large part, that has completely changed.

Cruise lines have recognized the economic gains to be had from groups of 10 to 100 who want to celebrate as much and as often as possible.

Because most regular cruise lines charge for alcoholic beverages, guests may need to plan for a more costly budget. At the same time, the cruise experience can be much more special, with the land options more varied and often more exciting.

The major lines now have designated professionals to ensure the details of each wedding are carefully choreographed and executed. And they now have more experience to ensure everything goes well.

Carnival Cruises reports they handled nearly 3,000 weddings on their ships last year. Having said that, it is worth noting some cruise lines are just beginning to get into the wedding co-ordination arena.

The smaller cruise-ship lines know the market for weddings with large numbers of people is not likely to be big for them, but like all cruise companies, they are responding to the new demands of a category that has grown in leaps and bounds over the last number of years.

There is a definite romantic aura ever-present in a cruise-ship excursion that seems more intense than on a land-based resort. The Love Boat was not successful for its characters alone.

The sun, the open sea and exotic ports have that effect, and with so many already talking about the destination weddings they have already experienced, I think a wedding at sea will create much more of a conversation dynamic.

QUESTION: With oil prices remaining relatively low over the past while, when should we begin to see some lowering of ticket prices from our major air carriers?

ANSWER: Worldwide economies still appear to be struggling to return to the kind of health most developed countries experienced in the past.

The fear is that as economies begin to recover, oil prices will rise again, and this possibility strikes fear in the hearts of airline executives everywhere.

It has not been a healthy industry for a long time, and we likely shouldn't be holding our breath expecting too much change in ticket pricing.

The stock market has shown little confidence in the future profit picture of most airlines, Canada's included, and it seems no one really anticipates a strong airline-sector financial recovery soon.

There have been improvements and in many ways, Canada holds some of the brighter prospects. But it is a fragile industry, and while we may poke fun at their almost childish means of finding new revenue sources, they have had to struggle for quite some time to find the formula for the kind of profitability that makes shareholders happy.

Forward your travel questions to askjourneys@journeystravel.com . Ron Pradinuk is president of Journeys Travel & Leisure SuperCentre and can be heard Sundays at noon on CJOB. Previous columns and tips can be found at www.journeystravelgear.com or read Ron's travel blog at www.thattravelguy.ca .

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 4, 2012 D2