Emerald Princess here we come!!

I have worked selling cruises for over 15 years now but the last time we cruised as a family was when I was expecting our fourth child which was almost ten years ago!! 

Some of the mad McIntyre family plus my mum.

Life kind of got in the way and as I have always worked it was difficult to get the same time off as my hubby as we had to cover over 12 weeks of school holidays between us. We managed the occasional 3-4 nights away in the UK together and as part of my job I still got to cruise a few times a year but we have never cruised together as a family of six. 

Let me introduce you to them all. 

This is Bruce, my husband of 20 years. Bruce is 46 and works full time as a manager with Tescos. We met on the Royal Princess in 1992 when we both worked at sea.

Bruce and I on the Royal Princess

 Conor is my eldest son and will be 19 in a few months time and is in his first year of University where he is studying Sports Coaching and Development although his long term ambition is to join the police force. He is also a volunteer crew member at Morecambe RNLI.

Conor posing for his sixth form leavers ball.

Ashley is 16 and as the only girl rules the roost most of the time. She is currently studying Childcare at college and wants to work with special needs children. She currently works part time on reception in a local gym and also volunteers in an after school club for special needs children.

Ashley on her prom night.

Logan is 11 and has just started high school. He wants to be a Navigator on a cruise ship which means one day I may get free cruises. He currently attends our local Sea Cadets unit and has his future mapped out with Maritime College and a Cadetship with one of the cruise lines planned for the future.

Logan looking for pirates!

 Number four child is Frazer who will be 10 in December. He is the cheeky one and the one who gets away with everything. He has an answer for everything and last week told his teacher he could not do his homework as there was no emergency pen in the car to write in his book!

Frazer making…… a mess!!

 People often say I must get to go away a lot with my family on cheap cruises but like a lot of families out there we still struggle to pay our mortgage and bills every month and always seem to have too much month left at the end of the money. 

In the last couple of years I have lost two close family members and this has made me realise that we should not put things off and that’s why we have booked this cruise. 

We sail on the 3rd September 2016, my birthday, for 14 nights to the Mediterranean and we are counting down the days till we go. Logan has already planned everything that we are going to be doing and has started an itinerary for us all. 

My parents have also decided to come with us and I can’t wait to share this holiday with them as family means everything to me. 

I am also not exempt from price drops and my cruise has dropped by almost £150 per person but do you know what? I really don’t care because I was happy with the price I got at the time. 

I am also trying to weigh up whether to buy a drinks package or not as at the cost of £510 per person for two weeks feel this is pretty pricey. Also can’t decide whether to do our own thing in the ports or book excursions so if you have any recommendations for the following feel free to comment. 

Barcelona

Ajaccio

Gibraltar

Rome

Florence/Pisa

Marseille

Genoa 

My family and I will be blogging live from the ship and various ports so if you have any questions let me know in advance and we will try and oblige. 

Only 152 more sleeps till we go!