Planning a Family Trip Dec 2016
 

We are family of 5 people my wife and three boys aged 24 - 22 and 20 years old. My wife , oldest son and myself will be flying from London on Dec. 13th 2016 to Seattle where my youngest son is studying in UW . We are going to rent full size SUV from SEA airport staying in down town Seattle for 4 nights (most probably we will rent an apartment) waiting for our middle son flying from Miami FL (where he is studying) Then we will be driving to Whistler BC on Dec. 17th 2016 (we made a booking in Whistler village for 4 nights) check out on Dec. 21 . Driving back to Seattle. Our plane is to fly to Miami FL (the day is not decided yet) finding a cruise either from Miami or Fort Lauderdale for maximum 6 nights , we have no specific distension ( all are first time cruiser) . My youngest son must fly back to Seattle by Jan. 4th as his school start. And the rest will stay on Miami till Jan. 12th when the three of us fly back to London from Miami.
Any advice or tips who to make our itinerary.
Thanks a lot for your help

There is good light rail service from the SeaTac airport to downtown Seattle.
Rent the van downtown the next day to see whatever you want to see outside the city of Seattle.
You might encounter a problem taking the rental into Canada.
There is Amtrak train and bus service between Seattle King Street station and the Viarail station in Vancouver.
The rest of your plan sounds good.
Renting a vehicle downtown is quite often cheaper than renting at an airport.

It sounds like you might be flying and cruising around Christmas time. Things really book up early for that time. I wouldn't wait to book the cruise or your flight to Miami.

Book your cruise soon.

It may be too late to find a cruise - you will need to jump on that immediately. Like yesterday.

This is a situation where a travel agent might come in handy since they could quickly search every cruise line/possibility.

It's going to be expensive to cruise that time of year and busy as well. You need to line that up asap or have a plan B. My former manager used to use vacations2go to book cruises (she took at least 2 a year).

You do not need a car in downtown Seattle, in fact it is a pain to have one - between paying for parking and trying to drive in the downtown area and every curb is metered ... my DS went to Seattle U and although I needed to have a car a few times, I always dreaded driving there. The light rail from the airport is cheap and efficient and very nice. Once in downtown, if I needed a taxi for my hotel, there was always one waiting outside the light rail station.

Look at the cruisecritic website to search for cruise options. It is a super popular time to cruise so the ships will be crowded. Check Ft. Lauderdale for cruise departure options as well as Miami. You can easily drive or get a car service between the 2 locations if you fly into Miami but have a cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale for example.

For a group with kids that age, the bigger cruise lines will probably have the most appeal. I like Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Princess in that order. Have not tried Holland America (appeals to an older crowd, but at Holiday times has a good mix) or NCL or Carnival which are more budget friendly lines.

Sounds like a fun trip!!

Thank you all for your advice and tips , I understand we are late in reserving a cruise for this time of the year . I have to prepare for plane B if the cruise didn't work. We think of visiting Vancouver in our way back from Whistler maybe for two days ?? . I was surprised to know that there will be a problem with rental car to drive to Canada !! any suggestion how to find out .
Also we think of driving to Key West when we are in Miami maybe around New Year! any suggestion how long we can stay there.

There won't be a problem with the rental car. Note that none of the rental companies allow snow chains, but supposedly the Sea to Sky Hwy (BC 99) is plowed and sanded heavily when it snows.

There are plenty of cruises available, including some departing from Port Canaveral, which is quite close to Orlando. There are also flights to London from Orlando, although they go to Gatwick and not Heathrow.

A couple more point on cruises: The really crazy time for cruises is New Years week - you will go Christmas week so should not have a problem booking that. If your 3 boys are sharing a room on the cruise, I would recommend a balcony room as the inside rooms can get a little claustrophobic with no window. There are limited rooms with a 3rd bed so it's something to check on early.

Moat cruises are 7 nights so if you can do that, it would be a better option for looking at multiple cruises. You do not board the ship until 1:00pm or later, generally and you leave the ship early on your final day, by 10:00am at the latest, so you have the day ahead of you.

Vancouver is a fun city and worth more than 2 days, IMO, but you have lots you want to do in your limited time. I'd make a list of all the things you want to do/see and then start cutting. I prefer staying in a few places longer rather than skimming over lots of destinations.

<we think of driving to Key West when we are in Miami maybe around New Year! any suggestion how long we can stay there.>

Sounds great. I love the Florida Keys. You could stay a couple days, you could spend a week.

The only thing I would say is don't make your connections too tight. Sea to Sky highway was sanded and plowed- I didn't need chains- however, it can be slow going do to weather or, more often, accidents. In addition, border waits can happen at that time of year and Seatac traffic can even add on another hour. So I would not fly out the same day you drive from Whistler.

What I would probably do- is take the train from Seattle to Vancouver. Rent a car, drive to whistler. Fly Vancouver to Florida. Son can fly Florida to Seattle. It might cost a bit more flight wise but it'll save a lot of time and hassle. As people mentioned above- a car is not helpful in Seattle if you are staying downtown- it can actually be a significant expense.

Or you could even skip the car rental entirely unless you want sightsee along the highway. Because there is plenty of bus service to Whistler, and I think I only moved my car once at Whistler Village- so if you're going to just ski, I wouldn't think a car would be necessary at all. The village itself is a pedestrian zone and there is good bus service throughout.

Port Canaveral is a good port to cruise from. Who cares if you are in a interior room. Wife of a sub sailor who taught me that we don't need a window. I would love one but we don't spend that much time in the room. It is about 45 minutes from the Orlando airport.
Key West is busy during New Years and Christmas week. There are cruises that stop for the day there though. We love spending Christmas and NYE there and skipping all the hoopla at home.

The good news about a cruise out of southern florida is that you are now within the 'final payment' date -- and the sales are on to fill the remaining cabins.

We typically cruise on Celebrity and book through CruCon for the best prices and giveaways. Just go to their website on call them Monday through Saturday.

As an example, here are some of the better sales:
http://www.creative.rccl.com/Sales/E...s_cel_tues.pdf

Let me know if you need help interpreting the pricing.

For the Seattle/Whistler/Vancouver portion:

Check with your son at the UW ... depending what he thinks you might do here, you may not need a car in Seattle (traffic is bad, parking is expensive, the light rail/subway from the airport to downtown to UW is fast and convenient.)

Some rental agencies in Seattle allow cross-border rentals, others don't ... just check with them and select one that allows.

To Whistler: De aware that BC *requires* cars to have either M+S tires (M+S Symbol) or Winter tires (Mountain w/ snowflake symbol) on the Whistler highway. The road to Whistler is *usually* either totally free of snow or well-plowed and sanded, but if you hit one of the snowstorms, the RCMP sometimes checks at a roadblock just north of Squamish (or SB, leaving Whistler) and may turn you around without proper tires. (Mind you, when I used to live in Vancouver and skied almost every weekend I never had a problem, even those years when I drove a 2WD van.)

If you are renting an SUV, many of them are furnished new from the manufacturer with M+S tires, so the rental *may* have them ... but check with the rental agency in advance.

One thing you might consider if you're going to stay in Vancouver for a few days: take the train or bus to Vancouver, and rent a car there ... more likely to have M+S tires. Or another: If you are staying in downtown Vancouver, and especially in the *center portion* of Whistler Village, chances are you will never need a car, and parking can be expensive ... you could take a train or the bus to Vancouver, and a bus to Whistler. (https://www.whistler.com/getting-here/road/shuttle/ and http://www.amtrakcascades.com/ )

Check with your son at UW re renting an apartment ... he'll know the areas. If you're in one of the residential areas you may need a car for convenience (the city bus frequencies and routes are good in some areas, bad in others). But if you're in one of the more dense areas (Lake Union, Capitol Hill, near downtown) parking can be a real problem or non-existent ... make sure its available in the rental you're getting.

BTW ... in checking with the rental agency re allowing cross-border driving or availability of M+S tires, its often difficult to do so on-line or with the nationwide toll-free numbers. As part of the "deal" for taking your son to Whistler, have him phone the local agencies to check.

Make sure you fly into Florida the day before the cruise - you don't want to miss the cruise due to weather flight delays.

Excellent point, Gail!