A FAMILY TRAVEL PUBLICATION
Real family trips. Honest reviews. Better departures.
Travel stories, cruise notes, and practical planning for families who want the useful truth—not the polished sales pitch.
Firsthand experiences labeled clearly
Current facts checked before publishing
No pay-to-praise reviews
START HERE
What are you planning?
Choose the kind of help you need. Every section is organized to get you from inspiration to a calmer departure.
Choose a place
Browse the Caribbean, Europe, Latin America, and trips closer to home.
Destinations02Compare a cruise
Ship layouts, cabins, food, family activities, ports, and honest value.
Cruise reviews03Plan the details
Packing, flights, budgeting, and the logistics that can make or break a trip.
Tips & StoriesOUR TRAVEL FOOTPRINT
From nearby weekends to wider horizons.
Our story did not begin with luxury travel. It started with inexpensive college weekends around Indiana and Chicago, then grew into family journeys through the Caribbean, Latin America, and Europe.
Meet the family behind the siteRecent stories & guides
Plan with a little more confidence.
Fall Break 2026 aboard Celebrity Reflection
Our seven-night Fall Break 2026 cruise aboard Celebrity Reflection is planned for October 17–24, with stops in Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Bimini.
Read the story →How We Cruise: Do the Math and Skip What You Don’t Need
We usually skip dining, beverage, and Wi-Fi packages. Our approach is simple: calculate the real break-even point, buy only what improves the trip, and protect the chance to disconnect together.
Read the story →A Trip vs. a Vacation
We've learned that there's a big difference between a trip and a vacation. For our family, Europe is a trip. A cruise is a vacation. We love both, but a trip means constantly figuring out where we're going, how we're getting there, where we're eating, and—when traveling with a picky kid—whether Ollie will actually eat anything once we get there. A cruise removes most of that stress. Once we're onboard, we unpack once, food is always nearby, entertainment is taken care of, and tomorrow's destination comes to us. Sometimes we want an adventure. Sometimes we just want a vacation. That's why we cruise.
Read the story →Three Strikes and You’re Out? Our Complicated Relationship With Royal Caribbean
Two Royal Caribbean cruises left us with difficult memories and rules that still shape how our family cruises.
Read the story →Why We Keep a Travel Journal
We started keeping travel journals simply because we wanted to remember our trips. Years later, they've become something much more valuable. The big moments are easy to remember, but the journals bring back the little things—the mistakes we made, what Ollie loved at different ages, what things cost, and the random moments that made each trip ours. Those little details are a big part of why The Family Departure exists today.
Read the story →Build a practical family travel health kit
How to organize regular medicine, basic first aid, destination health planning, and the information you may need away from home.
Read the story →OUR APPROACH
“Useful travel writing should tell you what happened—not what a brochure hopes will happen.”
We separate completed experiences from researched advice and future plans. When we review a trip, a ship, or a destination, the written explanation matters more than the score.
Read our story