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of your cruise will be within a stunning line of sight for glaciers, wildlife, forested hillsides, and myriad other marine sights. If your budget allows for an outside cabin, book one. During our first cruise, our son, then four, spent a part of every day reclining in the large sill of our cabin window, counting wildlife on his fingers and reminiscing about the day’s adventures. Eating Well While Cruising The stories are legendary: cruise ship passengers gaining 10 or more pounds after gorging at the never-ending chocolate buffet. Don’t believe what you read—it’s all in your mind. Cruise ships serve mountains of goodies at all hours, to be sure, but the larger ships have 2,000 or more people to feed, and all of them, including you, are on vacation. The allure of every single plated meal, be it at the no-reservations buffet line or in the grand dining room, does indeed have the potential to bust even the most stalwart of diets. Children are no exception to this either, with enormous pudding parfaits and endless cookie trays of their favorites within an easy arm’s reach. We found mealtime to be less stressful once we figured out the mechanics of dining rooms, menus, and room service. Cruise lines have A Kid’s Day Onboard Ship Our first cruise was a seven-day trip aboard Holland America’s MS Veendam from Seward to Vancouver, British Columbia. Our son was reg- istered in Club HAL, which served the preschool/kindergarten set. With a bubbly teacher at the helm, our youngster spent three daily chunks of time in Club HAL, doing crafts, exploring the ship, and learning about the landscape and environment of Glacier Bay National Park with an excellent Junior Ranger program, a requirement of all cruise ships passing through the park. Mealtimes and early-evening hours were designated as “family time” by Holland America, but kids reconvened every night for special events. Evenings meant theme nights for kids, with Pirate Night, Cowboy Night, and Movie Hero Night of particular interest to our kiddo. When we finally Planning Your Adventure 26