We traveled with our two and five year old children on our first family cruise. So excited to visit another country and to leave from Baltimore, close to where we live. The cruise and the ship were so much work for us, the parents, that I would not recommend it at all. My oldest didn't like Adventure Ocean (he's almost 6, so felt like the 3 - 5 year olds were too young for him, and wasn't ready for the 6 - 8 year olds). There was nothing, or maybe one thing, a day that interested the kids. We didn't feel safe putting our 2 year old, who gets up every night to use the bathroom, in the bunk beds, and the 5 year old wouldn't sleep there. (We didn't know that the beds were not recommended for small kids; our travel agent suggested them.) The family movie playing in the afternoons didn't have sound, despite our repeated requests, so that was out. The pools were fun, but much effort. The staff warm and welcoming, and we loved our room steward, but so little entertainment for the kids.

The first night in the dining room (Great Gatsby) our waiter couldn't find the kids menu, then it took 30 minutes to get our appetizers, so we just couldn't go back. We all loved the windjammer (buffet) with terrific food, but we took turns getting huge amounts of food on one plate to distribute; too hard to have our small kids navigate the buffet. We also stopped eating inside and always ate outside, b/c it was crowded, and once the kids were done eating they wanted to walk around or look out the window, which were not possible inside the Windjammer. Our kids hated the small shower where we hosed them down; if the nozzle had been lower, they could have 'shot the hose like a firefighter' (which we have done before) and loved it. Contests like the belly flop and the sexiest man provided some entertainment, but the sexiest man wasn't age appropriate for our kids. Line dancing was not small kid friendly so that mean all afternoons without any kid activity.

I had done a ton of research (and used a travel agent) but wish I'd known the pool was salt water (every time the kids complained about the stinging on their cuts, but we did use the pool every day). I did bring multiple swimsuits and googles, plus lots of sun screen. I wish I'd known that the beds were not good for small kids. We did the pirate museum in Nassau, which terrified my 5 year old and my 2 year old slept through (waste of time and money -- fun museum, but not good for small kids). The island was fun, but it rained, which meant my 2 year old was miserable, and left her with no activity. We didn't get off the boat in Florida.