We are five families each having a boy who graduated from high school this June. We are friends because these boys played basketball together for twelve years. My husband coached them for many of these years. This was a "Senior Trip" for the boys and all the rest of us. There were 10 adults, 5 between 20-23 year olds, 5 who were 18-19, and a 15, 14 and 13. Girls and boys. Everyone had an "awesome" time. At no point did we have to worry about the kids, although they did use good judgment. They did the Crypt, clubbing, until it closed at about 2:45 AM. They did not have to get in cars or use cell phones! It was a treat to spend time with the kids. They all chose to come to the main dining room for dinner. To put it in their words, "Why would we want to miss all that good food?" The kids took advantage of everything--even the library--although that was our common meeting place as we were on deck 7 and it was convenient. Everyone met there before and after island days just so all could be accounted for.

I booked directly with Royal Caribbean and kept calling back until I got what I wanted. We had $100 per state room as onboard credit and one free passage which we used to treat 10 of us to Portofino and the remaining was divided between the 5 adult rooms.

Our family flew in two days early and stayed at the Hilton Oceanfront at Cocoa Beach. It was very nice. Ask for Anita when making reservations. Everyone else came on Saturday. The flights for those were all messed up and they were notified at midnight prior to flying. All were to come on the same flight. Some came at 1:00pm and others at 4:30 pm. Had it been a sailing day, they would have missed the boat. Moral to this story is to come in a day early. Read more