We hosted a family cruise for my husband's 70th birthday. The family consists of 4 granddaughters, ages 5-7-8-10, and our two children & their spouses, ages 30's-40's. Our balcony rooms were 3 in a row and the partitions unlocked to fold back which gave us lots of space and convenient access to each other's rooms. The Adventure Ocean activities looked great, but our girls had so much fun on the ship with the carousel (we all did!), the balloon man, the parades, dancing to the music throughout the ship, the rock climbing wall etc. that they only attended once. And how they loved the shows! We did not miss a performance. Dining was a fabulous experience. The dining room staff outdid themselves to keep both the children and the adults happy. Our children are firt-time cruisers and they could not get over the attention they received. Good for you RC!

Excursions: Labadee was a wonderful, relaxing day. In Jamaica we took the Raft Trip. This was just fascinating for all of us as we learned about the rain forest, a banana plantation and how to make a Pina Colada :-). The rafters were entertaining and informative, climbed into the trees to get coconuts to taste, let the girls bunt the raft etc., but we felt we were being primed for major tipping. When we did tip-4 separate times on that excursion: raft driver, banana man, Pina Colada man, and our tour guide, three out of four were openly unhappy with their tips. Our tips came to almost as much as the cost of the entire tour. This put something of a damper on the day. In Cozumel we made our own arrangements for snorkeling as RC's policy puts an age limit of 8 for snorkeling and our 7-yr. old wanted to try snorkeling. We used Island Marketing Cozumel Glass Bottom Boat Snorkeling and it was fabulous. Because there were ten of us we booked a private tour, which cost 1/2 of the ship's excursion! Our youngest was able to see fish through the glass bottom and the rest of us snorkeled. (Parents took turns sitting with her.) After the snorkeling we ate at Poncho's Backyard. Great food, beautiful venue, pricey. But you can go online and get coupons for free Margaritas. No one was EVER bored. It was a great trip.