Pros and Cons of Cruising: Overall the trip went very smoothly and I think cruising is a really good value for the money. There are a lot of pros and cons to cruising and there are things I would do differently next time. The ship is basically a enormous floating hotel. There is very little stress involved in cruising, the smallest detail is always taken care of. Safety is never a concern. You get to visit ports of call that you might otherwise have never thought to visit. As for the cons, it isn't the most adventurous way to travel, you certainly aren't going to absorb any local culture in your short stay at any port, but the cool thing is that you can get ideas of places you would like to return for a longer duration like we did when we found Xcaret.

Cruising is also not the most romantic or intimate way to travel. You are on the boat with approximately 800 other people. The rooms are nice and always impeccably clean, but still very small and you can only spend so much time in there before you get a little claustrophobic. I would totally recommend cruising for large groups of friends and family, but not necessarily for a honeymoon or romantic getaway. Of course this is just my personal opinion, as there were a lot of honeymooners on the cruise. But the cruise was perfect for us because two of my oldest friends came on the cruise and one of my newer friends and her husband and 15 month old baby came. I met Michele when we were both pregnant and Isabella and Sienna are very close in age. I HIGHLY recommend traveling with friends that have children the same age as your own. First, they understand and respect the constraints of traveling with children. Second, you can swap babysitting like we did and get some alone time.

The ship: Our ship was the MS Ecstasy, one of Carnival's "fun ships". Like I said earlier the ship is just a big floating hotel with lots and lots of amenities. It had 2 main dining rooms in which all major meals were served, several restaurants, a sushi bar, and a 24 hour buffet. The buffet room was one of the ugliest rooms I have ever seen in my life! The ship had some seriously tacky decor in certain areas. It was supposed to be a New York theme, but it just looked pretty tacky and outdated in a lot of areas, but this didn't detract too much from the cruise since it was something to laugh about. The ship also had 3 pools, a fully equipped gym and spa which was the most tastefully decorated part of the ship. There was a big theatre, a casino, several bars and tons of areas to just lounge around. The Lido deck was always a fun place to hang out and just people watch. I only got in the pool once and about 3 seconds was enough for me. The water was frigid and splashes all over the place. There is always something to do on the ship at all times. We never went to any shows because they are really late, but I don't think we missed out too much. Isabella really enjoyed the ship. There was always something for her to look at or get into. She is in a phase where she loves climbing stairs so we did a lot of that! There was a play area near Camp Carnival and that worked out really well. The kiddie pool looked okay, but we never got in. I don't think Isabella would have liked it too much since the water sloshed around a lot. Camp Carnival looked like a lot of fun and seemed really well organized. I was disappointed that Isabella was too young. Read more