I am thirteen, but I will put away any bias to other cruise lines I may have and tell you the facts... This ship had its pros and cons, so I would like to state each thing separately, and if you are a kid (or parent) looking at reviews to see how it is for kids, I'll state my ideas on that first... the rest of the ship's review will follow.

KIDS/KIDSCLUBS- Let you teenager be independent! Let me just tell you my parents did want family time (understandable) or asked me to come back after an hour or so. Trust me, some parents (my mother included) are like "But.. But". Just take my word, if your kid wants to be with his friends let him/her go with their friends, they won't be alone and on a cruise like their will always be somebody there (not saying staff members being attentive, just cause the cruise is kinda packed). My little brother was scared to go to the adventure ocean kids club, but I have to admit when he did he never wanted to live. Downside though, they have them in intervals, so your kid is there for 2-3 hours then you have to pick them up for an hour or so before they start the next interval. Some parents are like that's not too bad... FAMILY TIME!!, but my brother did get sad when he had to leave (at east they all met at the pool). Anyways, the kids club for 12- is good I didn't visit, but from what I saw it was fun (starts at 10, closes at 10). Now, onto the teenagers "Living Room" I made friends pretty quickly because I'm social and there were many 13 and 14 year olds. Don't worry about the whole 13 year olds can meet up with 17 year olds thing, there are separate activities for 12-14,15-17, and even when there weren't any activities planned at certain times the older kids stayed in one side of the room while we stayed in the other, by choice of course. We (the 12-14 age group) got the side with the counselors so we were being watched, but they were fun and cool to talk to. Beware! make sure you as a kid or you as a parent tells your kid that when the counselors are gone, everything is locked, so if you want to play a game or have a drink, you have to leave. Here are some cons of the Living Room (besides the one I just stated): It is kind of small, enough to fit a group, but it did seem crowded at times, everything was unorganized and things started earlier and later then planned and I missed out on some of the best things (flowrider challenge, rock climbing challenge, pool volleyball, but on I was with friends talking and going all over the ship, so... but still), and the activities were a little basic and didn't attract kids sometimes. I give the kids clubs a B+. But, other than that the cruise was lacking for things to do for kids and by day four I was bored, and the "ice cream" was really non-fat frozen yogurt (frozen yogurt is like non fat ice cream itself, so basically no fat, no calorie ice cream) but I liked it. Overall for kids I give the cruise a B-.

Embarkation- What a mess! Even with online check-in we didn't get on for 2 1/2 hours. My dad pointed out everything was run by seniors (no offense, just saying) and I agreed the port needed some younger workers to boost efficiency. Anyways, the guy we had took forever, same with everyone, the lady at the security check made us take our sleeping sisters out of their walkers (FUN!), the cabin wasn't ready at the time it was supposed to be, we got our luggages at different times and way later in the evening. The overall experience was really bad, and the mess at the windjammer didn't help. Get there early, and not 9 am early, because look how it turned out. Also, be aware that your kids might get hungry and even though you can't bring any food or drinks past security you can buy things at the vending machines. Read more