We've primarily sailed on Disney, with one cruise on Royal Caribbean. We're a family of 4 (two 47-year-old adults and two teenagers 15 and 18. We thought the HAL cruise was great pretty much across the board. The service was stellar, with a few minor hiccups that didn't greatly affect anything. The food was great, again with one or two things from the buffet that looked better than they tasted. We ate in all of the optional restaurants, and all were worth trying, with Pinnacle Grill a huge standout that we will definitely visit again on a future cruise.

Folks looking for a very active cruise might not enjoy this ship as much. We found that Disney has more family activities during the day, and a somewhat more active set of cruisers onboard (though at night, Disney isn't super active either because of all the kids with early bedtimes). Royal had a bit more nightlife going on. But if you're looking for relaxing cruising with great food and service, we though Holland America was just great.

We thought this itinerary was great, travelling to two US territories, a private island, and a resort-like cruise center on Grand Turk. Puerto Rico was the highlight, with plenty of history and lots of good options for things to do. St. Thomas was also very nice. Read more