This was our first family cruise. We have two teenagers 16 and 14. My husband and I really enjoyed the whole experience. However I did feel there was a lack of things to do for the teens especially in the evening. Out of the 10 days 6 evenings were adult only shows. While there are other things happening at the same time options are much the same karaoke or trivia. The things they could go to they did enjoy. However we felt each thing didn’t last long enough 45 mins was the average. In order to secure a seat you needed to arrive at least 20 mins before. Which leaves you stuck with no seats for anything else. There seemed a massive shortage of seating anywhere there was anything on. Shows at 7 pm and 9pm were packed and many standing. Getting a seat in explorer hotel forget it. We seem to spend most of the night hunting for seating, some nights just giving up and going back to our room. The activities on board that the teens enjoyed cost extra laser tag Hover ball archery and mechanical ball only happened at time slots on varying days and they needed to be booked a day ahead. Table tennis tournaments my son loved , except when he waited for the advertised teen tournement to be told it was only for hq members( kids club) yet in the daily good times there was no mention of having to be in kids club. If your kids like to spend time in kids club then I think it would be ok although my daughter did go once and said it was quite boring and activities were very young. I would cruise again but without the kids as we spent a lot of time trying to entertain them. Bingo was great fun and Marius was an absolute joy and brightened our day. Only down side at $30 a go for the family was $120. The session is 5 games. Would like to see bingo extended maybe instead of two sessions a day one longer session. The entertainment team were outstanding and a real asset we can’t fault any of them. We ate at the pantry breakfast lunch and dinner and visited 400 grandi for pizza eat in and take out. The pantry food we found to be nice. I’m vegetarian and there was enough variety. The only downside is by the time you have found a seat often food is luke wArm. I didn’t like the sweet bar much and found the cakes to be quite dry and the taste the same. The pastries however for breakfast were a huge hit.

Drink wise. My hubby and son got the soft drinks package $75 and my daughter and me the one that included coffee and mock tails water and soft drinks. $250

We found these to be well worth it. Hubby was undecided if to go for alcohol package, he was only one drinking. He brought individually and prices are standard a Vb was $6.5 and bourbon and coke $9. He ended up spending a lot less than the package so worked out well. Our cabin was better than I thought it would be after reading past reviews. We had a balcony room and the kids in one next door. They are basic but adequate. The room stewards do an amazing job and they were very clean and accommodating for extra blanket towels etc. the only negative I had ,was the double bed was two singles pushed together which were different heights. And one was rock hard and I had a bad first night as I suffer with chronic pain. But then hubby and I switched sides and he didn’t mind the very firm side. The other side (bed) was very comfy. Read more