My husband and I took our 13 and 15 year olds on a Thanksgiving cruise this year. It was their first cruise and our 3rd (1st with Royal Caribbean, other 2 times were with Carnival).

Embarkation was smooth. We got there early and had no lines but had to wait for them to start loading people on the buses. That was probably what I liked least about the process - the buses. Previous cruises we were on left from Miami and we could walk right on the ship without the extra transportation inconvenience. The terminal also could use some serious updating.

Lunch was offered at the Windjammer. It was so crowded we couldn't find a place to sit. That was disappointing. We couldn't get in to our rooms until 1:30 pm so we checked out the ship. I was impressed with the tasteful decorating of the public rooms. We met up at Dizzy's for an informal Cruise Critic get together with the goal primarily being to get the teens more comfortable with each other. That went pretty well and we met some nice individuals, although the kids still seemed awkward. Our room (connecting cabins on the Promenade) was very nice and our cabin steward called us by our first names within hours. Read more