Finally home from the June 25 LOTS sailing from Barcelona. (We stayed for a few extra days in BCN and then had to recover from the vacation. :)) For background, I traveled with my husband, 23.5 month old twins, 14- and 15- year old sons, my nanny and her husband.

Ship: The ship herself is FANTASTIC. Absolutely gorgeous, clean, shiny, pristine. The cabins were sparkly clean and comfortable, and we didn't see evidence of wear everywhere like we did on our Princess cruise a few years ago. There was more than enough stuff to do to keep everyone entertained; we barely even scratched the surface of what was available. We didn't do a single show, didn't turn on the TV in the room, but we spent a lot of time by the pools.

Babies LOVED the Splash Zone. The only complaints I might have about the pool area were that 1) the Splash Zone closed at 6 PM every day, which was a disappointment after being out touring in the hot sun all day. Luckily we had a bathtub and the babies love that too, but it would have been more fun for us to sit by the pool with them. The other complaint I'd have about the Splash Zone is that there is a deep pool in the area - not terribly smart for a pool area designed for the diaper set. We were constantly on guard because our babies would make a beeline for the deep pool (there was a waterfall that poured into the pool and bigger kids would jump into it; they thought that looked like great fun!). Other than that, the Splash Zone was perfect for us. Read more