We were taken in by the oft-repeated line that the Carnival lines have wonderful kids clubs that provide activities so that the parents can catch a break for a few hours at a time.

Wrong.

And as a result we had to entertain and feed the kids almost continuously. The activities were terrible, the hours difficult. The kids complained that they were lumped in with a 2-11 age group (even on a full cruise at holiday period) and the programming terrible...and they were right! I love the kids and we had fun, but I didn't see my wife alone for 30 whole minutes until the night we got home. Read more