Beginning today, you’ll be able to book Disney Cruise Line’s 2010 sailings in Europe. For the first time, Disney Cruise Line will offer a 12-night Northern European Capitals cruise, where guests can experience Scandinavian ports such as Oslo, Copenhagen and Stockholm, plus Warnemunde, Germany, gateway to Berlin; and St. Petersburg, Russia.

Departing from Dover, England, the Disney Magic will sail a total of four 12-night cruises to the Northern European capitals in June and July 2010.

Book-ending the summer season in Northern Europe, the Disney Magic will once again return to the Mediterranean with 10- and 11-night cruises, but with three new ports of call not offered when Disney Cruise Line last sailed the Mediterranean.

In addition to popular ports in Italy, France and Spain, the Disney Magic will visit Tunis, in Northern Africa, the island nation of Malta, and Corsica, an island oasis off the southern coast of France known as the birthplace of Napoleon.

Departing from Barcelona, Spain, the Disney Magic will sail four 10-night and four 11-night cruises in the Mediterranean in April, May, August and September.

On the full-on disaster side, my wife and I had been a little too ambitious, hauling our daughter, not yet six months old, to Walt Disney World and, only a few months later, across six time zones to England. What were we thinking?

Compare that to the “best vacation ever,” of which there were many, both here at home and abroad. Quite simply, my kids (and yes, your kids too) love to cruise. And why not? After all, where families are concerned, a cruise ship is little more than a floating, self-contained family resort, with all the features and activities that adults and kids could ever wish for.

This site is designed to help you make the best choices for your family cruise vacations. I took the liberty to provide my top ten personal favorites starting with the cruise line that I felt offered the best overall family cruise vacation.

You should know, however, that I had a tough time ranking the cruise lines, I applied no formal methodology. Rather, I relied on my personal experience, input from others, advice from travel agents, and of course, the final word from the experts: kids, and especially my two children.

The rankings, in fact, are not that important. My kids, for example, had a tough time choosing between the many cruises they’ve been on. You won’t go wrong choosing any of these cruises. They are the top ten of several hundreds ships and possible cruises.

Please participate and share your own experiences. In doing so, you help other families like mine and like yours choose their perfect family cruise.

Bon Voyage!

Ralph Grizzle
Editor, The Avid Cruiser & Family Cruise Advisor

Top Ten Family Cruises

1. Disney Cruise Line: Port Canaveral
2. Royal Caribbean’s Freedom Class
3. Carnival’s Caribbean
4. Brilliance of the Seas: Mediterranean Medley
5. Alaska Cruisetours
6. San Diego to Mexico
7. Holland America Line’s Caribbean
8. Norwegian Dawn: Big Apple to Bermuda
9. Costa’s Caribbean
10. America’s Paradise: NCL’s Hawaii

Our six-week old was much too young to comprehend or appreciate Disney. Plus, she developed colic — a painful, but common, condition among infants that causes abdominal pain and uncontrollable crying (sometimes for the frustrated parents as well!).

My wife and I took turns dining at Restaurant Marrakesh, Epcot’s wonderful Moroccan restaurant. We were hoping for a romantic dinner while our sweet girl slept tableside. No such luck. Our baby girl began wailing before the appetizers appeared, and for the next hour, my wife and I swapped between bites to eat and trying to comfort our crying daughter. A romantic dinner? What were we thinking?

Months later, crossing the Atlantic, our baby slept for the entire flight. Unfortunately, we did not.

We arrived at London’s Gatwick Airport sleepy and tired. Dazed and confused from lack of sleep, we picked up our rental car and drove two hours to the New Forest, near Southampton, where we were to stay overnight in a hotel. We checked into our room and threw ourselves onto the bed. Baby, however, wanted to play. For the next week, our biological clock was out of sync with daughter’s, and what could have been a wonderful trip went down in the books as “never again.”

There is a happy ending to these stories. Our children grew up, and when I wrote this story, we were planning our next family vacation: a four-day cruise on Disney Cruise Line’s Disney Wonder combined with a three-night package at Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom Lodge. That one went down as a great vacation. Through the years, we became experts — by making the mistakes of trying to do too much or to do vacations that were inappropriate for our kids’ ages. We dragged our kids from one vacation to the other only to discover what makes a great family vacation — and also what makes a not-so-great one.

My kids on Disney Wonder, with a Carnival Cruise Lines vessel in the background.

Who’s Your Family?
It may seem obvious, but the first step in planning your family vacation is to know who will be traveling with you?

Are you traveling with an infant, or god forbid, infants? If you can still muster the courage after reading about our nightmare vacation with our daughter, then go right ahead. And take some solace: There are vacations that work with infants. The key is to make sure you don’t travel too far. When vacationing with infants and toddlers:

• Stay close to home — no more than, say, a six-hour transit, whether you’re flying or driving.
• Consider vacation venues that offer babysitting or child-watch programs.
• Not all cater to children, and of those that do, not all cater to infants and toddlers. Let’s face it, you and your significant other need a break from baby, and there’s nothing better than being able to get away for a romantic dinner or a hand-in-hand stroll along the beach while knowing your baby is in good hands.

Three’s Company
If you’re traveling with children over the age of three, the playing field becomes a lot larger, because so many vacation venues offer supervised programs for kids. In fact, the programs are so good that you may suffer your first disappointment: Your kids may want nothing to do with you — they’ll want to hang out and play with their peers.

My wife and I quickly got over the initial disappointment of our kids not wanting to clutch at our clothing for the duration of our vacations.

As they grew older, our kids played to their hearts’ content while we relaxed, and everyone got what they came for: a vacation. The trick to the foolproof vacation with children over the age of three:

• Consider vacation venues that offer age-specific programs and activities. Your kids will have more fun hanging out and playing with their peers than they will gnawing at your nerves.
• Make sure your vacation venue has a pool. Any vacation that allows your children to splish and splash is a good vacation.

Traveling With Teens
Teens can be the hardest group to please, I can say from the experience of having once been a teen that they will want nothing to do with dull old dad and mopey old mom. We’re just not hip. How to please them?

• Consider vacations that offer teen-specific venues. Several cruise lines, for example, now feature teen-only bars (for mocktails, of course) and coffee shops.
• Book separate accommodations for your teen. Remember, we’re not hip enough to breathe the same air as our teens much less room with them. Plus, they often spend scads of time in the bathroom, mostly in front of the mirror. If you have need of this facility on your vacation, get a separate room.

Extended Families
There’s one other kind of family vacation: the extended family vacation. This is when grandmother and grandfather — and even aunts and uncles and cousins — come along. On extended family cruises you can sit down for dinner with your family of six, eight, or a dozen or more, and no one has to worry about who is picking up the check. Go ahead and have that extra plate of lobster. Extended family vacations can be great, but to make sure they go off without a hitch:

• Consider vacation venues that offer something for everyone. The kids may be bored to tears on small luxury ships.
• Don’t try to pile everyone into one room. Sure, you could save money if eight of you were to share an inside stateroom on a cruise ship, but the point of family reunions is to emerge feeling better about one another — not learning more than you care to know about the hygiene habits of family members.

Family Cruising
So now that you know who you’re traveling with, how do you choose the venue? Cruises are great, because cruise ships are self-contained, floating, nearly all-inclusive resorts. Nearly all-inclusive, because most cruise lines do not include the cost of alcohol, shore excursions, and gratuities. What generally is included, however, are children’s programs, all meals, and entertainment.

That is to say that typically you won’t pay a dime extra for your child to participate in the on-board childrens’ programs. Most cruise lines, however, do charge for baby-sitting, whether it’s in your stateroom or group-babysitting.

This site is designed to help you make informed decisions about your family cruise vacations. If you’d like to get right down to our top ten recommendations for family cruises, then click the tab above that reads “Our Top Ten,” or heck, I’ll make it easy for you, just click here.

Thanks for visiting Family Cruise Advisor. Be sure to check out our parent site, The Avid Cruiser.

Happy family cruising!

Ralph Grizzle
Editor, Family Cruise Advisor

In the past several years, San Diego’s cruise ship calls and passenger counts have more than tripled, making the Southern California city the West Coast’s fastest-growing cruise port.

Why the surge in popularity? First, San Diego is possibly the West Coast port with the most varied cruise itineraries. More than 100 cruises set sail from the downtown cruise terminal.

Among the regular offerings: Mexico (from five days to 15 days); Sea of Cortez cruises; 14-day and 15-day Hawaii; and Panama Canal cruises of 12 days or more.

Moreover, San Diego may just be the world’s most convenient port of departure. Abundant airlift brings 62 percent of all cruise passengers from destinations worldwide. Plus, the airport, cruise terminal and city center all are within five minutes of one another.

Add to that the many attractions within close reach of the cruise terminal, and San Diego makes one perfect port.

San Diego’s biggest attraction is the harbor itself, known as The Big Bay. You could design a pre- and post-cruise vacation around the Big Bay itself and have a perfectly satisfying experience — with no need to rent a car. If you’re staying a few days or more, you’ll have a good choice of hotels: No fewer than 13 line the Big Bay’s 34 miles of waterfront.

Disembarking cruise passengers can easily explore much of The Big Bay on foot or by using a variety of transportation options. Begin by walking south from the B Street Cruise Terminal toward Seaport Village where you will find four miles of meandering pathways and 14 acres of waterfront shopping and dining. Seaport Village is home to 57 Victorian-style shops and galleries, four award-winning restaurants, and 13 sidewalk eateries, including two — count ‘em, two — Ben and Jerry’s ice cream shops — each within 100 yards of one another! Go figure. Be sure to take a spin on Seaport Village’s historic Loof Carousel (circa 1890).

If you’re not prepared to walk the 10 minutes from the terminal to the entrance of Seaport Village, hire a pedicab and allow your guide to pedal you along the harbor. Be sure to stop along the way to tour the USS Midway Museum, which was the longest- serving carrier in the U.S. Navy’s history until it was retired after serving as the Persian Gulf flagship in Desert Storm.

Heading north from the cruise ship terminal takes you to one of San Diego’s 90 museums, the Maritime Museum of San Diego. This fascinating museum boasts one of the world’s finest collections of historic ships, including the Star of India. Built in 1863, the full-rigged ship hoists its sails at least once each year to be able to retain its title as the world’s oldest active ship.

Directly across from the cruise terminal is Wheel Fun Rentals, where you’ll find a variety of rental bikes, including three-wheel recumbent bicycles and four-wheel surreys (both carry four passengers). Pedaling either of these is a fun way to spend an hour or so along the waterfront.

From the waterfront, you can also go by ferry or boat (about 10 minutes) to Coronado Island. To purchase tickets, make your way to the Embarcadero. Take time to browse the shops and restaurants at the marketplace. While you’re there, you can even book yourself on a Harbor and Whale Watching Excursion.

Or hop on the Coronado Ferry and visit the Old Ferry Landing, a picturesque boutique shopping center with an extraordinary view of San Diego. Have lunch at one of several bayside cafes. Coronado Island is best known perhaps for Hotel del Coronado, one of America’s most beautiful beach resorts. The classic historic hotel, opened in 1888, is a National Historic Landmark and has played host to many movies, including the 1958 film, Some Like It Hot, starring Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe.

The Travel Channel ranks Coronado Island’s beaches as the nation’s #1 beach for families and #2 of America’s Top 10 Beaches. The island’s main thoroughfare, Orange Avenue, was awarded the Great American Main Street Award in 2000. Spend an afternoon or evening strolling this charming street lined with shops and parks.

With all of this and more, nothing beats a day in the Big Bay.

Suggestions for accommodations in these destinations: La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club, 12 miles north of downtown San Diego. The original structure of this 90-room resort was built in 1927 and resembles a Spanish-style hacienda. Residing on 14 acres, the resort is one of only two beachfront properties in the exclusive La Jolla Shores section of La Jolla.

Borrego Springs is home to the AAA-Four Diamond La Casa Del Zorro Desert Resort. Families will enjoy one- to four-bedroom casitas, each with fireplace, private pool and/or spa. The 42-acre resort is situated in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

For families, there is no better cruise port than San Diego. Only a few minutes from the cruise terminal is Balboa Park, the nation’s largest urban cultural park. Encompassing 1,200 acres, Balboa Park is second only to the Smithsonian in size and is often referred to as the “Smithsonian of the West.” The Park is home to 85 cultural institutions, including 15 museums that range from anthropology to science, from classic to contemporary art, performing arts venues, art galleries, botanical gardens and the San Diego Zoo, home to 4,000 animals representing 800 species on 100 acres. Balboa Park is the perfect destination for families.

The San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park, a 2,200-acre nature preserve 30 miles northeast of downtown. The animal preserve features more than 3,000 wild animals that roam over expanses resembling their native habitats. A one-acre Lion Camp habitat allows you to come face to face with lions. Hop on the guide-narrated monorail tour or walk the 1.75-mile Kilimanjaro Hiking Trail through lush botanical gardens. Along the way, you will pass the habitats of gorillas, elephants, cheetahs, lions and many other species.

Animal lovers will also enjoy SeaWorld San Diego, a 189-acre marine park featuring trained killer whales and other marine life. Situated on Mission Bay, Seaworld San Diego was the nation’s first Seaworld park. Of course, the real attraction here is Shamu Adventure, which features the world-famous killer whale, Shamu, performing in a 2.5-million- gallon pool. But there is more than the passive viewing of marine life here. Brace yourself for Journey to Atlantis, the park’s exciting thrill ride, based on the tale of the “lost city.” The six-minute journey includes a 60-foot plunge and a heart-pounding negative G force drop set against a backdrop of the sunken city.

Just 30 minutes north of San Diego is LEGOLAND California, featuring more than 50 hands-on interactive attractions, rides and shows. The 128-acre theme park for families with children ages 2-12 is the only family park of its kind in North America. Legoland also features more than 1,000 Lego models, including “minilands,” miniature cities constructed of Legos.

Closer to the cruise terminal, families also enjoy Westfield Shoppingtown Horton Plaza, a 6.5-block, open-air shopping center that resides in a dramatic architectural setting that calls to mind a Technicolor M.C. Escher drawing. With its five staggered levels, Horton Plaza features 140 specialty shops, restaurants and attractions, including a 14-screen movie theater and live theater performances at Lyceum Theater.

Parents may enjoy the stroll through the historic Gaslamp Quarter. Founded in 1867, the 16-block Victorian-era district is home to more than 100 restaurants, 40 nightclubs and bars, and 100 retails shops. (the legendary Wyatt Earp ran three gambling halls in this once-notorious “red light” district). From here, it is only a short walk back through Seaport Village, with its 14 acres of waterfront shopping and dining, to the cruise terminal.

We were surprised to find such a varied destination. During our stay, we traveled from San Diego’s cosmopolitan city center to charming Coronado across the San Diego Bay, also known as the Big Bay, from beautiful Pacific coastline to true Southwestern desert — only 90 minutes away. We visited theme parks that our kids loved — LEGOLAND California and SeaWorld San Diego, and then toned the pace down at Balboa Park, with its world-famous San Diego Zoo. Moreover, we enjoyed our week of activities in San Diego’s perfect climate, with average daytime temperatures of 70F and most days sunny.

Clearly, San Diego is a cruise port with no shortage of pre- and post-cruise possibilities. More important for visitors, perhaps, is that San Diego is an unintimidating large city, friendly and easy to get around. Although it claims more than 1 million citizens, San Diego feels like a small town. None of the Los Angeles traffic snarls here, at least not during our visit. In fact, while it helps to have a rental car, you need not find yourself behind the wheel to enjoy this West Coast port.

There are many attractions within close proximity of the cruise terminal — Seaport Village, Balboa Park, Coronado Island and the Big Bay. You can even visit Mexico by boarding the San Diego trolley, just a few blocks from the B Street Cruise Terminal.

You will need a car if you intend to go farther afield, and if time permits, we do recommend a couple of days in the desert. If you’re tight on time, however, just hang out in the Big Bay. There’s plenty there to keep you occupied, and you’re already within a stone’s throw when your jet screeches to a halt on the tarmac.

Like us, the 62 percent of San Diego cruise passengers who arrive by air find themselves only minutes away from the cruise terminal, city center and other attractions. Hop a taxi from the airport, and in five minutes you can be at the cruise terminal. Convenience is the keyword. Almost all of San Diego’s central attractions can be reached by foot, trolley, taxi ride, boat or bike.

As pre- and post-cruise destinations go, San Diego is about as good as it gets. The city serves up such a mix of activities and attractions that two days is hardly sufficient. This exceptional cruise port has enough to keep you on the go for an entire week — and if you’re like us, even then, you will leave wishing you had just one more day in sunny San Diego.

Selecting an Alaska cruisetour can be daunting for the uninitiated. With more that 50 cruisetours offered by the major players, how do you sift through the options to find an Alaska cruisetour that’s right for you? To find out, we sat down with Paul Allen, vice president of sales for Holland America Line.

Q. Why should someone do a cruisetour in Alaska in the first place?

A. We do research all the time asking people what they want to see in Alaska. The two places that get mentioned the most are Glacier Bay National Park and Denali National Park. You can get to Glacier Bay on a cruise ship, but if you want to get to Denali, you have to get on a cruisetour.

Q. How does the cruisetour work? There’s a cruise and then there’s a tour. The cruise ends and what happens next?

A. You can do a cruisetour in one of two ways. You can travel on land and end up on a cruise, or you can travel on a cruise and end up on land. Some of the cruisetours have more cruise content than others. Some cruisetours are combined with seven-day cruises; others are combined with three- or four-day cruises.

Q. With so many cruisetours, isn’t choosing the right one a little daunting? Holland America Line alone offers close to 30 cruisetours, grouped under three types, and each of those are staged in different regions of Alaska. Some people, me included, don’t even have a good grasp on the geography of Alaska or the distances between destinations.

A. It is daunting, but it’s my mission to educate people about the distinctions and identify what’s important to people. Most want to see mountains, scenery, glaciers and wildlife. These are the most important motivators for most people. There are many opportunities to see these things all across the state.

Q. How do you begin to choose a cruisetour from the ones offered?

A. It really depends on what you want. The avid cruisers may want to go with the seven-day cruise combined with four to six days on land where they either go to Denali National Park, Fairbanks and Anchorage, or get all the way up to the Arctic Ocean. Or maybe they want to go to the Kenai Peninsula or stay at Alyeska Resort, a beautiful chateau property. All of these are possibilities that can be combined with the seven-day cruise.

On the other hand, if you really want to get that comprehensive Great Land experience, fly to Anchorage, go up to Denali, spend a couple of days there, travel to Fairbanks, and then from Fairbanks, go into the Yukon. Then travel down the Yukon 100 miles on our Yukon Queen II to Dawson, which is a great little town.

From Dawson, we’ve just developed excursions to Tombstone Park, which is just beautiful subarctic tundra. This is a chance for a very personal wilderness experience. You could be standing in Tombstone National Park with a dozen people in a backwoods wilderness trail where you’re going to have that ‘I’m surrounded by spectacular scenery and beautiful wilderness experience.’ You don’t always find a way to get that on other itineraries. We’ve provided that at Tombstone, near Dawson, and also at Kluane National Park, near Whitehorse.

You then continue to Skagway, where you board the ship and get a beautiful cruise into Glacier Bay, cruise back down the Inside Passage and get off the ship in Vancouver. You’ve hit Denali, Tombstone, the Yukon River, Kluane, Glacier Bay, the Inside Passage that’s the whole kit and caboodle of Alaska.

Q. What is your favorite cruisetour?

A. The one I just described. It is a great value, and at the same time, it has all those icons in it. It gives you the opportunity to really see the whole Great Land. If you’re the seven-day cruise type, then I recommend the tour all the way to the Arctic Ocean. I had a chance to get up to there last summer and come down the road between Prudhoe Bay and Fairbanks, and it was just spectacular.

Or alternatively, you might take Tour 17 or 18, and that’s when you get off the ship after seven days and spend the night in Seward, then get Kenai Fjords National Park, do a six day marine tour with an incredible amount of wildlife experience. You move from there to Anchorage, spend two days in Denali, and then to Fairbanks.

Q. Why does Holland America Line offer a Double Day in Denali?

A. You need two days. These are natural wonders you are coming to see. You can see the Mona Lisa or the Eiffel Tower just by showing up at the appointed time. To see grizzly bears and spectacular mountain scenery, however, you need to give yourself more time in the right places to maximize your chances of a great view. Time in the right places becomes the most important aspect of your tour. That’s why we offer more time in Denali. That’s also why we take you to other great wilderness locations where we spend a lot of time. You have the chance to see more wildlife and more great scenery.

Q. The McKinley Explorer luxury domed railcars seem so much more appealing than the motorcoach. How many of the tours use motorcoach versus the railcar?

A. All of our tours that go to Denali, which is 28 of 29 of them, have two days of travel on the railcars. The ones that go into the Yukon also include motorcoach travel, and while the motorcoach doesn’t sound nearly as sexy, these are beautiful motorcoaches. And they’re also the only way that you’re going to get to that kind of remote wilderness and to get to a place like Dawson or Whitehorse. So if you’d like to go to Kluane National Park, home to five of the seven tallest mountains in North America, glaciers and spectacular wildlife, the only way you’re going to get there is in a luxury motorcoach.

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Freedom begins in the Personal Karaoke Booth. At least it did for me. That’s where I was freed from my inhibitions to loudly belt out the lyrics being displayed on a screen in front of me. I had always wanted to perform karaoke but had never mustered the courage to do so in front of an audience. One of two intimate karaoke booths on Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas (one of the line’s “Freedom class” vessels) was the perfect compromise for a closet crooner who would be mortified should anyone hear him. The experience was not unlike singing in the shower, using a bar of soap for the microphone, but without the discomfort of having to undress to perform.

The song I chose was “Dancing Queen.” Like many other passengers at this late hour, I was still humming the lyrics after leaving the 1,350-seat Alhambra Theatre where AbbaCadabra had performed. The Abba tribute band put on perhaps the best performance I have seen in my 20 years of cruising, particularly judging by audience response. The final song the U.S.-based band performed for the evening, Dancing Queen, was met by an entire room that stood and danced — and didn’t want to leave.

But alas we did leave, and most of us headed to Studio ‘84, where “flashback to the 1980s” started just after midnight. Studio ‘84 was jammed packed with those attending what can only be described as a mix between a rock concert and dance party. On stage, an oversized screen displayed videos, as animators performed both on stage and in the audience to get the party started. A sea of happy faces, including mine, sang the words to the familiar feel-good songs.

Ice, Ice Baby
The evening before, Studio ‘84 was transformed to Center Ice, used to stage the original show Independence Ice. It is absolutely mind-boggling to imagine such a performance at sea, but the show on ice was so beautifully choreographed and executed that I forgot I was on a ship.

I had the same feeling at the Royal Promenade, where in the late afternoon, I watched the Madhatter’s Ball Parade. The colorful chorus of performers parading down the street set a happy tone for the evening. Photo flashes pulsed from cameras held by passengers playing paparazzi on either side of the promenade. A second parade later in the week, “Olympus Rocks,” featured characters from Greek Mythology and a Rock-n-Roll soundtrack.

Even without a parade, the Royal Promenade is quite remarkable in that a stroll from one end to the other is like a mini-tour of main street Europe. Walking from one end to the other, I passed Sorrento’s, an Italian trattoria/pizzeria; an English pub called The Dog & Badger; Café Promenade, a French-style bistro/street café; a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream parlor; and thankfully, as I was parched from the long walk, a champagne bar.

The Royal Promenade is a destination in itself, with a barber shop, boutiques, a wine bar and more.

Family Friendly Staterooms
The interior Promenade Family staterooms feature bay windows that overlook the action on what serves as the ship’s main street, and with 300 square feet interior space, these staterooms accommodate up to six guests.

A clever configuration provides separate sleeping quarters for parents and kids, with bunk beds in a (smallish) room. One caveat is that this category stateroom can be noisy when the Royal Promenade is busy, but what a vantage point for watching the action. It’s like living in Manhattan when the Macy’s Christmas Parade is taking place.

For those who don’t mind splurging, the Presidential Suite on deck six sleeps up to 14. Yes, it’s pricey, but plunking down the cash for this suite can be a better value for large families than other stateroom categories. How so? The full rate is charged only for the first two guests, with additional guests paying reduced rates.

The suite’s 1,215-square-foot interior space features dual entryways and two master bedrooms with flat screen televisions and en suite bathrooms with tubs. Two additional bedrooms sleep four people each. For those who are doing the math, a sectional sofa in the spacious living room sleeps two. That’s 14 people.

The Presidential Suite’s balcony measures 810 square feet and features a bar, whirlpool, eight lounge chairs and a 14-person table for dining al fresco. It’s like a resort inside of a ship.

Accommodating up to eight, the 588-square-foot Royal Family Suite on deck nine features two bedrooms and two private bathrooms, one with a tub, and a 234-square-foot balcony. Similar to the Royal Family Suite, the Owner’s Suite, on deck 10, is slightly larger but sleeps only four.

Kids Will Love It
Kids who enjoy the whiz-bang of the latest technologies will adore any of the Freedom-class ships. Like its sisters Freedom of the Seas and Liberty of the Seas, Independence of the Seas represents state of the cruising art — with a whole host of amenities and features that run from the now-expected-of-Royal Caribbean rock-climbing walls to an interactive water park.

The most talked about feature is the FlowRider Surf Park, a surf simulator that functions like a perpetual wave where you can try to hang ten. Wipeouts aren’t painful, and the less adventurous can use a body board.

The Flowrider is situated near the H2O Zone (pictured above), an expansive top-deck area fitted with a kids’ pool, water cannons and abstract colorful sculpture fountains that shoot water in entertaining and unpredictable directions, partially controlled by passengers who want to get soaked or start a water war.

Extended versions of popular Voyager-class ships, the Freedom-class ships vessels are the most innovative in the Royal Caribbean fleet of megaliners, and it would take a seriously bad mood to claim that there is nothing to do. If anyone gets too truculent, ship them off to the full-size boxing ring, where they can get lessons and even do some sparring.

With programs for five age groups of kids and teens, Royal Caribbean’s Adventure Ocean, for young people 6 months to 17 years, gets consistently high marks for its family friendly approach. Providing fun learning opportunities about local customs, with some cool science experiments too, Adventure Ocean separates kids by age, with dedicated facilities for each group.

For fun family fare, it’s tough to beat the 1950s-influenced American style diner Johnny Rockets for a burger, fries and a shake. If you are having too much fun to leave the pool deck, the Solarium pool has a cafe dispensing pizzas, while the self-serve Sprinkles provides frozen yogurt. If looking for a healthier drink options, there is the Squeeze selling various fruit drinks.

And for grown-ups who want to occasionally get away from the activity, the adults-only Solarium offers a range of possibilities: from spending a lazy afternoon in a hammock to enjoying underwater music while swimming in the central pool. For a hot soak with a dramatic view, step into the two adults-only hot tubs that are cantilevered 12 feet out from the side of the ship. Or dine in one of the specialty restaurants, Chops Grille for steaks and seafood, or Portofinos for fine Italian dining.

After dinner, be sure to catch the performances in the Alhambra Theatre. If you fail to catch AbbaCadabra performing “Dancing Queen” take solace in knowing that you can always stage your own performance in the Personal Karaoke Booth. Surely you remember the lyrics: “You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life.” Yes indeed. Having the time of your life.

Beginning in November, Independence of the Seas will sail six-night Western Caribbean and eight-night Eastern Caribbean itineraries from Port Everglades, giving vacationers a choice of six Caribbean itineraries aboard one of three Freedom-class ships.