This trip is a suprise for hubby's 70th birthday. Youngest child will be 4 and oldest 10. I'm concerned that Carnival, highly recommended for kids, will be too loud to please hubby, who likes Celebrity, and wonder what you'd suggest? We will probably need to travel in July/August due to school and teaching jobs. Any destination suggestions?

If your husband likes Celebrity, and it's his birthday - go with Celebrity!! There will be tons of kids on a summer cruise, and Celebrity has excellent children's activities. If you can - I would recommend Alaska... Really neat destination (not sure where you're from), and very, very interesting. My husband and I really loved it, and our friends had children - and they loved it, and our friends also had their parents - and they loved it!!! We happened to go on Celebrity to Alaska - and really loved it.... HAL is another one to consider that I didn't see on your list...

If you are traveling in July/August and don't pick too long of a cruise length, there should be other kids on the boat. The crowd gets older the longer the cruise. A 7 night cruise seems to have a mix.

Most people say an Alaska cruise draws an older crowd than the Carribean or Mexican Riviera. I've been to both sides of Mexico and can recommend both.

I agree that pretty much any of the mass market cruises you choose during July or August will have other kids on the boat. The trick is trying to get the best balance between things for the kids and the right atmosphere that won't drive your husband batty.

I've done a couple of multi-generational family cruises (including kids) on Royal Caribbean. The kids program is great, broken up into age brackets so that kids of like ages are together. RCI is probably less "quiet" than Celebrity, but will have more of the various entertainment options (pools w/slides, rock climbing wall, mini golf, etc).

I've also sailed HAL and they generally tend to have an older crowd.

I would disagree about Alaska - not a lot of kids on the cruise we did (Princess) and shore excursions are very expensive - plus airfare to/from adds to cost. Celebrity Caribbean cruise we did a few years ago had a reasonable number of kids - not overwhelming but enough so kids could have fun with peers.

Thanks. expense does figure in as I'm footing a lot of the bill for nearly everyone! airfare to Florida will be less than to Seattle. We're all from MA or NY. I'm a little worried about heat and hurricanes during the summer in the Caribbean. Those of you who have traveled on Carnival-is there any quiet space?!?!? I know the kids and grandkids would all have fun, and Celebrity doesn't do the Caribbean in the summer. We've sailed RC and would be fine with them again. Any thoughts on Western, Eastern or Southern Caribbean?

There are some incredible cruise deals out there now (we leave Monday on NCL to Bahamas). As far as ports, we loved Grand Cayman and the Sting Ray City thing. (excursion where you swim with and touch stingrays, although no one asked the fish how they feel about this).

I would look at destinations backwards with such a group. Pick ports where ship docks rather than tenders - gives you more flexibility as far as getting on and off, especially with kids. Some people have safety issues with Mexico right now, although the Cozumel area where cruises usually stop is less effected than the border towns.

Have you considered Bermuda? NCL (and maybe someone else) sales from NY and Boston - week-long cruise with either one or 2 ports in Bermuda. Bermuda is very friendly, easy to navigate on public transportation, and since you spend 3+ days there you actually get to see something. The beaches are great. We did this cruise on NCL about 5 years ago and although there were many kids on board they were not a problem. Also, since ship is docked for several days, most people leave the ship and it is blissfully quiet, even around the pools, while in port.

Did Disney come up in that conversation? I've heard it's the best for family cruises.