First time cruise - Caribbean from Florida?

[crazypiglady]

We’ve never cruised before but want to try it, we’d love to go from Florida to the Caribbean but the choice of cruise liners and options is overwhelming…can anyone recommend a cruise line/itenery for a first timer? It will be us and our DDs 11 & 13? We normally have our holiday over the spring break?

The website cruise critic is a great resource for all aspects of cruising holidays, link is posted First-Time Cruisers | Plan Your First Cruise (cruisecritic.co.uk)

We did this exact thing 6 or 7 years ago with Royal Caribbean and it was fab. I would 100% travel with them again if we did another cruise (hopefully some day!)

Ah really - how many nights did you do? What type of room did you go for? I have no idea if we’ll feel sick/claustraphobic/bored?! Where did your cruise visit?

We had a room with a balcony, I would not do it without, I think I would be claustrophobic without windows and it would be a very different vibe! It was fab to wake up with a new view of a beautiful tropical place in the mornings. We did a week and visited St Martin, Haiti (pre the awful hurricanes that came the following year), and Peurto Rico. A few days in Florida beforehand also. The ship was absolutely huge, it would be hard to see and do everything on it in the week - and the food was fab. In fact the food is one of the main reasons I would go RC again

And the ship was so big that we couldn't even feel it moving to be honest, so no sickness or anything like that (Although given that was our only cruise, I don't know if we were just lucky or what)

I agree that Royal is a good starting point as there will be loads to keep your DC entertained. We did three RC cruises when mine were pre teen / teen and it was great. We always had two cabins opposite each other (I had the balcony and they had an interior one to reduce the cost a bit).
Royal probably wouldn't be my choice now we cruise without DC; Celebrity and Princess have a more chilled feel which we like.

I have never been seasick on a cruise. One day in the Atlantic on the Anthem of the seas which is pretty big it was choppy and I felt a bit queasy but I always have stugeron handy.
I would advise researching your destinations in advance and planning what to do.

We cruised from Port Canaveral to the Caribbean with Royal Caribbean and Miami to Virgin Islands and Bahamas with NCL. Both trips were excellent, we always book two adjoining balcony cabins if travelling with our DC or a suite if it’s my DH and I.

I have been on 22 cruises, 14 were with my DC so if you have any questions then ask away.

We took our 3 kids on two NCL cruises when they were the age of your kids - we like NCL as you get a lot of bang for your buck - ie drinks package and some speciality meals included, where as these can cost a lot extra on RCL. They don't have quite as much for kids to do on board as RCL, but still plenty, and my kids LOVED it! There was mini-golf, ropes course, climbing, bowling, arcades, swimming pool and slides, shuffleboard (which was their favourite!), table tennis, sports court, giant chess, trivia quizzes, movies. They were never bored, and they never even made it to the kids clubs.

We went to Grand Cayman, Bahamas, Cozumel and Jamaica on one cruise, and Costa Maya, Cozumel, Roatan and Belize on the other cruise. All were very easy, with plenty to do for the kids.

We had a family ocean view cabin (window, no balcony) for the 5 of us, and it was absolutely fine.

I’d only do ones that have a day at a private island, which will narrow your options

RC, Disney, NCl and Celebrity have private islands, I’m not actually that keen on them mainly because the cabanas are so expensive and I find it hard to get shade on the islands.

We're doing a cruise from Port Canaveral this July with Carnival. When I was booking it the TA was saying about Celebrity being classy but TBH I just want us to have loads of good fun.
There'll be me, DH and DS 16. I want there to be different games and activities for us to do and Carnival is seen as a bit of a party ship with lots of entertainment all the time. It's the first time we've been way with just one DS, our eldest isn't coming so I am conscious DS (2) won't have his usual mate with him.

Our holiday is 4 nights in Orlando followed by an 8 night cruise.

We've done 2 other cruises, both P&O and loved it. My boys have been older than your kids so didn't join in kids clubs but the P&O ships had teen zones where they could hang out, and a football/basketball court

OP let us know if you book something :-)