I'm a frequent cruiser on Royal Caribbean, so that's where most of my cruising experience lies. I have done Carnival in the past, and wasn't impressed overall.

For your age range I do think Royal has a lot to offer. It's a great middle-ground with many options, and not too cheap or too expensive. You should definitely avoid booking around any of the big family travel times (spring breaks, summers and holidays) if you want to avoid a lot of young kids. Now that my kids are grown, we do that too. My kids are now in their early to late 20's, and have been cruising most of their lives. They are fans of the "bigger" ships on RCCL, as we are. We all enjoy having a lot of options for fun, and a lot of space. This isn't the case with all cruisers. Many prefer a more intimate, quiet atmosphere. There's no right or wrong, it's all personal taste.

As has been mentioned, the Cruisecritic site is a great resource for cruise information. Good luck!

I'm in your age range (well, just a tad older ), and any of those ships that you listed should do just fine.

I have only tried Princess and Royal Caribbean on my cruises to the Caribbean, and I prefer Royal Caribbean over Princess. I have heard very strong reviews from my peers that the food on the Disney Dream wasn't great (and that's an understatement, to say the least), so that's something to research more on if food is a major priority.

cruisecritic.com is probably your best bet. Lots of trip reviews there.

Hi all. Thanks for all of the advice! I looked through Cruise-Critic and ended up booking a 7 night Caribbean Itinerary on Celebrity for April 2013. Booking so far in advance we got the Aqua Class for only $950pp. We liked the idea of a private restaurant (Blu) and the complimentary spa access.

it turned into a toss-up between Royal Caribbean and Celebrity.

Thanks again!

I don't really frequent this forum so just saw this thread - but I wanted to chime in and say that I think that Celebrity would probably be my recommendation for you with the disclaimer that we've only sailed on Regent which is more expensive but is really all inclusive (including shore excursions). We have a cruise booked later this summer on Seabourn, we'll see how that goes (but will miss the free internet and telephone since we've been on Regent for many nights).

>"We have a cruise booked later this summer on Seabourn, we'll see how that goes (but will miss the free internet and telephone since we've been on Regent for many nights)."

Those perks annoy those of us who are loyal to Seabourn, too! <g> I hope you will enjoy the cruise!

However, I get a free week's loyalty cruise after 150 days. I am on my second.

April is better than October for Caribbean ^

However it will be hot so plan accordingly!