Timing is more important than ship when considering "family-oriented" cruising. Avoid spring break, summer break, and Christmas at all costs. I recommend sailing between September 1 and Thanksgiving or between January 1 and March 1. These times are the least expensive times to cruise (with September being absolutely cheapest) and with the fewest children aboard. The ships are also just generally less crowded with many fewer people sailing as thirds and fourths in a cabin.

If you have an idea of where you want to go, I could offer a recommendation or two. Stick to 7 night or shorter cruises for good nightlife. One recommendation I can make off the bat is Carnival Legend out of Tampa. It usually goes to Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Belize, and Costa Maya, though Belize and Costa Maya are temporarily off the itinerary due to aftermath of Hurricane Dean. Belize should be back on in a few weeks. Cozumel is my favorite Caribbean port, though, and Carnival Legend is one of the Spirit-class of Carnival ships which has the highest space to passenger ratio. The Port of Tampa is also fantastically efficient, the airport is cheap and easy to fly to from anywhere and is a $20 cab ride from the Port.

Check out Cruise Critic for more info as well. Once you pick a ship and a specific sailing that is best for you, use Cruise Compete to find a nice deal.

We were open to anywhere - possibly Europe, but more likely the Carribien

Do what we do,
Pack a large bottle of Rum or you favorite spirit, a small blender and some of the travel colored coffee cups with a straw. Blend, then take it with you on the deck. We have never had a problem. Remember if you buy the booze in port they take it away, but we alwys get it in in our luggage, or in the case of clear rum, just put it in a large water bottle each and carry it onboard. We also pack a 6 or 12 pk of coke with us as well as these are $2 on board. Ice is free and we always figure out where the stash of ice is near our room for self serve.

As far as ports to leave from, Ft Lauderdale port is only a mile from the Airport, super easy for connections. We have been on over 30 cruises with the only bad one the Costa Magica (but what to expect for $299 a week)? Well english would have been a nice start!!

JudyJFLA

Next cruise? The super deal 13 night NCL repo MIA to Barcelona, Balcony for $699!!

JudyJFLA

Next cruise? The super deal 13 night NCL repo MIA to Barcelona, Balcony for $699!![/QUOTE]

We are also on the NCL repo cruise. It will be our first TA. We are on award tickets ORD-MIA BCN-ORD. I hated to give up the miles but I was not spending in excess of 800 dollars for the tickets. If I find a better price before we leave then I will give up the award tickets

Plenty of cheap oneway deals from/to Ireland, so you may want to go there and connect with EI/FR/whoever to BCN.

Princess allows you to bring on board as much wine (and I think maybe beer) as you can carry. When we hosted the party suite for Hunki's class reunion, we brought on an entire case of wine and the Princess staff made special arrangements to help us board it.

That was one of the factors we considered when we chose Princess as our primary cruise line. That way we can shop for whatever wine we want for dinner in every port we visit and bring it on board without any hassels or extra costs on our bill, save the corkage fee at the dinner table, not to mention the free internet time. :D

The drink card on HAL is only for their "drink of the day". I drink Absolut and soda and it was cheaper to just buy that drink.

Bringing Alcohol Aboard on Princess Cruises?
 

This is an old thread but now a relevant topic for me. Is this still the policy for wine brought aboard Princess cruises? How about alcohol purchased in port (e.g. rum)? Any problems bringing it aboard?

HAL still allows guests to bring on unlimited beer, wine and soda. In fact, some of us booked on the May transatlantic cruise are putting together a wine tasting party for which each guest is bringing a bottle of wine onboard just for the tasting.
My family of five will also be bringing a case of wine for consumption, two cases of diet soda and a case of regular soda for the kids.

Princess continues to be generous with wine at embarkation and in port, but not hard alcohol at any point.

Just make sure of any corkage fees for opening the wine outside of your stateroom. If you bring your bottle of wine to dinner there may be a corkage fee, whether they open it or not, for consuming it in a public space. Check your cruise line for these fees, if any.