We've done P&O, Fred Olsen, Royal Carribean and Princess from Southampton and my kids liked Princess the best. The RC ship had the water park but it was such a large ship it meant tons of queueing for all the activities and they were really disappointed not to make the cut for some things. You'd queue for 30 minutes for ice skating and then get told, no more ice skating today. They were tiny when we went onb Fred Olsen so don't really remember it but it is a great itinerary that went from Southampton down to the south of Spain as far as Barcelona and back so we got opportunities to go to the beach as well as a bit of sightseeing for the adults. P&O wasn't too bad but the kids clubs they found boring, whereas the kids clubs in Princess they wanted to go all the time, indeed rather than get off the ship! This was a Norwegian Fjords cruise in the summer and offered something for everyone but meant we got to relax on the ship while they were in the kids club but we also did lots of family stuff like some of the quizzes, movies under the stars, some of the concerts and shows together. On Princess and P&O I felt the ships were ok for them to free range a bit out of our sight but the RC ship was really too big and busy for that. It's a factor that puts us off the larger ships, as well as the queueing. I would do RC again, it was a good cruise, but maybe when the kids are older and it feels a bit like Disneyland where I am in constant fear of losing them if I relax for a moment.
