We took a 2 year old on board the Oceana (P&O) in May this year, I cannot fault them in any way, the night nursery was brilliant, it meant we could have a great family holiday and then be able to put her to bed in very safe place, giving us a chance to dine in the restaurant and see the shows. We immediately came home and booked another for Christmas. The older kids looked to be having a brilliant time too, kept really entertained by the staff. Would recommend them to anyone with young kids....especially if you keep your eye out for the child free places!

The summary above does not do justice to the FRED OLSEN cruises. If you go on any 'Family friendly' cruise (most of their ships in the kids school holiday season) there are well managed and well supervised kids clubs running generally for 3 2 hour stints morning , afternoon and evening. Our kids (aged 7 and 8) thoroughly enjoyed the kids activities last year and we are back with Fred Olsen next week !!

We are a family of five (3 children 3,5,7,) can anyone recommend which cruise ships offer the best cabins for a family of this size?

We've cruised with Island, RC and P&O and without a doubt P&O have the best kids clubs - 10 out of 10. It is interesting that when we cruise with RC our children end up spending their time with us, they don't rate the kids clubs and feel that the youth staff are not really interested. However, when we cruise with P&O, we hardly see them because the 'youthies' engage with them straight away, make them feel welcome, and offer a packed programme that is irrisistable. I do love the range of entertainment available on RC, there is no doubt that the facilities are fabulous, but they do let themselves down with their kids clubs. A pity.

We have just returned from a 2 week cruise on Ventura with our 6 years old daughter and 4 year old son and they loved their kids clubs. The 'Reef Rangers' were excellent and the range of activites throughout the day endless. Between 10.00pm & 10.30 pm you could sign your kids in to slumber time until midnight, where they could snuggle up in a sleeping bag to watch a movie. I never used the night nursery for our son but it is available on a first come first seved basis for the under 5's until 2am, just make sure you settle your child before you leave. We had a brilliant holiday and it was nice to have us time while the kids had fun with kids their own age, infact we sometimes had to bribe them to spend time with us!

I can highly recommend Princess Cruises for their kids club and facilities for children. We cruised on the Emerald Princess in March (2008) and our daughter (aged 4½ then) had a wonderful time and really enjoyed her time spent in the club. The club itself was well staffed (all very nice), well run, very clean and well appointed. The range of daily activites on offer meant ou little one was always kept entertained and she was always eager to return! Pagers are provided for use while onboard and a extra bonus is parents can leave the ship to enjoy some sights while in port, safe in the knowledge the kids are having a blast !

Not much info for Island... anybody know any more details?