I am trying to determine which cruise line would best fit our needs, I am traveling with my 5 and 10 year old children and I believe that I would rather cruise RCCL but I want to make sure that the children will be satisfied and occupied...can anyone offer and information or advice??? Thank you!

If you are willing & able to spend a little more, Disney Cruise Line would probably fit the bill for your family. They are wonderful for kids of certain ages (5 and 10 being among them)! Check out my review on cruisereviews.com of the Disney Wonder, and feel free to email me later if you like, with questions. (Disney does offer a 7-day cruise, in case the shorter cruises don't appeal to you.)

That said, many cruise lines offer good children's programs, Royal Caribbean & Carnival among them.
Karen

I just completed an outstanding cruise on the 'Enchantment' during which, I noticed on a number of occasions, groups of happy little cruisers with their leaders having a great time.
RCCL has well organized programs for children of all ages. I do not think that your children will be bored in the slightest. Bobby

Enchantment has a great program for kids. I wouldn't know anything about Disney cruise lines because for one, I never could afford their prices so I've never sailed with them, but also my children's ages range from 8 - 15 and I didn't think my oldest would feel comfortable with this type of ship (you know how teenagers are). I think there are drawback's to what most people don't realize before they decide to take their kids on a cruise. First of all, I didn't decide to take my kids on vacation with us just to put them in a program for most of the day. I told the director of the program "gee, it looks like these kids have been here all day", his comment was "they are". I can't ridicule a program I didn't use, but from the outside looking in, they looked very organized, well-trained and the kids did appear to have a very good time. They even did a show for the dining room guests one evening, they looked very excited and proud, as the room was full. The only reasons why I DIDN'T use the program was because I wanted to spend my entire week with kids which I seem to have little time for these days, but also, our itinerary consisted of port's of call every day for the first 3 days of our cruise so by the time we got to seadays, they were uncomfortable participating in the program because by then the other children got to know each other, that's understandable. I wanted the kids to see and experience a lot of the port's and unfortunately, these kids programs run all day long, which they missed too many of. My recommendation? Get them in early!!! Every chance you have, run down the schedule with them and determine their interest's and work yourselves around it. This way, everyone gets to do what they want to do. Also, another recommendation, get walkie talkies, they were a blessing have!! You stay in constant communication and allows for more freedom. I think my kids could have had a better time, but their trip to Mexico will be unforgettable, enough to last a lifetime.

Have a great time and be happy and proud knowing that life gives us great opportunities for such wonderful experiences and to share them with your kids will be most unforgetable.

Amy