Carnival Cruise Line

• Gives youngsters their own pools and deck areas, playrooms, video arcades and teen discos to enjoy, as well as a 'Camp Carnival' activity programme.
  A prime example of the Carnival style is the line's newest ship, the 2,040-passenger Elation, which entered service in 1998. Facilities include 2,500 square foot "Children's World" comprising three areas - a computer lab, an arts and crafts centre and a climbing/ adventure/activity area.
  There is also an outdoor play centre in the shape of a schooner and an arcade featuring state-of-the-art virtual reality games. And star-struck youngsters can take backstage tours to meet onboard entertainers as part of the ship's activity programmes/shows.

Norwegian Cruise Lines, Premier Cruises, Princess Cruises, Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity and Holland America Line

• All offer extensive and fully-supervised children's programmes, mainly during school holiday periods.
  These companies run ultra-modern, beautifully designed ships with imaginative facilities for youngsters. Celebrity, for example, has American-style Slumber Parties as well as a wide range of age group-related activities like treasure hunting, T-shirt designing, quizzes and contests.
  Holland America Line gives youngsters the chance to enjoy a real adventure on its Alaska cruises with a dedicated shore excursion programme aimed specifically at children. Activities include mountain hikes and sea kayaking.
  On Princess Cruises' latest ship, the Grand Princess, youngsters can enjoy a variety if theme-park-style rides in a 12 man hydraulic simulator, the highlight of the first virtual reality centre at sea. And on Princess Cays, the company's private hideaway in the Bahamas, children can enjoy themselves at Pelican's Perch, a fully supervised play area specially constructed on the theme of a pirate ship.
  And Norwegian Cruise Line gives children the chance to explore their own talents as entertainers with a Circus at Sea in which they can learn juggling, clowning and other circus skills to performance standard. The Circus is part of NCL's Kid's Crew programme, which, like most of the big ship children's programmes, is divided into four age groups.
  All these companies offer not only activities and play areas, but also special menus designed to appeal to young appetites, and even kid's newsletters detailing the day's activities.

Disney Cruise Lines

• Latest to join the ranks of family-oriented cruise lines is entertainment giant Disney's new cruise arm. Its first ship, the 2,400-passenger Disney Magic operates three and four day cruises to the Bahamas, packaged into seven-day holidays with stays at Florida's 46-square mile Walt Disney World resort.
  Though it expects to attracts singles and couples as well as families, Disney has gone big on children's facilities; first-run Disney films will be shown in the new ship's cinema, and youngsters get almost an entire deck to themselves.
  For teens, there is a New York-style coffee house with music, big screen TV and computers; Disney characters are on hand to play with three to eight year olds, and children aged nine to 12 get interactive computers and giant video walls.
  There is also an extensive, fully supervised activity programme split into five age groups. Youngsters pre-register for this before their cruise, then get a personal greeting and schedule on arrival. And parents are guaranteed peace of mind with pagers to help them keep tabs on the kids.

P&O Cruises

• Families who prefer a British atmosphere to American-style cruising will also find excellent children's facilities on board P&O Cruises' newer ships, Oriana and Arcadia. Peter Pan's is the name of the children's playrooms with teenage areas being called Decibels. Each ship features extensive age-specific facilities that are fully staffed and equipped with everything from toys to video game machines.
  P&O runs clubs for "tweens" (10-13) and teenagers (14-17). There is a children's pool on Arcadia and Oriana and, for the teenagers, a disco serving non-alcoholic drinks. On both ships children up to five years can be left in the supervised night nursery (6pm-2am), and in Oriana there is an in-cabin baby listening facility.