This is the final post in a three part series on cruising with your family.

• If you are traveling with a large group, recognize in advance that it will not be feasible to do everything together at all times. My husband loves to tease me about this one. He believes that my family has a tendency toward thinking we all have to do the same thing at the same time all the time.
  
  Here's what worked for our large brood: We all got up and ate breakfast at our own pace. If we ran into each other, great. If not, no sweat. The same went for activities throughout the day. However, at 5 o'clock each evening, we convened in my dad's room (beautiful, oppulent suite on the fantail of the ship - can you say swanky?!) for cocktails. My parents grew up and courted in the time of cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, so that has always very much been a part of our family's dinner hour. Then, at 6 pm, we all went to dinner together.
• Dining. We dined with the same two waiters all week in the same dining room. These two guys (Grzegorszch and Edwin, from Poland and the Polynesian Islands respectively) were a treat and bent over backwards to entertain and please our boisterous group. Tipping them at the week's end was truly a pleasure. The food in the dining room was outstanding. You could order off a menu, and everything but your beverage was complimentary. One evening, my niece's husband ordered five (yes, 5) entrees. He managed to eat nearly everything on his plate(s), which was at once remarkable and grotesque. And if you saw this young man, you would wonder where he could possibly have put the food. All I can say is that I wish I had one-fourth of his metabolism!
• Don't be afraid to let the kids run a little wilder/looser than you normally would. As long as you can generally trust your kids (everyone's are different, after all...), the only real danger we worried about was our nephew still being young enough to fall overboard. He was eight at the time and being a youngest, an old eight at that. We'd often hear his voice as we rounded the corner of a pool area, only to find him chatting it up with "the guys" at the bar. He'd be sipping his Coke from his bottomless cruise cup (purchased for about $25 at the beginning of the week) - - all by himself!
• Plan to take in some of the onboard entertainment. We found it to be far better than we were anticipating, and it was different each night. We didn't do that every night, but it was fun sometimes.
• If your kids are not staying in the cabin with you, be aware that their in-room entertainment does not the Parental Controls that you are used to at home. As far as I know, there is no way to control that, so you just have to use the "trust but verify" method that I am so fond of. We did find that our kids were so enamored with the idea of 24 hour movie channels at their disposal that it was difficult at times to get them out of their rooms. This drove my husband and me to distraction, but kids will be kids, right? My young teen was only too thrilled to report that she saw a total of 21 movies on the cruise - in her room, in the indoor theatre and on the outdoor big screen - poolside. Very cool if you're 14.

I hope my tips will prove useful to you and your family in the near future!

My posts on the topic of setting sail on a family vacation:
Prepping Your Family for a Cruise
More Tips for Your Family Cruise
Bon Voyage on Your Family Cruise!