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FTF's cruise expert takes her children aboard this cruise line catering to celebrities and sees how the crew makes her whole family feel famous.

On Celebrity Cruises, food and service are top priorities. We still laugh at photos of then 3-year-old Alexandra with a group of waiters fussing around her. In fact, the only time that my daughter has ever eaten peas was aboard the Zenith, which attests to the line's wonderful cuisine!

We liked the secure environment in the Celebrity Zenith's children's room, where all ages wear age-differentiated wristbands. While Celebrity gets its fair share of children during vacation time, the number of youngsters was not overwhelming.

Youth counselors were personable, and though Alexandra was too young to participate in some of the line's trademark children's activities (summer stock theater, Young Mariners ship tours and Junior Olympics), she eagerly went to the kids' room.

Since this is a more up-market product, babysitting is offered in the youth programs ($6/hr per child) in addition to in-room babysitting ($8/hr per child). Another helpful service is the ranking of shore excursions by age-appropriateness, though a youth program is also offered in port.

Some ships offer a dedicated Teen Entertainment lounge for 13 to 17-year-olds, while all ships have a dedicated Fun Factory youth room for potty-trained children from 3-11 years old. The youth programs are divided into five tiers- Toddler Time (under 3 years old), ship Mates (3-5), Celebrity Cadets (6-8), Ensigns (9-11), and Admiral Teens (12-17). All Celebrity staterooms are equipped with VCRs and rental videos are available onboard.

SMOOTH SAILING: One of Celebrity's additions to its youth programming is the unique "Celebrity Kids' Television" (CKTV) which is available only on the Millennium class vessels. Children get to appear on the air and go behind the scenes in an actual working miniature broadcast studio. The newscasts are then aired on one channel of the shipboard Celebrity Network, allowing parents and fellow cruisers to see the young "celebrities" on television.

Additionally, each week during the summer, teens and younger children work together to produce and perform a play through the Summer Stock Theater.

ROUGH SEAS: While Celebrity offers itineraries to Europe, New England/Canada, Bermuda, Alaska, the Panama Canal, South America, the Pacific Northwest, the Galapagos, and the Caribbean, it does not offer a world cruise, nor many "exotic" itineraries such as the Far East, Antartica or the Middle East.

Overall, Celebrity Cruises' Zenith was our first family cruise and in hindsight, we were glad we chose this intimate, premium-market product for our daughter's first experience at sea. 

Note: The Celebrity Cruises' Zenith was retired in 2007 and is now associated with Pullmantur Cruises.