Thoughts on cruising with kids

When we started planning this trip I showed the girls where I thought we should go on a cheap plastic globe I purchased at the Dollar store. They were very interested in going across the water but they wanted to sail on it not fly over it. I wasn't sure about it and then realized when am I ever going to have this time to cross the Atlantic for 7 days or the Pacific for 25 days?!?! We took a Cunard cruise to Alaska last summer to celebrate Uncle's birthday and it was a good test to see if the girls liked travelling by cruise ship. And they did so I booked the Queen Mary 2 so we could cross the Atlantic to start the trip.  This had the benefit of getting us to New York and we had such a great time there and also a way to ease ourselves into full time travel and the time change. On the ship on 5 of the days we were at sea the Captain announced at 12pm that it was now 1pm. So we adjusted daily to the time change. The first day on the ship we went to the Kid's club and Anna was there - she was also on the Queen Elizabeth last summer! The girls really enjoyed her and were very happy to see her again. There were a lot of kids on the ship - mostly British kids - and the girls found the kids' club a little chaotic. They avoided it for a day or two but then went back later in the week and had a great time. We also joined the guest choir on the ship - this was such fun as they were the only younger kids and they really enjoyed singing with the choir (which ended up being around 40-50 people!). We performed in the Grand Lobby and it was such a good experience after practicing all week. We sang Walking on Sunshine, Somewhere over the Rainbow, Thank you for the Music, Putting on the Ritz, Edelweiss and Close to You. The girls each got a short solo and they had so many compliments after. Of course they also did some karaoke and that was another fun experience for us all. We chatted with lots of people on the ship but we kept running into a couple from NY. We first met them in the elevator and learned that the lady as a twin herself so they chatted about being twins and how special it is. Then we saw them many times, we joined them for Musicals trivia and they came out to cheer us on at the Choir concert. After the concert Evi gave our new twin friend a huge hug and it was like having a family member at the concert - so cute! The ocean was very calm and we spent many hours just staring out to sea - we saw dolphins a few times! We were on a cruise that featured the English National Ballet and we enjoyed watching one of their performances and listening to them do some insights lectures about costumes and choreography. A transatlantic cruise may not be for everyone but I really enjoyed the 7 days to transition from our old schedule to our new travel schedule. And tea with the girls everyday at 4pm was so memorable. Evi's scone addiction is hilariously of brand for her...but she loves her clotted cream and scones!