Traveling with youngsters is a challenge. These ships take the guesswork out of how to keep yours busy all day and all night

Disney Wonder
Line: Disney Cruise Line
Passengers: 2,600
Itineraries: Bahamas
Smart parents base their choice of ship on their children's ages, and Disney excels with infants and toddlers. On most ships your child must be three and potty-trained to be left in the child-care facility—diapers and pull-ups are forbidden—but Disney cares for kids starting at three months, and its counselors are licensed to change diapers (which means parents aren't forced to return to the kiddie club every time their child needs changing). While most ships don't allow swim diapers in any pools, the Wonder's wading pool is an exception, and there's a splash zone with interactive fountains, so even if your toddler can't swim he can still burn off a whole lot of energy. The Wonder's staterooms make life easier for families too: With one and a half bathrooms, neither tots nor parents ever have to wait for a toilet. Other shipboard features include a waterslide that leads into a pool shaped like Mickey's head, illuminated walls that change color in the Animator's Palette restaurant, live musicals based on cartoons, and a pirate party (note: BYO costumes) complete with fireworks display. Parents will appreciate the adults-only pool, hot tub, spa, fitness center, and restaurant, as well as the kid-free beach on Disney's private island, Castaway Cay, one of the Wonder's stops. The nightly shows typically skew their earlier performance to a family crowd, the later one to adults. Sister ship Disney Magic is also child-friendly, but the Wonder offers shorter sailings—only three or four nights long—allowing first-time cruising families to get their toes wet before committing to a week at sea (800-951-3532; disneycruise.com; four-night Bahamian trip from $2,000*).

Freedom of the Seas
Line: Royal Caribbean
Passengers: 3,634
Itineraries: Caribbean
There's no doubt that Royal Caribbean is a great cruise line for kids of all ages from three up, but where this ship really stands out from the competition is in its activities for teens. Royal Caribbean was the first cruise line to install an onboard climbing wall, a FlowRider surf park, and an ice rink, and teens have been fascinated ever since. More than the hardware, though, the ship has carefully engineered its program so that it appears unstructured enough to appeal to most kids between the ages of 13 and 17. Boring, out-of-touch adults—a.k.a. parents—are banned from the section of the ship dedicated to the teen facilities, where the kids can come and go throughout the day on their own schedule rather than be corralled into preprogrammed activities. "The children were always gone; it was wonderful, and I didn't worry," says Vickie Wagers, a former marketing executive from Portland, Oregon, who took her 13- and 17-year-old sons on a Caribbean sailing. "The staff treat children with respect, yet keep them under control." To appeal to a fuller spectrum of finely nuanced and nigh indefinable tastes, the ship divides teens into two age-groups: 12 through 14, and 15 through 17. Both have access to video games and musical instruments (for jam sessions), but other components are separated. The younger group can try out some acting at Adventure Theater, make buddies at the Teen BBQ, and take part in a snowball fight. Older teens can try their hand at scratch deejaying, learn card games at the Teen Casino, or frequent their own nightclubs—Living Room and Fuel—until the wee hours. Other ships in the Freedom class— Radiance, Sovereign, Vision, and Voyager—have similar programs (866--562--7625; royalcaribbean .com; seven-night Western Caribbean cruise from $749).