It’s no surprise that cruising has always been a holiday with parent-appeal because so much more is included in the price than the equivalent land-based holiday.

Today’s modern cruise ships offer everything that resort hotels provide for

families - and more besides. There are children's swimming pools, play areas, video and virtual reality centres, teen lounges, chill-out clubs, discos and any amount of scrumptious food, drink and ice cream.

The serious fun begins as soon as you step on board one of the many family-friendly ships either sailing from the UK or operating fly-cruises. For once you get the children aboard the chances are you will hardly see them at all, giving parents a well-earned break.

Children are well supervised

There are ships which full programmes of supervised activities for children broken up into different age-groups are operated on board, along with special meal-times and menus. All of this usually comes included in the cruise price. There are even specific shore excursions operated for children, so that they are entertained on port as well as sea days.

This means that ships offer holidays where parents can enjoy their own break as a couple, knowing their children are enjoying their own kind of cruise in an entirely safe environment.

Royal Caribbean International’s amazing mega ships Voyager of the Seas and Navigator of the Seas – sailing from Barcelona and Southampton respectively this summer – provide everything a family could wish for, and more. Even bigger is Independence of the Seas, which will be sailing from Southampton in summer 2008 offering the largest range of on board facilities of any cruise ship to sail from the UK, even a surf park.

Ships offer a safe environment for youngsters

For children, there is no greater adventure than having a ship the size of two football pitches to explore, and no greater security for parents than knowing they are completely safe wherever they are on board.

To make children’s experiences even more special, Royal Caribbean has created the Adventure Ocean programme specifically designed fro three to 17 year olds, with an exciting range of fun, supervised activities. There’s even the added excitement of Adventure Beach, an area specifically designed for families to enjoy together, with swimming pools and loads of water slides.

P&O Cruises has three family-friendly ships - Aurora, Oceana and Oriana - which will be joined by a fourth, 3,100-passenger Ventura, in 2008 with even more facilities for children, such as a rock school, Scalextric at sea, a contemporary circus school called Cirque Ventura and Noddy shows for the very young. Ventura will offer a unique family zone, bringing together four extensive activity areas for different child age groups, a family bistro and two pools dedicated to parents and children.

Children have an extensive range of dedicated facilities

Each of the current three P&O Cruises family ships has an extensive range of facilities available to make life on board as relaxing as possible for parents and entertaining as possible for children.

They have outdoor play areas, paddling pools and pools designated for families, dedicated children's channel on the in-cabin TVs, a 5.30 dinner sitting for children with a special menu, Night Nursery for children aged six months to five years which is open every day from 6pm - 2am, and an 'in-cabin baby listening service'. In addition to this, pagers are available to parents when their children are in the care of the Youth Crew. The ships carry a range of baby food including organic and have a full range of equipment available in cabins, such as bottle warmers, sterilizers, baby baths, potties and pushchairs.

Dedicated staff are on hand

The Youth Crew on board organise age appropriate daytime programmes of entertainment from 9am to 10.30pm. Children aged two - eight (and under two if accompanied by an adult) have playrooms packed with ballpools, toys, games, books and craft materials. For nine - 17 year olds ships offer quizzes, deck sports, games, competitions and discos and clubhouses with music, videos, games, computers and interactive arcade games (open from 9am to midnight during term time and the early hours during the school holidays). Aurora, for example, has 'Toybox' for two-fours, 'Jumping Jacks' for five-eights, 'Quarterdeck' for nine-12's and Decibels for 13-17's.

Cunard is still the only cruise company to carry qualified British nannies for under-sevens. Queen Mary 2 also has a separate family deck complete with pools and play areas next door to the Zone - the club for 8-12-year-olds; an organised activities programme for 13-15-year-olds; and a special tea for children in its Kings Court dining area. On QE2, there are organised activities, from scavanger hunts to hot-tub parties, for different age-groups between 7 and 17.

Dump the parents

Tours are a major part of Ocean Village's appeal with an innovative Action Ashore programme ranging from river-rafting, mountain-biking and canyoning to trips of top European football grounds. The informal cruise line’s ‘dump the parents’ programme enables children to go ashore in supervised groups while parents enjoy their own excursions or relax on the ship. On board, children can learn to play the drums, fly the trapeze or spend time at Base Camp - the kid's centre with its own pool and sports court or chill-out in the Hideout teen lounge.

Since Princess Cruises began summer sailings out of Southampton, many more parents have experienced its American-style luxury while their children have become Princess Pelicans (3-7yrs), Princess Pirateers (8-12) in the Princess Kids supervised activity programmes which include informative and entertaining lessons about the marine and natural world around them. For the older ones, there is Off Limits - a teen area where they can take part in Shipboard Olympics as well as karaoke and lipsync shows.