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From Florida we have done several. If you can get it for less than $100/day its a good deal.

Where did you go? It kinda depends on what you want to do while you are in port. With a three year old you won't have a lot of options for excursions and will probably just end up finding a beach so any place will be good.

Did you like it? Yes and no. My husband doesn't like to just "lay around" so he gets kinda bored. The age and size of the ship really depend on your experience. They are definitely not all the same.

Pros/cons of a cruise and of your particular destination
Again, ship size and age will factor in a bunch. I'm not really interested in carnival any more (unless it was a brand new ship). So we will stick to RC or Disney (haven't done disney before though).

Did you have an "ocean view" room, was the extra $$ worth it? We have always been fine with just interior rooms to save the money. We never spent much time in there anyways. The only reason I would think to splurge to a balcony is if you are doing like an alaska cruise or if you are going to be stuck in there with a napping child.

Did you take your child? Nope not yet. I went as a teen with my family and my younger sister though.

Where did you go? Europe (Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Russia, Estonia, Denmark)

Did you like it? YES!!

Pros/cons of a cruise and of your particular destination
It's an easy way to see a lot of destinations in a short period of time, and then see which places you might want to go back to later for a longer time period. Also, it's awesome to not have to deal with finding hotels, rental cars, etc. - you only have to unpack once.

Did you have an "ocean view" room, was the extra $$ worth it?
Yes, and I think it was worth it. The window was right over the bed, and it was fun to snuggle down in bed at night and watch the waves crash against the ship.

Did you take your child? No, she wasn't born yet.

We went on a Holland America cruise, and there are definitely different "levels" of cruise ships/services. Some cruises and cruise lines are geared towards different crowds, and some of the super cheap options are not really that cheap if they don't include as much as other lines do. If you're going to do the Caribbean I would try to leave from FL so you get more time in the islands, and fewer "at sea" days.

I've only been on a cruise once, but here was my experience -

Where did you go? - A friend and I went to Nassau, Bahamas

Did you like it? - No, I didn't like Nassau at ALL. It's really not a good cruise destination, IMO. Walking around Nassau we kept having little kids beg us non-stop for money, which makes me kind of depressed. And if you give them anything you get swarmed. I also wanted to go to a beach, since we were in the Bahamas, makes sense right? Well apparently all the good beaches have hotels on them and we had to go to a public beach kind of far away that wasn't really good. We had to take a cab there and almost weren't able to get back to the ship because it was difficult getting a cab back.

Pros/cons of a cruise and of your particular destination - The ship itself was a lot of fun. I loved the pools and the hot tubs (we were on a Carnival ship). It was also fun having unlimited food. But we learned if we got room service the portions were teeny tiny and we'd need to get like 3 or 4 orders.

Did you have an "ocean view" room, was the extra $$ worth it? - We did and it was a total waste. We were never in the room during the day and if we were all we could see was a blue circle. I'd go either cheap and get an inside room, or go all out and get a balcony. In between is so not worth it.

Did you take your child? - Back in college, so no. But I'm really looking forward to taking DS on a Disney cruise in a few years.

We're in FL, so people cruise a lot around here beacaue it's so accessible. I'm not a huge fan, but my husband loves it, so we've been quite a bit.

Where did you go?
All of our cruising has been in the carribean. The longest was 10 days, and the shortest was 4 days. I really like visiting the Virgin Islands and St. Maarten.

Did you like it?
It's not my favorite but that's because I prefer the adventure of traveling without an itinerary. My husband likes the fact that he doesn't have to think about anything and can literally do nothing. It just depends on how you like to vacation.

Pros/cons of a cruise and of your particular destination:
If you travel in the Caribbean, you'll likely have to take the bad stops with the good. Some places are gross and some have nothing to offer. Those are the days we just stay on the ship and enjoy having less people aboard. The weather is great for winter vacations, though. The last cruise we took was in the month of January and it was blazing hot the whole time.

Did you have an "ocean view" room, was the extra $$ worth it?
We've always had a balcony or suite. It's absolutely worth it to us to spend the extra $.

Did you take your child? We haven't gone since our LO was born, but we've been talking about it lately. We'll probably be comfortable with it once he's 2.5 or 3.

And we've been on Carnival, RC, and Celebrity, and we prefer RC. The newest boats (allure and oasis) are amazing. I think they have a new one coming out next winter, and we'll probably plan for that boat if we decide to go.

@JoyfulKiwi: We went in August, and it was a great time - not too hot, but good weather (mostly, it rained 1 day!).

Where did you go? I've been on 2. Weekend "booze cruise" to Mexico, and 1 week Mediterranean.

Did you like it? I liked it better on the trip with the baby. 1 week cruise - ship was much nicer and it was more convenient. In general though, DH and I are not cruising kind of people. We like to wake up and wander around and see things on our own schedule. The early port calls and rush to get back to the ship always frustrated me.

Pros/cons of a cruise and of your particular destination: Pros of cruising with a LO. Everything is in one place. You don't have to unpack. I could go back to the room anytime I needed to with the LO. DH and family could still hang out and do stuff even if I was in the room with the baby. Got to "see" a lot of destinations. Didn't have to worry about transportation.

Did you have an "ocean view" room, was the extra $$ worth it? YES! The ocean view made a big difference in feeling claustrophobic when you're holed up in the room.

Did you take your child? Yes.

We've done several!
We've been to San Juan, St Thomas, St Croix, Antigua, St. Kitts, Nassau, Freeport.
My favourite Destinations were the virgin islands and mexico. not a huge fan of the bahamas.

I have enjoyed 2 of the of the 3 cruises I've been on. I did not enjoy cruising with Norwegian.
With Norwegian there is no set dinner time. You have a different waiter every night and different table mates. Part of the fun of a cruise is your waiter and table mates.

I loved Celebrity.....and Carnival was decent and family friendly.
Now LO is here, I would try disney.....they have a lot more aimed at the kids.

I personally would not pay extra for an Ocean View. I *would* pay extra for a balcony. That way if J is sleeping, you can sit out on the balcony with room service and enjoy the night. If you aren't able to afford a balcony, a small port hole is not worth the extra price. I've done both inside and ocean view and not noticed a difference.

I love http://www.cruisehotsheet.com for great deals and http://www.cruisecritic.com for reviews.

If you have questions about specific destinations, I've been to most of them (They were cheap to get to from FL) so let me know!

Where did you go? 12 day Mediterranean (Barcelona, Nice, Rome, Athens, Mykonos, Turkey, Naples, Florence) on Royal Carribbean.
Did you like it? Loved it.
Pros/cons of a cruise and of your particular destination. I don't think you're considering Europe, so I'll talk more about the ship/cruising experience. We liked the food. RCI I find the buffet is really good. We skipped dining room lots of nights because we were tired and the food there was so good. We're also kind of nerdy and really liked playing trivia and stuff in the evenings. The pool was a little lacking, but the weather wasn't super warm and it was really port intensive anyway.
Did you have an "ocean view" room, was the extra $$ worth it? We had a balcony. My husband really liked it, I didn't think it was worth the money (I didn't think we spent $1200 worth of time out there at all). But he thought he might feel a little claustrophobic in the small cabin, so for our first trip, and because we were already spending so much to get to Europe I didn't want to risk ruining the trip for him by having anxiety in the room.
Did you take your child? We didn't have a child at the time

Where did you go? 7 day California Coastal on Princess (LA, San Diego, San Francisco, Catalina, Santa Barbara)
Did you like it? It was ok...
Pros/cons of a cruise and of your particular destination: We're in Vancouver, Canada so California is super close for us. We went when I was 23 weeks pregnant, so we wanted a laid back trip and a short flight. It was a pretty relaxed itinerary. So much so that the clientelle on the ship was a little.... geriatric. Not many folks our own age at all. The dining room food on Princess is really good, buffet and quick service food left something to be desired for me. It was nice that the ports weren't super tiring, so you could get back early, dress for dinner and then "go out on the town" to watch the shows or drinks and dancing without having to worry about an early wakeup call. My husband also really loved the huge movie screen by the pool.
Did you have an "ocean view" room, was the extra $$ worth it? We got an "obstructed view guarantee" this time which can be a good savings if you just want to be able to see outside, and don't have a major preference for cabin location. I don't think it was much more expensive than the interior since we booked last minute, so I think it was worth it.
Did you take your child? Only in the belly.

@MsLipGloss: my experience was exactly the same! I would only consider two cruises, an Alaskan or Disney at this time!

Where did I go? Mexico, Belize, 4 day cruise

Did you like it? Loved it. Floating hotel with tons of activities and yummy food.

Pros/ Cons: Pros- service was impeccable, so many things to do on the ship. Definitely explore the shop the first day so you know what you want to return too. Cons- the bathroom is small. Limited tours you can purchase before your trip, wait until you are on the ship to book your port excursions.

Ocean view? We had a balcony and obviously an ocean view. Worth every penny. Our room felt bigger because we had the extra space. Bathroom was still small though.

Kids? Not Applicable.

Cost? Less than $800/ per person, didn't have to fly to the port. Factor in all the tipping (inluding bag handlers at the port) and the drink packages if you want something b other that water or iced tea. That stuff was a bit of an unknown to us first time cruisers.