We cruise 3-4 times a year, since we are very close to Fort Lauderdale and find cruising such an affordable family vacation and so easy with young children.
We have been on the Solstice twice (last 2 Christmas cruises) so the ship was completely familiar and allowed the children to have complete freedom onboard (they are 8&9). I booked this cruise only a few weeks out, due to an amazing online sale, so I did not have much time to research the ports and plan very thoughtful excursions, but we did have a fantastic time in any case.
We flew directly from Miami to London, on Virgin. Great airline but very small seats in economy and two out of four of our TVs not working....not so great on a 9 hour flight with children, you know? We landed and went straight to the ship via National Express coach and saved about $200 by doing this. Once in Southhampton, it was just about a mile taxi to the ship and we went right on.