Help! I need info on college club 18-21 cruisers!

[VAis4DISlovers]

Hi all,
I'm in need of all the information you can give me on the college club. My brother has grown up crusing disney and has aged out of the teen club... he is heartbroken and says he doesn't want to go on our family trip this year because of it! He really loves the dedicated space the teens have, so he can just walk in and there are people his age always there. I know from my research all about the meetup the first night... but what ELSE is there? He's not a dancer- or a drinker (age and preference)- so what do you all do on the cruises? Is there some carrot I can dangle to get him excited again, or should we let him "mourn" in peace?

[TDC Nala]

I take it your brother is at least 18.

He should go to the first meeting of the 18-21 cruisers (this is no longer called the college club) which will be listed in the Navigator. Apparently the number of persons and the desires of those persons attending the first meeting will set the tone for the remainder of the cruise. However, there is no dedicated space for this group. There is nothing really that can be said except that he should attend the first meeting and possibly be prepared to suggest activities for the group that he might enjoy.

[Iceman09201]

The activities that the 18-21s do depends on how many are on the ship. The first night when they have the 18-21 meet up they will give the cruise staff their ideas of what they want to do so the more people that show up, the more activities they can schedule. Now that he is 18 he can par take in all the adult activites. The adult caberat shows, adult pools, Spa, Palo Remy dining etc. There is a lot for him to do you just need to convince him to have an open mind and try new things

[Dizzyworld]

Hopefully since most colleges are out for the summer there will be more people in that age group.

I know what you mean though, our DS is almost 19 and has bailed on our upcoming cruise becasue he doesn't see that there is much to do in his age group that he is interested in. His sister turns 18 next year and wanted what she was calling her last DCL cruise as a graduation gift/18th birthday gift (she would have turned 18 on the cruise). She too doesn't see anything that would interest her much either. I am still holding the reservation but I think we are about 20% of possibly going on a cruise together. We are looking into other options. Both said they will return to DCL when they have children which is at least 10 years from now.

I guess we will enjoy our last family cruise in a few weeks. Then it will just be DH and I.

[VAis4DISlovers]

Originally Posted by Dizzyworld

Hopefully since most colleges are out for the summer there will be more people in that age group.

Sadly, our cruise is Oct/Nov so school will be in session!

Originally Posted by Iceman09201

The activities that the 18-21s do depends on how many are on the ship. The first night when they have the 18-21 meet up they will give the cruise staff their ideas of what they want to do so the more people that show up, the more activities they can schedule. Now that he is 18 he can par take in all the adult activites. The adult caberat shows, adult pools, Spa, Palo Remy dining etc. There is a lot for him to do you just need to convince him to have an open mind and try new things

See I think those things sound lovely, and I loved DCL at his age... but we are very different. He likes the structure of the teen club- and the worst part is our brother and his best friend, both 16, will be in the teen club. I fear that part will be like torture for him. But this kids LOVES Halloween- and I think that he will love the cruise if we can just get him on it.

Who knows, maybe I am wrong...

[Doingitagain]

DD had a similar concern, but we made sure we took her to Palo and other adult events that DS couldn't attend so she felt special. It really depends on the make up of the group, we have done five cruises when DD and DS were in this age group, and some cruises are more active than others. Some of DDs best friends are ones she met on cruises.

What cruise are you planning? Maybe you could check ahead on your cruise meet thread?

[TDC Nala]

If he's convinced himself that he will have a bad time outside the teen club, there won't be anything you can do, because no one age 18 or over is permitted in the teen club at all.

Possibly your younger brother and friend will be willing to do some things with him outside the teen club...the 16 year olds won't be allowed in the adult areas so it'd have to be in the non-adult areas. Otherwise it is going to really be up to the 18 year old whether he has a good time or not.

[kcashner]

Unfortunately, the 18-21 group has been seriously impacted by the new rules that require 18 year olds who are still in high school to be banned from the Vibe. It is totally an age/legal thing. If you are 18, you are a legal adult and not allowed in kid programming. Unfortunately, this has forced 18s in high school into what had been the college group, and many of the college kids didn't want to put up with the immaturity level they were seeing.

This group really varies from one cruise to the next. Do encourage him to go on the first night. Usually they meet for about 30 minutes with a CM and talk about whether they want more organized stuff during the cruise (activities on the sports, deck, crafts, games are all possible as are lunch get-togethers). Then they move as a group toward the adult nightclub activities.

It is a tough group. On some cruises, DD found herself hanging more with some 30 something singles she met at our dis-meet. DO go to your cruise thread to see if you can meet other young adult cruisers before stepping on board.

[westjones]

Originally Posted by Dizzyworld

Hopefully since most colleges are out for the summer there will be more people in that age group.

I know what you mean though, our DS is almost 19 and has bailed on our upcoming cruise becasue he doesn't see that there is much to do in his age group that he is interested in. His sister turns 18 next year and wanted what she was calling her last DCL cruise as a graduation gift/18th birthday gift (she would have turned 18 on the cruise). She too doesn't see anything that would interest her much either. I am still holding the reservation but I think we are about 20% of possibly going on a cruise together. We are looking into other options. Both said they will return to DCL when they have children which is at least 10 years from now.

I guess we will enjoy our last family cruise in a few weeks. Then it will just be DH and I.

We took our twin DDs on their last cruise for senior year this past March and they were both 18.

The 18-21 group did not work out for them at all. They loved the teen group....and well....they ended up meeting up with a bunch of teens outside of the Vibe and hung out with them the whole cruise. They even all hung out at CC together. But they both said there isn't much point to going back on the cruise again until they are older with husbands.

I'm sad. I had one booked and I did cancel it recently. They both think going to WDW would still be fun if they can bring a friend. We are DVC members, so I am looking at booked a 2 bedroom villa so they can each have a friend come along.

We are also consider Hilton Head, but right now we are leaning towards WDW. But no more cruises for awhile.

Maybe DH and I will go alone sometime, but I figure as long as they will still vacation with us I want to go on a family trip.

But I will say, that because my 18 year old high school seniors were able to find other high school kids to hang out with...they ended up having a wonderful cruise. But had they just hung out with the 18-21 group, it would not have been fun for them.

[modisneychick]

We went in May to celebrate DD's high school graduation. With the rule change, this was her first time in Club 21. However, she LOVED it! She said it was her best cruise ever (she has been on a cruise in every age group of the kids clubs). She loved dining in Palo, the adult cabaret shows and hanging with the Club 21 group. There were about 10 of them in her group. We are going to Alaska May 2013, and DD can't wait.

Definitely encourage him to go that first night to see if the group is a good fit. Enjoy!

[PrincessShmoo]

We took DS18 on our last MR cruise. This was just after they started cracking down on 18 year olds not being in Vibe. I will echo PP who said "go to the meeting the first night". Since that's when they discuss the sorts of things that they would like to do. This meeting is facilitated by a DCL CM, sort of the "club" contact with DCL. This CM is the one who will help set things up that need to be set up.

There were about 15 "kids" in the group for our cruise and they sort of divided up into 2 smaller groups that hung out. Now, that being said, the smaller group meet ups were not necessarily the same 6 or 7 kids every time, so the group pretty much mixed with everyone within the larger group.

They did the vegetable carving derby race. Most nights they would meet in Diversions and then move over to Wavebands for the adult show.

I'm guessing he enjoyed the group, since we pretty much only saw him at dinner, and with the group in Wavebands. They went swimming, had "group breakfast and lunches" at Triton's (set up by CM), saw movies, and just "hung out". He tended to return to our room most nights really late. Oh, and #1 rule was he could not go into ANYONE else's room - none, nada, whatsoever.

[BMICKEY]

Originally Posted by VAis4DISlovers

Hi all,
I'm in need of all the information you can give me on the college club. My brother has grown up crusing disney and has aged out of the teen club... he is heartbroken and says he doesn't want to go on our family trip this year because of it! He really loves the dedicated space the teens have, so he can just walk in and there are people his age always there. I know from my research all about the meetup the first night... but what ELSE is there? He's not a dancer- or a drinker (age and preference)- so what do you all do on the cruises? Is there some carrot I can dangle to get him excited again, or should we let him "mourn" in peace?

ACK! Say it isn't so! He must come! He just needs to be open minded. I'm sure there will be others close enough to his age to hang out with and find stuff to do!

[lakerz5]

I guess it does depend on the group, but my 19 year old had a blast with the college age kids. This was his 5th cruise and he'd aged right out of the teen area and still had a brother at 17 in the teen group.

Although it was July/August, the kids met up every night wherever the navigator stated and then ended up in a booth at the Tube (Fantasy) watching whatever was going on and then danced til closing, etc. He actually preferred this group to the teen group.

One day my husband and I were eating a buffet lunch in one of the themed restaurants and noticed a very small, maybe 4 college aged kids and a CM eating together and really having a nice time in such a small group and I encouraged my 19 year old to try that also.. that just bc the lunch group was small, they really were having some great conversation. The next time the lunch was held, my kid attended and enjoyed that as well.

I did notice also that there was a group every night at the Tube that seemed to be more mid 20's that just kind of joined in with the college aged kids and all danced together pretty late on some of the nights and they all seemed to get along... no one appeared to be too old or creepy. Just a bunch of happy teen to 20's enjoying the night and many of the girls in the college age group appeared to be right around 18.

We will be sailing again next summer and I have no qualms about my newly 18 year old son being a part of the group. He is a little nervous since there aren't activities all day long...like the teen group, but I reminded him that his brother was constantly walking around the ship, laying about in a lounge chair or hanging around his new-found friends. For us, it was really a great experience and at least for next summer DCL has our business

[disney1990]

Disney clubs aren't your typical clubs. Even if he doesn't drink, there is no reason he can't hang out in these with people his own age. He can nurse a soda, get a virgin drink etc. There is a lot of entertainment in the clubs that he will enjoy.

[DMMarla07860]

I went to the college club for 18-21 year olds when I was that age and always had a blast, it really depends on the group during the cruise, sometimes it was more outgoing then others on a few cruises the group would only meet at night in the night club and on other cruises we would do stuff during the day and night. On cruises when I have been over 21(I'm 24 now) the college groups have been pretty outgoing and were talkative so I hung with them in the club, and everyone seemed to have fun