Question fro Teens

[KathyT]

I am planning on taking my DD14 and DS15 on a cruise sometime next year. Most likely 3 night on the Wonder. Can any of you teens who have been on any of the cruises give me a little more info on the teen activities. What were they? Were they interesting? How was Common grounds? My DS is trying to decide if he wants to go or stay home with his dad. Any info would be helpful and appreciated.

 

[Arishi28]

Tell your son he should definetly go!! I'm a 14 yr old girl and the cruise was definetly the most fun i've ever had! I made great friends and was always busy with diff. teen stuff. Common grounds was really cool...and they always had different activities going on. You don't even really have to go to common grounds that much to have fun...if you've made friends you can go to the movies or just walk around the ship...it's a blast! There are also parties/dances every nite. Push your son to go...he'll regret not going!

 

[vgaskin]

Tell him that he better go because it is awsome. I am a 15 year old girl and when I went it was so amazing. Common grounds is a teens only club. parents or adults are not allowed to stay. we watch movies and play games with teams. we also get to stay out late and party. they do kareoke and shooting stars. Shooting Stars is where you have a team of about six depending on how big the whole group is . you take a cam corder around and make a video. When I went on this adventure my group decided to take the jenga blocks with the dares on them. then we asked people to pick one out of a hat and do the dare, and we got it on tape. it was hillarious! Also the best part was where we went on our own teen cruize. we get off the ship and go with our councelors on a "party boat" and play music talk and our boat even had two trampolines! !!hahaha. but ti was really cool cause you go at night . both kinds of cool!! I t will be as fun for the girl and the boy.

the best advice I can give you is to definatly go. I loved it so much, I'm going again in november. and this time for 7 days!!!

wendy

 

[vgaskin]

I had my daughter Wendy post that last one. It was a 3 day cruise and we never saw her. There was once we called down to Common Grounds around 11:30 and had her sent up to the room, she was back within about 3 minutes of me calling. She also loved the teen cruise around Nassau and she can't wait for the one around Cozumel. She rolled her eyes when we first mentioned a Disney cruise and she had a lot more fun than our 4 & 5 year olds. She was 14 when she went. They will let you go to Common Grounds the first night to answer questions. I don't know what cruise you are on but the Magic is going into drydock in Sept/Oct and they are supposed to make ESPN the teens club. I assume the Wonder will follow.

Tiffany

 

[KathyT]

Thanks everyone. I'll definitely show this to my son. I have the passporter for the cruise but it's nice to hear from other teens what they actually thought of the cruise themselves.
I marked off pages in the passporter and I'm also going to show him copies of the teen navigators to see if he's interested.

 

[vgaskin]

You can go to www.castawayclub.com and print out the teen navigators. If he would like a teen perspective,he can email Wendy at my email address(don't want to post her's publically) Mine is vgaskin@aol.com

Tiffany

 

[KathyT]

Thank you. I really appreciate your thoughtfulness. I will let both DS & DD know in case they have any questions.

 

[Allie in Wonderland]

Originally posted by Arishi28
Tell your son he should definetly go!! I'm a 14 yr old girl and the cruise was definetly the most fun i've ever had! I made great friends and was always busy with diff. teen stuff. Common grounds was really cool...and they always had different activities going on. You don't even really have to go to common grounds that much to have fun...if you've made friends you can go to the movies or just walk around the ship...it's a blast! There are also parties/dances every nite. Push your son to go...he'll regret not going!

 

[kcashner]

We've only done the 7 day with a teen, but she loved it. THe teen activities run from noon to 1-2am. The biggest difference between the teen program and the younger kids is that the teens can do the activities if they choose, or can just "hang out" with music videos, etc. Also, there is a list of activities that can be done at any time--they just have to ask the counsellor. DD says the counsellors are 20somethings who want to be teens.

She really had a great time....

Also, smoothies and cokes available (for $) in the teen area.

 

[SeaSpray]

Originally posted by kcashner
We've only done the 7 day with a teen, but she loved it. THe teen activities run from noon to 1-2am. The biggest difference between the teen program and the younger kids is that the teens can do the activities if they choose, or can just "hang out" with music videos, etc. Also, there is a list of activities that can be done at any time--they just have to ask the counsellor. DD says the counsellors are 20somethings who want to be teens.

She really had a great time....

Also, smoothies and cokes available (for $) in the teen area.

If the teens have a soda sticker, do they still have to pay for soda in the teen area?? Thanks.

 

[kcashner]

If they have a soda sticker, the soda is free at any bar, including the bar in the teen area. There's no alcohol at the teen area "bar."

Actually, purchases in the teen area show up on the KTTW card as having been made thru Pinocchio's! (on our smoothie). That one surprised me....don't know who gets the 15% automatic gratuity, as the teen counsellors actually fix the smoothies or get the sodas.

 

[SeaSpray]

Originally posted by kcashner
If they have a soda sticker, the soda is free at any bar, including the bar in the teen area. There's no alcohol at the teen area "bar."

Actually, purchases in the teen area show up on the KTTW card as having been made thru Pinocchio's! (on our smoothie). That one surprised me....don't know who gets the 15% automatic gratuity, as the teen counsellors actually fix the smoothies or get the sodas.

thanks!

 

[lwilliam]

The three day? Our "too cool 17 yr. old son" told us last evening, when we were discussing our summer, that last year's 3-day cruise was just too short - you developed good friendships and then the cruise was over. He has informed us that he does NOT want to join us for vacation EXCEPT if it is a Disney cruise.
Have no fear - your teenagers will have a GREAT time. I can't tell you anything about the activities because he never spent time with us, except I insisted on dinner, but I know by his comments he loved Common Grounds.

 

[JenniferIsBored]

I went on a 4 day Wonder cruise in 2002 when I was 16. Had a great time, never once went to the teen club. There's a ton of things to do on the ship without joining the group. Granted, I was there with a large group of people, but honestly, spending time with people I dont know isnt a very attractive option to me, and I found lots of things to do on the ship. I did try to join a teen glow-in-the-dark volleyball game, but it ended up being very unorganized and windy.

The cruises are great, whether you join in the group activities or not