ABD River cruises for 13 & 11 year old?

[ngl]

Our first trip to Europe with the kids was supposed to be last summer but of course that did not happen (we did have an amazing trip out West to various National Parks planned through Off the Beaten Path this summer, however!). Trying to stay positive that Europe will be fully in play summer 2022 and thinking of a ABD river cruise. We like active vacations and noticed the Rhine one had biking, ziplining, hiking, etc. Curious if anyone had experience with kids this age on the river cruise? We have done Disney cruises in Carib and Tauck Bridges tours so looking into this one. Any information on the itinerary, the ship, and anything else would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[lpm23]

We have done two so far- the Rhine and the Siene. Our girls were 11 and 9. We had a blast and it's very active. We preferred the Rhine over the Seine. The rooms are small- so definitely get two rooms. The Rhine has connecting rooms which is nice.

 

[sabrecmc]

We did the Rhine when my daughter was 13 and had a great trip! She really enjoyed it and wants to do it again, in fact. The ziplining was a big highlight. Lots of fun. We also did the indoor snow place, which again, was really fun, and the painting class in Amsterdam as well as visiting the little village and doing some crafts there. It was a good balance of seeing things and having activities that younger people enjoy.

She liked having the "teen" table at dinner. It actually ended up sort of split between two tables, one for older teens and one for younger teens and tweens. It was really nice having other kids on the trip. They spent a lot of time in the pool together and playing boardgames, that kind of thing. She also enjoyed the macaron making class. The guides were great with the kids. Your level of activity was really dependent on what you wanted to do. They also had trivia night, which was fun, and the guides gave talks some nights about their lives, which was surprisingly interesting. There was also a dance night with the spaghetti ice cream!

She did not like the organ concert, lol. That was pretty boring and a bit long for the kids, to be honest. She and some of the other kids were bummed that they were not allowed to use the jogging track to jog or the gym. Several were athletes trying to keep in shape over the summer and that was a bit of a disappiontment, though I understand wanting an age limit for those things.

It's very differet from a Disney cruise, and honestly, I'm more of a DCL person than I think a river cruise person, but I would definitely do it again.