Bed and "rest" times for young teens on cruise

[DocDCT]

A port intensive cruise may be quite exhausting for kids, with shore excursions in the morning and so many activities on board until late night.
This question in particular is about kids in their early teens, who can stay up late at night on their own but are still too young to let them totally free.
Do you give them earlier bedtimes when they have to get up early the next day? Do you ever "enforce" or at least suggest them some rest / nap time in the afternoon or before dinner?
(I'm posting here, but this question may actually apply to any cruise line, expecially the ones that do not have a curfew.)

 

[dreamer17555]

Nope but the rule is if they stay up until edge/ vibe closes I don’t want any complaints in the morning or the next day about waking up for excursions etc. It is a good age to try some natural consequences. If they stay up too late and they’re tired but they they can’t complain then it is just on them to deal with. They will survive and possibly learn from it overall.

 

[mjkpreno]

Nope but the rule is if they stay up until edge/ vibe closes I don’t want any complaints in the morning or the next day about waking up for excursions etc. It is a good age to try some natural consequences. If they stay up too late and they’re tired but they they can’t complain then it is just on them to deal with. They will survive and possibly learn from it overall.

We are the same with our teenager. She is a good kid, but as with most teens our "suggestions" to prevent being so tired the next day are rarely heard. So, we make it very clear that if we have plans and need to be up early, any complaining results in loss of phone/technology for a day. That happened one time (we had an early 5am flight on a trip about a year ago) and she decided instead of going to bed at a reasonable hour she'd just try to stay up (despite us having a bunch of plans the same day we arrived). Yea she was dragging by noon, wouldn't stop complaining. Lost her phone for the day. Now she goes to bed at like 8pm if we have an early day haha

 

[BamaGuy44]

Nope but the rule is if they stay up until edge/ vibe closes I don’t want any complaints in the morning or the next day about waking up for excursions etc. It is a good age to try some natural consequences. If they stay up too late and they’re tired but they they can’t complain then it is just on them to deal with. They will survive and possibly learn from it overall.

Our son is an adult now, but in the teen years this is exactly what we did. Stay up late if you want, but you will be up and ready to get off the ship for excursions, etc. And I don't want to hear any complaints about being tired. We definitely suggested he get to bed at a reasonable time, but you know how teenagers usually deal with suggestions from parents. Was never really a problem. He liked staying up late, and was willing to pay the price if we had an early morning. But he suffered in silence

For sea days or days we didn't have anything planned early, if he wanted to stay up late and sleep in, that was fine. Heck, I've been known to do that myself

 

[MomOTwins]

We don't enforce bedtimes because I understand part of the fun of vacation at that age is staying up late. But we do impose some rest & relaxation time each excursion day to give everyone a chance to recharge before dinner & evening activities. Usually either a movie or book reading in the cabin.

 

[insureman]

Back when I was in the Navy ( yeah I know ok boomer) I had a Division officer who had a great saying. If you're going to hoot with the Owls at night you better be able to soar with the Eagles in the morning. My 2 daughters never appreciated me saying that.

 

[DocDCT]

We don't enforce bedtimes because I understand part of the fun of vacation at that age is staying up late. But we do impose some rest & relaxation time each excursion day to give everyone a chance to recharge before dinner & evening activities. Usually either a movie or book reading in the cabin.

I agree that afternoon rest is good for teens because most of their fun happens at night and they need to recharge after the day. Of course many teens are more that willing to rest when they're tired and do not need any enforcement, but it is not always the case.
Some years ago I cruised with friends who had the same rules for their 14yo daughter: no bedtime, but if she looked tired after an excursion she had to rest in the room (she actually napped most of the times). Even if she always tried to avoid the mandatory rest with some excuses, one night at dinner she admitted that she felt much better after napping and this way she could handle the late nights pretty well.

 

[tvguy]

Depends what your schedule normally at home. On Disney my kids were 12 and 16. Bedtime was 1 am. We were West Coasters on an Eastern Caribbean cruise and we never really shifted time zones. We did everything together as a family. We had late seating for dinner, 830 pm which was 5:30 pm for our bodies. THAT was at least 90 minutes before our normal dinner time at home. And during the school year dinner time was rarely before 7 pm. My wife didn't even get off work until 6 pm (she worked 9 am to 6 pm) . and with the kids after school sports in the winter, practice usually went until 6:30 pm, and in May with Little League, games could easily go until 830 pm, and ended that EARLY because our fields didn't have lights. The neighboring league had lights, and their second game didn't even start until 8 pm, with a 10 pm curfew. I think the earliest excursion we had on Disney was 11 am, so even that day we could sleep until 9 am, have breakfast, and still have time to kill.
Again, it depends on what you are used to at home. We found almost nothing scheduled after 10 pm except on New Years Eve, so we just enjoyed the ship, and spend many a midnight on the top deck watching the ship pass islands. My first cruise, BEFORE kids, on another cruise line, the Night Club didn't even OPEN until 1:30 am!!!!!

 

[DocDCT]

Again, it depends on what you are used to at home. We found almost nothing scheduled after 10 pm except on New Years Eve, so we just enjoyed the ship, and spend many a midnight on the top deck watching the ship pass islands. My first cruise, BEFORE kids, on another cruise line, the Night Club didn't even OPEN until 1:30 am!!!!!

As you noted, it also depends on the schedule of the ship. On my last cruise this summer on MSC the activities of the teen club at night STARTED at 11.30 pm and after the teen club closed (way past midnight) the staff invited the kids to spend the rest of the night at the disco (MSC has no curfew and no age restrictions for the disco). And it was a European cruise with 8 ports in 10 days and most excursions starting before 9 am! It's not difficult to understand why in the afternoon many kids where sound asleep on the couches around the teen club! With this kind of schedule, I would definitely have enforced some naps if not a bedtime.

 

[DCLMP]

Never enforced bedtime, but we don't do a lot of early excursions. Young teens are difficulty. They need a lot of sleep and are moody. Older teens seem to be able to be able to adapt to sleep deprivation better.

 

[DCLMP]

As you noted, it also depends on the schedule of the ship. On my last cruise this summer on MSC the activities of the teen club at night STARTED at 11.30 pm and after the teen club closed (way past midnight) the staff invited the kids to spend the rest of the night at the disco (MSC has no curfew and no age restrictions for the disco). And it was a European cruise with 8 ports in 10 days and most excursions starting before 9 am! It's not difficult to understand why in the afternoon many kids where sound asleep on the couches around the teen club! With this kind of schedule, I would definitely have enforced some naps if not a bedtime.

I just got off the Magic in Europe the Vibe closed at midnight. It stayed open until 1am prior to a sea day. I thought that well planned by Disney.

 

[HeatherLassell]

Never enforced bedtime, but we don't do a lot of early excursions. Young teens are difficulty. They need a lot of sleep and are moody. Older teens seem to be able to be able to adapt to sleep deprivation better.

I'm clearly still a teen on the inside. I hate mornings and am moody if I don't get a lot of sleep! lol So my teen and I stay up late and sleep in.

 

[DCLMP]

I'm clearly still a teen on the inside. I hate mornings and am moody if I don't get a lot of sleep! lol So my teen and I stay up late and sleep in.

I'm an early to bed early to rise person. I like getting up having coffee and going for a run. It doesn't bother me at all if everyone else sleeps in especially at home. I have a nice quiet house all to myself in the morning

 

[Ready4NextCruise]

I did not enforce curfews for my tween and teen on my most recent cruise. I felt they were reasonable in the times they came back to the room, except the last night where I had to ask them to come back through the navigator app.

 

[HeatherLassell]

I'm an early to bed early to rise person. I like getting up having coffee and going for a run. It doesn't bother me at all if everyone else sleeps in especially at home. I have a nice quiet house all to myself in the morning

My bff cruises with me and she's a morning person. (How? lol) But, she nicely brings me back coffee to coax me out of bed! lol