Cruising with Tweens?

[Angeliki19]

Hi! We are in the process of booking our second DCL trip (May 8, 2023 on the Wish). The last time we cruised our kids were younger... this time they will be 11 and 13 and I have a few questions:

1) Which dinner seating is better? We did Main before, but I am leaning towards Late this time, because I remember feeling really rushed to wrap up our daytime activities to get showered for dinner. But I wasn't sure if some of the after-dinner activities (besides the shows) would be done then. Not sure if our family would like those anyway... are any particularly great for tweens?

2) I am so sad that my oldest will be too big for the Oceaneer club. I wish they didn't cut it off so young... so many of those activities she would still enjoy at 13! But anyway, do tweens really enjoy their dedicated spaces? I looked at some of the stuff about Edge but I didn't see anything too specific. Looks like a cool space to "hang", but wasn't sure if my kids would get bored in there. Did anyone's kids LOVE the tween club?

3) We did not get off the ship in Nassau last time and I am on the fence about this time. It's just a 4 day cruise and I want to make sure we see everything on the Wish. However, are there any must-do experiences in Nassau that would be great for this age?

4) This time, DH and I want to take advantage of more of the adults-only offerings. From what I remember from the last cruise, and from knowing my kids, I would feel comfortable with them being on their own on the ship at different times. Does anyone have any advice or tips on that? Last time they never wanted to leave the kids club, but this time I am not sure if they will just want to stay in one place. They might want to just be free to "roam" and do things as they want. Does that seem reasonable at 11 and 13? Will we be able to contact each other on the ship via those phone things?

Thanks!!! So excited to be back with DCL!

 

[HeatherLassell]

Yay silver cruisers!

My family always prefers late. I've cruised with tweens and they liked it too. Sometimes they still didn't want to leave the kids clubs and ate pizza there instead of coming to supper. lol

I'd have to say my kids didn't care for the tween club. Not the answer you were looking for but it's the honest one from their reviews. They did enjoy some of the activities but what they didn't like was if there was an organized activity happening in the club they HAD to participate or leave. They weren't allowed to just hang out or play video games, etc. So my middle son just spent all his time in the pool, aqua duck and eating ice-cream. (He weighed himself before the cruise and after and his goal was to gain weight from eating as much ice-cream as possible...oh to be young again lol). My daughter made a little group of friends and they entertained themselves. I'm hoping our next cruise will be better since she will now be in the Teen club.

You could look into the Pirate Museum in Nassau. I've heard it's a fun little trip and it's quite close to the port. I enjoy walking around and shopping in Nassau. It's just a little overwhelming the amount of locals shouting and trying to get you to take tours/taxis etc when you first leave the port. (Which is why many people stay on the ship I think). BUT, I have gotten off on all my trips, I simply say NO THANKS nicely and keep walking. I've never had an issue. Once you get a block away from the port it's all good.

Total reasonable at that age. Just make rules. My kids had rules that they were NOT allowed to walk around in the hallways on decks with staterooms. They could go anywhere else but had to stay together. They knew what to do if someone happened to approach them (if they were scared.) Definitely do some of the adults stuff! The gameshows are so fun. If they both have an old phone that has wifi capabilities they could easily message each other with the DCL app! It doesn't need data, you just connect to the ship. (IT's the only thing that's free to use without paying for a wifi package).

 

[tvguy]

Regarding #1. We prefer late seating so we aren't rushed getting to dinner, or at dinner. Our kids were 12 and 16 on our DCL cruise. The interaction with the servers was great, they did magic tricks for the kids, and as my 16 year old was into magic, he returned the favor. We had a crowd of servers and other guests around our table every night after dinner watching the "show". Rarely out of the dining room before 10:30 pm

Regarding #3 Nassau, been nearly 40 years since I was there, long before kids, don't remember what we did and none of the excursions offered now look familiar.

Regarding #2 and 4, can't help you. Our cruises were structured to be a time to spend 24 hours a day 7 days a week with our kids, so no kids clubs or adult only activities. Lord, between school, work, after school sports, homework, our quality time with our kids was always on a cruise.

 

[Sarahslay]

Mine will be 11 & 14 (like, by barely a week 14, her birthday is the tuesday before we leave) and have decided to go to Edge together. My youngest has no desire to go to Oceaneers club without her sister, and her older sister has no desire to go to Edge alone either, so thankfully they're both old enough to go hang there. I have a feeling we actually won't see much of them aside from dining on sea days. We've chosen second seating because we feel it's more relaxed and we can enjoy our day more, especially when it comes to stuff like CC where we don't want to have to rush back on the boat to be ready for dinner. It's a late night, but we sleep in usually, so it works out.

We don't enjoy Nassau, which is one reason we booked a Fantasy cruise for this trip. Our last two cancelled trips were both on the Dream and we had decided we would just stay on the ship, I don't mind it but it stresses my kids out, especially the youngest (but she generally hates lots of traffic and yelling) so I can't help you much there.

 

[anjuan]

See my responses below.

1) Which dinner seating is better? We did Main before, but I am leaning towards Late this time, because I remember feeling really rushed to wrap up our daytime activities to get showered for dinner. But I wasn't sure if some of the after-dinner activities (besides the shows) would be done then. Not sure if our family would like those anyway... are any particularly great for tweens?
I think either is fine for tweens. My daughter found it was mixed regarding what kids had which dinner service.

2) I am so sad that my oldest will be too big for the Oceaneer club. I wish they didn't cut it off so young... so many of those activities she would still enjoy at 13! But anyway, do tweens really enjoy their dedicated spaces? I looked at some of the stuff about Edge but I didn't see anything too specific. Looks like a cool space to "hang", but wasn't sure if my kids would get bored in there. Did anyone's kids LOVE the tween club?

My daughter didn't enjoy the clubs until she was a tween. Then she loved them and has made many friends from different states! My biggest piece of advice is to have them go to the club the first night when there are meetup activities. That's when they'll start making friends. It's true that she didn't always spend a lot of time actually in the clubs, but it was more a place to meet up and do other things. She never told me that she was required to participate in activities when she was there.

3) We did not get off the ship in Nassau last time and I am on the fence about this time. It's just a 4 day cruise and I want to make sure we see everything on the Wish. However, are there any must-do experiences in Nassau that would be great for this age?

We're going to be on the Wish in August and we're planning on skipping Nassau to enjoy the ship.

4) This time, DH and I want to take advantage of more of the adults-only offerings. From what I remember from the last cruise, and from knowing my kids, I would feel comfortable with them being on their own on the ship at different times. Does anyone have any advice or tips on that? Last time they never wanted to leave the kids club, but this time I am not sure if they will just want to stay in one place. They might want to just be free to "roam" and do things as they want. Does that seem reasonable at 11 and 13? Will we be able to contact each other on the ship via those phone things?

The DCL app is ok for contacting each other but there have been times for us that my daughter didn't get a message until later when she actually opened the app.

 

[lklgoodman]

My dd always liked the Oceaneer's club(went there on 4 cruises). Our Jan 2020 cruise was the first time she was old enough to go to Edge. She didn't care for it. Nearly every time she went to do the activity that was listed, it was canceled(even when there were kids who wanted to do it). She said it was mostly just kids playing video games while other kids stood around watching. After awhile she stopped going and hung around with us. We have another cruise in March. She's hoping it's better this time.

 

[JWG]

1) This is personal preference. It can be hard for kids to wait to eat until 8:00 or 8:30 - or they snack and aren't hungry for the seating. I don't believe one is better or not for tweens, the activities go over and through both seatings. The biggest complaint I've heard about the late seating is going to bed having "just" eaten. The ship is pretty quiet / dead come 10pm, so it can feel like you're eating only to go to sleep. I do agree the early seating can make you feel rushed though. It's really personal preference. We've done both and could argue both.

2) Know that the tween club (Edge) does programming that DOES go into the Oceaneer Lab. Many of the same formal activities are offered specifically for this group to do with their age group. It doesn't solve for wanting to run freely around the Oceaneer Club, but the cooking, drawing, etc. courses can still be done. Our daughter really enjoyed Edge because she could come or go as she pleased, she could choose specific activities to do there or at Oceaneer Lab through Edge. Though, she never liked us forcing her into Oceaneer Club when we wanted a Palo meal or time at the bar when she was younger. It was the right mix of "freedom" and "supervised". And they get to do some activities the Oceaneer Club kids don't around the ship. All Edge activities are supervised and it's not just a "hang out" like Vibe.

3) We've not gotten off at Nassau since our firs cruise as we didn't have a great experience. I'd say only do it if there's a planned excursion of interest. Lots do the beaches at Atlantis which confuses me since Castaway is part of the itinerary. We're scheduled to do a B2B this coming December, so with two stops a Nassau may give it a whirl again since we can stay onboard for the 2nd. There is something nice about fewer people onboard to enjoy the ship (though I think people staying onboard at Nassau is becoming more the norm and will likely be especially true on shorter cruises aboard a new ship. Many cruisers will have been to Nassau multiple times with this being their first time to explore the Wish.

4) We cruised when our daughter was 10 turning 11. We petitioned (too late in the cruise, wish we would have done it right away) for her to get into Edge since she didn't like the kids club. We let her roam the ship knowing 1) Edge activities are supervised and 2) she had an iPod on the ship WiFi and could message us to tell us where she was. We were more open to letting her do this knowing the ship is controlled access, no one could run off with her and she couldn't wonder off too far. She had to check-in with us on scheduled occasions either live or virtual if she was at an activity. She even met and hung out with another girl from Louisiana she met at Edge. On our last cruise she was 12 turning 13 and we let her roam completely free. By this point she had her own cell phone (two working parents no home land line) and the Navigator App was notably improved so it was easy to keep in touch. She had to check-in as on the previous cruise and had to do specific things with us (breakfast, dinner, Castaway, etc.). This comes down to the independence and maturity of your children, but we didn't have any concerns. We have a rule follower who was hesitant to even come see is live if we were in an adult only area for fear of breaking the rule, so we knew she wouldn't get into trouble. Probably had more ice cream and pizza than we'd like but otherwise...

On our next cruise our DD will be 16, so we fully expect she'll want to hang out at Vibe or go do teen focused activities around the ship on her own terms. We'll probably have to be ok with just forcing excursions and dinner on her as a group activity. I don't think I can force her up for breakfast anymore (in that small space, probably don't want to ).

We have an only, so she's always been pretty independent and "old" for her age as a result. She tends to engage with adults better than her own peer group.

 

[anricat]

My 13 year old daughter has been in Edge the last two cruises and she is so much happier there. She really didn't like the younger clubs once she got to about 10 years old. She complained about being in with tiny kids and feeling like the activities were really geared so much younger. It's funny because she otherwise will hang out with lots of kids of different ages. She goes to a private school with mixed age groups that play together so I'm not sure why it was such an issue on the cruise. And she's a gymnast on a team with a variety of ages. One of her close friends at gym is 10. I think it was the activities she didn't like. And the mayhem. She doesn't do well with lots of noise and chaos (has some sensory issues - movies are a problem, for example). She finds the tween club to much more chill. She does enjoy the activities there better, but she also was really happy to go and meet some other kids her age she could hang out with at the pool or go get a snack with, etc.

Make sure your kiddo goes on the very first day. They do meet and greet type activities on that day and it really can set the tone for the week. It may have been the cruises we were on, but my daughter said that they were asked about the kinds of activities they wanted in Edge, which she really liked. Sometimes it is just chill out and play games or color or whatever, but my daughter overall just really prefers the lower key vibe there.

In terms of being about the ship on their own, my daughter has had this privilege since she was able to check herself out. She has either a waist pouch or a cross body bag and the rule is that anytime she moves to a different space she has to send us a message through the app and let us know where she's going and with whom. We've not had an issue with this. Early days her only options were kids club or stateroom. If she checked herself out, she had to go straight to the room and let us know. Now we give her a little more freedom, but she still has to tell us where she is and who she's with. Mostly she's either in Edge, the stateroom, or getting a snack, or doing an activity (trivia, crafts, Who Wants to Be a Mouseketeer, etc.) She's also not allowed to go into another person's stateroom. So if she has a new friend on the ship, that person may not be in our room and she is not able to be in their room. This is just for safety reasons. We really don't know these other families and I would hope they have integrity but dang, you just don't know these days.

 

[HeatherLassell]

The DCL app is ok for contacting each other but there have been times for us that my daughter didn't get a message until later when she actually opened the app.

Oh yeah I forgot about that. I literally NEVER got notifications that I had a message. So I had to continually open the app to check if I had any.

 

[semperwdw]

On Magic in 2019, my 12 year old son really enjoyed Edge, he was in there as much as possible. He really liked the video games and other competitions- bingo, scavenger hunts, sports deck activities. He didn’t know anyone going in, but made friends in Edge during the cruise. Agree that going the first evening for icebreakers is good idea

 

[ChicosWife]

Hi! We are in the process of booking our second DCL trip (May 8, 2023 on the Wish). The last time we cruised our kids were younger... this time they will be 11 and 13 and I have a few questions:

1) Which dinner seating is better? We did Main before, but I am leaning towards Late this time, because I remember feeling really rushed to wrap up our daytime activities to get showered for dinner. But I wasn't sure if some of the after-dinner activities (besides the shows) would be done then. Not sure if our family would like those anyway... are any particularly great for tweens?

2) I am so sad that my oldest will be too big for the Oceaneer club. I wish they didn't cut it off so young... so many of those activities she would still enjoy at 13! But anyway, do tweens really enjoy their dedicated spaces? I looked at some of the stuff about Edge but I didn't see anything too specific. Looks like a cool space to "hang", but wasn't sure if my kids would get bored in there. Did anyone's kids LOVE the tween club?

3) We did not get off the ship in Nassau last time and I am on the fence about this time. It's just a 4 day cruise and I want to make sure we see everything on the Wish. However, are there any must-do experiences in Nassau that would be great for this age?

4) This time, DH and I want to take advantage of more of the adults-only offerings. From what I remember from the last cruise, and from knowing my kids, I would feel comfortable with them being on their own on the ship at different times. Does anyone have any advice or tips on that? Last time they never wanted to leave the kids club, but this time I am not sure if they will just want to stay in one place. They might want to just be free to "roam" and do things as they want. Does that seem reasonable at 11 and 13? Will we be able to contact each other on the ship via those phone things?

Thanks!!! So excited to be back with DCL!

1) We have a teen and a tween and we prefer the late dining. It works better for us for the same reason you mentioned. We don't want to feel rushed, especially after spending the day at the port and having to rush back to get ready for dinner. The late dining allows us to get back to our stateroom and rest with plenty of time to get ready for dinner.

2) Both of my kids have been in Edge and LOVED it! It was like pulling teeth to get them to leave! They enjoy the activities and hanging out with new-found friends.

3) We enjoyed Atlantis. It was a nice place to relax by the beach with free stuff to do and see around the resort.

4) At Edge, they will have the ability to come and go as they please. I felt a little uneasy at first, but our kids never left by themselves and had a lot of fun roaming the ship. Plus, they have the bands on so Disney can actually track them, if an emergency comes up.

 

[anricat]

Plus, they have the bands on so Disney can actually track them, if an emergency comes up.

Younger kids get bands when registered for the oceaneer club/lab, but there are no bands for the tween/teen club. It's just a sticker on their KTTW card.

 

[ChicosWife]

Younger kids get bands when registered for the oceaneer club/lab, but there are no bands for the tween/teen club. It's just a sticker on their KTTW card.

That's right! My mistake.

 

[TreeFalls]

My 11yo spent all his spare time in Edge when we went last month- I really think it depends on the personality of the kid, he likes games and competition, and generally is happy to join in whatever activity. Plus, they have video games there, and we don't have any at home, so that's a huge draw. He did go to Oceaneer's with his siblings once, and he enjoyed that too, but he preferred Edge. He even liked the tween/teen area on Castaway, which looked rather dull to me.

 

[mmbrad02]

I'm happy to see this thread, our last cruise was October 2019 when DD was days shy of 9. She didn't care much for Oceaneers overall, but didn't complain if we sent her there (we did once to go see a movie, otherwise I think it was only at her decision). We took her there the first day and the place looked cool, but was complete chaos! She went to Pluto's PJ party and a cookie making class but she thought the cookie thing was lame cause she could already tell at her age that it wasn't *your* cookie they brought back, but rather a premade one. I think she also enjoyed the other happenings on the ship too, so that made it hard to pull away for the club (character meet and greets, the slides, the shows, Castaway, etc)
However we are currently scheduled for the Wish in late July and DD is now 11, pushing 12. I wasn't sure what she would thing of the tween club, and DH and I celebrate our 20th anniversary on this cruise so I won't lie - I was hoping she would find it interesting enough to go occasionally!

 

[miguelgar83]

I'd have to say my kids didn't care for the tween club. Not the answer you were looking for but it's the honest one from their reviews.

That's useful information to know. I've got a soon to be 12 year old so that helps.

 

[HeatherLassell]

That's useful information to know. I've got a soon to be 12 year old so that helps.

Definitely have him go the first night as was suggested above. That's when they do icebreakers and make friends. Who knows, maybe he'll like it!

 

[Angeliki19]

Yay silver cruisers!

My family always prefers late. I've cruised with tweens and they liked it too. Sometimes they still didn't want to leave the kids clubs and ate pizza there instead of coming to supper. lol

I'd have to say my kids didn't care for the tween club. Not the answer you were looking for but it's the honest one from their reviews. They did enjoy some of the activities but what they didn't like was if there was an organized activity happening in the club they HAD to participate or leave. They weren't allowed to just hang out or play video games, etc. So my middle son just spent all his time in the pool, aqua duck and eating ice-cream. (He weighed himself before the cruise and after and his goal was to gain weight from eating as much ice-cream as possible...oh to be young again lol). My daughter made a little group of friends and they entertained themselves. I'm hoping our next cruise will be better since she will now be in the Teen club.

You could look into the Pirate Museum in Nassau. I've heard it's a fun little trip and it's quite close to the port. I enjoy walking around and shopping in Nassau. It's just a little overwhelming the amount of locals shouting and trying to get you to take tours/taxis etc when you first leave the port. (Which is why many people stay on the ship I think). BUT, I have gotten off on all my trips, I simply say NO THANKS nicely and keep walking. I've never had an issue. Once you get a block away from the port it's all good.

Total reasonable at that age. Just make rules. My kids had rules that they were NOT allowed to walk around in the hallways on decks with staterooms. They could go anywhere else but had to stay together. They knew what to do if someone happened to approach them (if they were scared.) Definitely do some of the adults stuff! The gameshows are so fun. If they both have an old phone that has wifi capabilities they could easily message each other with the DCL app! It doesn't need data, you just connect to the ship. (IT's the only thing that's free to use without paying for a wifi package).

Thank you so much for the honest answer!! I can definitely see we are getting to the age where they don't want to be forced into activities. It's good to know so I can prepare them. And thank you for the info about texting and Wifi! I assumed we would have to buy a package but that's good to know. The older one has a phone so I'll have her bring it and just say that they have to stay together.

 

[Angeliki19]

See my responses below.

1) Which dinner seating is better? We did Main before, but I am leaning towards Late this time, because I remember feeling really rushed to wrap up our daytime activities to get showered for dinner. But I wasn't sure if some of the after-dinner activities (besides the shows) would be done then. Not sure if our family would like those anyway... are any particularly great for tweens?
I think either is fine for tweens. My daughter found it was mixed regarding what kids had which dinner service.

2) I am so sad that my oldest will be too big for the Oceaneer club. I wish they didn't cut it off so young... so many of those activities she would still enjoy at 13! But anyway, do tweens really enjoy their dedicated spaces? I looked at some of the stuff about Edge but I didn't see anything too specific. Looks like a cool space to "hang", but wasn't sure if my kids would get bored in there. Did anyone's kids LOVE the tween club?

My daughter didn't enjoy the clubs until she was a tween. Then she loved them and has made many friends from different states! My biggest piece of advice is to have them go to the club the first night when there are meetup activities. That's when they'll start making friends. It's true that she didn't always spend a lot of time actually in the clubs, but it was more a place to meet up and do other things. She never told me that she was required to participate in activities when she was there.

3) We did not get off the ship in Nassau last time and I am on the fence about this time. It's just a 4 day cruise and I want to make sure we see everything on the Wish. However, are there any must-do experiences in Nassau that would be great for this age?

We're going to be on the Wish in August and we're planning on skipping Nassau to enjoy the ship.

4) This time, DH and I want to take advantage of more of the adults-only offerings. From what I remember from the last cruise, and from knowing my kids, I would feel comfortable with them being on their own on the ship at different times. Does anyone have any advice or tips on that? Last time they never wanted to leave the kids club, but this time I am not sure if they will just want to stay in one place. They might want to just be free to "roam" and do things as they want. Does that seem reasonable at 11 and 13? Will we be able to contact each other on the ship via those phone things?

The DCL app is ok for contacting each other but there have been times for us that my daughter didn't get a message until later when she actually opened the app.

Thank you! That's so great to hear your kids made friends. I am hoping that happens with mine too... they are both super social and can get sick of hanging out with just each other so making other friends would be great! Hope you guys have a great time in August!

 

[Angeliki19]

1) This is personal preference. It can be hard for kids to wait to eat until 8:00 or 8:30 - or they snack and aren't hungry for the seating. I don't believe one is better or not for tweens, the activities go over and through both seatings. The biggest complaint I've heard about the late seating is going to bed having "just" eaten. The ship is pretty quiet / dead come 10pm, so it can feel like you're eating only to go to sleep. I do agree the early seating can make you feel rushed though. It's really personal preference. We've done both and could argue both.

2) Know that the tween club (Edge) does programming that DOES go into the Oceaneer Lab. Many of the same formal activities are offered specifically for this group to do with their age group. It doesn't solve for wanting to run freely around the Oceaneer Club, but the cooking, drawing, etc. courses can still be done. Our daughter really enjoyed Edge because she could come or go as she pleased, she could choose specific activities to do there or at Oceaneer Lab through Edge. Though, she never liked us forcing her into Oceaneer Club when we wanted a Palo meal or time at the bar when she was younger. It was the right mix of "freedom" and "supervised". And they get to do some activities the Oceaneer Club kids don't around the ship. All Edge activities are supervised and it's not just a "hang out" like Vibe.

3) We've not gotten off at Nassau since our firs cruise as we didn't have a great experience. I'd say only do it if there's a planned excursion of interest. Lots do the beaches at Atlantis which confuses me since Castaway is part of the itinerary. We're scheduled to do a B2B this coming December, so with two stops a Nassau may give it a whirl again since we can stay onboard for the 2nd. There is something nice about fewer people onboard to enjoy the ship (though I think people staying onboard at Nassau is becoming more the norm and will likely be especially true on shorter cruises aboard a new ship. Many cruisers will have been to Nassau multiple times with this being their first time to explore the Wish.

4) We cruised when our daughter was 10 turning 11. We petitioned (too late in the cruise, wish we would have done it right away) for her to get into Edge since she didn't like the kids club. We let her roam the ship knowing 1) Edge activities are supervised and 2) she had an iPod on the ship WiFi and could message us to tell us where she was. We were more open to letting her do this knowing the ship is controlled access, no one could run off with her and she couldn't wonder off too far. She had to check-in with us on scheduled occasions either live or virtual if she was at an activity. She even met and hung out with another girl from Louisiana she met at Edge. On our last cruise she was 12 turning 13 and we let her roam completely free. By this point she had her own cell phone (two working parents no home land line) and the Navigator App was notably improved so it was easy to keep in touch. She had to check-in as on the previous cruise and had to do specific things with us (breakfast, dinner, Castaway, etc.). This comes down to the independence and maturity of your children, but we didn't have any concerns. We have a rule follower who was hesitant to even come see is live if we were in an adult only area for fear of breaking the rule, so we knew she wouldn't get into trouble. Probably had more ice cream and pizza than we'd like but otherwise...

On our next cruise our DD will be 16, so we fully expect she'll want to hang out at Vibe or go do teen focused activities around the ship on her own terms. We'll probably have to be ok with just forcing excursions and dinner on her as a group activity. I don't think I can force her up for breakfast anymore (in that small space, probably don't want to ).

We have an only, so she's always been pretty independent and "old" for her age as a result. She tends to engage with adults better than her own peer group.

Thank you for clarifying that the Edge does have programmed activities! I was assuming it was just a hang-out spot. That's great... I think my kids will enjoy it and getting to know other kids as well. I'm also thinking that maybe I should make some "rules" about times they have to hang out with us in advance. On the last cruise, my DD begged one night to stay in the kids club instead of coming to the Beauty and the Beast show with me and it made me sad, but I let her. It might be good to think of a few "must do" things as a family that are non-negotiable. It's so funny how much kids love these kids clubs... I always tell my friends if you want to have a vacation FROM your kids go on a Disney Cruise! Ha!