Disney Cruise for teens boring?

[dpswift]

Disney has all kinds of activities to keep the kids busy. In 2004 we took our first cruise ever, a Disney cruise. All of the kids loved it. Disney has a way to keep everyone busy. The bigger ships have the Aquaduck.

Remember that just because RCI has all those activities they are not always open. My kids had a wonderful time however.

What ever you choose you will have fun. DS 11 wants to do a Disney cruise again.

 

[Magic3forme]

Our 15 yr old cried when we got off the Wonder this summer... she met so many friends and she loved all of her counselors at the Vibe.

our 13 yr loves the Edge.

We hardly see our girls during the trip...

and our 10 yr old son lives on the sports deck!!

 

[Mazz519]

First Disney cruise my older son then 14 was hesitant to go to the clubs by himself.. when he finally went to the club on nt 3 he had a great time.. needless to say he was there every nt for the remainder of the cruise until they closed.... we are cruising again in a few weeks and he saidhe will go rt from the start of the cruise and this time he can take his brother...who is now 14 himself.

 

[crafty91]

My question would be this, AFTER your kids get done standing in line for rock climbing, zip line, surf machine, etc what are they going to do then? That stuff is kinda neat for a little while but after that does ________ cruise line do anything else to keep kids/teens engaged or is the focus primarily adults and not necessarily families. My kids DD 11, DS 13 love all things DCL so in honesty they have not been on another cruise line but hey "if it ain't broke don't fix it!"

 

[alaskanabbott]

We have done 3 DCL cruises with teens ranging from 13 to 17. My teens LOVE DCL! In fact we are wanting to just do WDW this year and the teens are having none of it, so we're doing a land/ sea Even my super mature one month shy of 18 DS had a blast last cruise. I watched him on pirate night, decked out head to toe in pirate garb, on deck at the party dancing with some of the other Vibe teens and Goofy...and I realized that's one of the things I love about Disney, no matter how old you are it brings out the kid in you.

 

[Spiffy MacSpiff]

My kids are 11 and 14 too, will be 12 and 14 on our next cruise (in two weeks, whee!!). We're not over the top Disney fans -- we don't do character meets, never been to the parks and probably never will -- but we all love the DCL experience and have never sailed another line. When we started planning for our upcoming cruise DH and I suggested trying another line and the answer from both boys was a resounding NO. Our older DS loves having the freedom of the ship, is excited about being old enough to go to Vibe full-time if he wants to, and says that the girls on DCL are "normal, not all weird and stuff." Whatever that means. We hardly saw him on our last cruise. DS 11 likes making new friends but isn't as outgoing as his older brother, so he appreciates the social engineering that the counselors do sometimes. For both of them I think the DCL atmosphere outweighs the extra activities we'd have access to on a megaship.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Before we went on our first cruise, my kids (12 and 14) laughed at me for booking a Disney cruise. My son said that Disney would ruin it and ruin Star Wars, too. Well, we've been on 2 now and neither teen (now 14 and 16) has any desire to go on any other vacation. Okay, maybe, MAYBE WDW. They loved it and they both loved the Edge and Vibe. My normally shy son even made friends in the Edge.

My younger loved the Aquaduck, but to be fair, he'd probably enjoy the water slides on a RCCL cruise, too. My older loved the classic feel of the DCL ship and the only thing he ever mentions about RCCL is from a friend that went years ago and 'got to carry a cup around and fill it from those machines that have all kinds of soda for free'. Once he was on DCL and realized he didn't have to carry a cup around to get free soda, he never mentioned the RCCL soda package deal again.

They both want to go again and talk about it a lot, but, well, we needed a new car this year, so, you know, priorities. I'm still trying to 'cook the books' though, to make it happen.

 

[southerngirl528]

We did learn early - after a few bored stares and too much TV time to "require" they attend the "mixers" in their clubs. After that we barely saw them the rest of the cruise . They had a blast and made some terrific friends.

"require they attend the mixers"..... THIS! If your teens are not very outgoing, as a mom, I would require they attend the first evening's meet/mixer. It will change their world for the cruise! My 2 youngest are not nearly as gregarious as their older sibling, and they had never been on a cruise so they were excited about sailing the Magic (this was a long time ago! LOL The Magic was pretty new). And they had heartily said, "Sure!", to my requirement they attend the Teen mixer on the embarkation evening. BUT, once we were onboard, they got cold feet, making excuses, telling me they had each other, blah, blah, blah. I reminded them they had promised and that was a requisite for this cruise. They were NOT happy, but I personally accompanied them to the Meet/Greet, almost shoved them in the door to their protestations, and then yes, I stood outside the door a while to make sure they didn't make a run for it! After waiting a while, and no escapees, I left. Much later that evening, I see my two, (one of each gender, btw), and they were BOTH so excited about the new friends they had met and all the fun stuff there was for them to do! The remainder of the cruise they were off running around with the teen group activities much of the time, and BOTH met friends from around the country that they kept up with for a lot of years later. I think my DS may still stay in touch with a friend he met there.

All that to say this, you say your kids love WDW. So YES, YES. If my 2 tough nuts loved it and met tons of friends, I believe yours will too! I even signed mine up for a couple of teen excursions that happened during the cruise. One was the Wild Side on CC, and the other was a sailing out of St Maarten.

The best part of it for him is the clubs. He's been in the lab, Edge, and Vibe, and spends much of his time there or with kids from there. He has friends all over the world that he still communicates with. For him, the ship is nice and all of that, but the interaction with other kids on a floating resort is what he loves.

Don't you love that??

Our youngest DS last week made 100 bucks working with my Dad on a job and I said to him "What are you gonna do with it buddy" ..he replied " Save up for a Disney Cruise they make me happy"!

He is going to be 16 in a few weeks and guess what...he is getting a Disney Cruise...and I know he is going to be so ecstatic and its a gift the whole family gets to enjoy!

He is your normal football playing, xbox addicted, rambunctious teenage boy who happens to have a big ole soft spot for DCL.

As a mama, this story made me smile. He sounds like a wonderful young man.

 

[cruiser21]

I think it's better for teens then young kids. My kids were bored to death in this oceaneers lab and were begging to try different cruise lines. Now that they're teens they prefer Disney. If they didnt like the teens club I'm sure it would be different. If you don't think your kids will like the clubs I'd save your money and look elsewhere. Other cruiselines have more to offer outside of the clubs. Such as Rockwall, . Surfing, bumper cars, ice skating, rope courses. Shows that are more geared to adults and teens.
If they just want to socialize and play games with other teens. Disney does a good job of keeping them busy.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

At those ages & already being into Disney my boys enjoyed the Disney cruises. Once they aged-out as older teens the Moreno diverse activities on other lines held a lot of appeal. My boys have sailed Royal & NCL and had an amazing time on those cruises as well.

 

[Jenlynn3]

We just came the Fantasy for the second time in 6 years. My girls are almost 17&18 and they were kind of bored in the Vibe. They said the organized activities and games were kind of lame and smoothie hour wasn’t good. They did enjoy chill time, Aquaduck, mini golf , MDA and Chill Spa but they spent most of their time just wandering the ship. They are ready for the adult area except alcohol.

 

[Dug720]

We just came the Fantasy for the second time in 6 years. My girls are almost 17&18 and they were kind of bored in the Vibe. They said the organized activities and games were kind of lame and smoothie hour wasn’t good. They did enjoy chill time, Aquaduck, mini golf , MDA and Chill Spa but they spent most of their time just wandering the ship. They are ready for the adult area except alcohol.

Just make sure the next cruise is after the youngest is 100% 18 years old. Not "almost". They will card her and she will be asked to leave the adult areas when they se she is not an adult or claims she doesn't have her card.

 

[southerngirl528]

Just make sure the next cruise is after the youngest is 100% 18 years old. Not "almost". They will card her and she will be asked to leave the adult areas when they se she is not an adult or claims she doesn't have her card.

Good advice, Dug720. My teens would have been bored out of their minds to lay around the adult pool all day. They need more to do than that.

 

[Dug720]

Good advice, Dug720. My teens would have been bored out of their minds to lay around the adult pool all day. They need more to do than that.

I've seen them card young-looking girls before. One of them didn't have her card (or said she didn't) and the crew member who had approached them seemed to tell her that if she brought her card they were welcome to stay, but they ended up picking up their stuff and leaving - so I'm guessing she was not truly 18 because otherwise why not just run to the cabin and get it.

 

[Jenlynn3]

Just make sure the next cruise is after the youngest is 100% 18 years old. Not "almost". They will card her and she will be asked to leave the adult areas when they se she is not an adult or claims she doesn't have her card.

Around the first dinner seating time they sat in the Cove pool a few times, it was almost empty and sat in the Cove Cafe one time too. Nobody said anything. We plan on returning in May 2020 on the Dream so they can both experience all adult things.

 

[Dug720]

Around the first dinner seating time they sat in the Cove pool a few times, it was almost empty and sat in the Cove Cafe one time too. Nobody said anything. We plan on returning in May 2020 on the Dream so they can both experience all adult things.

They got lucky that they were not carded. I've seen it happen more than once.

 

[southerngirl528]

They got lucky that they were not carded. I've seen it happen more than once.

As it should happen. Adult areas are for... adults. Teen areas should not allow adults, or kids younger than the age requirements. I think Disney has done a nice job of their adult areas and KEEPING them adult. It's the reason DH and I prefer DCL. I have kids. Love 'em to bits. But I would have never allowed my underage teens to hang out in the adult areas. If they had tried and asked why, I would have asked how they would feel if I came and hung out with their teen friends? And we all know that would have gone over like a tootsie roll in a punch bowl!

 

[3monkeys4me]

For us, it would depend on which ship on Royal vs. Disney. Disney has the leg up on the older, smaller Royal ships for sure. However, the larger, newer ships? It is probably more personal preference. It has been a long time since my kids have been on a Disney cruise and we haven't been on a cruise in awhile in general but we are currently have a cruise on Royal in the spring and a Disney cruise with our extended family (shooting for early 2021) so I have been looking into both. I know there are quite a few things my kids, especially the older two are really looking forward to on the RCCL cruise (iFly, the escape room and bumper cars are a few that are mentioned frequently) and my foodie daughter can join us for the specialty restaurants which is a big deal for her. They really don't have anything they are looking forward to the same way on DCL (except cousins!) but I am sure they will still have an amazing trip.

 

[KashasMom]

We love Disney parks but once my daughter outgrew the princesses she did get a bit bored on Disney cruises. She doesn't go in the kids' clubs and would much prefer to spend time in the pools, where Disney falls flat (with one tiny pool). Our favorite ships are the RCI Oasis class ships. We've done the Oasis, Alllure, and are going on the Harmony in November. Those ships (and the Symphony) have all you mentioned plus Flow Rider, several pools, and on the Harmony and Symphony they have slides. My daughter (now 9) enjoys the shows as well. Disney cruises are tame in comparison. If your kids wouldn't enjoy the kids' clubs - and given their ages they would be in separate clubs - I'd consider that a big negative for a Disney cruise. Since you've asked this on a Disney forum, I'd suggest you ask the same on the RCI board on CruiseCritic.com so you can hear benefits/negatives from both sides.

 

[southerngirl528]

Since you've asked this on a Disney forum, I'd suggest you ask the same on the RCI board on Cruise Critic dot com so you can hear benefits/negatives from both sides.

Very smart suggestion!