HS friends DCL trip - but they are <18

[DisneYE]

My DD17 is thinking about organizing a short 3-night DCL trip as a graduation gift with some friends, for May of this year.
I know DCL is extremely safe and very good with kids/teens, so I'm 100% fine with my DD cruising with friends, she's close to 18 anyway and is very responsible.

3-4 friends, all in the same SR... three will still be 17 by the time they sail in May and a possible 4th who will be 18.
Can (3) 17yo's sail DCL? (my guess is not)
If it's No, and If the 18yo friend goes with them, will the 18yo qualify as an adult accompanying minors?
If the A is Yes, will the 17yo's require consent letters or other documents from parents?

 

[lanejudy]

No. DCL requires someone 21+ to be booked into a stateroom with a minor. Those age 18-20 can be booked into a room together, but cannot be booked at the adult in a stateroom with under 18's unless the minor(s) is a child(ren) of the 18-20. I hope that made sense.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

My DD17 is thinking about organizing a short 3-night DCL trip as a graduation gift with some friends, for May of this year.
I know DCL is extremely safe and very good with kids/teens, so I'm 100% fine with my DD cruising with friends, she's close to 18 anyway and is very responsible.

3-4 friends, all in the same SR... three will still be 17 by the time they sail in May and a possible 4th who will be 18.
Can (3) 17yo's sail DCL? (my guess is not)
If it's No, and If the 18yo friend goes with them, will the 18yo qualify as an adult accompanying minors?
If the A is Yes, will the 17yo's require consent letters or other documents from parents?

I believe to be the "adult accompanying minors" (unrelated) they have to be 21. I doubt that the 17 year olds would be able to book a cruise without a parent or guardian (maybe other adult relative).

I found this online:

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Minors under the age of 18 not traveling with a parent or legal guardian must be accompanied by an adult 21 years of age or older in the same stateroom. The parent or guardian of any minor not traveling with a parent or guardian must appoint an adult to have custody and control over the minor and to contract on their behalf in connection with the Disney Cruise Line vacation. A minor authorization form can be obtained by visiting disneycruise.com and selecting "My Disney Cruise" or is sent when a document package is mailed. The form must be signed by a parent or legal guardian prior to embarkation at the Disney Cruise Line Terminal. After 9:00 p.m., adult entertainment districts are restricted to Guests 18 years and older.

 

[Geomom]

If you find someone 21or older to travel with them, here is the link for the authorization form for under the 18s: https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/faq/kids-teens/minor-authorization-form/

Do they all turn 18 in the summer? Would it be possible to wait until then?

 

[DisneYE]

No. DCL requires someone 21+ to be booked into a stateroom with a minor. Those age 18-20 can be booked into a room together, but cannot be booked at the adult in a stateroom with under 18's unless the minor(s) is a child(ren) of the 18-20. I hope that made sense.

So if an adult (21+) books their own SR, can the <18 stay in a separate room?
Since in this scenario they simply won't be able to cruise by themselves, we'd go with them.
But we'd have our separate SR (obviously) and the 3 or 4 17-18yo's will be in another SR (so we'd be booking 2 SR's)
I'm guessing it's OK? since I've seen parents of large families booking separate SR's for their kids.
So in this case, it would be our kid + her 2 or 3 friends in the other SR.
Not familiar with the mechanics as we've always been 3 in the same SR.

Also, a long time ago I remember reading a post of a very young *married* couple (young meaning less than 21-they were 18 or 19 iirc) asking about quiet cove and such. it was quite controversial bc several ppl commented (most in a positive way) about how young they were for being married. Wish I could find the thread, it was quite interesting.

Thanks for the help.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

So if an adult (21+) books their own SR, can the <18 stay in a separate room?
Since in this scenario they simply won't be able to cruise by themselves, we'd go with them.
But we'd have our separate SR (obviously) and the 3 or 4 17-18yo's will be in another SR (so we'd be booking 2 SR's)
I'm guessing it's OK? since I've seen parents of large families booking separate SR's for their kids.
So in this case, it would be our kid + her 2 or 3 friends in the other SR.
Not familiar with the mechanics as we've always been 3 in the same SR.

Also, a long time ago I remember reading a post of a very young *married* couple (young meaning less than 21-they were 18 or 19 iirc) asking about quiet cove and such. it was quite controversial bc several ppl commented (most in a positive way) about how young they were for being married. Wish I could find the thread, it was quite interesting.

Thanks for the help.

Quoting from the info I posted:

"must be accompanied by an adult 21 years of age or older in the same stateroom."

 

[DisneYE]

If you find someone 21or older to travel with them, here is the link for the authorization form for under the 18s: https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/faq/kids-teens/minor-authorization-form/

Do they all turn 18 in the summer? Would it be possible to wait until then?

All I know is our DD will be 17 in May, and one other kid who just turned 17 in Nov.
By the time HS is over (late May) most kids start doing their own thing, especially related to their upcoming transition into college or jobs.

 

[lilsonicfan]

Assuming it's permissible to travel with these minors who aren't your children, I think you'd have to book the staterooms in such a way as to have one adult (over 21) in each room and spread the kids out. We are a family of 5 and we usually book two staterooms; I have to be named on one and DH on the other.

 

[DisneYE]

Quoting from the info I posted:

"must be accompanied by an adult 21 years of age or older in the same stateroom."

Interesting. Didn't know this at all.
So large families that have lots of kids and book 2 SR's, there's always a 21+ staying with them?
Say a family with 4 teenagers, ranging from 14-19, and they book a 2nd SR for them...does one of the parents need to stay in the same SR as them?

 

[auntlynne]

 

[DisneYE]

They book the rooms with one adult in each room, then sleep in whichever combination works for them. Seems to be common practice. You can get “spare” room keys to let you into your sleeping space.

Is what I thought
So what PrincessShmoo linked to, namely DCL saying "must be accompanied by an adult 21 years of age or older in the same stateroom.".... is a technicality. In practice other configurations are made.

 

[RedHead0186]

Is what I thought
So what PrincessShmoo linked to, namely DCL saying "must be accompanied by an adult 21 years of age or older in the same stateroom.".... is a technicality. In practice other configurations are made.

Yes. I take that to mean 'on paper,' each stateroom with minors staying in it must have an adult over 21 also in that stateroom. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that will be the configuration for which rooms people sleep/unpack in.

 

[lilsonicfan]

I'm sure DCL or any cruise line could use that wording in the event of any difficulties; e.g. someone reports excessive noise coming from a stateroom and they look into it and only the teens are in there. But I think in a general sense, no one really cares who sleeps where.

With our family we usually book connecting rooms, one for 3 and one for 2, but then we will not necessarily have people sleeping in that specific configuration. On our last DCL cruise, it did cause some confusion when we tried to tell our room stewards where we would be sleeping, but as it turns out one of our rooms was right at the end of one room steward's group of cabins, and the other one was at the start of the next grouping. So we ended up just telling them to leave the beds as previously set.

 

[lanejudy]

If you (2 parents?) will be going as well, book one in each stateroom and split the teens across the rooms. DCL doesn’t do bed checks. This is how larger families and multi-generations often do it. Just make sure you set-up a credit card for each teen’s expenses.

Each guest needs to muster based on the room booked regardless of sleeping arrangements.

 

[cmph]

Just as an FYI, this rule isn't a DCL-only thing. We are sailing on an NCL Baltic this summer and could not put our 14yo with our will-be-18yo on paper. I wouldn't have done it anyway (so many foreign ports, wanted him tied to a parent officially). They have the same 21+ rule for staterooms with minors under 18. I figured I would mention that before you potentially try to find another cruise line. I am guessing it's industry-standard.

 

[Mle8308]

Is what I thought
So what PrincessShmoo linked to, namely DCL saying "must be accompanied by an adult 21 years of age or older in the same stateroom.".... is a technicality. In practice other configurations are made.

It's probably a legal "thing" for DCL. They put it in their terms of agreement so when you book, you do agree to their requirements. So if something were to happen and there was not an adult in the room, it would be on you (not you specifically, just using the term) and not DCL, since you were aware and agreed to the stateroom arrangement. You would not be the first and surely not the last! Hope they have a great time!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Is what I thought
So what PrincessShmoo linked to, namely DCL saying "must be accompanied by an adult 21 years of age or older in the same stateroom.".... is a technicality. In practice other configurations are made.

Yes, people will book 2 rooms with one parent in each room and then actually sleep with parents in one room and the kids in the other.

The only issues with this are - you must attend muster at whatever lifeboat the room YOU ARE REGISTERED IN is assigned to. And, of course, you must take responsibility for any damages done to the room that has only a bunch of children (yes even teenagers are "children") in them.

 

[DisneYE]

Just as an FYI, this rule isn't a DCL-only thing. We are sailing on an NCL Baltic this summer and could not put our 14yo with our will-be-18yo on paper. I wouldn't have done it anyway (so many foreign ports, wanted him tied to a parent officially). They have the same 21+ rule for staterooms with minors under 18. I figured I would mention that before you potentially try to find another cruise line. I am guessing it's industry-standard.

Thanks. I assumed this would be the case across the cruise industry. And no, they only want DCL, all these teenagers are huge Disney fans.

 

[DisneYE]

Yes, people will book 2 rooms with one parent in each room and then actually sleep with parents in one room and the kids in the other.

The only issues with this are - you must attend muster at whatever lifeboat the room YOU ARE REGISTERED IN is assigned to. And, of course, you must take responsibility for any damages done to the room that has only a bunch of children (yes even teenagers are "children") in them.

TY - Given all this info, I told my DD to make other plans as this is too complicated, we don't feel like going just out of the blue, we have other plans and she wanted to go without her parents...
That said, would SR hosts 'snitch' on the occupants of the SR? They obviously know who is sleeping where and what names are on each SR. Do they tell DCL? As someone else said on the thread, and I agree with them, there could be potential legal connotations to moving ppl around...Just basic curiosity.
Thanks for all the replies.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

TY - Given all this info, I told my DD to make other plans as this is too complicated, we don't feel like going just out of the blue, we have other plans and she wanted to go without her parents...
That said, would SR hosts 'snitch' on the occupants of the SR? They obviously know who is sleeping where and what names are on each SR. Do they tell DCL? As someone else said on the thread, and I agree with them, there could be potential legal connotations to moving ppl around...Just basic curiosity.
Thanks for all the replies.

No, I doubt that the room hosts keep tabs on such things. Unless, of course, the children involved are quite young and basically being left to their own devices most of the time. Or older children who might be engaging in activities behind doors they shouldn't.