Please tell me about Middle School kids on the DCL

[kcashner]

DD celebrated her 13th birthday on the Magic and absolutely Loved The Stack. We just completed the 9/25 Magic cruise (which sailed on 9/28 due to hurricane), and againg, she loved the teen programming. There was one kid on the cruise involved in name calling and bad language, and the counsellors took care of that as soon as they were aware--he was advised that if it happened again, he couldn't participate.

DD was very sad that she met a really neat guy on the last night--he hadn't been to The Stack all week because he thought it was "just dumb crafts and stuff." She couldnt' believe that he didn't check it out till the last night, then loved it. Moral--send em to the first "meet and greet." That way, they make friends and know what to expect. Both times, we had a really nice group of 13-15 teens...and lots of good fun.

 

[lsmac]

I'll pipe in and say that my ds has loved every one of our cruises as well. He first went on Disney when he was 10 and every year consequetively (sp). He loved the lab, even at 12 and this last trip he was 14 1/2 and LOVED the stack. He made tons of friends, even though I don't think they did much at the Stack, it became their "meet up" place. He also loved the fact that on CC he could go to the teen beach and "get away from the old people"....meaning his dad and I! We loved it because then we got to go to the quiet adult beach! Win-win..
We just sailed on Princess in June and, while he loved it too, I don't think he would have as much if his cousins weren't with us. He was less apt to meet others than he was on Disney. At least he doesn't correspond with anyone like he does the group he met while on Disney. He still emails back and forth with one person that he met up with on our December 2002 cruise on Disney! He keeps harping on me about when we are going to book another Disney cruise...sigh....Teens...no concept of money!

Lisa

 

[musicgirl]

We took our 3rd consecutive cruise with ds (11,12,13) and he can not wait to go back. He is an only child but very social. He met a bunch of kids that he hung out with. He still e-mails them, one is even a girl (LOL).

I'm not sure how much they did at the stack, but they just hung out until all hours of the night doing"stuff".

I had asked him if he wanted to do the Wild Side at CC 60 days out, of course he said no. Wouldn't you know, 2 days into the cruise he suddenly wanted to go because he met a bunch of other kids going.

I also suggest that you try to have them e-mail other kids going before the cruise. Hook up with someone on the cruise meet board.

Lorie

 

[westjones]

Thanks for all the posts. I am feeling better about the idea of going once the twins hit 13. Just this past cruise (age 11) they made a friend and seemed to want to hang out at the pool with their new friend more so than going to the Lab.

The thing about the pool was that I wasn't comfortable about them going there without me sitting close by (since there are no lifeguards--they like the Goofy pool now, they don't care for the Mickey pool anymore after a couple of times down the slide).

I suppose at 13 I will be alright with them going to the pool without me (as long as they are together).

BUT what do they do with their things? I kept their shoes and towels and KTTW with me where I was sitting, but if they are there without an adult, where do kids put their stuff? Do they just find a chair to throw it on? How does that work?

DJ