Son’s graduation cruise...

[tb209]

Our family will be taking our 4th cruise in January. Our oldest son will be 18 at the time and just a few months shy of his high school graduation. We want to make the cruise extra special for him since this may be our last true family vacation before he ventures out on his own (college, work etc). Any ideas of how we can celebrate him on the cruise??

 

[sweetpee_1993]

We homeschooled our boys through high school so we held their graduations on cruises. One thing my mother-in-law & I enjoyed was decorating our stateroom door. I used magnetic clips and put graduation garlands around the door. Had custom magnets made. Both had custom graduation “caps” for their “ceremonies”. We are very unceremonious people. LOL! Oldest son wore the graduation cap Mickey ear hat. We were on a WBPC. Youngest son opted for 2 weeks on the NCL Escape and asked to graduate in a bar with a beer in his hand. So his cap was a Margaritaville baseball cap with his tassel attached to the button on top. Yes, he stood in the 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar with a Corona in-hand. (On NCL 18-20 yros can be served beer & wine in the bars with signed parental consent.) Both enjoyed nice dinners with us (upcharge). We went a bit extra for excursions. That private charter we did in Tortola is easily one of our best port days ever. Both had $$$ gifts to indulge themselves. I also got each of them graduation photo mats that they were able to take around the ship for autographs the final day or 2. They both had friends, family, crew, etc. sign their photo mats. Great keepsakes. Oh! And both had great T-shirt’s for graduation! I had them custom made. Oldest son I think his came from Etsy. Youngest a friend of mine did the classic Jurassic Park Logo but it said “Class of 2015”. Both boys had amazing cruise trips that were perfect for each of them. Truly amazing memories. It was all so *us*.

Hope y’all have a fabulous time making incredible memories to last a lifetime. This is truly the good stuff.

 

[lklgoodman]

Palo/Remy brunch/dinner
Hang out at Serenity Bay beach at CC at at adult clubs/pool on ship, although may be hard if you have younger kids with you.
Decorate door/cabin
Plan a special excursion, again depending if you have younger kids who may not be able to do it

 

[Cruising Engineer]

Check out the 1820 Club (18 to 20 yr. old only) so he can make friends before the cruise begins.

Decorate the outside of the stateroom door with graduation magnets (make you own or see Esty for ideas). At 18, he should be excited (that you planned his big cruise) and embarrassed (that you advertised his big day) all in one emotion.

 

[Carrie in AZ]

Our daughter just graduated, so I am excited for you! You may want to ask him if there is anything that HE feels would make the cruise special. If he suggests something then you can determine if it will work out for your family. I agree on the magnets -- so many fun ones! You could even do a "then and now" type of large magnet or photos you clip to your door such as a "first day of Kindergarten" and now one of his grad pics. If he has committed to a college, you could add in one representing his college.

Have fun!

 

[matthew517]

Where are you sailing to? We do the same for our kids. We just did a may eastern cruise with my daughter. We hung out with them in the clubs, adult areas, rain forest spa and palo. Allowed them spending privileges. We allowed them to decide what we wanted to do. Basically we treated them like adults. I bought my son who passed away in april (age 20) his first drink at a bar in Cozumel when he was 18. I am so glad I didn't wait until he was 21. My daughter we allowed to try Champaign on the st john catamaran excursion. She turned 18 two days prior to cruise. We do not encourage drinking but we would rather their first experience be with us and not at some college frat house.

 

[My2Qtz0205]

On our last cruise we saw two girls wearing the graduation gowns and Mickey graduation ears for pictures. Not sure if this is a possibility before he graduates.

Set up a special photo session with the Shutters staff.

 

[noahsketomom]

We homeschooled our boys through high school so we held their graduations on cruises. One thing my mother-in-law & I enjoyed was decorating our stateroom door. I used magnetic clips and put graduation garlands around the door. Had custom magnets made. Both had custom graduation “caps” for their “ceremonies”. We are very unceremonious people. LOL! Oldest son wore the graduation cap Mickey ear hat. We were on a WBPC. Youngest son opted for 2 weeks on the NCL Escape and asked to graduate in a bar with a beer in his hand. So his cap was a Margaritaville baseball cap with his tassel attached to the button on top. Yes, he stood in the 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar with a Corona in-hand. (On NCL 18-20 yros can be served beer & wine in the bars with signed parental consent.) Both enjoyed nice dinners with us (upcharge). We went a bit extra for excursions. That private charter we did in Tortola is easily one of our best port days ever. Both had $$$ gifts to indulge themselves. I also got each of them graduation photo mats that they were able to take around the ship for autographs the final day or 2. They both had friends, family, crew, etc. sign their photo mats. Great keepsakes. Oh! And both had great T-shirt’s for graduation! I had them custom made. Oldest son I think his came from Etsy. Youngest a friend of mine did the classic Jurassic Park Logo but it said “Class of 2015”. Both boys had amazing cruise trips that were perfect for each of them. Truly amazing memories. It was all so *us*.

Hope y’all have a fabulous time making incredible memories to last a lifetime. This is truly the good stuff.

I love these ideas! Following this thread as I just booked our "graduation cruise" for April 10 on the Magic!

 

[tb209]

We are going on the eastern Caribbean in January. Thank you for the ideas everyone!