Teen Safety Disney Cruise

[TXDCLfan]

Hello all this is my first post so I would like to apologize if I accidentally mess up on something out front. So the main reason that I made this account is to show my own experiences and to show other teens how fun Disney Cruise is; and parents how safe they actually are. I would like to start by saying that I am a 16 year old male who has been on 6 Disney cruises (3 While at vibe) 1 Norwiegan (as a teen) 2 RC (1 as a teen) and 1 Carnival as a preteen. My next cruise will be another Disney during February of 2014. The focus of this thread is the safety of your teenager. I am slightly appalled by some of the parents who are amazingly strict about their teen cruising regardless if it is a boy or a girl. Personally I have never felt afraid on a cruise ship, I actually feel safer on a cruise ship than I do in my own hometown which is one of the safest places in my state. Two of the biggest concerns I saw from this was the use of the 4th floor entrance to vibe (also walking alone) and curfews. To address the first issue, first unless your teen has a strict curfew they will never be leaving vibe alone during the later hours because they will typically be out with a group of friends. The second part of this 4th floor entrance issue is that in all reality it is just as dangerous as using the 5th floor entrance (not dangerous at all) as there is a constant flow of people as well as it being very well lit. And in all truthfulness if you insist on using the 5th floor entrance just don't tell the counselors and be quiet when you use it. Curfews. This is easily the most appalling thing to me about cruises, especially Disney Cruises. Approximately 50% of the fun that I have had on cruise ships occurs after 11 PM. Many people complain about how hard it is to keep a teenager happy, and if you have a strict curfew (I consider anything before 2 am when vibe closes to be strict) then that is the main reason your teen is happy. Cruising is a great form of relaxation and fun but when parents harp on children to be in the room before all of their friends they become stressed and the vacation becomes much less fun. So parents I beg you to give your children some freedom and instill a curfew no earlier than 2 AM or whenever vibe closes because they will always have someone else around them and are most likely to be still in vibe. And to my fellow teens, if your parents insist on an early curfew don't be horrendous to them but be polite and use evidence to change their mind. (A good person to talk to is any of the counselors during the open house)
I hope this helped clear some issues for people and will lead to happier stress-free vacations.
Please comment with any views or suggestions I will try to respond.

Glad you had a great time on your cruise but you have NO concept of the REAL world. Cruise lines including DCL do not screen or prohibit pedophiles,rapist,child molesters,flashers etc from cruising. You have no idea the back ground of your fellow cruisers regardless of AGE,SEX

 

[AndyLL]

Glad you had a great time on your cruise but you have NO concept of the REAL world. Cruise lines including DCL do not screen or prohibit pedophiles,rapist,child molesters,flashers etc from cruising. You have no idea the back ground of your fellow cruised regardless of AGE,SEX

And the REAL world outside of the cruise does?

I'm pretty sure their is not a whole lot of drinking, drugging and sex going on in the Vibe.

Can you say the same at your Teens friends house after school?

 

[Teencruiser]

First of all AndyLL, Debsters41, and gzmtlock these are the opinions that I agree with.
Contrary to what many of you might believe I actually do have strict rules at home. I do not participate in illegal activities. My parents are stricter at my home than they are when I vacation.
I would like to comment on the concept of the real world. The true concept of the real world is that there is crime there is sex there are drugs and there are bad people who will take advantage of others. This is the reality no matter where you are unless you are the last person the earth and at that point you have larger problems.
So in the Real World you should stay in your house every second of the day to protect yourself from the dangers of the outside world. Yes, I do sound like I'm being insane, but this is the equivalent. The truth is that everything in your life has dangers involved, but you first must consider how you have raised your children, and whether you wish to let the danger get in the way of living your life.

 

[pillow]

I'm 16 too, yet I don't agree with your opinion. Anything can happen, even on the high and mighty DCL. Everyone should always be on their guard. Not paranoid, but attentive.
I also don't agree with not having rules or allowing a teen to be out all night! Personally, no one should be wandering the ship; or anywhere, at 2am. To me, if it's after midnight, it's not good to be out and about.
And yes, parents should have somewhat strict rules for teens. It's necessary.

And you're exactly the kind of teenager I want to hang out with my teens! Very mature. I'm impressed!

Jodie

 

[wcw57]

while I don't see this as an inflammatory post at all I wonder if we are now all part of some high school project...

post your ideas and gather feedback, distill ideas and opinions and process into a 5 page paper by Jan 15...


curious

 

[Teencruiser]

while I don't see this as an inflammatory post at all I wonder if we are now all part of some high school project...

post your ideas and gather feedback, distill ideas and opinions and process into a 5 page paper by Jan 15...


curious

This comment is great.
No it is not for school.
However, I do find interest in psychology and sociology so in a way you are partially correct. I have expressed my own opinions that is all true but I like to see how people perceive them, along with their perception of my age and how it affects their opinions.

 

[UmmGooD]

And to my fellow teens, if your parents insist on an early curfew don't be horrendous to them but be polite and use evidence to change their mind. (A good person to talk to is any of the counselors during the open house)
I hope this helped clear some issues for people and will lead to happier stress-free vacations.
Please comment with any views or suggestions I will try to respond.

This is my biggest beef with the original post.

If I were you I wouldn't be telling other teenagers that they can change their parents mind. I don't mind if my kids try to make evidence for their case but I do mind when someone else tries to undermine my decision. What do you tell the other teenagers when they are told no by their parents? In your original post you claim that the child will not be happy.

How about instead if a parent is unwilling to budge on the curfew why not change your behavior to adapt to what is acceptable within what guidelines the parent has set? For example let's say the parent wants their teens in by midnight for whatever reason. You might instead say "Let's all go to bed at midnight and get up 2 hours earlier." This way you can still enjoy the same amount of time on the ship AND the parents are happier too because they are awake while you are roaming doing whatever make teens happy.

I believe that ANYONE, teenagers or adults, find that they are happiest when they have a positive outlook on their situation. I can hate my job because of the restrictions they have in place OR I can choose to look at what makes me happy within those restrictions and focus on that.

With that said my kids aren't teenagers yet. When they are they will have boundaries. I might make special rule changes for special occasions but they will be required to meet my expectations. I would suggest instead of getting parents to change their rules and have an expectation that you can 'convince' them to change. Instead you work with the group of teens that are on the ship with you to find out what works for everyone. Be a leader and have a positive outlook. Try to encourage the other teens to do activities and have hours that fit the restrictions of everyone in your group. Instead of making someone feel alienated because their parents are not comfortable with them staying out until 2am in the cruise. Instead you help teens understand that they can be happy AND live within their parent's boundaries.

 

[sambycat]

Aaaahhhh, "youth"!

 

[sweetlovin']

Teencruiser - I would still like to hear what rules you think should be in place for 13-17yos.

 

[NCConch]

As a youth minister and the dad of two teens...

Teencruiser- Shhhhhh........

It is inappropriate for a teen to encourage other teens to argue with their parents. Not all teens are capable of staying safe.

 

[Teencruiser]

Teencruiser - I would still like to hear what rules you think should be in place for 13-17yos.

Thank you for asking I was waiting for someone to ask.
Personally I believe that there is not one set of rules that need to be followed as every child is different. The standard I would lay out would be a designated time every night depending on what club they are in (13 edge 14+ vibe) along with whether or not you have excursions the next day or any other activities that require a great deal of sleep. The final factor that I would play into the rules is the maturity of the child and whether or not they have a sibling with them. I have met mature thirteen year olds and immature 17 year olds. My general guidelines with an immature teen is to make sure that they check in when they are doing anything or whenever they change locations, as for curfew I find no reason to make it earlier or later because they will be immature whether it is 10 or 2. For more mature individuals or those with a mature counterpart (sibling or friend) I would recommend periodical check ins like I do with my family over the wave phones. The curfew issue for the teens is an issue of how strict you want to be and the next days activities. In my mind a curfew for these children should be set but can vary from night to night. I personally have found out from a previous cruise that the last 2 nights staying out until 3-5 am was appropriate as it helped me sleep on an 8 hour flight home.
And as a final note to all of the people that commented. You seem to all have children that are used to strict rules, typically this makes more mature children and would give you more of a reason to trust them in their own decision making, but some people take it the other way.
Take my 2 cents for what it is.

 

[bumbershoot]

This is my biggest beef with the original post.

If I were you I wouldn't be telling other teenagers that they can change their parents mind. I don't mind if my kids try to make evidence for their case but I do mind when someone else tries to undermine my decision. What do you tell the other teenagers when they are told no by their parents? In your original post you claim that the child will not be happy.

Exactly. That's the mind of things my friends would do. That's why my curfew was strict when I was with them. Whereas my dates got me back exactly on time if I had a time for that evening. It wasn't what we were up to at a football game or a restaurant or at someone's house. It was the getting home after bars closed part. If on a cruise, walking to the room on a nearly "dead" ship with the only protection from creeps is that everything is monitored so they can catch the bad guy after something happens.

It's the wheedling and negotiating and not taking the rules as being rules that made my mom simply not trust my friends. And she knew them too. Knew most of them from when we were in grade school. It's how she knew what they were like lol.

I watch it in DS's best friend now. He uses what he feels is logic to change his moms mind. Tries it on me too. Nope. Not happening. My son is 9 and the friend is 12. It'll only get worse! Can't wait for the friend to "age out" of his interest in my son's friendship (though I will feel sad to my guy). Too pushy! Makes him untrustworthy.

 

[cjbcam]

First off I don't think op is telling teens to argue with their parents. He is telling them to discuss things maturely and to support their side with facts and if its a no respect your parents wishes.

I don't have any teens yet (soon though) but I would like to say a 13 year old is a lot different than a seventeen year old. Will my thirteen year old be allowed out until 2? No but my 16 or 17 year old? Yes. A lot of kids graduate when they are 17 so unless you are going to university with them to enforce curfews and rules why would you set them on a cruise?

Why not teach your kids about dangers instead of teaching them to be scared of everything? Teach them to make good choices. Trust that you have taught them well. For me they will earn more privileges as they grow and learn so when they are 14 they will have more privileges then 13 and so on. I also think its different if they are with their siblings I would be more lenient with one of my younger kids if they were with my oldest kid.

By 17 I hopefully have prepared them enough to be out till 2 on a cruise.

 

[UmmGooD]

First off I don't think op is telling teens to argue with their parents. He is telling them to discuss things maturely and to support their side with facts and if its a no respect your parents wishes.

I don't have any teens yet (soon though) but I would like to say a 13 year old is a lot different than a seventeen year old. Will my thirteen year old be allowed out until 2? No but my 16 or 17 year old? Yes. A lot of kids graduate when they are 17 so unless you are going to university with them to enforce curfews and rules why would you set them on a cruise?

Why not teach your kids about dangers instead of teaching them to be scared of everything? Teach them to make good choices. Trust that you have taught them well. For me they will earn more privileges as they grow and learn so when they are 14 they will have more privileges then 13 and so on. I also think its different if they are with their siblings I would be more lenient with one of my younger kids if they were with my oldest kid.

By 17 I hopefully have prepared them enough to be out till 2 on a cruise.

Yes he might not be stating that kids should argue with their parents but he also did say that if parents don't allow their kids to roam the ship at hours that the parent might be uncomfortable with then the child would be unhappy. In order to make the teenager happy the parent should allow the child to stay out at a minimum 2a.m. Then they later stated a shallow argument of why staying out until 5a.m. helped them sleep better on the way home. That might be true but you can equally stay up as late in your room playing on a tablet or watching TV. The issue is we should not be promoting kids that challenge their friends to contradict their parents. Yes they might be disappointed and that is ok. But encouraging a peer to try to convince a parent to change their mind with an outlook that if that decision is not changed will result in unhappiness is not healthy. Instead encourage your friends to see the positive in the time they do have.

Personally I don't sleep when my kids are potentially at risk. If I need to have a long drive the next day and the child wants to stay up until 5am the answer would be no unless I knew they were protected. I have to be able to respond to any danger. I might be strict but I think parents need to have rules and the teenager can learn to be happy within those rules. If you have prepared your kids to be out until 2a.m. then that is great and go ahead. For me personally I might let them do that a day or two on the cruise but not every night. And the nights I do do that I'll plan something for myself to do so I can be ready to respond if needed and check up on my child.

I will not judge others if they choose to let their teenagers stay out this late but please don't judge me when I make my kids come in at midnight.

 

[Teencruiser]

First off I don't think op is telling teens to argue with their parents. He is telling them to discuss things maturely and to support their side with facts and if its a no respect your parents wishes.

I don't have any teens yet (soon though) but I would like to say a 13 year old is a lot different than a seventeen year old. Will my thirteen year old be allowed out until 2? No but my 16 or 17 year old? Yes. A lot of kids graduate when they are 17 so unless you are going to university with them to enforce curfews and rules why would you set them on a cruise?

Why not teach your kids about dangers instead of teaching them to be scared of everything? Teach them to make good choices. Trust that you have taught them well. For me they will earn more privileges as they grow and learn so when they are 14 they will have more privileges then 13 and so on. I also think its different if they are with their siblings I would be more lenient with one of my younger kids if they were with my oldest kid.

By 17 I hopefully have prepared them enough to be out till 2 on a cruise.

To start your first comment is exactly what I was trying to say.
Second I agree with your rationale on the whole second part; it is truly what I have tried to convey.

 

[Mason3]

It seems that I am in the minority. My DD was 14 during our Oct cruise on the Fantasy. We allowed her to stay at Vibe until 2 AM. We used the Wavephones, and we contacted her 2-3 times each hour. She also would call us and stay on the phone until she reached our cabin. She did ask to go to the D Lounge which is open all night, but we said no. I'm a night owl on vacation, but I do need to go to sleep at some point!

Prior to all of our cruises, we discuss safety issues and how she should never go into a cabin with anyone else, even someone her own age. I shared with her the story of the man who lured a girl to his cabin by saying he was a Cast member. I don't believe in sugarcoating real world issues. We have never had any safety issues, but I know that every family must do what they think is best.

 

[Bella29]

This is so cute. Teencruiser, I suggest you print out your posts here and read them to yourself when you are the parent of a teenager. You will find it very entertaining!

 

[Mazz519]

I understand what you're saying and if I was 16 again, I'm sure I'd agree with you.

Now I'm a 40-something adult with a teenage son and I have a different outlook. It's not my job to make sure that my teenager is happy... it's my job to make sure that he's safe, that he's making good decisions, to make sure he knows right from wrong, that he's hanging out with good people... you know where I'm going with this. Right now has no business being out at 2am.

Most of the time my teen is annoyed with me and doesn't understand why me and his Dad have the rules as we do. The rules are there for a reason and one day he will understand (just like I did)

Was on the Fantasy this summer, my older son 16yrs old was pretty much out to 2 sometimes 3 in the morning almost every nt… Keep in mind he has a 12am curfew when we are home and he is out with his friends… The first nt I was nervous but found that if he kept in touch with us (wave phones) we were ok…..He made about 15 friends that he still remains in touch with 5 months later… I spoke to a few of the crew members and they pretty much said this is the norm for almost every cruise… I also have a 12 yr old who stood in his club till 12am or 1am everyday… My older son is pretty responsible and has proved to us that he can be trusted on numerous occasions… BUT in the end you as a parent have to do what you are comfortable with whether ur child thinks its a gd or bad decision..

 

[Cruiselady]

Can a parent wait outside the club to meet their teen and walk them back to the stateroom?

 

[insureman]

Can a parent wait outside the club to meet their teen and walk them back to the stateroom?

Yes , that's what we usually do. It's a long walk to get back to your stateroom if you're on the upper decks.