teenagers on cruise

[Joa]

Just a couple questions about teenagers on the cruise. I have a DS 15 and DD 13 will they be bored. How do you stay in contact with them, can we get a pager? Is there a pool they will feel comfortable in? Is it safe for them to wander the ship alone?

 

[inkkognito]

A lot depends on the maturity level of your teens. We have seen many teenagers who are given quite a bit of freedom on the ship. You can pick up those "family radios" to stay in contact, and there are also lots of house phones places strategically around the ship so they can call to check in. They will probably enjoy hanging around the Goofy Pool, and of course there is "Common Grounds" (the teen club), where they can participate in activities and maybe find some friends to hang out with. There is a teen excursion on Castaway Cay too...it costs extra, but we've heard good things about it from some of the youngsters who have participated. Overall it is mostly a safe environment, but there are some pitfalls. You may want to search the boards for an excellent thread that appeared a few weeks ago from a mom whose teenager fell in with a bad crowd and wound up getting caught with drugs (which are available at the ports). But if you feel you can trust them, you can give them quite a bit of freedom. On one of our trips, we were seated with a family that had a teenage boy. The parents told us they are normally very overprotective, but they were actually giving him a little more freedom than usual on the ship because they felt confident enough (of course, they insisted that he eat dinner with the family every night...the poor kid would sit there waiting with baited breathed to be "released" to have fun with his new friends from Common Grounds each night!).

 

[TinkerBellPixie4GOAL]

Hakuna Matata! No Worries! There is a special area for teens called Common Grounds. It's a Teen Only coffee house where teens can do anything from scavenger hunts to watching movies. At the beginning of the cruise there is a 411 meeting where teens can make friends. The only problem is that when you send your teen there they will never come back.
There is a family pool that teens go to. They don't give beepers to the parents of teens, but they shoudl be fine. They re always watched by counselors. If you really want to keep contact then you should bring radios or walkie talkies. They usual work all around the ship!
Activities for teens can be found on the teen navigator on www.castawayclub.com.

 

[FantasticDisFamily]

Our DD 13 and DS 15 (ages at time of sailing) requested the 7 day cruise for our next "big" vacation. They are pretty sure they won't be bored. DS "snuck" into Common Grounds a few times on our last cruise even though he wasn't quite 13 and decided there is plenty to do.

Also they have always made ship board friends. Since there aren't pagers for parents of teens we are planning to take the talk about radios. They will need to check in, and with the exception of the Castaway Cay teen excursion, and the Fury Catamaran Teen Cruise which have DCL counselors along! They won't be allowed to go off on their own off the ship.

Deb

 

[Joa]

Thanks for the reply. I'm in the planning stages of the cruise and although I'm a "Disney" person the rest of my family doesn't share my obsession. Just wanted to make sure it is something the kids will also enjoy.

 

[FantasticDisFamily]

Mine didn't either until I talked them into our first land/sea vacation in 1998. They still think mom "has a problem" but share the excitement of Disney at least.

Deb

 

[disneyholic family]

my son is 15 and spent almost all of his time either in common grounds or in common grounds related activities (in common grounds, on the basketball court on the ship, at the teen beach on CC, etc)....
by the way, there's no need to sign up for the teen excursion on CC....there are free activities at the teen beach....

now to answer your questions......my son was NEVER bored....
we were actually amazed.....at home he never leaves the chair in front of his computer....on the ship he was always out with his new friends...we ate all meals together, went on excursions together and snorkeled on CC together....but other than that, he was never with us......he'd say "is it ok if i go to common grounds now?"....we said yes and off he went.....
he came back to the stateroom at night the moment the common grounds activities were over (at 2 in the morning....we were already asleep)...

as for the pools, the common grounds counselors had very funny names for them but i don't recall what they were...(my son LOVED the counselors....he still tells us some of the funny tales they told the kids...)...

my kids didn't swim in the pools on the ship, but we live in a tropical climate so they're not really in need of that sort of thing.....

let's see....oh....he also met us in the walt disney theatre to see the evening shows....we told him when we'd be there and he met us there....

as for your 13 year old daughter...
my son claims she also can be on her own, but i don't know about that...
i doubt i would have let them have that much freedom at 13....

 

[inkkognito]

disneyholic family, your post reminded me...
There is a great free gameroom near the teen beach. It's used to be Groupers Pavillion, but now I think it's called Castaway Jo's. Not a lot of people know about it, so it is seldom crowded, and they have lots of free games like pool and foosball, all in the shade. Members of the cruise staff are there to oversee it, so it is a great place for teens (or anyone else).
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[mmouse37]

My teens took advantage of Castaway Jo's this cruise. They always hang out on the teen beach, but this is the first time they have been over there since Castaway Jo's went in. They had a great time.

MJ

 

[disneyholic family]

i just asked my son about the teen beach on CC....
he said the counselors were there supervising at all times...
and that they tried to get the kids into games, but the kids just wanted to lie around in the water and throw a football around and were very happy doing that....
remember it was quite hot (july).....

all i can say is, my son had a great time on the cruise and both kids can't wait to go again....

 

[FantasticDisFamily]

Disneyholic Family,

Thanks for the info about the counselors being at the teen beach. Mine have a lot of what we call "supervised freedom" at home and that is the same approach we intend to use on the cruise - as I described earlier. I'm now more comfortable about them heading for the teen beach.

DS will probably still do the excursion as he has a real back to nature streak and is competitive. The idea of the raft building contest, etc. appealed to him. DD would just as soon lay in the sun though!

Hmmm...that couples massage at Serenity Bay is sounding more and more possible!

Deb

 

[disneyholic family]

my son says that maybe just to be safe, you should sign both of them up for the teen excursion on CC....
then you're guaranteed your massage at serenity bay....(i saw quite a few couples going in and coming out of the cabanas....looks really really relaxing)....

 

[FantasticDisFamily]

That is good to know. Does your DS have any words of wisdom on how the counselors are at sibling rivalry?

They are usually less prone to sibling bickering on the cruise but ya never know!

Deb

 

[disneyholic family]

well his sibling wasn't in common grounds (my 18 year old daughter spent all of her time with us as there were no kids her age....)
but he thought the counselors were fabulous....he's not the effusive type but he never stops talking about how great they were...
he thinks that your kids would probably separate by age so there shouldn't be a problem regardless...(that is, the kids in common grounds tended to hang out by major age group....so since your kids are 13 and 15 they probably wouldn't be in the same circle of friends)

 

[TeensMom]

My kids LOVED Common Grounds and the counselors. Make sure your kids go to the welcome the first night to make friends. My daughter (17) and son (14) are not "best friends" at home but went to the welcome together. They started playing cards and other kids came over to join then - They wouldn't admit it but I think having each other made it easier for them to hang out until they met other friends.

When the age groups split, they were in different groups. This was fine because it gave them some time apart. My daughter had a buddy group right from the start, while my son was a little more of a loner - he attended and participated in his activities but sometimes just went with one other guy up to ESPN. But something I noticed, that REALLY AMAZED ME was that my daughters "gang" often invited my son along when they were just hanging out - taking picture out on the deck, etc. I'm not sure my daughter is that considerate of her brother or if it was the influence of the other kids.

I think they were very well supervised, but I have pretty good kids. There is nothing to make sure your kids stay with the group (i.e. no sign-in/sign-out) on a daily basis. So, a kid set on getting into trouble certainly could.

We had breakfast together daily and discussed the day's plans (they went on all excursions with us but we allowed them to go back to the ship earlier than we did). We then met again at dinner and discussed what was going to go on after dinner and what appropriate curfews should be (depending on what teen activities were planned). We also made it a point to meet the parents of most of the kids - met for a drink or in one of the clubs, etc.

The kids had such a good time that my daughter is trying to make plans with her best friend to go on a Disney cruise when they graduate from high school next May rather than go to "senior week" (a local tradition at the shore).

 

[eye R.N.]

My two( DD15, DS13) and were on the same "team" which annoyed my DD slightly. Not enough to voice any objections on the ship.

My biggest bit of advice is BEWARE 24 hour room service. They have to deliver to inside a room, if you are sharing with your kids, let them know you don't appreciate people knocking on your door at 2AM.

 

[Jhondy(210)]

i'm a little late on respondind but oh well. i was on the 8/3 magic and am 16. to stay in contact by a walkie talkie or just have your kids tell you where they are going to go or what they'll be around. as for boredom, there was not a minute that i was bored on the ship, i made new friends hung out with them and did many of the teen activities which were fun.
as for the pool i can't answer that cause i was never there although there was one night when the teens got to take over the pool which was cool.
roaming the ship alone i had no problems with i was basically free to do whatever i want and there were times i walked around by myself and even at 2am it wasn't bad to walk around i had no problems with that.

hope that helps

 

[Pugdog007]

I wanted to try RCCL next year, for a change. DD14 had a fit. She wanted to cruise DCL again, same ports, different ports she didn't care as long as it was DCL. She had a blast at 14, and at 13, and I'm sure she will at 15 next year. She is very well disciplined and we gave her a great deal of freedom on the ship. She joined us every day for bfast & dinner and at most shows. She also ALWAYS went with us off the ship. I would never allow her off the ship with strangers, even if it's other kids. You just have to use good judgment and trust that your kids will too. I can't believe someone let their child off the ship with other teens. Not a good idea ever.

 

[KarenT]

My son (then 15) decided he did not want to go on the cruise with us. I literally had to beg him to go. My mother was dying and I knew this would be our last vacation together. To make a long story short, he had the time of his life. He's always been a good kid and I give him a pretty long leash here at home, but I felt especially confident to let him do his own thing while on board. He made friends almost immediately and spent a lot of time in Common Grounds. It really did wonders for his confidence also to know that I trusted him enough to let him loose. We made a few ground rules about checking in and he was more than happy to comply. The second we came home he started harranging me to book another cruise. We'll be setting sail again in February and his best friend will be joining us (they'll be 17 by then). You're kids will have a wonderful time.




KarenT

 

[billylen]

My son and I were on the August 24th Eastern sailing. He is 14 (six feet tall, fairly mature for his age, but a teenager none the less).

The first day he hung out in the cabin, but on Sunday and for the rest of the cruise I saw very little of him (unless I made an appointment). He is a good kid, but the first night (morning) he tipped in at 2AM, I was a little concerned.

He was having a great time!!

I made a deal with him. I told him that I trusted him to know what is acceptable behavior and that I wanted him to have a good time. That worked for us...

I could give many examples about the fun he had, but to sum it up I asked him if he would like to cruise again....He said yes and the sooner the better!!!