What’s your experience taking a 19-year-old on DCL?

[jenmsmith]

We are seriously considering taking our oldest son on a cruise for his birthday and high school graduation gift. He’s been on DCL as a 12-year-old, a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old. He enjoyed the kids/youth clubs, but now he will have aged out of them. Anyone have first-hand experience cruising on DCL with a young adult that you’re willing to share the positives and negatives?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We are seriously considering taking our oldest son on a cruise for his birthday and high school graduation gift. He’s been on DCL as a 12-year-old, a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old. He enjoyed the kids/youth clubs, but now he will have aged out of them. Anyone have first-hand experience cruising on DCL with a young adult that you’re willing to share the positives and negatives?

We took our 19 year old on one of our cruises. We made sure he made contact with the 18*20 club group. They had a pretty good group. There were about 10-12 of them, and they would "hang out" during the day together in various configurations of 3-6 of them at a time. They did a veggie derby (sort of a pine car derby race, but made with veggies), attended many of the comedy shows in the adult club, and created some sort of film about being onboard. He enjoyed it.

The only restrictions we put on him were that he could not bring anyone back to our room, and he was not to go into anyone else's room. And he had to eat dinner with us every night. He attended most of the WDT shows with the group.

I will point out that the 18*20 club typically meets with a DCL CM on the first night to set up activities. If not enough show up at that initial meeting, then nothing gets planned and the group is a bust.

 

[pixiedustedme]

We are seriously considering taking our oldest son on a cruise for his birthday and high school graduation gift. He’s been on DCL as a 12-year-old, a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old. He enjoyed the kids/youth clubs, but now he will have aged out of them. Anyone have first-hand experience cruising on DCL with a young adult that you’re willing to share the positives and negatives?

I know there is an 1820 society for people from ages 18 - 20. I have no experience with it, though.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I know there is an 1821 society for people from ages 18 - 21. I have no experience with it, though.

The group is now called 1820 Society (there were issues with 21 year olds being able to purchase alcohol, so they've limited the age range)

 

[Geomom]

My oldest DD was 18 on our last cruise. At 18, they can go to all the adult entertainment areas...they just can't drink alcohol (unless it's a Europe cruise and you've given signed permission for your child to drink while in your presence.) DD18 loved going to the adult shows with us in Fathoms, she liked doing the adult only 'anyone can cook' and the napkin folding with me. And then she was doing some of the family entertainment with the whole family. (We also had 4 ports on our 7 nt cruise, so we were pretty busy anyway!)

They do have the 1820 society for 18-20 yr olds. They have a meeting the first night (usually in Cove Cafe for 'Blend It, Stir It, Taste It) and there is a Cast Member facilitator. They're supposed to talk about the type of things they'd like to do together and it's supposed to be a way to meet others in that age group. They usually meet for lunch a couple times, depending upon the group, they might do crafts together or sports, etc. There will usually be 1 scheduled event/day. A bunch of the 1820's on our cruise formed a clique that DD didn't become part of (and didn't want to become part of)--she said those kids were hanging out in someone's room late at night, ordering room service.

 

[pixiedustedme]

The group is now called 1820 Society (there were issues with 21 year olds being able to purchase alcohol)

View attachment 399393

Okay- updated post.

 

[diznymom]

We took our son on a cruise for graduation when he was 19. He loved it. He went to the 1820 Society meetings and did a couple of activities w/them. But then they were doing some things that he just was not interested in.
He loved going to Palo. He also loved the fact that he could go all over the ship, especially the adult only areas.

 

[ladyofthetramp]

My kids are both over 18 and still love cruising with Disney. Don't underestimate the draw of being able to go into the adult areas for them now-Palo and the like. They love it!

 

[lorimay]

When we took our 18 year old son with us, we brought his then girlfriend, now wife with us and that made him very happy.
It was for our 25th anniversary vow renewal and they shared a cabin with us. On the night of the renewal our stateroom host decorated their bunks with rose petals too, it was funny.
But that made for a tight room with 4 adults, next cruise we brought them on, they had their own cabin!

 

[CamColt]

My DSs have had a few cruises in the 1820 Society. The first one for my oldest was a bust, but just in that regard. He enjoyed the cruise overall. No one showed up the first night for the meet up so he never met anyone. After that though he enjoyed hanging out with that group on other cruises. My youngest was just 18 on our last cruises which were B2B. Again, he enjoyed the group however on the 3 night, they didn't seem as close, like they didn't click as much as usual...maybe because it was such a quick cruise. But overall I would say it's a positive experience. We will be going again this summer with a 19 yo and he is looking forward to it.

 

[jenmsmith]

Thank you so much for the feedback! I converted our placeholder today. We will need to take his one-year-old sister with us, but that’s the main reason we chose DCL. She can enjoy the nursery while we introduce him to Palo and my fave - the Rainforest Room.

 

[MillauFr]

My daughter was 21 on our last cruise and had a great time hanging out with the other college aged kids from the 18/20 group.

 

[JecHec]

I also gifted my son a cruise for his Quinceañero (15th birthday), his 18th birthday and graduation gift. He loved it!!!

 

[kayochan]

Just got off the 7 days western med (Barcelona to Dover - July) and according to the daughters of couple of parents we met, there were approx. 70 young adults in the 1820 society first night get together. One of the girls told me that they sort of sat around together and the counselor didn't do any ice breakers but after awhile they all started interacting/talking and it ended up a success. She said she had loads of fun on the cruise due to the people she met. A mom for another girl said that her daughter was having so much fun through the 1820 crowd (saw her in a group of boys and girls walking around the ship a few times). I think they are all there to meet each other and have fun. Also, on our last cruise last year which was a 10 day Med in July, I saw about 40 kids at the 1820 society first night social by the adult pool bar and they were a buzz with talking and socializing. I think there is definitely a good amount people that would be interested in a dedicated space for the 1820 crowd (this was the exact feedback I got from couple of the parents and their 18-20 kids). I wrote down this as a need (dedicated 1820 space) on the comment card and a few of the other parents were also interested and said they wrote this on their comment card. I think if enough people write the need for a dedicated 1820 space, it may happen on the newer ships.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

My DD has never been into the youth activities onboard DCL. She was 18 (3 weeks shy of 19) when we took her on her last cruise. She was so excited to finally be able to go to Palo, Cove Cafe and the adult shows after hours. She went to one 1820 meeting, but didn't jive with the others. She enjoyed just doing activities with us or on her own.

 

[DayOhDisMom]

We took our nephew on our first cruise for his high school graduation he loved it.

 

[Aquamom]

My girls are 26 & 28 and don't want to cruise anyone but DCL! We are cruising October 19-27 Halloween cruise and they are accompanying us! We have a great time with all the fun adult things we can do.

 

[CamDisDay]

As someone who was 19 (many years ago) on DCL with my family, I had an amazing time! Back then they didn't have the 1820 society (or at least I had no clue), but was able to find people around my age (found them in the adult area the second evening). The best part was getting to be in the adult areas like the pool and not be limited (except for drinking). I made new friends and still talk with them today. Went to shows with the new friends and my family, had dinner every night with my family in the MDR (didn't do Palo... we were first timers and had no idea). Like I said... had an amazing time with my family and the friends I made. Best day was Castaway Cay. We didn't have any excursions planned and were just going to hang out on the beach. My family went to the family beach and I went to Serenity Bay with the friends I made.... was such a blast.

 

[sunmoon620]

We have taken two of our girls when they were 19-20ish. It has not been a issue for us, since my girls and I sincerely like to hang out together. They are old enough to go to shows and the adult section of the ship, so it has not been an issue. Neither enjoyed the 1020 society and never went back after the initial meet and greet. I guess it just depends upon the "kid".

 

[HappyontheLake]

Just got off the 7 days western med (Barcelona to Dover - July) and according to the daughters of couple of parents we met, there were approx. 70 young adults in the 1820 society first night get together. One of the girls told me that they sort of sat around together and the counselor didn't do any ice breakers but after awhile they all started interacting/talking and it ended up a success. She said she had loads of fun on the cruise due to the people she met. A mom for another girl said that her daughter was having so much fun through the 1820 crowd (saw her in a group of boys and girls walking around the ship a few times). I think they are all there to meet each other and have fun. Also, on our last cruise last year which was a 10 day Med in July, I saw about 40 kids at the 1820 society first night social by the adult pool bar and they were a buzz with talking and socializing. I think there is definitely a good amount people that would be interested in a dedicated space for the 1820 crowd (this was the exact feedback I got from couple of the parents and their 18-20 kids). I wrote down this as a need (dedicated 1820 space) on the comment card and a few of the other parents were also interested and said they wrote this on their comment card. I think if enough people write the need for a dedicated 1820 space, it may happen on the newer ships.

If I heard the concierge hosts correctly on our cruise a couple weeks ago, the new ships will have a dedicated space for the 1820 society