Teen experiences on Euro/Med cruises? plz

[kimanjo]

For any parent of a teen (or teen him/herself) who has cruised Europe...

How much time was actually spent in the "Kid's Club/Teen Center"? Was the trip so port intensive (and so tiring) that the teen didn't make use of the facilities? Were any friendships made onboard--or again, was so everyone so busy that there was little time for onboard socializing?

Next summer daughter will be almost-but-not-quite 13, which means that on Celebrity abnd Princess ships she would be relegated to the 10-12 age group clubs--NOT an idea to her liking, as we recently cruised Caribbean Princess (a great ship notwithstanding) but she, along with the majority of 12 yr-old girls, were not impressed with the 10-12 age group as the activities were geared towards the 10-year olds, so the 12 year-old girls ended up pretty much by themselves and never going to the Kid's Club.

Our options, therefore, would be Royal Caribbean (12-14 age group) and Carnival (12-15 age group). HAL might be useful if I can figure out what the age grouping is!

But again, are the children's facilties used at all? Thanks for ANY help, KIM

[doone]

We sailed the Baltics on the Amsterdam a couple of years ago. Very few kids, maybe a handful. The Baltics cruise was very port intensive, we were exhausted. They did have Club HAL activities, we did see the counsellors with the children, they seemed to be having fun, but again, a very port intensive cruise. Also, we sailed from Harwich, England, we lost 5 1/2 hours there, and seemed to be loosing an hour here and there til we hit St. Petersburg, Russia, we lost a total of 9 hours, so to say the least, we were exhausted.

This was an excellent itinerary and my favorite cruise so far. To take kids on this itinerary I think is great, they will learn so much, but its very tiring at the same time. I would think little kids would be hard, but older children would certainly enjoy it.

HAL is very strict on the age thing with Club HAL, or at least they were when my nieces and nephews sailed the Veendam to the caribbean.

Hope this helps.