Teen Program

We have sailed on Royal Caribbean in the past, and the teen program is hit or miss. On one cruise, our son had a blast running around with about 15 kids, most of them British. But, on a 4-night cruise out of Miami, virtually every teen event was cancelled, due to lack of interest. It made for one unhappy kid.

What is the teen program like on Celebrity? Is it more structured than on RC?

It seems like that RC was a lot of watching movies, hanging out in the arcade, or playing table tennis, basketball or soccer.

We have sailed on Royal Caribbean in the past, and the teen program is hit or miss. On one cruise, our son had a blast running around with about 15 kids, most of them British. But, on a 4-night cruise out of Miami, virtually every teen event was cancelled, due to lack of interest. It made for one unhappy kid.

 

What is the teen program like on Celebrity? Is it more structured than on RC?

 

It seems like that RC was a lot of watching movies, hanging out in the arcade, or playing table tennis, basketball or soccer.

For young adults, Celebrity offers the ultimate hangout place for teens, featuring social activities,the newest gaming consoles and titles, sports activities, even teens-only late night dances. All activities are hosted and supervised by Youth Counselors. Teen events and activities are set up so teens can join in all day or come and go as they choose.

Love that the "official" response leaves out the part about how they cancel everything if there aren't enough people interested.

RCL attracts more families so that you found that there were more teens is not surprising. A 4-night cruise from Miami on Celebrity would typically be a party cruise with very few families. I think that's the major difference you noticed. Lots of other variables would include time of year and itinerary.

Four night cruises are NOT family cruises, so it's not surprising that there wasn't a good teen club. As far as Celebrity is concerned, they don't attract nearly the amount of families as Royal Caribbean. And, their activities aren't all that structured as you might think. To be honest, most teens find the organized activities to be rather lame, so they tend to just hang out together. Another thing is when you plan to cruise. If it's during times when school is in session, you'll find very few school age kids on Celebrity.

Actually, when we sailed on the Majesty out of Miami, it was during spring break. A crew member said that there were about 800 passengers under the age of 18.

My thinking is that so many large family groups were on the ship that teens felt no need to go to the teen club. If several siblings and their spouses and children are sailing together, the teens already had a group to hang out with, just among the siblings/cousins.

We have sailed on Royal Caribbean in the past, and the teen program is hit or miss. On one cruise, our son had a blast running around with about 15 kids, most of them British. But, on a 4-night cruise out of Miami, virtually every teen event was cancelled, due to lack of interest. It made for one unhappy kid.

 

What is the teen program like on Celebrity? Is it more structured than on RC?

 

It seems like that RC was a lot of watching movies, hanging out in the arcade, or playing table tennis, basketball or soccer.

I think the biggest advantage of RC over X for teens is the range of venues to simply naturally meet...they queue up to rock climb and speak to the person in front who asks if they have tried the ice skating.....As someone else said teens often don't want structured activities, they are simply happy meeting and doing things.

There are far fewer children generally on X, have you thought about taking a friend/cousin with you?

Our teen grandchildren have told us that on Celebrity the planned activity is often cancelled because enough others don't show up.

We were on the Eclipse in the Baltics last summer for 14 nights. Our 15 year old daughter found many kids to hang out with. She went to the teen club and met friends there, then they would go eat or swim or go to the Skyline Lounge for music trivia (they only won the Disney one).

She had a great time, met a lot of kids particularly from the UK and Australia.

They stayed out late every night (but not the roaming packs of teens you hear about).

I think it depends on the time of year and the itinerary whether there will be lots of kids on board.

BTW, my other daughter, who turned 18 last year, has never had any interest in any kids programs whether it was Princess, Disney or Celebrity. So a lot depends on the kid.

JoAnn

Has anyone been on a cruise out of Bayonne and have luck with some teens for your children. I'm hoping there are a few.