yazeee1

Being that it is Spring Break week, if there are too many kids, they might not let her join :(

...

BUT.... if she can't join the club because there are too many teens to be lax with with age limit policy, she's probably not going to be the only 18 year old denied access to the club. So, there's a chance she's going to be in good company. I'm wondering if it is possible that without her more assertive cousins along she may be a different person when it comes to making new friends. I know it's a trite expression but neccessity is the mother of invention. If she doesn't want to be alone or "stuck" hanging with her parents, she may just have to reinvent herself. As her mother, what do you think? Will she strike out on her own?

Well I didn't drink until I was 21....didn't have the opportunity plus my mom would have smelled it a mile away....and it didn't make me go wild once I was 21 like everyone says happens....in fact I still don't like the taste of it.

Same here as far as not having a drink until after age 18 and not liking the taste. As for my mom catching me, we were allowed to have a drink at family gatherings. I didn't want one.

Furthermore, I beg to differ with the person who implied that every parent who thinks his (or her) 18 year old doesn't drink has his head in the sand. That's saying ALL 18 years old drink whether I, as a parent, want to face it or not. I didn't and neither did Name of the Game. I know for a fact that we weren't the only two to abstain. That's just an impossibility since I, for one, had a lot of friends in high school and a bunch in college who didn't drink. On a greater scale, over 3 million kids in the US graduated from high school last year. Nearly all of them were 18 years old at some time during the school year. If even 25% of every graduating class in the US did not drink, you're still looking at about 750,000 18-year olds teetotalers. If you throw in the admittedly rare college freshman who is also 18 years old and doesn't drink, you have about a million 18-year olds whose parents are not deceiving themselves when they assert that their kids haven't had a drink.

What the heck? I know I posted a big thank this afternoon to everyone who shared their ideas and experiences, and now that post, as well as a few others are gone. If this post does actually show up on the thread, I repeat, thank you for your help. I was especially touched by the idea of picking up a thing or two from the store for a crew member who would otherwise have to do it with the little in-port time crew member receive. Acts of service is my primary "love language".

I wish I could help with the ideas for a care package. I don't know one of these is too big to consider, but what about including an attactive (or cute, or unique) writing journal?

Phone cards and weed. :)

 

you cannot go wrong.

LMAO If only....

Thank you for all the replies except for the rude question about how much we tip. That's an especially interesting bit of information about the phonecards not being useable in all ports.

As for the oddball question as to whether I am affiliated with Disney. What is your reason for asking, and what is so strange about a family having taken four cruises with the same cruiseline? The only reason we're going on NCL this time is because my father is taking us, and he likes Norwegian. For the record, no, I am not affiliated with Disney. Our family has never even been to Disney World.

On previous cruises, all of which were with DCL, the service was exceptional. We're not demanding people, but neither are we shy about asking for what we want, so we made sure to tip generously. We also brought with us small gifts of phone cards for our room steward and candy for the children's program staff. Candy and phone cards seemed to be the most popular items to bring. Is the same true on NCL? Do people give especially appreciated staff members gifts other than tipping generously? Are phone cards still a desirable offering?

I'll ask, and see what happens. We can handle no, and it may work out for the best. You know what they say about one door closing and another door opening.

This question is for those who have cruised on NCL with a 9 year old who is close to 10 years old and who did not want to be grouped in with the 6-9 year old children's group. Did you ask that your child be grouped with the 10-12 year olds? If so, how was your request received? On DCL, the practice is to allow a child close to the maximum age for one group to move up to the next group if the parents request it. I'm not saying it's a policy to do, since I don't know that to be true, but it does happen very often. I'm wondering if the situation is the same on NCL.

Please, only reply to this question if you have personally dealt with this kind of situation on a NCL cruise.