Cruising with Teens

DH and I have been on several cruises, and we our taking our kids (DS 16, DD 14, DS 13, and DD 12) with us for the first time next week. Any suggestions from those of you who have cruised with teens?!?

Watch them well ..

DH and I have been on several cruises, and we our taking our kids (DS 16, DD 14, DS 13, and DD 12) with us for the first time next week. Any suggestions from those of you who have cruised with teens?!?

With our 2 kids we did the buddy system. If they wanted to get away from the parents, they went together. We also agreed upon a time when they would be back. If they wanted to stay out longer, then they had to check in and get permission. Most ships do have curfew for those under 18.

We also had connecting cabins and that was nice.

It always worked well for us. And no complaints from the kids.

Your ship will also have programs geared towards their ages and they'll quickly make friends.

My son is 14 now and an only child. We set expectations and ground rules before we get on the ship. And even though we have cruised before we remind him each time. He has no problem adhering to our rules, but it's odd not being able to just text him and say "where are you." Technology makes it easy for us to communicate with him at home, since the phones go in the safe and get turned off on the ship we rely on agreed meeting times and notes when appropriate.

Our son makes friends easily and normally ends up finding one or two people he enjoys being around and they stick together, but this is on longer cruises, normally a 7 day. On the 2 day cruise in May he stayed with us a lot except when we went to the solarium and then he would hit the arcade or get ice-cream and play games or read out on the balcony in our room or on a deck near the pizza bar (teenager!).

There are teen programs on most ships, and our son participates in some of the ones that interest him. He gets 2 of the same schedule and picks the activities he wants to do and we keep a copy as well so we know where he his during those times. Considering the age ranges of the teens with you, they may be in different programs.

I'm sure you will all have a great time! Happy Cruising!

Go over rules with them and be sure that you have set times to meet up.

K

Thank you for all of the good advice - keep it coming!

My kids are now 19 and 16 and have been on 10 cruises since they were 7 and 4. During the teen years we have always had 2 rooms either next door or across the hall from us, usually close to the stairwell so they did not need to go through hallways of rooms to get anywhere. Our rules during the teen years have been:

1. Do not go into anyone else room.

2. Do not allow anyone else in your room.

3. Do not accept a drink from a stranger and do not leave your drink unattended.

4. Always let us know where you are going and we always tell them where we will be. If that changes then find the other party to inform them.

5. Stick together unless doing a short snack/drink run.

6. Never get off the ship without us.

Our kids never got into doing the kids/teen clubs and preferred to hang out with us. By my choice we had dinner together and did excursions together. By their choice we went to our evening entertainment and afternoon things like trivia, bingo, and dance classes together. We've also spent a lot of time on the Promenade and Lido decks playing cards together as a family.

I have never put spending limits on their card, nor have I limited what they could purchase, but I've never had a reason to. They think the games in the arcade are lame and wait until they are with us to purchase anything (letting us do the buying). DD will on occasion go get a virgin drink but usually she is with us and she "lets" me purchase it.

Cruising has always been a great family vacation for us and we all have a great time reconnecting with each other since we are all so busy doing our own things at home.