Cruising with mixed age teens -- 17 thru 21

[3kidsncats]

So I've been doing searches and reading threads on the topic of 18-20 year olds, and they are all fairly old threads -- from 2008 to 2013 that I saw. So decided to create a new thread in hopes of getting some input from more recent NCL cruisers.

 

We will be traveling on the Jewel the first week of January. Our 14 year old will have a lot of fun in the teen club, and I'm not worried about her so much, as I'm confident the activities will engage her. But, my 17 year old DD and 19 yo DD (both having birthdays just after the cruise) are very close and like to do stuff together (they are even attending the same university). Plus my 19 yo's BF will have just turned 21 when we sail and the three of them will want to do stuff together in the evenings. My 17 yo is actually starting college next month, as she skipped 1st grade, so she essentially lives the life of an 18 yo. Obviously NCL won't care about that -- only her birthdate.

 

So my concern is that at midnight, or 11 pm (I know there is a curfew of some sort) my 17 year old is going to get booted from any dance/hangout venues that the older two will be able to attend and this will be a disappointment to all of them. I'm curious if any other cruisers have found the line to be super strict on this, or if there is a chance the 17 yo will be able to enjoy these activities with the older two? None of them has much interest in drinking and they are all really great, well-behaved kids -- they will just want to be doing stuff together and it's quite frustrating to think there may be arbitrary policies that will prevent them from enjoying the trip together, at least after hours.

 

Would love to hear any experiences others have had with this scenario.

[rvsullivan]

The 21 year old boyfriend can do anything he wants. The 19 year old can have beer and wine only if you sign her up. The 17 year old is out of luck. She can go anywhere they can until curfew, which I think is no 1am. Casino is over 18 so no go there. Be sure they know it can be a big issue if the boyfriend tries to buy them drinks and gets caught. Otherwise the three of them can go anywhere they want until 1am. Shows, dancing etc are all ok.

[61bluesman]

So my concern is that at midnight, or 11 pm (I know there is a curfew of some sort) my 17 year old is going to get booted from any dance/hangout venues that the older two will be able to attend and this will be a disappointment to all of them.

 

The official NCL policy from their website is:

Children under the age of 17 are not allowed unaccompanied by an adult after 1:00 am.

 

It would seem that this curfew does not apply to your daughter as she is 17.

[3kidsncats]

The 21 year old boyfriend can do anything he wants. The 19 year old can have beer and wine only if you sign her up. The 17 year old is out of luck. She can go anywhere they can until curfew, which I think is no 1am. Casino is over 18 so no go there. Be sure they know it can be a big issue if the boyfriend tries to buy them drinks and gets caught. .

 

Alcohol is definitely not the issue. My 19 yo really doesn't like it at all. I told her I would do the form so she can buy wine or beer, but she doesn't like either. She asked if she could get virgin fruity drinks, and I said no problem. The BF is also not really into drinking so even though he can buy whatever he wants, I doubt he'll be indulging much if at all.

 

The core issue is them wanting to be hanging out in a fun area with music for their age range, etc.

[Jane Don]

You should read this review, very recent, by a beautiful 17 year old on the Gem. She talks about all things social. She mentions that some kids who have aged out of teen club (18-20) would just show up to the events and join the rest.

 

She is very articulate and includes lots of pics. Enjoy.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2228155&highlight=gem

[3kidsncats]

The official NCL policy from their website is:

Children under the age of 17 are not allowed unaccompanied by an adult after 1:00 am.

 

It would seem that this curfew does not apply to your daughter as she is 17.

 

That is excellent news, although in the old threads 18 was the mentioned cutoff age. But that's partially why I started a new thread, because policies change

[3kidsncats]

You should read this review, very recent, by a beautiful 17 year old on the Gem. She talks about all things social. She mentions that some kids who have aged out of teen club (18-20) would just show up to the events and join the rest.

 

She is very articulate and includes lots of pics. Enjoy.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2228155&highlight=gem

 

Thanks so much for sharing this review -- you are correct, she is delightfully articulate and it was a great read. And helpful. It sounds like my middle DD may get kicked out of some of the clubs, but since the BF will be 21, and officially a full-fledged adult, his presence will allow my 17 yo to hang out after 1 am if they want to go to O'Sheehans or something like that, since the policy says she will need to be accompanied by an "adult" not a parent. Definitely makes me feel better about the age issue and how they can work around it without violating any policies.

[SVMurcielago]

I was 17 when I was on the breakaway a few years back and had no problem ordering a pizza delivery at 2am at O'sheehans. I was with adults though.

[luvtovaca]

We are just off the Getaway with our 17 yo DD. This was her first cruise without her older siblings. They always had a blast in the teen clubs together on Carnival, but again they were together. She did not enjoy the teen club on NCL perhaps because her brothers weren't there, but she said there just wasn't much other than "hanging out" going on. She spent about 70% of her time with us, maybe a bit more, compared to other cruises where we had to enforce them at least eating dinner with us! She adhered to the 1 am curfew and we always met in the room at 1. She did say others would leave Entourage teen club at 1 when it closed and not return to their parents. She didn't know how/what they were doing getting around after curfew. I would guess your 17 yo will have more fun with her sibling and siblings BF than at the club! If your ship has Howl at the Moon dueling pianos it was great fun for that age group. Even though it said adults after 11 many kids were there with parents and really enjoying!

[Jenjer]

They don't go around checking I.D.'s. If your 17 Yo DD is behaving herself as I assume she will be there won't be a issue with her enjoying her vacation with her sisters.

 

My 12 YO blew curfew out of the water both ship and personal. No one found her and her "cohorts" I assume security would have eventually found her but she came running down to guest services right after security started searching at 2:30 am. The security teams went straight to all of the bars and clubs before starting a "top to bottom search".

 

She had gone to the room and her brother told her we had gone to ship security. She was in the card room (on RCCL Quantum). I had never thought of it before but its a quiet out of the away place the kids could hang out without people around. No she didn't do anything bad except miss her curfew and give us heart attacks.

[3kidsncats]

@luvtovaca -- I have no doubt you are right -- middle DD will be more interested in doing stuff with them than the club, particularly if the sailing we are on (first week of January) doesn't have a lot of kids in their age range.

 

I was watching a video of our category cabin, and it included the courtyard and villa lounge (we scored a Haven family suite during a great promo). It occurred to me that they will also have the courtyard and lounge access. Great hangout options for them. I can easily see them playing Apples to Apples in the lounge at night.

 

@Jenjer -- I can imagine you must have been frantic! I know I would have been getting close, if not full blown. And how easily it could happen -- kids just casually hanging out and not noticing how late it is.

 

It sounds like sometimes there is id checking going on, and that possibly some staff don't understand the language of the curfew policy -- that UNDER 17 has to be in at 1 am. I'm keeping fingers crossed that our trip includes some staff who don't feel like hounding kids who are behaving well.

[mjkacmom]

They don't go around checking I.D.'s. If your 17 Yo DD is behaving herself as I assume she will be there won't be a issue with her enjoying her vacation with her sisters.

 

My 12 YO blew curfew out of the water both ship and personal. No one found her and her "cohorts" I assume security would have eventually found her but she came running down to guest services right after security started searching at 2:30 am. The security teams went straight to all of the bars and clubs before starting a "top to bottom search".

 

She had gone to the room and her brother told her we had gone to ship security. She was in the card room (on RCCL Quantum). I had never thought of it before but its a quiet out of the away place the kids could hang out without people around. No she didn't do anything bad except miss her curfew and give us heart attacks.

 

Dd19 did that to us when she was 14. She had always been good about curfew and was a rule follower, so we fell asleep. I woke up at 4 am, and she wasn't in the cabin. DH found her (and a bunch of other teens) chatting on the pool deck. On our next cruise, she was 17, her brother 15, and we tried so hard to enforce curfew, but by the last night, gave in.

[quercus alba]

On Pearl this summer they've had 18-25 "College Crowd" socials almost nightly--I'm pretty sure a well-behaved mature 17 y/o would be allowed to stay and hang out, especially coming in with older members of their party. They weren't checking ID, though obviously under 21s couldn't order alcohol. My 23 & 20 y/o enjoyed it.

Edited August 6, 2015 by quercus alba

[zqvol]

Alcohol is definitely not the issue. My 19 yo really doesn't like it at all. I told her I would do the form so she can buy wine or beer, but she doesn't like either. She asked if she could get virgin fruity drinks, and I said no problem. The BF is also not really into drinking so even though he can buy whatever he wants, I doubt he'll be indulging much if at all.

 

The core issue is them wanting to be hanging out in a fun area with music for their age range, etc.

 

 

They will not have any problems hanging out together. Remember that the BF and the older daughter are "adults" and as long as the younger one is with them there will not be any issue unless they are causing problems (which based on your descriptions is not an issue).

[Gershep]

On the Breakaway during the College age social there were teens, 15-16 year olds which were disappointing to the college aged people. On the Gem this past June there were people under 18 hanging out in Bliss with older people and no one enforced the policy on either ship. Like another poster said if your daughter is behaving and not calling attention to herself she will be fine.

[3kidsncats]

I so hope the Jewel has some mixer for that age range -- we did pick the date because it's the only off season week that the three of them are home from college but it's not actually during the holiday. Maybe there will be a decent number of college students traveling at the same time.

 

Yeah, these kids are not the average, at least based on what I hear from my friends with similar age kids. They all three attended early college high school (the high school is on a community college campus) and got their AA's while in high school, so their personalities are more the responsible, take care of business types. They're human and enjoy a good time as much as anybody, but typical teen partying just doesn't seem to be of interest. At their age I was exploring a lot more, and I was pretty tame. My eldest actually come home from her first drinking experience and told me she really didn't like it. Even going away to college doesn't seem to have changed that. I thought she would be excited when I told her I could consent to allow her to have wine and beer on the trip -- she was more excited about the menus.

 

My middle DD is more adventurous, and I expect when she's a bit older she will indulge more, but again, she isn't the type to care all that much. She's going to be all over that rock climbing wall if it's open though.

[Jenjer]

Dd19 did that to us when she was 14. She had always been good about curfew and was a rule follower, so we fell asleep. I woke up at 4 am, and she wasn't in the cabin. DH found her (and a bunch of other teens) chatting on the pool deck. On our next cruise, she was 17, her brother 15, and we tried so hard to enforce curfew, but by the last night, gave in.

 

People who don't cruise don't understand the fast friendships these kids make in a week. Not all kids who break curfew are doing anything bad. I was worried to tell the story would get me flamed about being a bad mom.

 

Yes I was frantic I had to fill out a physical description card marking her moles and nail polish. While doing so another father came down his 13 YO DD was also missing. Terror absolute Terror was all I felt.

 

One of the officers gave her the best lectures ever about breaking trust. I was impressed and as we left the ship a few hours later the security staff said. "Good Bye Zoe we will not forget you" She gets so embarrassed when I tell the story. Best punishment ever.

 

 

She is a straight A honors kid who started playing boys water polo at 12. In fact the week before the cruise we where in California (live in Ohio) for her to compete at ODP Nationals. I Had booked the cruise long before she made the team.

[Jenjer]

I so hope the Jewel has some mixer for that age range -- we did pick the date because it's the only off season week that the three of them are home from college but it's not actually during the holiday. Maybe there will be a decent number of college students traveling at the same time.

 

Yeah, these kids are not the average, at least based on what I hear from my friends with similar age kids. They all three attended early college high school (the high school is on a community college campus) and got their AA's while in high school, so their personalities are more the responsible, take care of business types. They're human and enjoy a good time as much as anybody, but typical teen partying just doesn't seem to be of interest. At their age I was exploring a lot more, and I was pretty tame. My eldest actually come home from her first drinking experience and told me she really didn't like it. Even going away to college doesn't seem to have changed that. I thought she would be excited when I told her I could consent to allow her to have wine and beer on the trip -- she was more excited about the menus.

 

My middle DD is more adventurous, and I expect when she's a bit older she will indulge more, but again, she isn't the type to care all that much. She's going to be all over that rock climbing wall if it's open though.

 

I think your kids will have a great time and not have any issues enjoying themselves before or after curfew.

 

People may let go a little more on a cruise but they are the same. A "good kid" is not suddenly going to turn into a destructive party animal.

 

We have always enforced with our kids that a ship is a city and like every city there are helpful and hurtful people.

[3kidsncats]

Thanks Jenjer -- I wasn't at all worried about them until it dawned on me after reading things here on CC that their ages put them at odds with doing certain activities together.

 

Sounds like I don't need to worry too much