What is there to do onboard for an 18 year old?

[hrmkr]

Hello everyone,

 

It has been a few years since taking our last cruise but thinking of booking another one.

 

My concern is what will my 18 year old son do onboard ? He will be in his first year of college and we were thinking of cruising in early-mid January while he is on Winter break missing all of the headache of Christmas break when all of the younger kids will be onboard. Also, cheaper prices. I am guessing that there may not be that many people his age on the ship.

 

He is at the in between age of too old for Kids club but not old enough to do adult activities. He will not be allowed in the casino and can't drink in the bars. Worried he would not have a good time.

[njmomof2]

If you're sailing the Caribbean, he will be allowed in the casino. It's 18 in the Caribbean, 21 in Alaska. So that's something he might enjoy.

 

I guess the question is...what did he do before he turned 18? Was he a big teen club user? Most of the older teens I have noticed have only used the club as a meeting point, then go off on their own with others their age. My older son, who turned 18 in February, hasn't used the club in years. We sail Royal so he's on the flowrider most of the time, but he's met others on the sports court, or out and about. I think the only difference between 17 and 18 is the lack of ability to use the clubs as an option to meet others.

 

Yes, more than likely early January will not have as many kids, so that is something you need to consider if he's not going to be happy just relaxing and hanging out. As to drinking, he couldn't do that at 17 and won't be able to until 21, so being 18 doesn't change much there.

[hrmkr]

Thanks for the info about the casinos.

 

When we cruised before, he hung out with people he met from the club. We never saw him other than dinner and when it was curfew time to be back in the cabin at night. he loved having the freedom to be on his own. He is a good kid and I knew I didn't have to worry about him being a hoodlum terrorizing the other passengers.

 

My biggest concern is the lack of kids his age.

[SadieN]

At 18 they can do everything but drink and go to the Serenity. There will be some his age, just needs to keep his eyes open.

 

They really did try to do get togethers for the 18-20 crowd. We made it a point to see if anyone was at these on our past cruises (5 between October and March, all on the Miracle). It was rare to see more than 2 as we passed by.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[Galatz]

An 18 year old boy? I expect he will be spending most of his time watching girls by the pool :D

[WendyVF]

Our children were like yours where they met other through the kids clubs and we only saw them at dinner. Since they have been 18, we make sure to always cruise with other families so they would know others their age and have someone to hang out with. There will be very few his age cruising during that time period. A lot of colleges start back up the week after New Year's.

 

If this is the only time you can travel, I'd suggest a port intensive cruise.

[65stang]

Hello everyone,

 

It has been a few years since taking our last cruise but thinking of booking another one.

 

My concern is what will my 18 year old son do onboard ? He will be in his first year of college and we were thinking of cruising in early-mid January while he is on Winter break missing all of the headache of Christmas break when all of the younger kids will be onboard. Also, cheaper prices. I am guessing that there may not be that many people his age on the ship.

 

He is at the in between age of too old for Kids club but not old enough to do adult activities. He will not be allowed in the casino and can't drink in the bars. Worried he would not have a good time.

 

This is a very subjective question. It is going to depend very much on your son. We went on a cruise with our 3 kids, one was 18 one was 16 and the youngest was 9. Our 9 y/o had a blast at the kids club and still stays in touch with some of the kids she met at the club. Our 17 y/o also loved the teen club and keeps in contact with a few of the kids he met at the club. Our 18 y/o for some reason isn't the most outgoing when it comes to meeting people so she spent a lot of time in the room or just sitting on deck. A few of the nights she went with us to the adult shows and had fun. So the big question is what type of person is your son. You have obviously cruised as an adult, what do you do for fun? The only 2 things that he won't be able to do is go to Serenity and drink alcohol. As soon as the casinos open the ship is in international waters and the gambling age is 18.

[Salt Wind]

An 18 year old boy? I expect he will be spending most of his time watching girls by the pool :D

 

Right, while periodically disappearing to the toilet!!! :D:D:D Have fun, kid!! :p:p

[hrmkr]

My son is outgoing. He will have no problems meeting people. He will definitely be "sightseeing" by the pool:) I know he can go with us to the shows but he may not enjoy hanging out with mom and dad a lot of the time.

 

I guess there is no way to ask carnival if there will be many people his age on the ship before we book?

[cookiejarvis]

He needs to sit on the edge of the pool everyday during peek sun hours (11-2) and strike up conversations with the other young adults. Then they make plans to meet up after dinner. They go the karoke, the dance club, adult comedy show, sports deck, and even the casino. My daughters have always found some people to hang out with in the evenings. Our youngest daughter is in college and has gone on the last three New Years Cruises during her winter break. She loves it. Your son will love it too.

[louanne93]

We took our twin 17 year olds last month and they had a blast! They went to the comedy club, sang karaoke, watched sports at the bars, hung out at the pool, and ate... A LOT! If there was only one of them, I would consider bringing a friend to hang out with (that's just me).

[hockeymom15]

Hello everyone,

 

It has been a few years since taking our last cruise but thinking of booking another one.

 

My concern is what will my 18 year old son do onboard ? He will be in his first year of college and we were thinking of cruising in early-mid January while he is on Winter break missing all of the headache of Christmas break when all of the younger kids will be onboard. Also, cheaper prices. I am guessing that there may not be that many people his age on the ship.

 

He is at the in between age of too old for Kids club but not old enough to do adult activities. He will not be allowed in the casino and can't drink in the bars. Worried he would not have a good time.

 

Hello , Can I make a suggestion . I have been cruising with my kids since they were little . they are now 25 & 22 and platinum . When they were at this in between age , I emailed the Matre'd and asked him to seat us at dinner with other people who had children the same age. This way they met someone the first or second night depending on who came to dinner the first night. It has been awesome and worked out very well . Of course this only works if you eat in MDR . My kids have met along of people along the way and kept in touch with many of them . Hope this helps

[hrmkr]

Hockeymom.

 

Thank you for the idea of contacting the Maitre De.

 

Does anyone know if I contact Carnival if they would tell me approximately how many people in that age group are on the ship before we book?

[hrmkr]

for everyone else's information, I contacted Carnival and they said there is no way for them to tell how many people of a certain age group are booked on a cruise. Oh well, it was worth a try.

[eedee]

We did a back to back when my son turned 18. They have a meet and greet for this age group at the beginning of the cruise. If enough youths show up they will create a club for them. The first cruise only two youths showed up. The second cruise my son was the only one who showed up. I asked the cruise director about activities for my son. He said unfortunately my son is caught up in that on between age but he didn't really answer my question.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[PAPERBKWRITER]

Join the roll call and put your son's age out there. Also, I see a lot of kids hanging out around the basketball court late mornings. If he looks for kids his own age he'll find them. They want to make new friends too.

[klfrodo]

He's an 18 year old young man in college.

He neither needs or wants mom worrying about what he's going to do or who he's going to hang with.

 

If he wants to hang with mom and dad, cool, enjoy it while it lasts. If he wants to hook up with someone, that's cool too.

 

It should be just as if you were going with another couple your own age. You all either hang together or go separate ways and enjoy each others time together later during dinner

[poz222]

The I between age is rough. Many times, the first day they have an independent meet and greet at like 9pm at the coffee bar... They just stand around (nobody is there) but if one of them starts talking to another (usually the conversation is like "wow, this meetup sucks, yes, totally lame") but it is a conmection... Then they just make their own plans to meet up... Make sure he does not skip this first (and usually ONLY) meetup the first night (even if it means missing dinner)... It is when groups are formed!

 

The other place is to hang at the sports court... There are ALWAYS guys playing basketball etc... He gets into a pick up game and makes a conmection... Once he meets one guy, the squad is formed and they will hang out... There will be fewer kids on that time of year, so running across the same guys (especially at the courts) should be easy...