Magic - what to do in evenings? With tweens

[martikus]

We are thinking of trying our first carnival cruise. We Usually do royal, but we’ve also enjoyed norweigen and Disney.  We are wondering what you do in evenings with tweens?  On royal we enjoy watching the shows, whether variety or ice show etc.  I couldn’t find any recent fun times.  Will we be bored after dinner?  Are there movies by the pool every night?

[cruizergal70]

There are shows, the kids/teen club, movies, the arcade, family friendly comedy show, deck party, karaoke etc.

[Joe817]

1 hour ago, martikus said:

We are thinking of trying our first carnival cruise. We Usually do royal, but we’ve also enjoyed norweigen and Disney.  We are wondering what you do in evenings with tweens?  On royal we enjoy watching the shows, whether variety or ice show etc.  I couldn’t find any recent fun times.  Will we be bored after dinner?  Are there movies by the pool every night?

Yes, there are "Dive In Movies" every night at the pool. The kids love them, while parents on the loungers and the kids in the pool, watch some pretty good family geared movies. Popcorn is available, while the bar by the pool is still open.

[Out of Iowa]

Dining with us for dinner in MDR was mandatory.  After that, it was more likely our kids would go to Club 02 (or their appropriate one) and find their friends.  We had to make a point of including them - or they would find "more fun" things to do while the parents were left to decide what to see/do.

[kctwinmommy]

So when we go with our teenager, who was a tween for his first one, we did the early dining so we'd be done by 730-8:00, I forget exactly. He'd have the day to hang out with friends, or we'd be off the ship together. Then we'd do dinner in the MDR, and afterwards, he was free to go hang with friends again. Most of the families with tweens seemed to eat early for this reason. He was in Circle C for all his cruises (like 4 in those 2 years). But he always went the first night - highly recommended by most people, and that's when he got to meet the other kids who would be there for the week. It gave him a chance to connect with a group of people and then they would hang out all week. Usually in the club, playing games, or at the pool, or the Lido deck eating, things like that.

 

We always laid ground rules before hand. He needed to check in with us on occasion, it's actually not that hard to run into each other on the ships in general. Or he'd leave a note in the room. Other rules were the standard things of being polite, not being completely obnoxious (but I get a group of teens can be loud and have fun). We also told him no going into places he doesn't belong, no other people's rooms, and nobody in our room. He never had any problems, he did everything we asked, and had a great time!

[kctwinmommy]

I should also add that there are shows that the kids sometimes enjoy, broadway style shows, and there are often comedy shows for the younger set as well.

[BNBR]

I can't give too many specifics as I didn't get all the info... teenage girl and all... but we recently went on Magic and my 13 year old niece hated it.  Said the stuff for her age group was awful and wished she was on Royal.  She was miserable almost the entire cruise, and she absolutely loves all the teen stuff on Royal.

[sprint180]

Our kids did the same things we did.  Movies, karaoke, shows.  They had a blast.

 

[teknoge3k]

My kids have never been bored on a Carnival ship. Ever since my oldest was around 12, he would wake up early in the morning and we wouldn't see him again until he came in around midnight to go to bed, with the occasional passing around the ship. Rinse, and repeat. He's always had a blast. Whether he was at a dive in movie, the comedy club, the arcade, camped out at an ice cream machine, pizza, a show or just hanging out with people he meets around the ship. 

[Pug Lady]

I have two sons, ages 14 and 11.  They had fun, but their main complaint was that the basketball court closed at sundown.  They would play basketball 24/7 if they could.  On Royal, the court would stay open until 10:00 pm, so closing at sundown doesn't give a lot of play time.  Especially if you are in port all day, then going to dinner at 6:00.  But other than that, they played a lot of putt putt and Foosball.  They also enjoyed the dive in movies by the pool.

[kctwinmommy]

8 hours ago, teknoge3k said:

My kids have never been bored on a Carnival ship. Ever since my oldest was around 12, he would wake up early in the morning and we wouldn't see him again until he came in around midnight to go to bed, with the occasional passing around the ship. Rinse, and repeat. He's always had a blast. Whether he was at a dive in movie, the comedy club, the arcade, camped out at an ice cream machine, pizza, a show or just hanging out with people he meets around the ship. 

 

Same with mine! He was between 12 & 14 on his 4 cruises and had a great time on all the Carnival ones, and his one Royal one as well. He found that things were pretty similar between Carnival and Royal, to be honest. He said that both would have things set up, but then depending on the kids who were there, they could change, and often did.

[CheckersMidwest]

Agree - we wish the basketball court was open later. However, I think it is above the steakhouse on some. The bouncing is really loud. But they could reopen after dinner hours.

[serene56]

On 8/11/2019 at 7:28 PM, BNBR said:

I can't give too many specifics as I didn't get all the info... teenage girl and all... but we recently went on Magic and my 13 year old niece hated it.  Said the stuff for her age group was awful and wished she was on Royal.  She was miserable almost the entire cruise, and she absolutely loves all the teen stuff on Royal.

did she go to the orientation the first night?   Stay for ice breakers?     this is VERY important.     But there is family friendly comedy show at 7:30    the singing show at 8:30    Movies under the stars.

Carnival and Royal is so much alike. 

 

[BNBR]

18 minutes ago, serene56 said:

did she go to the orientation the first night?   Stay for ice breakers?     this is VERY important.     But there is family friendly comedy show at 7:30    the singing show at 8:30    Movies under the stars.

Carnival and Royal is so much alike. 

 

 

Yup, she did. And that's when she determined she hated it and was a 13 year old teenager the rest of the trip, lol. She says it's not the same, her mom explained it a bit also but I don't remember all the details. But it was clear that she felt Royal was much better for that age group and there were some reasons that I don't recall. 

[Ellaleah]

I will be taking my granddaughters on the Magic, 12/20.  They will have just turned 18.  Do they have any meet ups/mixers for kids that age?

[teknoge3k]

12 hours ago, Ellaleah said:

I will be taking my granddaughters on the Magic, 12/20.  They will have just turned 18.  Do they have any meet ups/mixers for kids that age?

 

At 18 years old, they're adults, not kids. They can meet people at any of the night clubs or casino. (or comedy club, or anywhere else)

[Marauder40]

Just got off the Magic on Saturday.  Had a 15 year old girl and an 11 year old boy.  The 11 year old HATED the kid's club because he was the upper end of the Shark range.  He said every time he went to the Kid's club everything was geared towards the 9 year olds in the lower end of the range.  

 

He loved the Sky Course.  He loved the water slides.  In the evenings he liked going to the PG comedy club showings, the Hasbro game night (my daughter was selected for the show) and the Flick show in the main showroom.  He wasn't a big fan of the America Rocks show. He quickly got bored with the Dive-in movies.  We had late dining so didn't really have to entertain him for long in the evening before he got so tired he wanted to go to bed.  Any other specific questions feel free to ask.

Edited August 19, 2019 by Marauder40