Does anyone else feel young teens program runs too late?

[MamaParrotHead]

If you think that's bad, have you heard about the one night Carnival's "late night party", for 9-11 year olds? Runs til 3:30 a.m. :eek: I let my DD participate, but went to get her at 1:15.

[Warmer Climes]

If you think that's bad, have you heard about the one night Carnival's "late night party", for 9-11 year olds? Runs til 3:30 a.m. :eek: I let my DD participate, but went to get her at 1:15.

 

One of the main reasons my DD (11) would NOT be at anything later than 11:00 on a ship would be that I would be asleep by then. Plus she would be so crabby the next day it would ruin a vacation day. She has asked us to stay later than 10 before but when DH went at 10 to ask if she wanted to leave she was tired and came back to the cabin. 11 is really different from 16 and she is 11.

[pg.]

If you think that's bad, have you heard about the one night Carnival's "late night party", for 9-11 year olds? Runs til 3:30 a.m. :eek: I let my DD participate, but went to get her at 1:15.

 

LOL<< yes, heard all about it,, read post on page one,, LOL

[pg.]

You are absolutely correct. If you can't trust your 13 year old to not sign herself out when told that is the rule' date=' I can completely understand your concern - I also would worry about her. I just don't understand how the program closing at the time you deem appropriate solves that problem.

Maybe if you tell her you'll be a) making calls to Remix to make sure she's there and b) doing surprise checks, she'll know she can't get away with breaking the rule, and then you can pick her up at the set time.

 

I hope you figure out a way to not have to worry.

 

Best,

Mia[/quote']

 

I trust my dd mostly,, she has never done anything wrong,, as I said, she is a straigh A student and a very nice girl.

 

I do not trust staff to know where kids are at any time though,, sine they do not have to sign out ,, they can just walk out.. and since some activities are SHIP WIDE ,, that means they can be anywhere.

 

Again,, do you have teens? Experience with the kiddy program is not same,, we have done that ,, and it was fine.

[A&Jfamily]

I can see you understand my issue a bit better then some.. and I do agree allowances can and should be made on vacations.. We gave our teen boys a 12 am curfew two years ago( 14 and 16yr old) and they thought that was great,, it was way later then home. But,, they were always together,, and my dd will be alone, so I do have some concerns that I didn't have with them.

 

 

If your older boys are travling with you, why don't you make them responsible for checking up on her - making sure that she stays at the function - and then walking her back to the cabin at whatever her curfew is?

[Kerry's Girls]

I trust my dd mostly,, she has never done anything wrong,, as I said, she is a straigh A student and a very nice girl.

 

I do not trust staff to know where kids are at any time though,, sine they do not have to sign out ,, they can just walk out.. and since some activities are SHIP WIDE ,, that means they can be anywhere.

 

Again,, do you have teens? Experience with the kiddy program is not same,, we have done that ,, and it was fine.

 

Like I said, since you can't trust your daughter and it seems have absolutely no way to check up on her, you clearly have a problem. I just don't see how closing the program earlier would solve that problem. If you can't trust her to participate in the program, don't let her participate. I just wouldn't expect the entire program to be adjusted because I can't trust my child.

 

Best,

Mia

[Onessa]

I trust my dd mostly,, she has never done anything wrong,, as I said, she is a straigh A student and a very nice girl. . . . Again,, do you have teens? Experience with the kiddy program is not same,, we have done that ,, and it was fine.

 

I've got a 14YO DD, who has been on four cruises with us since "aging out" of kids program and into Tween program.

 

DD is a great kid - who I do trust. We do set out rules for her behavior on cruises -- checkin times, where she can and cannot go, insist upon meeting the friends she meets on board, etc.

 

Set a curfew and checkin times for her -- set down rules and check in on her to make certain she is complying with them. If she misses curfew or check in or breaks a rule have penalties set up and carry through with the consequenses for her mis-actions.

 

If you don't think that will work for you, then keep your daughter with you and don't allow her to participate.

[pg.]

If your older boys are travling with you, why don't you make them responsible for checking up on her - making sure that she stays at the function - and then walking her back to the cabin at whatever her curfew is?

 

My OP does say , older brothers are not coming. If they were,, I would have no problems,, as they would watch out for her.

[pg.]

Like I said' date=' since you can't trust your daughter and it seems have absolutely no way to check up on her, you clearly have a problem. I just don't see how closing the program earlier would solve that problem. If you can't trust her to participate in the program, don't let her participate. I just wouldn't expect the entire program to be adjusted because I can't trust my child.

 

Best,

Mia[/quote']

 

Mia,, you seem to think I don't trust my child.. I do ,, she is a wonderful girl . I do not trust other people so easily.. especially low paid staff who are not going to with dd all the time.

 

I do not expect the programs to shut down, what I would allow a 17 yr old and what I would allow a 13 yr old are completely different. I don't recall saying that the programs need to shut down,, I thought a scheduling change maybe,, but mostly I asked opinions on how other parents felt. I did not say program should shut down at 10 now did I ??.. do you always make things up??

 

I thought that scheduling activities that late into the night for a YOUNGER teen is a bit much,, evidently YOU don't ,, good for you. Some parents do,, and my post was ASKING HOW OTHER PARENTS dealt with it..

I have had replies from parents of toddlers to kiddies,, only a few teen parents.. and yes, values are different,, but, I have gotten a few useful posts out of this,, so it was helpful to post , even though some posts were less then helpful.

[Kerry's Girls]

Mia,, you seem to think I don't trust my child.. I do ,, she is a wonderful girl . I do not trust other people so easily.. especially low paid staff who are not going to with dd all the time.

 

I do not expect the programs to shut down, what I would allow a 17 yr old and what I would allow a 13 yr old are completely different. I don't recall saying that the programs need to shut down,, I thought a scheduling change maybe,, but mostly I asked opinions on how other parents felt. I did not say program should shut down at 10 now did I ??.. do you always make things up??

 

I thought that scheduling activities that late into the night for a YOUNGER teen is a bit much,, evidently YOU don't ,, good for you. Some parents do,, and my post was ASKING HOW OTHER PARENTS dealt with it..

I have had replies from parents of toddlers to kiddies,, only a few teen parents.. and yes, values are different,, but, I have gotten a few useful posts out of this,, so it was helpful to post , even though some posts were less then helpful.

 

Yes, I see clearly now. It does take maturity.

 

Have a great cruise. The Sapphire is my favorite.

 

Best,

Mia

[WineDown17]

I completely "get" what the op is trying to convey. And I am a very conservative parent.

 

My DS had just turned 12 on our last cruise on X. Very few kids on the ship, and I had met the kids he was hanging out with. His curfew was 10pm most nights. 10:30 the night before a sea day.

 

Will probably apply same rules on X this fall.

 

Its for many reasons

 

I like to turn in early... we also have a 3 YO... so no sleeping in.. And I can not sleep if he is not home yet. One missed curfew- no more privileges the rest of the cruise. He did great.

 

But after those hours, (or even during) trouble can happen... I trust my son, but its not a risk I am personally willing to take. I would probably be even more nervous if I had a daughter...

 

On an RCCL cruise a few years back I saw YOUNG teens drinking.. not sure how they were getting the alcohol.. and one girl- mid teens- passed out cold on a deck chair with her skirt up in the air... I notified security.. who knows what someone could have done to her in that condition.

 

You hear all sorts of things like people slipping "rufies' in drinks.. a young teen could unwittingly be drugged outside of the kids club if they are of the age to sign in and out themselves.. thinking they are drinking a soda... doing nothing wrong and someone could drug them and do God knows what.

 

There are sick people in this world unfortunately.

 

Again, for me it is a risk thing.. but each parent has the latitude to make their own decisions.

[6rugrats]

Yes' date=' I see clearly now. It does take maturity.

[/quote']

 

I always enjoy your posts and sense of humor.

[junglejane]

I've been following this thread with interest. My DD's are now 13 and almost 9 (the younger one will have her birthday on our Spring Break cruise). Next month's cruise will be our first with a kid in the teen club.

 

Most of our cruises have been on Princess. Our usual pattern is for me to pick up the younger DD at 10 pm when the regular kids' program closes. Every once in a while she stays for the after hours party until 11 pm or so. Then she and I turn in for the night. Our older DD will stay out later, maybe as late as midnight, but certainly no later than DH stays up.

 

One thing I'm wondering from reading this thread: how supervised are the teen programs? I keep reading that they are more loosely structured than the kids program, but what does that mean exactly? Is there a responsible adult from the cruise line's youth program present or not? I can see that the cruise line may figure that it's better to have teens in a more supervised environment instead of roaming the ship on their own late at night. But not having cruised with a teen yet, I'm not sure how the teen programs even work. Can someone enlighten me?

[reallyitsmema]

I've been following this thread with interest. My DD's are now 13 and almost 9 (the younger one will have her birthday on our Spring Break cruise). Next month's cruise will be our first with a kid in the teen club.

 

Most of our cruises have been on Princess. Our usual pattern is for me to pick up the younger DD at 10 pm when the regular kids' program closes. Every once in a while she stays for the after hours party until 11 pm or so. Then she and I turn in for the night. Our older DD will stay out later, maybe as late as midnight, but certainly no later than DH stays up.

 

One thing I'm wondering from reading this thread: how supervised are the teen programs? I keep reading that they are more loosely structured than the kids program, but what does that mean exactly? Is there a responsible adult from the cruise line's youth program present or not? I can see that the cruise line may figure that it's better to have teens in a more supervised environment instead of roaming the ship on their own late at night. But not having cruised with a teen yet, I'm not sure how the teen programs even work. Can someone enlighten me?

From our experience, it is pretty unstructured. Our son has sailed with us twice on the Mariner of the Seas, at 16 and 17, which looks like the ship you are on next. RCI teen program has 12-14 and 15-17 age groups. They schedule individual activities for the two groups but at times will combine the two age groups during the day because of lack of participation. The younger teens might be in the living room doing their activity while the older group is in Fuel and vice versa.

 

There is supervision in the areas most of the time. If there is not going to be any supervision, it will be specifically stated in the kid's compass. For example, on some port days, there will be no supervision in the living room but the kids are free to go in and play foosball and hang out.

 

At night, the younger teens get Fuel early and the older teens get Fuel later until 1 or 2 am. They are very strict about not letting the younger teens in Fuel late night. They do run something in the Living Room for the younger teens but I am not sure what as my son was in the older group.

 

The older teens really don't want to hang out with the young kids so for the most part each age group would form there own little groups. We met the kids my son hung out with and met some of the parents also.

 

Our son was allowed to come and go as he pleased but needed to leave a note or voicemail for us he they were going anywhere. We brought post-it notes and we left him a note and he did the same. He typically was in the teen areas, the sports deck or cafe promenade and whenever we checked, which we did often, he was always where he said he was going to be except once. The time we couldn't find him he was in the medical center with a friend who needed stitches. Our son has first aid training because of his life guard job so he had helped when his friend split his head open.

 

Our son enjoyed the teen areas because he was able to find kids his own age since he doesn't have siblings to hangout with. Though he didn't do all activities, he did hangout and play cards or Wii.

 

Hope that answered some of your questions.

[crusinmama06]

I do not expect the programs to shut down, what I would allow a 17 yr old and what I would allow a 13 yr old are completely different. I don't recall saying that the programs need to shut down,, I thought a scheduling change maybe,, but mostly I asked opinions on how other parents felt. I did not say program should shut down at 10 now did I ??.. do you always make things up??

 

No, Mia "does not always make things up"

 

She was trying to be helpful. You don't want helpful. You want us to say, "Yes, the Princess program should shut down at 10pm so that you can go to bed with your 13 year old?" :confused:

 

This is a curfew issue. Period. No. I wouldn't go to bed before my daughter was safely back in the cabin. So if 1am is too late for you. Then make your daughter's curfew earlier than 1am.

 

And as much as I trust my oldest daughter -- I do walk bys - constantly. If she says she will be one place at 10pm and I walk by and she's not there -- then we have a problem. She knows that.

 

You say you trust your daughter -- great. You say 1am is too late. Great -- make it midnight. Make it 11pm. Do a few walk bys and make sure she is still ok and where she is suppose to be.

[pg.]

From our experience, it is pretty unstructured. Our son has sailed with us twice on the Mariner of the Seas, at 16 and 17, which looks like the ship you are on next. RCI teen program has 12-14 and 15-17 age groups. They schedule individual activities for the two groups but at times will combine the two age groups during the day because of lack of participation. The younger teens might be in the living room doing their activity while the older group is in Fuel and vice versa.

 

There is supervision in the areas most of the time. If there is not going to be any supervision, it will be specifically stated in the kid's compass. For example, on some port days, there will be no supervision in the living room but the kids are free to go in and play foosball and hang out.

 

At night, the younger teens get Fuel early and the older teens get Fuel later until 1 or 2 am. They are very strict about not letting the younger teens in Fuel late night. They do run something in the Living Room for the younger teens but I am not sure what as my son was in the older group.

 

The older teens really don't want to hang out with the young kids so for the most part each age group would form there own little groups. We met the kids my son hung out with and met some of the parents also.

 

Our son was allowed to come and go as he pleased but needed to leave a note or voicemail for us he they were going anywhere. We brought post-it notes and we left him a note and he did the same. He typically was in the teen areas, the sports deck or cafe promenade and whenever we checked, which we did often, he was always where he said he was going to be except once. The time we couldn't find him he was in the medical center with a friend who needed stitches. Our son has first aid training because of his life guard job so he had helped when his friend split his head open.

 

Our son enjoyed the teen areas because he was able to find kids his own age since he doesn't have siblings to hangout with. Though he didn't do all activities, he did hangout and play cards or Wii.

 

Hope that answered some of your questions.

 

Thank you for such an informative post. I do like that RCCL divides the teens by age grouping into YOUNG Teens and OLDER Teens,, it does seem a good idea. I also like that the OLDER teens activities are scheduled LATER then the younger teens. What a great way to run the program.

 

I do wish someone who has cruised with a young teen on Princess could let us know if Princess does anything similar,, so far I have just been ranted at by a few posters who are so offended that I have suggested that younger teens programs could or should be run a wee bit differently then older teens.

Thanks also for confirming that the teens programs are not as structured or supervised as closely as the kids programs. Of course, this makes sense,, age differences and all,, but it does make for an increased need for parents to use their own judgement, which I will be doing.

[pg.]

No, Mia "does not always make things up"

 

She was trying to be helpful. You don't want helpful. You want us to say, "Yes, the Princess program should shut down at 10pm so that you can go to bed with your 13 year old?" :confused:

 

This is a curfew issue. Period. No. I wouldn't go to bed before my daughter was safely back in the cabin. So if 1am is too late for you. Then make your daughter's curfew earlier than 1am.

 

And as much as I trust my oldest daughter -- I do walk bys - constantly. If she says she will be one place at 10pm and I walk by and she's not there -- then we have a problem. She knows that.

 

You say you trust your daughter -- great. You say 1am is too late. Great -- make it midnight. Make it 11pm. Do a few walk bys and make sure she is still ok and where she is suppose to be.

 

Well dear,, I guess she only makes up stuff sometimes then ,, since I never said I wanted or needed my childs program to end by 10 pm,, nor that program should close by 10 pm.

 

 

rugrats

I also noted her "humor" ( sarcasm) but was letting it go, since this forum is about helping other cruisers and she was not helping at all, and replying to her was not helpful either.

[6rugrats]

rugrats

I also noted her "humor" ( sarcasm) but was letting it go, since this forum is about helping other cruisers and she was not helping at all, and replying to her was not helpful either.

 

She was helping me laugh, and I find that extremely helpful.

[ShelbysMom]

Exactly.

 

Do we have a smilie icon for beating your head against the wall in frustration?

[reallyitsmema]

Thank you for such an informative post. I do like that RCCL divides the teens by age grouping into YOUNG Teens and OLDER Teens,, it does seem a good idea. I also like that the OLDER teens activities are scheduled LATER then the younger teens. What a great way to run the program.

 

I do wish someone who has cruised with a young teen on Princess could let us know if Princess does anything similar,, so far I have just been ranted at by a few posters who are so offended that I have suggested that younger teens programs could or should be run a wee bit differently then older teens.

Thanks also for confirming that the teens programs are not as structured or supervised as closely as the kids programs. Of course, this makes sense,, age differences and all,, but it does make for an increased need for parents to use their own judgement, which I will be doing.

The young teens have activities scheduled LATER too as I said in my post. The younger teens activity is in the Living Room, not Fuel. The two groups are combined depending on numbers, which I also stated. You pulled the information you liked and overlooked the parts that don't fit your ideal cruise.

 

The people you claim "ranted" at you, answered your questions, you just didn't like what they said. I explained what the Mariner does in more detail than my original post on this thread for JungleJane because JungleJane is sailing that ship with a younger teen.

 

The regular posters of this forum have tried to answer your questions as best they can based on information they have gathered for their own families. Why not try the Princess board to see if someone can replicate the exact scenario you are describing. You obviously don't like the information that people have taken the time to share here.

[junglejane]

From our experience, it is pretty unstructured. Our son has sailed with us twice on the Mariner of the Seas, at 16 and 17, which looks like the ship you are on next. RCI teen program has 12-14 and 15-17 age groups. They schedule individual activities for the two groups but at times will combine the two age groups during the day because of lack of participation. The younger teens might be in the living room doing their activity while the older group is in Fuel and vice versa.

 

There is supervision in the areas most of the time. If there is not going to be any supervision, it will be specifically stated in the kid's compass. For example, on some port days, there will be no supervision in the living room but the kids are free to go in and play foosball and hang out.

 

At night, the younger teens get Fuel early and the older teens get Fuel later until 1 or 2 am. They are very strict about not letting the younger teens in Fuel late night. They do run something in the Living Room for the younger teens but I am not sure what as my son was in the older group.

 

The older teens really don't want to hang out with the young kids so for the most part each age group would form there own little groups. We met the kids my son hung out with and met some of the parents also.

 

Our son was allowed to come and go as he pleased but needed to leave a note or voicemail for us he they were going anywhere. We brought post-it notes and we left him a note and he did the same. He typically was in the teen areas, the sports deck or cafe promenade and whenever we checked, which we did often, he was always where he said he was going to be except once. The time we couldn't find him he was in the medical center with a friend who needed stitches. Our son has first aid training because of his life guard job so he had helped when his friend split his head open.

 

Our son enjoyed the teen areas because he was able to find kids his own age since he doesn't have siblings to hangout with. Though he didn't do all activities, he did hangout and play cards or Wii.

 

Hope that answered some of your questions.

 

Thanks very much, Reallyitsmema! That's exactly the kind of info I was looking for.:)

[crusinmama06]

Exactly.

 

Do we have a smilie icon for beating your head against the wall in frustration?

 

A gift for you :D

 

[reallyitsmema]

Thanks very much, Reallyitsmema! That's exactly the kind of info I was looking for.:)

You're welcome. You will be able to check up on her fairly easy when she is in the Living Room, there are windows to the outside deck that aren't dark glazed and if you go to where the entrance is, you can see in there too. If she is in Fuel, it is much harder to see in since the outside windows are dark glazed and are on the back deck that parents aren't supposed to go on (we did to peek in :eek::o). If you go to the inside entrance to Fuel which is off the arcade, there is a staff member who will stop you in your tracks even if you are a parent.:rolleyes: He also did not let the 14 yr old girls that were trying to get into Fuel late night either so that was good. We just cruised by and peeked in to see where he was. To this day he doesn't know we were checking up on him. Trust but verify is our motto.;):D

[A&Jfamily]

Well dear,, I guess she only makes up stuff sometimes then ,, since I never said I wanted or needed my childs program to end by 10 pm,, nor that program should close by 10 pm.

 

No you didn't. But the title of your thread was "Does anyone else think that the teen program runs too late?" which suggests that you think that the hours should be reduced. And in light of your other posts regarding bedtime for port days etc, it wasn't hard or illogical for people to conclude that this was what you are suggesting.

 

I agree with Cruisinmama06 - you asked a question, and the general consensus from the boards was no - we didn't think that they ran to late. It was up to each parent to set the rules for their child in light of what worked for their family.

 

I am sorry that you did not hear what you wanted, but your posts got really acidic really quickly. I don't see the kids program times changing in the near future, so the short answer is that if you want her to participate, you are going to have to set some rules and do some parenting while on vacation. It clearly isn't the kids clubs where you can drop them off and know that they are perfectly supervised.

 

Perhaps you should consider waiting to cruise with her alone until you are more confortable with the teen programs that are available.

[todareistodo]

Look ive been cruising since i was 12 and i've NEVER had a curfew...i'm expected to be with the family during the day if were in port, eat dinner, and maybe see a show. But after that i have always been free to go to the teen club, hang out with friends, or whatever. If i come back at 4 a.m. and have to get up at 7 for a tour, its my own fault for being stupid. I understand for younger kids (below 13, 14) having a curfew but other than that? Time to trust your kid.