Going with my teenage daughters 13 & 17 is Holland America a good choice or ?

[cooljay]

If you are talking about USA Thanksgiving this year (Nov. 28, 2013), then your options will be very limited. Actually, I'm surprised there is any thing available on any ship, since this is a very popular time -- that's why the prices higher. HAL might be your only option. I know people are already booking for Thanksgiving, 2014.

 

Do you have to fly, or can you drive to a port? That makes a difference.

 

I like the Royal Caribbean ships that have an ice rink (voyager class and higher). Do your teens ice skate? Skating is free (included in the price of the cruise).

RCI also has the rock climbing wall and one or two teen clubs (although I don't see these clubs used that much).

You might look at Thanksgiving next year (2014), maybe the Nov. 23 7-day Freedom of the Seas or the Nov. 24 5-day Explorer of the Seas, both from Port Canaveral, Florida.

You could even see Disneyworld also.

And as I said before, consider 2 connecting cabins. These have the inside door so you can go from one cabin to the other without going into the hallway.

If you think you want to go in 2014, book it now. That way you get better cabin choices.

RCI for USA bookings are fully refundable up to final payment date (about 75 days before sailing).

Monitor the cruise price -- if it goes down before final payment date, you can get the lower fare.

 

I am planning on going this thanksgiving and surprisingly there are plenty of cruises available, i live in Miami so am driving distance from the 2 ports here

[cooljay]

After reading all the posts i decided to go with Carnival Liberty, leaving on Nov 23rd for the Caribbean for 7 days. Hope this was the right choice since i have never traveled on Carnival.

[travelnap]

Hope you have a great trip. Just relax and enjoy the trip. Happy Sailing.

[CaroleSS]

cooljay,

 

Please come back and write a report of your trip!! We all see the front end, but never find out how it went!! We'd love to get your impressions!

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

[OCruisers]

After reading all the posts i decided to go with Carnival Liberty, leaving on Nov 23rd for the Caribbean for 7 days. Hope this was the right choice since i have never traveled on Carnival.

 

Considering you have teenagers, it's a better choice than HAL. ;)

 

Have a wonderful time. Please tell us about it when you return. :)

 

LuLu

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[iahawkize]

After reading all the posts i decided to go with Carnival Liberty, leaving on Nov 23rd for the Caribbean for 7 days. Hope this was the right choice since i have never traveled on Carnival.

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic. Isailed on the Carnival Liberty in Nov of 2012. I found it to be a great ship with Great Staff. Take all the negative member reviews with a grain of salt as you can't please everyone. I strongly suggest that you go to the roll call for the specific cruise date and join in on the discussion. You may also want to join in on any meet ups they have planned for cruise critic members. read thru ALL of the posts and you may find that there are other families with girls your daughters age. That way they can connect before the cruise perhaps on facebook. ( privately off the site you can e-mail their parents and get their girls cell phone numbers and they can privately text each other ) I have organized 3 meet ups and the groups of families have been fun to cruise with. My son hooked up with a boy close to his age and we hooked up with the parents. That was in 2003 and I'm still friends with them. Above all don't set your expectations sky high and you all will have a great cruise.....Ken

[Colorado Kat]

We're fans of Carnival. They have good teen clubs.

[cooljay]

Welcome to Cruise Critic. Isailed on the Carnival Liberty in Nov of 2012. I found it to be a great ship with Great Staff. Take all the negative member reviews with a grain of salt as you can't please everyone. I strongly suggest that you go to the roll call for the specific cruise date and join in on the discussion. You may also want to join in on any meet ups they have planned for cruise critic members. read thru ALL of the posts and you may find that there are other families with girls your daughters age. That way they can connect before the cruise perhaps on facebook. ( privately off the site you can e-mail their parents and get their girls cell phone numbers and they can privately text each other ) I have organized 3 meet ups and the groups of families have been fun to cruise with. My son hooked up with a boy close to his age and we hooked up with the parents. That was in 2003 and I'm still friends with them. Above all don't set your expectations sky high and you all will have a great cruise.....Ken

Thanks for your input will definitely read the roll call forum.

[OCruisers]

Our granddaughter (18 at the time) took a HAL cruise with her other grandparents.

She said she has always counted the day until she will be cruising. On this one she was counting the day until it would be over. :D

 

No HAL bashing ... We love HAL but can understand that older teens would not have a good time.

 

LuLu

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[maureencruiser]

I was going to suggest RCI Allure of the Seas. Thanksgiving this year sailing will be on sale next Tuesday for $799 per person/double occupancy.

[nybumpkin]

After reading all the posts i decided to go with Carnival Liberty, leaving on Nov 23rd for the Caribbean for 7 days. Hope this was the right choice since i have never traveled on Carnival.

If you go over to the Carnival board, there is a very lengthy review from member MikeyA53, who sailed with his family on a B2B on Carnival Liberty and Carnival Breeze. He has lots of great photos posted. It's been almost 7 years since we sailed on Liberty, but we loved it. Our sons are currently 17 and 13 (oldest is 22 and no longer sails with us - he sails with the US Navy instead:p) and have always enjoyed their cruises.