Anything for teens 18-20

[AJMissal]

This will be our fourth Princess cruise coming up this weekend and my 19 year old asked about the club for him and his friend. I have a 15 year old as well. I know there is a club for him. But Im surprised that there is nothing for the kids 18-20. Too old for the younger club but not old enough to drink etc. Am I missing somehing?

[NavyVeteran]

Princess does not have a "club" for 18 to 21 year olds.

 

All of the nightclub entertainment is open to 18 year olds. The only restrictions are that they cannot drink and they can't gamble in the casino. Some of the clubs are restricted to adults only at night, but this restriction is for 18 and above.

[alexmom]

This will be our fourth Princess cruise coming up this weekend and my 19 year old asked about the club for him and his friend. I have a 15 year old as well. I know there is a club for him. But Im surprised that there is nothing for the kids 18-20. Too old for the younger club but not old enough to drink etc. Am I missing somehing?

 

There is nothing for that age group and the absolute crap I took from posters when I asked about this issue was not fun!! My son will be graduating from high school in June 2014 but will have turned 18 before we cruise in March 2014.

 

I also called ALL the cruise lines and asked them what my son was supposed to do for 7 days and mostly heard what he can't do and where he can't go while onboard-which varies from cruise line to cruise line!

 

Bottom line is to have them hang around the pools and sport areas to "meet" people who are close to their age group. Several cruise line phone operators said not all teens hang out in the teen club, especially during the day, and those 2 places are where they tend to congregate during the day.

 

For parents like me who are wanting a protected and supervised environment for their high schooler the best bet is to have him hang out with us. My son is a shy, kind of geeky kid and actually enjoys our company so for the most part he'll be safe. He will also have the freedom to roam the ship as well, but I feel the need to warn him about watching his soda pop and have him check in with us frequently. If your 19 yr old is a male, he needs to be careful when hanging out with teen girls since the overwhelming response from posters was that he must be a sexual predator if he does!

 

There have been several cases of sexual assault by much older adults on teenage girls and boys and physical assault by "gangs" of rowdy and violent teenagers on several cruise lines. He may be on cruise ship, but your son need to remain as situationally aware as if he were on the the streets of Manhatten.

 

I wish we could have afforded to bring one of his friends. Your 19 yr old is very, very lucky. I hope they are also very, very grateful. Good luck!!

[AJMissal]

Yeah they are grateful and good fun kids. Very unfortunate that they do have a club 18-20

[Iamcruzin]

I have an 18yr old and a 21yr old and I don't think either would enjoy a cruise on Princess at this stage of the game. All of the clubs are loaded with middle aged passengers my age and I have yet to see many on board in that young adult age group. P.S. my wife was a month away from 22 when I took her on our first Princess cruise for our honeymoon in 1991. Go figure :confused:

[LittleMissMagic]

On Norwegian, passengers 18 and older can drink wine and beer with parental consent, and all types of alcohol on European sailings.

 

On Princess, they have a meeting time and location for 18-20+ listed in the Patter, but it is not supervised by crew - more of a show up and meet other passengers your age thing. Royal Caribbean does this also.

Edited November 18, 2013 by LittleMissMagic

[MTdreaming]

We took a multigenerational cruise for our youngest childs high school graduation..we choose the Caribbean because of the recreational port activities. We had an 18 year old and a 25 year old..they had a blast, because they were together. I would however suggest Carnival or RCL as ships that have more energetic activities, water slides, ice skating, rock climbing options. But if you are doing Princess I would suggest taking one of your sons friends along, will give him a comfort zone and companion.

[centralcalicruzer]

On our Alaskan cruise this summer I saw a notice in the Patters for the Grey Zone I think it was called, for 18-20 year olds to meet up. But in looking at the Patters some have posted for the three and four night cruises out of San Pedro I did not see mention of that meeting. My 20 year old will be cruising with me over Thanksgiving for 4 nights, but since it's just the two of us and it's only four nights I'm not too concerned because I figure we will mostly be hanging out together. On a longer cruise it would definitely be nice for that age group to have a chance to meet others their same age.

[Paula_MacFan]

This will be our fourth Princess cruise coming up this weekend and my 19 year old asked about the club for him and his friend. I have a 15 year old as well. I know there is a club for him. But Im surprised that there is nothing for the kids 18-20. Too old for the younger club but not old enough to drink etc. Am I missing somehing?

 

I don't consider 18-20 year olds 'kids'. Where I come from those are 'adults'.

[pcsunlover]

There is nothing for that age group and the absolute crap I took from posters when I asked about this issue was not fun!! My son will be graduating from high school in June 2014 but will have turned 18 before we cruise in March 2014.

 

I also called ALL the cruise lines and asked them what my son was supposed to do for 7 days and mostly heard what he can't do and where he can't go while onboard-which varies from cruise line to cruise line!

 

Bottom line is to have them hang around the pools and sport areas to "meet" people who are close to their age group. Several cruise line phone operators said not all teens hang out in the teen club, especially during the day, and those 2 places are where they tend to congregate during the day.

 

For parents like me who are wanting a protected and supervised environment for their high schooler the best bet is to have him hang out with us. My son is a shy, kind of geeky kid and actually enjoys our company so for the most part he'll be safe. He will also have the freedom to roam the ship as well, but I feel the need to warn him about watching his soda pop and have him check in with us frequently. If your 19 yr old is a male, he needs to be careful when hanging out with teen girls since the overwhelming response from posters was that he must be a sexual predator if he does!

 

There have been several cases of sexual assault by much older adults on teenage girls and boys and physical assault by "gangs" of rowdy and violent teenagers on several cruise lines. He may be on cruise ship, but your son need to remain as situationally aware as if he were on the the streets of Manhatten.

 

I wish we could have afforded to bring one of his friends. Your 19 yr old is very, very lucky. I hope they are also very, very grateful. Good luck!!

 

Same type of thing happened to us in 2008. We took our daughter and 3 of her friends on a cruise in March for their senior trip. Two girls were 17 and two had just turned 18 a few weeks before the cruise. The older girls were not allowed in the teen club and obviously the younger girls were not allowed in the "adult" venues. The 18 year olds felt completely out of place as the majority of the other adults on the ship in the the venues they were allowed to socialize in were old enough to be their parents and grandparents. There were a lot of hurt feelings and I regret that I didn't do a better job researching cruiselines for the trip. We would have been much better off with Royal Caribbean (the cruiseline we choose for my son's senior trip) as there were more energetic outside activities to attract the younger crowd.

[AJMissal]

The guys love Princess and love the ship. This will be our fourth time sailing the sister ships. They like it because there arent alot of kids on it. The last time there were both in the same club and had a blast. Im not worried about the monitoring. I just thought it would be neat to have a club for that age group to meet and mingle, kareoke, dance etc. They dont get board on the ship. They will swim, play basketball, ping pong etc. Just wanted to inquire.

[JimmyVWine]

I don't consider 18-20 year olds 'kids'. Where I come from those are 'adults'.

Yes. This is "college age". People in this age bracket don't need (or want) organized ship activities. It's hard enough getting the 15-17 year olds interested in Remix. They mostly use it as a meeting spot to then leave and hang out on their own. And other than perhaps Skywalkers, they don't check IDs to get in to the clubs. Only to get a drink. My teen and her newly minted friends had a good time hanging out in Club Fusion and the Explorer's Lounge most evenings, as well as in the aft hot tubs. If 16-17 year olds are doing this, I would imagine that 18-20 year olds can and will as well. Bottom line...if your 19 year old is off at college doing his/her own thing without your supervision and without the need for organized activities, they will do fine on a ship.

[sherryf]

My son was 18 when we went to Alaska for his high school graduation. There was a gathering for the 18-20 year olds the first night, and he went, but only a few others showed up. There was a staff member assigned to this group, and they did a few things together, including a scavenger hunt that lasted all week. Mainly, the small group that showed up that first night hung out together on their own for the rest of the week. They enjoyed their new "adult" status by taking advantage of adult areas and activities. They used the adult-only pools and hot tubs, went to Skywalkers in the evening, my son participated in Peer Factor, one of the girls participated in Princess Pop Star, etc. They went into port together (without parents) in Victoria. They had a great time all week, despite the lack of a "club" for them, and still keep in touch via Facebook.

[alexmom]

On Norwegian, passengers 18 and older can drink wine and beer with parental consent, and all types of alcohol on European sailings.

 

On Princess, they have a meeting time and location for 18-20+ listed in the Patter, but it is not supervised by crew - more of a show up and meet other passengers your age thing. Royal Caribbean does this also.

 

Thank you for the info on an 18-20 meet and greet. You'd have thought someone at Princess would have mentioned that! My husband and I will hang around the periphery of the meet and great to supervise Alex. As to alcohol, not going to happen since Alex doesn't like the taste. My husband doesn't drink but I do and I've let Alex taste beers, wines, and an occasional umbrella drink. He thinks they taste worse than broccoli!!

[caribill]

Thank you for the info on an 18-20 meet and greet.

 

Be pro-active. If you do not see this in the embarkation day Patter, seek out the Cruise Director and ask him/her to schedule it.

[AKman2495]

I was just off the Caribbean Princess. They had a listing for 18-20 yrs old meeting almost every night. It was listed in the Patter.

 

So, I know they do schedule this kind of thing.

 

BTW, we say two great comedians, a magic act and a number of stage shows. At least some of these might be interesting to 18-20 somethings.....

[AJMissal]

I was just off the Caribbean Princess. They had a listing for 18-20 yrs old meeting almost every night. It was listed in the Patter.

 

So, I know they do schedule this kind of thing.

 

BTW, we say two great comedians, a magic act and a number of stage shows. At least some of these might be interesting to 18-20 somethings.....

 

 

Thank you AKman

[Wehwalt]

I don't consider 18-20 year olds 'kids'. Where I come from those are 'adults'.

 

That's the issue as I'm reading it. I don't blame Princess for not wanting to supervise (if they can) a bunch of new adults who are touchy about their independence (as a group). Talk about herding cats …

 

When I was 19, I recall we took a trip to the newly-opened EPCOT, in the early eighties. I spent as little time with my family as humanly possible and would have been very resistant to any attempt to involve me in any sort of organized activity, let alone to "supervise" me while meeting my peers or any other place. And if I had been on a cruise ship with my father, he would have been too stressed about the lack of communication links with his business to bother about me.

 

That being said, I did do the final westbound Transatlantic of the QE2 with my mom. But I was 45 at the time.

Edited November 19, 2013 by Wehwalt

[AJMissal]

Ok, I think this was totally read wrong to begin with. My sons are totally responsible, respectful fun young men (adults, or what ever you want to call that age group). I am not at all concerned about them on the ship. This question had nothing to do with anyone supervising them. I would never expect that. I just simply asked a question. They have the younger age group clubs and if your 21 and over you can do anything you want on the ship. For those young adults 18-20, I wanted to know if there was a "go to" for them. Not babysat, planned or anything.

[sherryf]

They have the younger age group clubs and if your 21 and over you can do anything you want on the ship. For those young adults 18-20, I wanted to know if there was a "go to" for them.

 

There's really not much difference between what an 18 year old and 21 year old can do, except drinking and gambling. The 18 year old can do everything else that any other adult can do. My 18 year old had absolutely no problem finding things to do once he'd found a few friends to do things with.

[CruisinChris]

For those sailing over the holidays - please be aware that Princess does typically check IDs for admittance to the night club on the holiday sailings (when there are tons more young people than usual). I don't recall if they allow under 21s or if they were putting wrist bands on the 18-20s.

[alexmom]

I was just off the Caribbean Princess. They had a listing for 18-20 yrs old meeting almost every night. It was listed in the Patter.

 

So, I know they do schedule this kind of thing.

 

BTW, we say two great comedians, a magic act and a number of stage shows. At least some of these might be interesting to 18-20 somethings.....

 

Again, thanks so much for the info. And thanks for being helpful as well !!