How strict are they on ages for teens club?

[O2B_CRUZN]

I can't speak to Royal Caribbean, but we cruised Disney last year 10 days before my son turned 11 (age for the tween club). They allowed him to "age up" at our request. I thought I was doing him a favor. Shortly after returning home from the cruise at bedtime, he broke down and told me that some 12/13 year boys were talking about some very disgusting/dirty topics and even snuck porn into the club one night. I was totally disgusted, and I'll never forgive myself for putting him in that situation. I'd rather him be the oldest than the youngest any day. My advice...don't be in a hurry for them to grow up.

[mil76]

I can't speak to Royal Caribbean, but we cruised Disney last year 10 days before my son turned 11 (age for the tween club). They allowed him to "age up" at our request. I thought I was doing him a favor. Shortly after returning home from the cruise at bedtime, he broke down and told me that some 12/13 year boys were talking about some very disgusting/dirty topics and even snuck porn into the club one night. I was totally disgusted, and I'll never forgive myself for putting him in that situation. I'd rather him be the oldest than the youngest any day. My advice...don't be in a hurry for them to grow up.

 

I agree it's better to be the oldest than the youngest. For the 12-14 group, my sons (Who have been doing AO and the Teen club since they were 3) have told me stories of 11 year olds getting picked on by the older kids since they are not supposed to be there. And then for the 15-17 group, there are stories of the teens just looking to "hook up" and finding ways to get served alcohol. You may want to send your "mature" 11 or 14 year-olds into that type of environment, but I'm happy to let my kids be their own age, and worry about those things when the time comes.

[middvillmom]

My daughter will be 11 for a July cruise on Allure. She is hoping to spend time with her cousins who are 12 and 13. It looks like the stated age range for one of the teens clubs is 12-14.

 

It really depends on the staff and the occupancy of the amount of kids on the cruise. If they do allow, you will have to sign a waiver, allowing her to be in the older age group. My son (14) was allowed to be with his sister (17), but he happily bumped himself down to the 12-14 group, cause he felt the 15-17 were way to mature! :)

[bluemarlin1]

Your daughter is 11. I know I dont really want my 11-year-old daughter hanging out with 14 year old girls OR boys. Mine would have to go to her age group and like it or not.

[peacefrogdog]

Can we close this thread? In response to my question, from the helpful answers posted it sounds like we can certainly ask what is possible with no guarantees, which I understand.

Otherwise he thread is starting to be fodder for people making judgement do and comments about how to raise kids, which was not the intent of the original post

[galavant3]

Can we close this thread? In response to my question, from the helpful answers posted it sounds like we can certainly ask what is possible with no guarantees, which I understand.

Otherwise he thread is starting to be fodder for people making judgement do and comments about how to raise kids, which was not the intent of the original post

 

Keep in mind you do not need anyone's permission or approval to politely inquire once on board. That's what we did and we were happily accommodated. Good luck and enjoy your cruise!

[Kowale]

My daughter will be 11 for a July cruise on Allure. She is hoping to spend time with her cousins who are 12 and 13. It looks like the stated age range for one of the teens clubs is 12-14.

 

Do you think the cruise line will allow my daughter to enter the 12-14 club? She would be 3 months shy of her twelfth birthday. She has no interest in going to the Voyageurs club in which she would be the oldest child by far.

 

My son was only one week shy of his 12th birthday, and they would not allow him into the 12-14 group. Big disappointment for him but as someone else mentioned, they must have a cut-off or everyone would try to have exceptions made for their kids. That being said, he still had a ball. He met up with some kids around his age and they would hang out at the Schooner Lounge during the day (Majesty OTS) and play Wii.

[FPP777]

So the bottom line is, ymmv. My daughter moved from the 14 age group to the 15-17 age group two weeks ago on Liberty. She went to the meet and mingle the first night and sent me a text to come sign a waiver so she could be in the older group with her sister.

[andrew2346]

My girls were 12 and 14 when we went on the Anthem last year and they wanted nothing to do with the clubs :) What did happen was that they kids all met in the club area and then took off in packs. For us we were fine with the girls doing what they wanted with a few rules in place.

 

You can certainly ask however...no harm in that. On Disney our experience was that if they were within 1 month of the next level it was okay. They got wrist bands for the teen club (looked like RFID) and then as soon as they entered the cast members cut them right off because they were "not cool" and they would get made fun of for wearing them. Keeping it real people...loved it!

[Lionesss]

When you board, you may just luck out and all is well, she will be happy with her age appropriate club.

 

Our children never cease to amaze us, we sometimes worry too much and their go lucky attitude works everything out in the end.

 

Enjoy your cruise!!!!!

[hollygtn]

Thanks for asking the question. My 11.5 year old and 14 year old are very close. This is a family vacation and should they want to go to the club I think they'd have more fun if the 11 year old goes the 12-14 activities then the other way around. I guess I'll know the answer in a week. My DH is not convinced that he even wants them to participate at all.

 

 

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[Happy Peach]

I just got back from a cruise on Explorer of the Seas. My friend asked about our 11 y/o boys moving up to the teen group (12-17.) They said that there weren't a ton of kids and they would probably be allowed to move up, but that the teen group wasn't as active. Sure enough, whenever the 15 y/o in our group went to the club, no one was there or it was just a couple of kids talking. Our boys stayed with their age group and we gave them self-check-out privileges. Unfortunately, since there weren't a lot of kids, they combined the 5-8 group in with the 9-11 pretty frequently. This meant that the older kids were pretty throttled from any type of active play. Since we were a group of 4 families with 8 kids beween us, our kids just found their fun on the sport court or other places besides the kids club. I didn't mean to write a novel, but... wanted to convey that the staff was at least open to the idea of our 11 year olds in with the older group.

Edited July 1, 2017 by Happy Peach

[mollyeilis]

Huh. My son has only been in the club when the ages are put together, and I'm his experience it's harder on the young kids because the older bigger kids dominate the ball games.

 

But when he aged into the teen club he didn't like it. He's tall, has the beginnings of a mustache (started at 12), and his voice is nearly done changing, so he could have physically fit in, but he felt very young compared to the others. Lots of swearing and older conversations around him. He never went back after the first night. We were shocked. He is with older kids most days at dance classes, and he's incredibly social and makes friends fast. But he just felt too young.

 

 

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[FPP777]

Your daughter is 11. I know I dont really want my 11-year-old daughter hanging out with 14 year old girls OR boys. Mine would have to go to her age group and like it or not.

 

 

You missed the point. It is not about hanging out with older kids for the sake of hanging out with older kids, its about being with her cousins who are older.

[S.A.M.J.R.]

I've seen a couple posts about "the horrors" of being with kids that are 2-3 years older. How do kids manage in school? A 14 year old HS Freshman will be going to class, lunch, sports, etc with 18 (or 19)yo Seniors.

 

The bottom line is ask when you are on board. Have a plan if the answer is "no". End of story.