Teen daughter fears being lonely on March cruise to Hawaii

[notentirelynormal]

OP, we are on the same cruise as you, and I had a few of my own concerns about our kids (age 10 and 6). I asked our TA to find out from Princess how many kids will be on board and they wouldn't give her the information.

 

Try calling again. Make sure you give them your booking number. They won't give it out to people unless they are on that particular cruise. I have never had them refuse to give me the info.

[notentirelynormal]

Okay, you guys made me wonder so I called Princess regarding our Crown sailing on April 2nd. For the age group of 8-11 there will be 83 kids. For the age group of 9-12 there will be 111 kids.

 

When I first asked I was told there was no way to find out. After I told her that I had been told in the past I was put on hold and she finally came back with the answer.

[Silent Penguin]

Okay, you guys made me wonder so I called Princess regarding our Crown sailing on April 2nd. For the age group of 8-11 there will be 83 kids. For the age group of 9-12 there will be 111 kids.

 

When I first asked I was told there was no way to find out. After I told her that I had been told in the past I was put on hold and she finally came back with the answer.

 

The first time I called (with my reservation number), the agent said he couldn't find out.

 

The second time I called, the agent didn't know how to find the information. Like you, I told her that members of the Princess Cruise Critic have been successful in finding out. She was more than willing to try to figure out how to get the information. She put me on hold. After 12 minutes on hold, I was disconnected. :(

 

The third time and fourth time I called, after waiting on hold for about 10 minutes to speak to an agent, I hung up.

[ar1950]

We have never done a Hawaii cruise in March. That said, on both our last two, one on the Star in November two years ago and one on the Ruby in January (this year) we did not see a whole lot of teenagers, but, there were a few. On the Star there were a couple of teenage boys in our ukulele class and they said they were having a great time on the cruise. On the Ruby I happened to talk to a young guy in ukulele class who was on the cruise with his parents. He said did ukulele class, lei making class and hula lessons (these all taught by Dave and Leialoha of Elua who should be on your cruise). I will say that, even though he enjoyed it all, after 13 days he was ready for the cruise to be over. I suppose that us old folks weren't that exciting. :D If your daughter doesn't find many teenagers her own age you may want to encourage her to sign up for some of these activities. Those may make it a more enjoyable experience. Have a great cruise.

[notentirelynormal]

We have never done a Hawaii cruise in March. That said, on both our last two, one on the Star in November two years ago and one on the Ruby in January (this year) we did not see a whole lot of teenagers, but, there were a few. On the Star there were a couple of teenage boys in our ukulele class and they said they were having a great time on the cruise.

 

You can't always judge what you "see" as being the number on board. Sometimes you see a lot of kids and sometimes you never see any. It just means they are doing something different then where you are.

 

Silent Penguin: try again tomorrow. Apparently they were slammed today because of the 1 cent sale. Don't mention CC at all. Tell them on your last cruises they were able to give you the amounts so you know it can be done and you will hold while they figure out how to get you the info. They weren't willing to give me the info for teens as I have no teens sailing with me but were quite able, as usual, to give me the info on our age groups. Apparently there was a huge amount of new TSR trained last week. If they tell you they can't give it to you, ask to speak to a supervisor - after your get their name.

 

I repeat, originally I was told there was no way to get the info and she wasn't even sure it was available. After I told her, sure it is, I get it every cruise she put me on hold and had to track down the person with the info. Now THAT took a few minutes but I was willing to wait. She finally came back to ask what age group I was interested in and then gave me the info.

[notentirelynormal]

dup

[ar1950]

You can't always judge what you "see" as being the number on board. Sometimes you see a lot of kids and sometimes you never see any. It just means they are doing something different then where you are...............

 

OK, my post was not to suggest that there were more or less kids than we saw. It was only to suggest that there were things to do for kids even if there were not many on the ship. What I saw had little to do with that post. As always YMMV.

[we3peas]

We did a Panama Canal cruise over spring break in 2014. Lots of kids for an 11 day cruise. Mostly because Easter was included in our sail dates. I did call Princess directly (not a travel agent) and they did give me the teen numbers. Our daughter then 15 hung out about 50/50 with us and the teens on the ship. If they started getting annoying to her (or we did) she just moved to the other group. She's also comfortable being on her own just relaxing and reading or working out in gym, etc.

 

Just like water everyone finds their own level.

[hightownCO]

My then teen daughter and I did a Mediterranean cruise from 11/18 - 11/30 several years ago. She turned 16 on the cruise. There were only a handful of kids on board. I think there were only 3 or 4 teens including here. But she had fun during evenings between ports. There was a lot of attention from the teen counselors.

 

I'm sure even on a two week cruise in March there will be more teens than on our med cruise.

 

Usually even if there's a big group, they still end up in small groups or hit it off with one or two and pal around the whole time. So it really only takes one kid for her to have a great time if they hit it off.

 

Just be sure she goes to the first night welcome/hang out.

[Silent Penguin]

My then teen daughter and I did a Mediterranean cruise from 11/18 - 11/30 several years ago. She turned 16 on the cruise. There were only a handful of kids on board. I think there were only 3 or 4 teens including here. But she had fun during evenings between ports. There was a lot of attention from the teen counselors.

 

I'm sure even on a two week cruise in March there will be more teens than on our med cruise.

 

Usually even if there's a big group, they still end up in small groups or hit it off with one or two and pal around the whole time. So it really only takes one kid for her to have a great time if they hit it off.

 

Just be sure she goes to the first night welcome/hang out.

 

 

Hi, Sharon,

 

I'm sorry we will not be cruising together. I was looking forward to meeting you. Thank you for chiming in. I was thinking the same thing. It's quality, not quantity. And, unless she's sea-sick (and we're taking steps to prevent that), I know she will attend the first night "hang out". It seems to be a must-do with the teens who cruise. ;)

[Silent Penguin]

I called Princess and got an answer to my question. What a difference a day makes. It reminds me of our experiences with any-time dining. One day, the line is long and slow moving. The next day, at the same time, there is no wait. This morning, I called was able to speak to an agent almost immediately, and she knew exactly what to do. My wait time while she consulted with the Help department was minimal. I learned that, as of today, there are 46 passengers between the ages of 13-17 on our sailing.

 

 

I want to thank everyone who has shared their experiences and thoughts to my thread. Each one has helped paint a picture of possibilities.

[19woody19]

We did this cruise last year and when I took the uke lessons there was a 14 year old girl with her grandfather taking them also. We would end up on excursions together and I asked her how she felt about being with all the OLD folks. She said she is with kids her age all year at home and this gives her a chance to spend more quality time with her grandparents and other OLDER people. She said she enjoyed more mature conversation. Throughout the cruise I saw many young males talking to her and she also met a couple other teen girls, but she told me this was her time to spend with her loved ones.

She will have a great time and everyone, regardless of age, gets out of it what you put into it.

[Cruiserkenn]

I called Princess and got an answer to my question. What a difference a day makes. It reminds me of our experiences with any-time dining. One day, the line is long and slow moving. The next day, at the same time, there is no wait. This morning, I called was able to speak to an agent almost immediately, and she knew exactly what to do. My wait time while she consulted with the Help department was minimal. I learned that, as of today, there are 46 passengers between the ages of 13-17 on our sailing.

 

 

I want to thank everyone who has shared their experiences and thoughts to my thread. Each one has helped paint a picture of possibilities.

 

Wow! 46! Fantastic!

 

Have a great time!

 

Aloha:) :) :)

[Melcoug]

Glad to hear you were able to find out and that there will be plenty of other teens onboard. Have a great cruise!

[TNTLAMB]

I guess it comes down to how we all raise our children differently. I reality, in all honestly, can't remember my kids ever asking about other kids. Now, in fairness, as the world turned we began cruising with more family and friends. Bottom line though was it seemed once we got on board, had shore excursions planned - my kids didn't care who else was sailing.

 

My grandkids have been surrounded by adults their entire life. For my grandson, it is normal to be put in that environment. He is good to go, no matter what. For my grand daughter, she is borderline autistic. She is a little different but also exposed to the same things as her brother. This cruise will be a test on how she handles herself. Our room is directly under the kid club. She only needs to take an elevator to our deck and find our cabin (and I've got magnets for the door).

 

I can guarantee you they will find enough on board to make them happy.

 

There is no "borderline" with my granddaughter (we are raising her). We just finished her "trial cruise" We could not have had a better experience. Frankly I have never seen more GROWTH in a year than she made last week. The staff/was incredible. The youth center went out of their way to accommodate for her and even made special "projects for her" The other teens adopted her (I think there were 12)

 

We did some independence projects. The front desk was very responsive to our request to let her "check her account" etc. (she had her own debit card tied to the her shipboard account) as well as the wait staff allowing us to "coach"

 

To the OP We have had many Princess cruises with teens, generally the teen center gets more active after a few days on board. They actually connect in other areas earlier on such as the BB court and other activity areas and end up in the teen center.

[shredie]

She will be fine. There are always kids on the Hawaii run. Sometimes lots but always at least a few. She could have Remix to herself and her friends. No fighting for the video games. More room in the teen hot tub. All she needs is a couple of girls to bond with and a couple of boys to flirt with. She will enjoy her family time too.

[Cruisin' Chick]

We've done this cruise three times but over winter break. So my daughter's found kids her age.

 

She graduated from the LAUSD last year and that school system (the second largest in the country; btw the public schools in San Pedro where the port is belong to this district) just takes one week off for spring break, always the week leading up to Easter (even when I was in school here many, many years ago:rolleyes:). Not sure how many school systems do take off two weeks (and at the same time as your desired cruise).

 

It is a fun cruise for all ages with all of the activities on board. But most likely won't have a high number of school aged kids at that time unless students are taking off days from school.

[notentirelynormal]

There is no "borderline" with my granddaughter (we are raising her). We just finished her "trial cruise" We could not have had a better experience. Frankly I have never seen more GROWTH in a year than she made last week. The staff/was incredible. The youth center went out of their way to accommodate for her and even made special "projects for her" The other teens adopted her (I think there were 12)

 

We did some independence projects. The front desk was very responsive to our request to let her "check her account" etc. (she had her own debit card tied to the her shipboard account) as well as the wait staff allowing us to "coach"

 

To the OP We have had many Princess cruises with teens, generally the teen center gets more active after a few days on board. They actually connect in other areas earlier on such as the BB court and other activity areas and end up in the teen center.

 

Wow! That's amazing. I plan on giving her lots of rope. She is in the "I want to do it myself" stage. For autism, that is a big stage.

[CloverNJ]

I'm asking on behalf of our teenage daughter, what are the chances that there will be other teenagers on the Hawaii-bound Ruby Princess at the end of March? I tried to help her realize that her school isn't the only one with a spring break, and we couldn't be the only parents taking a teenager with them on a cruise, but she doesn't believe me and thinks she'll be alone among "old" people or at the youngest, no one near her age. She's used to sailing on Disney ships on which she's made tons of friends in the kids' programs and which has hundreds of kids on them all year round.

 

Please reply if you have experience with a March cruise to Hawaii with teenagers in the past or will be taking your teenagers with you this March. Just knowing that other parents have done this will help her feel more enthusiastic about her prospects for companionship during our cruise. Not that she doesn't like hanging out with her parents....

 

I sure hope your daughter knows how incredibly lucky she is... I never got to travel as a kid, parents didn't have the money for themselves, let alone us. And you spending all this time trying to make her happy. :)