Cruising with older Teens 18-20

[mavo68]

So we are praying out Allure goes as planned on Aug 15, however my daughter is  now 19 and I am worried she will be bored as she has obviously aged out of the teen programs and too young for the 21 and over crowd. Do they have programs/activities for these age groups on the cruises?

[1025cruise]

There might be a meetup, but otherwise she can do pretty much everything but drink.

[zekekelso]

Every time I’ve cruised with this age group, one of two things happens:

 

- They hang out with mom and dad mostly

- They disappear. No one knows where the go or what they are up to. They show up for dinner (only because they’ve been told it’s mandatory) or to ask permission to spend money,  but otherwise are hanging out with people their age they’ve met. 

Once they are 19, it’s up to them to find their course and for mom and dad to spend more time focused on themselves. 
 

Oh, and it goes without saying some strict rules need to be laid down. You want them off having fun, but not too much fun 🙂

 

[JsMom2]

I feel your pain.  I remember when my daughter, who's grown up cruising, outgrew the kids clubs!  I've tried to find other families with young adults her age pre-cruise, so they can meetup onboard.  Once I sent to a single travelers luncheon and met a nice 20 year old who was bored, and was able to introduce her to my daughter, and they hung out from then on!  

 

Sometimes they do have "college age" activities in the daily schedule.  But there's only a few, and once folks start meeting up they don't go to any more of those.  So earlier in the cruise the better.

 

Good luck, and happy cruising!

[brillohead]

My son would hang out on the Sport Court / hot tub / FlowRider and meet other people (some younger, some older) that he would then hang out with throughout the cruise.  His personality is social / outgoing, so he has no problem making friends with strangers.  

One cruise when he was 16 or 17, we discovered that we actually had mutual friends -- guys that he hung out with on the Sport Court during the day were the same guys that I hung out with in the nightclub at night!  LOL

[sailor05]

This is a very tough age group to cruise. Been through it with my two. Seems to me like on the first or second night there is a meet and greet for them to attend, but only once. Not sure if they still do this or not, but they really should organize more for the kids this age.

[Cruise a holic]

We brought a 20 year old with us.  She loved doing her own thing- wasn't interested in meeting people.  Has many good friends at home .  Loved hanging by the pool, enjoyed the shows, amenities and shore x's, especially the beach trips-  She is very independent and had a wonderful vacation doing her own thing-  

 

Sometimes teens and young adults just want to relax like we do.  Kids also!  Especially now. 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

I can't believe anyone at that age could be bored on the Allure or any other RCI ship for that matter. There is so much to do!

 

For the record, my kid has never done kid's club, so he is always tagging along. When he is 19 (even  before that) and cruising with us, he will be finally old enough to go off and do his own thing without adult supervision.

[mjkacmom]

On 6/4/2021 at 1:42 PM, zekekelso said:

Every time I’ve cruised with this age group, one of two things happens:

 

- They hang out with mom and dad mostly

- They disappear. No one knows where the go or what they are up to. They show up for dinner (only because they’ve been told it’s mandatory) or to ask permission to spend money,  but otherwise are hanging out with people their age they’ve met. 

Once they are 19, it’s up to them to find their course and for mom and dad to spend more time focused on themselves. 
 

Oh, and it goes without saying some strict rules need to be laid down. You want them off having fun, but not too much fun 🙂

 

What strict rules would apply to other adults? 

[Joseph2017China]

My adult children were always self sufficient....and always had a choice to go or not to go, and if they went....they were socially able to manage themselves

 

[zekekelso]

3 hours ago, mjkacmom said:

What strict rules would apply to other adults? 

For 19 year old kids/adults, we’ve always had a few rules - these our just ours, there are many other (and probably better) lists out there. 

 

1) Never go in anybody’s room, no matter what. No exceptions ever. Under penalty of being disowned and grounded for life. 
 

2) Do not accept drinks from anybody.  Again, no matter what. If you must drink, come see me and I’ll take care of you. 
 

3) No drugs (mandatory watching of Midnight Express before leaving US waters.)

 

4) Obey all cruise line rules and anything the cruise staff tells you. If there’s a conflict between the staff and you, don’t be surprised if I side with the staff. 
 

5) Dinner with family is mandatory. Be there. On time.  
 

6) If you leave this ship and miss the all aboard time, that’s on you. Good luck getting home. Not my problem. 
 

7) You have a daily spending limit. Check with me before exceeding it. I will cut you off in a heartbeat if you don’t. 
 

😎 Have an awesome cruise. Yes, these rules may seem too strict to you. Yes, we trust you. It’s everyone else we fear. Humor me. I know you think you are an adult and you frequently stretch boundaries in “real life.” But, humor us on this trip, mmmmKay?
 

 

 

Edited June 7, 2021 by zekekelso

[mjkacmom]

2 hours ago, zekekelso said:

For 19 year old kids/adults, we’ve always had a few rules - these our just ours, there are many other (and probably better) lists out there. 

 

1) Never go in anybody’s room, no matter what. No exceptions ever. Under penalty of being disowned and grounded for life. 
 

2) Do not accept drinks from anybody.  Again, no matter what. If you must drink, come see me and I’ll take care of you. 
 

3) No drugs (mandatory watching of Midnight Express before leaving US waters.)

 

4) Obey all cruise line rules and anything the cruise staff tells you. If there’s a conflict between the staff and you, don’t be surprised if I side with the staff. 
 

5) Dinner with family is mandatory. Be there. On time.  
 

6) If you leave this ship and miss the all aboard time, that’s on you. Good luck getting home. Not my problem. 
 

7) You have a daily spending limit. Check with me before exceeding it. I will cut you off in a heartbeat if you don’t. 
 

😎 Have an awesome cruise. Yes, these rules may seem too strict to you. Yes, we trust you. It’s everyone else we fear. Humor me. I know you think you are an adult and you frequently stretch boundaries in “real life.” But, humor us on this trip, mmmmKay?
 

 

 

I can see the dinner since you are paying, and my kids knew that if they wanted to drink, they were paying us back (on NCL we signed the waiver), but once they were 19 they were living off campus at college with friends, going to parties and doing who knows what. When they’d come home from college they really didn’t have rules, besides common courtesy ones like clean up after yourself.  My 20 did say she and her friends would bring their own drinks into parties and not drink the jungle juice.

[Eddie Wilson]

A friend of mine took his upper teen (or 20) daughter and she was proposed marriage to while on the cruise.

 

When told he thought it a joke but apparently it was not.  He had to clear that up before he disembarked

 

Eddie

Edited June 7, 2021 by Eddie Wilson

[Bailey & Sophie]

 

As a teen I remember going on camping trips with the parents. My mom was the sort that if you were not constantly doing something (swimming, hiking, playing endless card games, etc) you were not having fun. All I wanted to do was sit in a lounge chair by the lake and read mysteries. My dad got mad cause I always had my nose in a book. But THAT was my fun.

Talk to your teen. What do they want on a cruise?

[Tinkerdevil]

This was 10 years ago now, but I was 21 on my Allure cruise and they had an 18-20+ meetup the first day and the group kind of came up with some ideas of things that we would like to do. The staff member who was assigned to our group was great and got us set up with private flowrider time as well as other events. Not sure if they still do it though.