Celebrity Beyond and young teens.

[lostchild]

4 hours ago, CruiseJunky48 said:

Thank you so much for letting me know. I can't find very much on the Internet about this so need to rely on previous cruisers. My teen, is on the younger side and likes to hang with his brother who will be 12, so 12 and 14, I hope they can stay together, even IF they will go to the camp. They, like most kids like video games, playing air hockey. One of the Celebrity sites claims they have that, but who knows. They like to hang with us, play cards etc. The ship looks so "mature" even for us. I hope no problems arise with adults who resent kids on the ship. We ran into that on one Celebrity cruise with our daughter and some guy said we should "go where we are wanted" WOW. Our kids do not run up and down hallways and are respectful. Since we did the onboard booking on Harmony, RCCL, we are kind of stuck. I look forward to any info you might have.

So I asked my kid.  On Apex basement, there is a ping pong table, a foosball table, and about 5 Xbox's.   There was no air hockey table.   They do have younger staff members there, so probably more relatable to the teens.   

[phoenix_dream]

Traveled on cruises with my son from age 4 to adult.  I won't lie and say he wouldn't have preferred Royal ships, but he always had a good time.  That's a warm weather cruise so the family can enjoy the pool together.  We also always brought a couple of board games with us that were easy to travel such as Yahtzee (just take the parts you need, you don't need the whole box).  They sometimes have a few games onboard but I would bring my own as sometimes pieces are missing.  He didn't care to go to kids clubs either.  He brought books, magazines, comics, handheld video games or loaded games and movies on his laptop (that was before IPads existed!).   Not that you want them staring at a screen all day, but the Starlink internet is decidedly better than what they had previously so it's usually easy to stream things.  The newer ships also have a better selection of tv movies if you want to watch one as a family.  That cruise does have a few sea days I imagine, so hopefully these things will fill their time.  

[RobertoF]

We have cruised with our teenage kids and teenage nieces and nephews on Beyond, Apex, and Edge.  They loved these ships.  I agree that there are generally not the bells and whistles that the big RCL ships have, but if your kids enjoy entertainment and music and generally being social they will have a great time.  Our kids usually go to the teen club on day one to meet other teens and then just hang out with those teens (sometimes in teen club activities and sometimes outside the teen club).  Celebrity has some great entertainment staff for the teens.  Our kids still communicate with some of them on social media after having bonded with them on the cruise.  While Celebrity does not attract a lot of kids, there are usually a critical mass of teens to hang out together and do silent disco together, karaoke, late night pizza, etc.

[nashville15]

On 7/17/2023 at 11:34 AM, jamessophie said:

I am considering booking the same cruise travelling with daughter and her friend aged 16. Concerned there may not be enough for them to do. 

Would do Royal and a stop at Coco Cay for kids that age, we had teenagers and would not do Celebrity 

[nashville15]

On 7/16/2023 at 4:33 PM, CruiseJunky48 said:

We just got back from and RCI sailing on Harmony. We booked a future cruise on Celebrity Beyond for the ABC Islands in June 2024,  and think we have made a huge mistake. I wish I had done my homework first. The ship does not even appear to have a ping pong table on it. The boy's, ages 12 and 14 do not like the "kids clubs" and would rather spend time with mom and dad and us, their grand parents, but we are really concerned they are going to be bored to death. The ship looks nice, but is it even a good option for them? They are not into sports, but love ping pong, arcade games and enjoyed the mini golf on Harmony. I am not sure if we should stay on this sailing or do something else.

Would do Royal and a stop at Coco Cay, would not do Celebrity. Coco Cay would be a blast for your boys!

[keesar]

On 7/16/2023 at 4:33 PM, CruiseJunky48 said:

We just got back from and RCI sailing on Harmony. We booked a future cruise on Celebrity Beyond for the ABC Islands in June 2024,  and think we have made a huge mistake. I wish I had done my homework first. The ship does not even appear to have a ping pong table on it. The boy's, ages 12 and 14 do not like the "kids clubs" and would rather spend time with mom and dad and us, their grand parents, but we are really concerned they are going to be bored to death. The ship looks nice, but is it even a good option for them? They are not into sports, but love ping pong, arcade games and enjoyed the mini golf on Harmony. I am not sure if we should stay on this sailing or do something else.

 

There are much better choices for them but not on the Beyond.  That itinerary will feature an even older group of passengers.  And when we cruised on Beyond during. a school vacation week, there were very few teens on board.  I would agree to pick a cruise that stops at Coco Cay or one with more activities for young people. Bored teens do not make a good family experience.

 

On the other hand, if YOU want to sail on the Beyond to those islands, go for it!

[WhiteSoxFan]

My last two cruises (my only on X) I have barely seen any kids.  Of course they were the 3rd week in January the last two years as well as being 50% & 70% capacity.  By barely I mean no more that 15 total (Excluding infants) combined on both sailings.

[GenXer85]

On 7/16/2023 at 4:48 PM, mitz18 said:

We did not see a ping-pong table on the Beyond and she is really not designed for kids (imho).  Celebrity tends to aim more towards adults and the beyond is no different.  There is a rooftop garden which is a great place to have a glass of wine and read a book, but no mini golf.  I don't remember seeing an arcade room but to be honest, did not look for one. I don't even remember a basketball court, but could have missed it.   We've been on many RCL and X voyages and can only say if I had young teenagers, I'd probably stick with RCL.   But that's just me.  Only you can decide what your kids will think.  Have you looked at the YouTube video overview of the beyond? Might help & you should be able to find it on X page via this link.. Good luck

https://www.celebritycruises.com/cruise-ships/celebrity-beyond

 

 

Very quiet introverted children will like celebrity. June should have lots of minors on the ship. So there’s a chance they meet peers. Have a great vacation 

[harbourxie]

Let me put in this way - the kids will have a good time anyway. However, Beyond would not be their favorite. My kids 13 and 8 were on Apex and Solstice. They had a great time on both, but definitely prefer Solstice kids club to Apex. If they can choose, S class is all the way pick. They had a much better time on Solstice. One downside is that there might be more youth on the S class since the E class is not kid friendly at all - maybe the worst kid club location among all cruise lines. The more kids on board, the more problematic  kids possible. My son told me that one of the kids on Solstice brought weeds on board!!!!!

As parents, we feel bad for dropping our kids on deck 3 and deck 2 [the Basement on E class] because these places look depressing - small, no windows and in the basement! 

With that being said, we will be on Beyond for the Panama Canal later 2023 and then Silhouette for Norway summer 2024. This way, the kids can have a break from the E class kids club.

Btw. I don't think the MDR on S class is as good as E class, so I recommend getting some specialty restaurant package on S class. 

Compared to Princess (Regal Princess) and RCL (Harmony of the seas), Solstice kids club is my kids favorite. My daughter even told me she rates Solstice kid club the same as Disney Magic....

 

Edited July 23, 2023 by harbourxie

[TravelGirlinDallas]

On 7/16/2023 at 3:33 PM, CruiseJunky48 said:

We booked a future cruise on Celebrity Beyond for the ABC Islands in June 2024, 

We have this same cruised booked next July, our first on Celebrity. We were just on Allure of the Seas last week with our 13yo son. I was surprised that he really wasn't all that into the extra activities on board and mainly just hung out with us or did his own thing in the cabin/balcony. Last spring, we sailed on Discovery Princess, which also doesn't have all of the slides and sports stuff, and he had a fantastic time. As long as there is a pool and unlimited pizza, he is good. 😂