Teen groups (Ages 12 - 14)

[JaniceT]

Does anyone know how strict RCI is about the age groups for teens? We will be sailing on the Freedom in a few weeks and we are travelling with our nephew (12) and our 3 daughters (14) and my twins will actually be 11 when we set sail, but their birthday is the week we get back. It would really be a bummer if they weren't all able to hang out together because of 5 days!

 

Thanks,

 

Janice

[jules815]

Does anyone know how strict RCI is about the age groups for teens? We will be sailing on the Freedom in a few weeks and we are travelling with our nephew (12) and our 3 daughters (14) and my twins will actually be 11 when we set sail, but their birthday is the week we get back. It would really be a bummer if they weren't all able to hang out together because of 5 days!

 

Thanks,

 

Janice

 

I'm not sure how Freedom will be, but I was in a similar situation last week on Mariner of the Seas. Our daughter is turning 12 tomorrow, and I was afraid if she was in the younger group, she wouldn't want to participate. (She's youngest in her class because of her summer birthday, but will start jr. high in the fall, and has been babysitting for 9 year olds for a few months now.)

 

On our first night on board, when we went up to the Adventure Ocean area, I explained the situation to their staff, and they said it wouldn't be a problem, given how close she was. However, they do watch them, and if they don't feel they're mature enough, they will move them down. You shouldn't have a problem though. They really do have a lot of fun activities for that age group. :)

[JaniceT]

Thanks, I'll just let them know when we get there then! Hopefully, they'll let them in.

 

What kind of activities do they have? Did your daughter participate in a lot of them?

[cruz1234]

Sometimes if the Ship has ALOT of kids they will not be able to move them..just to let you know it can happen so you are aware and can prepare for this just in case. We were on Empress last May very few kids so they really were all mixed. Hopefully you won't have any problems. We are sailing Enchantment in July and will have a similar scenario, so we hope it will work out for us too. :)

[jules815]

Thanks, I'll just let them know when we get there then! Hopefully, they'll let them in.

 

What kind of activities do they have? Did your daughter participate in a lot of them?

 

My daughter participated in almost everything! It was so nice, the first night she went up to Fuel (I went with her), and when we walked in, there were 3 girls sitting at the bar, all appeared to be her age. My daughter walked right up to them, introduced herself and they all shook hands. :) From that point on, they were instant friends and did all the activities together.

 

In the evenings, they all like to hang out in Fuel, which is their bar/disco. At 10:00, the younger teens get moved to the Living Room, and the older teens are in Fuel. Living Room is not much different, although it has no dance floor or dj booth. They can play foos ball, they show music videos and movies on a large screen tv mounted into the wall, and they also have a bar for snacks (I think they served them pizza in both Fuel and LR).

 

Activities were things like scavenger hunts, dodge ball on the basketball court and other scheduled sports events. (putt putt golf and rock climbing) One afternoon they had a snow ball fight on the back deck, each night has a "dance", (my daughter said not everyone danced but that was okay too) On one of the formal nights, their dance that night was called "Prom". They had kareoke (spelled wrong, I know!) One afternoon they had a bbq on the back sports deck for the kids, so our daughter didn't have lunch with us that day. They also have a really big arcade on that deck (deck 12) and the kids would spend time there through out the day. On the final day, they had a get together where they could all exchange email addresses, and they signed bandanas with fabric paint. I'm sure I'm leaving something out, but there was so much for them to do.

 

They spent a good amount of time hanging out in Fuel and the Living Room, but there's always staff supervising. Sometimes I would be out walking around the ship taking pictures, and I would peek into the Living Room when I knew my girls were in there. If they weren't doing an activity, they would be sitting around talking, and there was always an AO staff sitting and chatting with them. The older teens wasn't as structured; but they still had some of the same activities. There are always AO staff in Fuel late at night, and although I never went in (they have bouncers), my older daughter took lots of pictures.

 

I know I've already mentioned this in my other posts, but I cannot say enough about how well behaved all of the kids were, including the older teens. Just a really great group of kids the entire week.