Teens and Kids on Crown

[pes949]

Ok... I need to vent here....

 

I have been digging through these boards and the Princess site to see what applies to teens ( have 4 teens in my party).

 

It is clear that Princess is failing to address children and families.

Instead the activitoes listed in Patters tend to pull them apart based on the activities I have seen listed in scanned Patters. This is absurd.

 

Princess should design activities for FAMILY participation. It think it would be great for Princess to design activities for younger kids that include interaction with their parents. The only thing I have seen is that parents of young kids can do is sit by the pools...

 

So... only adults can play pool vollyball, play the ping pong tournament, etc. and teens are left with nothing!!!

Teens are restricted from the swim against the current pool. Come on folks... Teens need exercise and stimulating activites....

 

For those who want to get away from the noise and activities you should contact Princess and tell then to find things that will captivate teens and families. The result will be relaxation for those who just want peace and quiet and things to keep the active families occupied.

 

As for MUTS.... This is insane.... Every post that mentions MUTS says it is too loud.... Well.... There must be a volume control on the system somewhere. Drop the volume by 10Db and I bet folks will be raving about how great MUTS is rather than complaining it is too loud. Just because you have 65k watts does not mean that you have to force permanent hearing loss on your passengers.

 

Lucky for the CC roll calls as I am working with our roll call members to find good stuff for the teens in our group. I encourage all to do the same for their kids and send the message so that all passengers have a great vacation.

[LARGIN]

Princess seems to be lagging in family participation activities which in the opinion of many seasoned travelers, is a good idea. I heard that there are many family oriented activities on RCCL and Disney. Perhaps families should spend their money there. Maybe Princess with take notice, maybe not.

[Love Boat Dream]

I agree with you that there is little family activities. My son is almost 7 and he is happy in the Pelicans club most of the time. We do take him to the demos and shows. But, as he gets older, I can see there being a problem. I think we do need to write to Princess or put it in our surveys at the end of the cruise. When we were on RCI, they invited the families to the kids club from 2-3 to do activities like a scavenger hunt.

 

They are very big ships. There is plenty of room for families to have activities that do not get in the way of the adult only stuff.

 

Largin: why do you even read these posts about families? And, why do you feel you have to comment in a negative way? Maybe it is you that should try another cruise line that has absolutely no families aboard.

[spongerob]

Unlike other resorts, a ship is not necessarily a destination unto itself. And if you know how to keep teens happy, stimulated, and out of trouble, I'm sure the rest of the world will be beating a path to your door to for your insight. No one has figured that one out yet. :)

[ahracer]

I have 3 kids ages 7,13, and 15. They love Princess. As a matter of a fact that is the only vacation they want to do. There are endless activities for them and we plenty of our things to do as a family. I don't require an organised activity to have fun with my kids.

 

There are plenty of teen activities, ping pong tournaments, basketball, tennis, minature golf, etc.... They have access to all of the same activities as adults. The only restricition is the 2 adult pools.

 

I can't imagine you could feel teens are left with nothing!

 

Scott

[Love Boat Dream]

Unlike other resorts, a ship is not necessarily a destination unto itself. :)

 

 

I disagree! For me, the ship is the important thing and is the destination. If it is the Caribbean, the ports don't matter that much to me. :D

 

I think more family oriented activities would keep the teens away from "making their own fun" which is when the "adult only crowd" sees them hanging out and making mischeif.

[LARGIN]

Largin: why do you even read these posts about families? And, why do you feel you have to comment in a negative way? Maybe it is you that should try another cruise line that has absolutely no families aboard.

 

Negative?? Did you understand my post?

I said that Princess is lacking is family activities which is true.

I inferred that some seasoned travelers prefer to cruise where there are few children which is true.

I said that RCCL and Disney have more activities for families which is true.

I said if families started booking on other lines Princess might take notice or maybe not which again is true.

 

So I really do not understand your comment.

[Quilting_Cruiser]

We took our 16-year-old DD on her first cruise a few years ago and, even though in our "regular" life she was too cool to be seen with me, we hung out together a lot on the cruise when my younger DD was in camp. We took line dancing lessons, played bingo, laid by the pool, etc. She was too shy to go to the teen get together the first night, so she was stuck with me and her little sister!

 

Now she's 20 and going on her second cruise. We're both looking forward to spending time together again, especially now that she's in college (out of state) and we see her only a couple of times a year. I usually let her call the shots on what we do so I'm sure it's something she really does want to do.

 

With my youngest, we've always participated in Carnival's "family day" on one of the sea days. We've decorated t-shirts, done sand art, won the family scavenger hunt :D (twice!), and all the other activities for family day. I take it Princess doesn't have a family day??

 

In short, we always find things to do as a family. It would be nice to have some organized activities to choose from, but it's not terribly important to us.

 

Cheers!

Jayne

[spongerob]

I disagree! For me, the ship is the important thing and is the destination. If it is the Caribbean, the ports don't matter that much to me. :D

There's more the cruising than just the Caribbean, too. I get your point - but if you are interested in keeping the whole family occupied, maybe a cruise isn't the best first choice if your goal is to just float around somewhere. If the teens are bored, maybe they're telling you that your choice for their vacation didn't consider their wants and needs very well. Or perhaps, see what other lines offer if cruising is your thing. Princess tries to serve a broad range of passengers and interests, and generally does a good job.

[where next?]

Our kids (ages 14 and 11) enjoy Princess because of the freshwater pools. Usually, the kids club works out great for them and they also are able to go around the ship on their own with newfound friends as long as we know where they are and they follow the good behavior rules! So far, so good...people have mentioned that they've seen them and what nice kids they are and they follow the "yellow stickie" rule of letting us know where they are!!

 

The only thing that was a bummer for them was the contests (limbo for example) that they were not able to participate in because the winner receives champagne. Why couldn't Princess let them participate and have an alternate prize or give the champagne to their parents? They were enjoying themselves, not bothering anyone and had to leave the contest when they were getting close to maybe winning it! I forget the other things they weren't able to participate in...nothing would ruin my day but they were bummed they couldn't finish the contest.

 

On a fun note...we did win Princess Feud...winnings were tote bags and champagne. That was fun for the whole family!!

[Cruisin' Chick]

Depending on what your kids like, some of the "adult" activities can be enjoyed by the whole family. We had a kid on our Simpsons Trivia team, my daughter took an ukelele class, and there were plenty of kids dancing on the deck during Island Night. It seems during the day, you can always find teens playing table tennis or other sports on the sports deck.

 

It may be nice if the kids program offers a couple of activities that parents can join in (I remember Carnival had family karoake). I'm not sure if many of the teens would appreciate a special family activity -- the Off Limits place is their own sanctuary.

 

Definitely, if parents mention it on their comment cards, Princess will become aware of the situation.

[kendon]

Princess is what it is, why change it when there are many other family oriented options to choose from elsewhere. Perhaps a different cruiseline? My two teenage boys are quite content with things as they are (and so am I). Our family activities consist of daily excursions and dinner together. Other than that, my 15 and 16 year old boys want to be off making friends in the teen center. I do not want to be entertaining them all day, and they don't want me hovering.

[tsj]

Hi, I find myself in agreement with the other parents of teens. We do our port days together, we have most of our meals, breakfast and dinner for sure as a family and some pool and activity time together. My daughters love the teen club. It works very well for us as a family, we get lots of time together and some time apart to do the things that interest us as individuals. We also choose our shore trips to appeal to us as a family.....

So cruising works well for us as a family and we enjoy Princess very much! JMHO.

[mek]

I personally think Princess does a fine job of offering family entertainment and options for kids and teens. Kids clubs, MUTS, mini-golf, basketball courts, pools. I'm not sure how much more is needed? We've taken our family on two family cruises, one on Princess and one on RCCL and the kids had a great time on both. This August, were taking two of the older grandkids - 16 and 17 - on Carnival, just for a change of pace, (and the price was right), and I'm sure they will have a grreat time on that one also.

[mindykatz]

I've never been on Princess before (been on Carnival and RCI), my first time is in about 2 weeks (Crown Princess on 7/11). I very much hope that they have things to entertain teenagers...on RCI 2 summers ago, it seemed that the only thing the 15-17 year olds had to do was try to find a way to drink alcohol (18+ drinking age on RCI). We were in our usual bar one night and one 16 year old did somehow find a way to get served.....and he ended up vomiting in the bar, outside the bar, and 3 more times in the hallway before he got to his cabin. Then it took the staff over 30 minutes to clean it up even tho we called the front desk about it 3 times!

 

I have much higher expectations for Princess...and am very glad the drinking age is 21 on the ship, not 18!

[Randycurit]

Hi all Mt $.02,

 

We travel princess without the kids and they have been on RCCL with us because we thought that the RCCL was more family friendly. Our kids have seen our princess pictures and videos and now they really want to try princess with us. We have explained that it is more adult stuff and they said it didn't matter. They are DS-13 and DD-15 (DD-19 not going this time) and it seems that they liked the idea of princess so we are going to try it in Feb. We made sure that WE (they whole family) was in charge of our fun. On RCCL we made it a family vacation by spending most of the day and every island together. We ate all our meals together and while on ship it seemed we just kept pairing up for fun stuff to do. We did trivia and bingo as a family. At night it was up to them if they joined us for the show or not but they had to stay as a pair if not with us. On sea day it was POOL time with the girls and DW just baking for the day. Ds and I were off on our adventures and it was great. I believe it comes back to what you want to make out of YOUR vacation. When we take the kids it is about FAMILY - Good luck with your vacation plans

 

Randy

[peteinsonj]

Having previously cruised Royal, and last week Princess for the first time, I'd have to say that Royal does a better job with younger and older kids.

 

Not to say that the Princess kids clubs were bad, they are not. But I think video games are a focus -- at least 10 play stations for the youngest (and lots of other things, too), 12 game stations for the "Shockwaves" (formerly Pelicans), and at least as many for the teens.

 

My 10 year old enjoyed going to Shockwaves -- but I don't think it was as engaging as on Royal. I noted elsewhere that he still sleeps with the pillowcase he made on Royal! And talks about the time they marched around the ship and onto the stage as pirates. No similar "fond" memories of the kids club.

 

My daughter, on Royal, I was SO concerned she wouldn't meet/make friends. The first night at midnight there was a knock on the cabin door. I feared the worst -- but standing there were 5 - 8 teens, with counselor, having a scavenger hunt! She had a great time. Don't have the impression that anything like this occurs on Princess.

 

(she is 18 now, and didn't come with us this time -- its an akward age -- no "teen" activities, yet too young for the "night club")

 

Keep in mind, too, that I, and other parents, were always invited to stay or come back to Shockwaves for activities -- to play video games, air hockey, etc.

 

Lastly -- I did not find MUTS too loud. In fact, on the upper decks around the pool -- great screen viewing -- there were times I could barely hear the movie. Yes, directly in front of the screen it was loudest. But then, its a movie -- not background music for conversation! I think the sound is pretty directional -- but then maybe this has yet to be optimized on the Crown. (that said, I don't think they have the MUTS technology quite figured out. One night Narnia was showing. parts of the movie were nearly impossible to see -- I asked that the tech person come up -- he looked at it, thought it must be a bad DVD or bad player, could offer no fix!)

 

Pete

[cambridgemgr]

Does anyone know how flexable Princess is in regard to the age and allowing a kid to moved up from a category, or is it solely based on age in the kids program?

I believe that the 8-12yr olds are in Shockwaves, and the Teens Remix is 13-17yrs old. But, if a 12yr old is a couple weeks shy of 13, will they allow him/her to be moved into the Teen program, if you ask them when you sign up.

Any insight on this will be appreciated.

Thanx!!

[hillslife]

We are heading off for my daughters 8th cruise in a couple weeks - 7/11 on Crown Princess. She LOVES to cruise and we find Princess a great place for a family vacation.. She does admit that Teen Club does have some events the kids don't care for, but they play cards, games, swim, spa, dance, karaoki, scavenger hunts....etc. She has a great time and has always met very nice teens to hang with. We always make it a point to do dinner together and usually the large shows also. She also likes to come to Bingo with me and she enjoys the art auctions. We keep in close contact and always know where each other is on the ship....

 

As far as moving up into an age group you aren't in....I wouldn't get my hopes up. They are VERY strict on this - it has something to do with liability and staffing ratios. I would try to ask, but don't be surprized if you are declined. We had the same problem when my DD was a mature 12 and the 8-12 group was very young for her....good luck!!!

[Host CJSKIDS]

My 3 teens love Princess and always seem to have a tremendous amount to do. There are things that the whole family can do as well. On our Star Princess sailing in March, our oldest and our friends joined us in all the trivia games during the day and even at night. Our group actually won the jeopardy contest and it was a hoot, the teens loved it. They have activities and games going on for the kids and so forth.

We're actually taking the kids back onto Disney in July as Princess screwed up my Princess booking as my kids are disappointed that we're on Disney and not Princess! I find that Disney has stuff going on for the family, but most of it is geared towards young kids and not teens.

[Host CJSKIDS]

Does anyone know how flexable Princess is in regard to the age and allowing a kid to moved up from a category, or is it solely based on age in the kids program?

I believe that the 8-12yr olds are in Shockwaves, and the Teens Remix is 13-17yrs old. But, if a 12yr old is a couple weeks shy of 13, will they allow him/her to be moved into the Teen program, if you ask them when you sign up.

Any insight on this will be appreciated.

Thanx!!

 

Part of it depends on how many of that age group Princess has on board it seems. When we were in Europe last year they actually tried to move my son who had just turned 13 back into the other group as they had a very large amount of teens and we had to fight to have him stay in the teen club with his brother since that is where he really should have been.

[NthernLgts]

Negative?? Did you understand my post?

I said that Princess is lacking is family activities which is true.

I inferred that some seasoned travelers prefer to cruise where there are few children which is true.

I said that RCCL and Disney have more activities for families which is true.

I said if families started booking on other lines Princess might take notice or maybe not which again is true.

 

So I really do not understand your comment.

 

I thought your post was quite honest and constructive.