lumpkin Posted August 15, 2006 #1 Share Posted August 15, 2006 Hi, we are travelling on Mercury 8/25, and have a 12 year old girl who is about to become 13 one month later. I would guess we have the option of putting her in the kid's group that caps at age 12, or in the teen group that starts at age 13. Anyone have experience to know if the Mercury teen group would be too "old" for her? I don't really want her hanging out with kids who are likely to be older if all they do is talk boyfriends/girlfriends, and spend time trying to date each other. I read on a board here (dealing with security on ships) that the dating scene could be intense on some ships. On the flip side, would the kid's program which caps at age 12 be too young for her? (I have also posted this on the Celebrity board, so sorry if it is a duplicate.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrp96 Posted August 15, 2006 #2 Share Posted August 15, 2006 Your 12 year old will automatically be placed in the 12 year old group. There isn't a choice which group she will go into. Occasionally, they will allow a child to move up, but it is the choice of the people running the club, not the parent, and usually is only done after observing the child for a day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lumpkin Posted August 15, 2006 Author #3 Share Posted August 15, 2006 Interesting...I did not know they would be that strict with the age groups. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
browniegirl Posted August 22, 2006 #4 Share Posted August 22, 2006 Hi, yes cruise lines are very strict. We are on NCL next January with our 5 kids, 13, 12, 10, 7 and 10 months. The 12 year old (a boy) is almost a foot taller than my 13 yr old stepson and is much more mature looking (they are actually only 5 months apart) and my 12 year old son will be 2 weeks shy of his 13th birthday. NCL says he has to go in the 12 yr old program and we have to put the 13 yr old in the teen program!!!! It is crazy to the point where neither of them want to be in the programs because of this. Not sure what we'll do there.... seems like they should have some discretion to change this once on board but I have heard they are very strict, bummer! Leah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athankfulheart Posted August 23, 2006 #5 Share Posted August 23, 2006 We just cruised on Pride of Aloha and found that in general they are strict about age guidelines, however, after a genuine conversation about how and why our new 14yo would feel very out of place in the teen club ( plus our feeling uncomfortable with the age spread in that group ( larger than any other) they agreed that after a one evening trial, if we still felt the same, they'd move her. We had kids in each age group with ages being 3,5,9,10,12,14 and a 1yo whom we kept with us or our babysitters. Our 12yo really enjoyed the kids crew program even though she was at the top end of the spectrum. She is pretty mature but also very fun loving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athankfulheart Posted August 23, 2006 #6 Share Posted August 23, 2006 We just cruised Pride of Aloha with 7 children and found that they would move a child down a group if they genuinely were out of place in the older group. They did require that the child at least try thier own age group one time first. My 12yo loved the kids crew and Id describe her as mature but also fun loving. My 14yo felt out of place with the teens and I felt the age spread as well as the freedom to go about the ship without a supervisor werent appropriate for a 14yo young lady. One of the teen boys was escorted off the ship by security and never seen back aboard again for the rest of the cruise, but nobody was able to give us an exact story of why :confused: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arubalisa Posted August 23, 2006 #7 Share Posted August 23, 2006 On Celebrity's Galaxy, the 10-12 yo group had a much larger offering of activities than the teen, 13 - 17 yo, group. There is a smattering of activities daytime for the teens, but mainly concentrated in the evening. For the teens of course they also offered the late night 11 pm or Midnight Dances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HunnyBunnyTink Posted September 25, 2006 #8 Share Posted September 25, 2006 To put in my 2 cents for anyone else who would like to know about Mercury's 'dating' scene. I was on this ship in Dec 04 at age 15. As far as I know no one was dating anyone else and we were just there to have fun. As for activities, yes there are activities 'splattered' throughout the day but when there arent any real planned activities we would just hang out in the teen room and listen to the juke box or grab a bite to eat. Only a few in the group were truly rowdy and everyone had a great time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lumpkin Posted September 29, 2006 Author #9 Share Posted September 29, 2006 So we had our Celebrity Mercury sailing, and my 12 yr old (just now 13!) loved the 10-12 yr old group! She did not want to go at all the first 2 days (she thought it was boring and she was way too cool for it), but after day 2 I could not keep her away. And there was a girl already 13 also in the group. They had lots of fun, and when not in the program she ate and played cards with the kids she met there. And I peeked into the teen room so I could get a sense of what next year's cruise would bring, and the teens seemed happy, and I saw them working throughout the ship on a scavenger hunt, and it seemed pretty good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamandamn14 Posted September 30, 2006 #10 Share Posted September 30, 2006 Thats great that you find a good compromise, It is also brilliant that your daughter managed to see some friends outside of kids club time because ussuallt in the younger groups, this does not happen.:o Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkjretired Posted October 1, 2006 #11 Share Posted October 1, 2006 don't tend to be very active after the first couple of days. The kids meet and seem to go off on their own and do things so you may want her to stay in the younger groups so you know where she is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arubalisa Posted October 2, 2006 #12 Share Posted October 2, 2006 So we had our Celebrity Mercury sailing, and my 12 yr old (just now 13!) loved the 10-12 yr old group! She did not want to go at all the first 2 days (she thought it was boring and she was way too cool for it), but after day 2 I could not keep her away. And there was a girl already 13 also in the group. They had lots of fun, and when not in the program she ate and played cards with the kids she met there. And I peeked into the teen room so I could get a sense of what next year's cruise would bring, and the teens seemed happy, and I saw them working throughout the ship on a scavenger hunt, and it seemed pretty good! Thanks for posting your experience. It is always great afterwards to hear how folks "really" fared. Dh and I were both extremely impressed with Celebrity's kids staff. Our dd is extremely shy and the kid's club was such a blessing for her. She'd rather be with the family for dinner (and dressing up :) ), but during the daytime, unless we are off on an excursions, she spends all her time in the kids club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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