Cruising Disney with a 16 year old

[HIPrincess]

Hello,

 

I am trying to convince my 16 year old that he will enjoy the Disney Magic. He doesn't want to be the only 5'11" 16 year old amongst 400 3' screaming little kids. Has anyone had any experience with taking older teenagers on the ship? Have they gone to the Teen club on board? Are there enough activites? Is there a board game room that if he didn't want to go there we could play scrabble or monopoly in the evenings? He is very mature, quiet and would hang with us everywhere but I don't think would be allowed in the "adult only" pool or other "adult only areas" on board, do you think?

 

Thanks much for your input in advance.

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Hi, just took the 8/5 Magic and we had a 15 year old with us.

The only time we saw her was at dinner and excursions. She had an awesome time!!!!

 

It is important for your son to go to the stack the first day when it opens because they have "Ice breaker games" so the kids get aquainted. The older teens do naturally separate from the younger teens.

I dont know all they did, but I know there were 2 late night dances, karoake, pizza paties, movies, scavenger hunt, done in teams, a brawn verses brains competition, computer games, arcade games, basketball competition, ping pong and shuffleboard contests, a late night swim party for teens only. Teen only beach on CC and a teen only excursion on CC too. Often the teens would also meet for lunch at the buffet and then off to a movie or a swim together without even going to the club until evening. I believe it opened at noon and closed at 2 or 2:30 a.m. Oh, they had a smoothy party too.

 

Also they attended family events in studio sea too. These events will be in your Navigator.

The Promenade lounge is a family lounge with lots of small tables and chairs. They do have board games in there you can ask for and play, plus there is live music a couple times a night for families with a small dance floor. also a couple TV's on the walls that sometimes have sporting events playing.

This is a great place to just hang out, plus it is open to the main hallway so you can spot friends if they go by and have them join you.

 

Plus before 9 P.M. Diversons is open to everyone. They have foosball or some game like that in there, plus a few board games with several TV's with lots of sporting events playing. usually have some free snacks in there and the promenade lounge too.

 

The theater has late night movies that are NOT kiddie movies he could go to also. There is an arcade on board, but it does cost extra.

 

We have gone 3 times with different teens and they all loved it!!!

 

Sometimes if you can get on a roll call thread for your cruise you can get aquainted with other people on your cruise. Then post for a teen the same age as your teen, then they can get aquainted before the crusie so they have someone to hang with on board before they even go. We have done this twice and it really worked great!!!

 

Remind him that pop is free on deck 9 drink station, grab there and take with you to the shows because if you order pop at any lounge you will be charged for it!!! It is free in the restaurants and deck 9. i think the Stack has it's own dispensor too. also grab apiece of ree pizza or a burger or just some fries on deck 9 to take with him to the movies if he thinks he will get hungry. Lots of people do this because it is free. you can buy goodies by the theater, but why buy when you can get it free.

 

The counselors in the teen area are really great !!! They understand that most teens feel it is NOT COOL to be on a Disney cruise!! they really do their best to turn that around for them. You wont see a picture of Mickey in the stack, it is all themed for teens!!

 

I hope he will at least try this, I'm sure he will find enough to do to keep busy with some great activities and make some great new friends. Our teens still e-mail the friends they made on board 3 cruises back, some from other countries.

 

Hope this helps some, if he has any specific questions, please ask, if I dont know the answer I will ask our grandkids (teens) that have crusied with us 3 times on the Magic, and they should know the answers,

 

mom x4,grandma x4

[mom x4,grandma x4]

I forgot ,he wont be allowed in any adult area until he is 18 and they do check ID even if he is with you.

Our son was check every evening when he was 18 and went to the clubs, but they have a family comedian show and a magic or juggling show he can go to at 7:30 in the clubs which is a lot of fun.

 

Plus If he likes to do trivia, at least once a day they have trivia in one of the clubs for everyone. It is general questions sometimes, other times there is a lot of disney stuff, sometimes it is trivia for music. You hear 3 or 4 notes, then they give a clue and you guess the music or the show it came from. It changes everyday.

 

They hace chip it golf a few times too if he likes to golf.

 

There is always something to do, just be adventurous.

 

mom x4,grandma x4

[HIPrincess]

WOW! Thanks for all the detailed information. I really want to go, but we are now stuck in trying to find reasonable air fare from MKE. We are a bit concerned that it is hurricane season, but that also would account for the affordable price! We know that the ship can sail around the storm for the most part and we have been on other cruises so we know what to expect, except not at that time of the year. Thanks ever so much and I am sure that I will have more questions.

 

Also, do you know if there are any other ways to get to Port Canaveral other than taking their shuttle from Orlando or even from Orlando? We are trying to see if we fly into another airport if we can get down there any cheaper. Thanks!

[mom x4,grandma x4]

Besides DCL's bus I dont know of any other shuttles. I kniw some people rent Limos and go in with another family to save $$$. I have no idea what they cost.

There are a couple of car rental places that you can get the car at the airport, drive to Cocoa Beach to leave the car and then they will shuttle you to the port and pick you up when you return to pick up the car again to drive back to the airport.

The drive is really easy from the airport. Really only one main road for several miles then one turn and you are on the road that takes you 98% of the way, one more turn and you are there. If you drive it use map quest or I can wirte write down the actual road names for you. These are toll roads, but dont cost much.

It is an easy drive.

A lot of people com ein the night before, rent acar to cocoa beach spend the night in a hotel, return the car and the hotle will shuttle you to the port too and back again. We just drive there because we live a little over an hour away, so we have never had to get rransportation.

But if you really want a stress free vacation, I would just pay for DCL transportation. They will take care of luggage and everything. They play a movie on the bus that will get everyone excited for the cruise too!! it is about an hour from the airport to the terminal.

mom x4,grandma x4

[HIPrincess]

Thanks again for all the great info. We are still searching for reasonable airfare and have a courtesy hold on the cruise. We are half way there. Just don't want to pay as much for the airfare as the cruise!!!

[OceanLiner]

I think everything that can be said about your teens having fun has been wonderfuly said!

 

I would add that you should use the DCL shuttle. It REALLY adds to the excitement of the cruise.

 

Also, fly in at least one day before hand to avoid the stress of having to get to the ship on the same day as your flight.

[HIPrincess]

Any further info you can give me on the Cocoa Beach car rental? We may have a good lead on flights to Tampa and would be happy to take a leisurely drive to Cocoa Beach. You piqued my curiousity when you said that about the car rental there---never thought about that.:) That may be a great option. Thanks in advance for any help that you could give me. We were in FL in April and flew in to Tampa and stayed in Orlando and visited Cocoa Beach. If we can drop off the car there and not pay rental the whole week that would be great.:D

[mom x4,grandma x4]

I know people do this all the time. usually the man drops off the woman and kids at the terminal, returns the car and they give him a lift back to the terminal and then back to rent another car after the cruise. I have read this many times and like you said they didnt need to rent during that week.

I am not sure which rental place it is, I will try to do some research on other boards the next few days and see if I can come up with the name for you.

mom x4,grandma x4

[HIPrincess]

You are such a brilliant person, I would have never thought about doing that. My husband is checking with the card rental companies and from the calls that he has made so far, that it seems like it will work! Thank you sooooo much for thinking of that idea. You won't need to do any further research. It has allowed us to find a flight that will hopefully get us down there the evening before barring any problems and less stress hopefully on us before we cruise. I don't mind the drive and then we can control our situation. Thanks again!!!!!!

[mom x4,grandma x4]

That's great news, I am very happy for you!!!!

I know your going to have an awesome cruise!!!

 

Once you get on the ship DCL will take care of everything for you!!!

 

Please remember to write a cruise report sop I will know how it went for you guys.

 

mom x4,grandma x4

[jrose529]

We sailed on DCL Magic 2 years ago when DD was 16. She had the time of her life. She's been begging us to sail DCL again, so we're going in April on the Wonder when she's 18. She also still keeps in touch with the friends she met. She has gotten together with them twice and feels so close to them all. We found teens for her on the DIS boards that she chatted with prior to the cruise. When we had our DIS meet, she felt like she already knew them. They went to the Stack the first night to sign in and made more friends that they hung out with all week. They didn't spend much time in the Stack after that, since they found so much to do in the Navigators. They ate many meals together and swam alot. I think your DS will have a great time.

 

We flew in the night before the cruise and rented a car at Budget in Orlando until the next day when we turned it in near the port and took the shuttle to the ship. We also had a one day rental for the day we returned. We had a late flight and drove to DTD for the day and turned the car in at the airport. We were supposed to fly out of Tampa, but they changed our flight to Orlando the week before we left for the cruise. That worked out great for us. I don't remember what the one day rental cost, but it was about $50 each way. The DCL transportation is $60 pp, so for about $100 total, we had the freedom to do what we wanted, and saved $80!:D

[HIPrincess]

Thanks again for all your tips. I think that my husband is going to finalize everything today---the courtesy reservation is good until tomorrow but I would feel better if everything is wrapped up today. We need to get the car, the hotel the night before, and the travel insurance. Now that that is taken care of do you have any suggestions for the shore excursions? We typically have researched the island to see what we want to do and then rented a cab, but these were all non-Mexican places and everyone spoke English. Have you heard about anyone doing this? We prefer to explore on our own somewhat but also like to be safe. :)

[okiedokie]

Hi,

Last November we went on the DCL-magic for the 7 day cruise-my son was 15 at the time-he had a blast-"the stack" is great for that age group-they had all kinds of activities for them-partys-contests etc. He loved it so much we are going back this November and he is now 16-6' tall. It's funny but you don't seem to notice the little kids-I don't know what they do with them-DCL does stick to their guns where the Adults only pool is concerned-the family pool is where my kids had to go. They also have an arcade room-doesn't use coins-you load a certain amount to a card and the kids use these-tell your son to be careful with the card-someone stole my son's card while he was playing!

Hope this is helpful-my son would be glad to post on this board to your son as needed!

Okie:)

[HIPrincess]

Thank you so much for the information. I will pass the info on to my son. He is rather shy, so I am not sure yet if he will mingle enough in the stack, but you never know! Thanks for the heads up on the video loaded card.