Good ship for young teens.....

[lishka]

Hello All....

 

Never have been to Alaska before, but there are a bunch of us planning to go in May 2008.

We have booked the Carnival Spirit (first time on Carnival, too!)

I had a tour of the ship a while back, and it is very nice, but is there a lot of stuff for 13 - 15 year olds to do?

I know they have the water slide - but in Alaska??

Anyone out there have any experience on this ship with young teens? Any secret little things that I can let the kids know about?

 

Thanks in advance!

[Chat Noir]

Keep in mind that May Alaska cruises typically do not have many teens onboard. However, if you have a group of teens going, they will likely be fine with each other for company.

 

We sailed the Spirit with 4 teens in early June 2005; our 4 teens made up half the teen populations on board. Even though they didn't find many activities of interest to them, they kept busy playing board games, etc, and we took excursions that they loved. The pools were not open on our sailing, however, the hot-tubs were.

 

We sailed the Sapphire Princess May 2006, and again, few teens were onboard except for those in our group. However, they found much more entertainment/activities suited to them than they had the year before on the Spirit. Pools were open, as were hot-tubs.

 

You will find many here that are fans of the Spirit. I am not one after our whole sailing went haywire... so take this as you will.:)

 

I suggest that you encourage your kids to enjoy what's off the ship at the Alaska ports, and don't focus on activites and entertainment onboard the ship. If they do find lots of fun things onboard, they will be surprised, but if they really don't, they won't be in for huge disappointment like mine were. And who knows... maybe my kids are just weird and not so easily entertained???;)

[jessinphilly]

We just got back from Alaska 6/25 from Vancouver. There were 24 12 year olds, and I believe 80 or so 13 to 16 year olds. This was on princess, and the program for them on ship was not that good. Despite that the kids had tons of fun, they met kids they liked, swam, played games, pingpong, and ate! Then they went off on tours with their families and had dinner with their own families and found each other again. Your kids should have a great time, it will also be better if your excursions are ones they want to do. Have fun planning!

[wilderness1]

I'll be on the Spirit with my 14 year old daughter at the end of August. I'll let you know how it goes!

[Fergus]

Our kids (teens) enjoyed swimming, ice carving demo, trivia contests, ping pong, the towel animal folding class, lots of things!

[Keith1010]

As others have sail there are less kids in Alaska than say the caribbean but there are always teens on the cruise and you will certainly see some on Carnival. My experience is that it doesn't take lots of fellow teens for the others to have a good time.

 

You will be fine.

 

Enjoy.

 

Keith

[Budget Queen]

In Alaska, there is plenty off the ship,that also should be considered perhaps?? Involve them in the shore tour selections and don't worry about the ship. They'll have a great time no matter how they get there. :)