traveling with 12-14 yr. old

[irishcropper]

I am taking my granddaughter on a cruise for her 13th birthday. It is a 4-day 3 night. I have never cruised with a 'tween'. How soon should I take her to the activity club for her age? What should I expect as to spending time with her, yet letting her do her thing? Do you have to sign her in and ck her out, or do they let them come and go as the please? She has never been on a vacation so all this will be new to her. I tried searching under tween, age groups, etc. and couldn't find anything. Any help would be greatly appreciated. TIA

[fkfad]

We have taken our son on 3 cruises...he was 12 yo, 13 yo, and 14 yo, respectively. When he was 12 yo, it was a Disney cruise, and he spent the entire time in the kids' club...he hated it when we made him join us for dinner, family time, etc., only because he was having so much fun with the other kids. For the other 2 cruises (NCL and Carnival), we gave him a 2-way radio so that we could find him at all times, and he joined the kids' clubs on both of those cruises as well. However, these clubs were much more free as far as giving the kids (of these age groups) freedom to move around the ship unsupervised...hence the 2-way radios. We checked up on him frequently to make sure he was where he said he would be, doing what he said he would be doing. He had a blast and we were comfortable with him hanging out with all of his new friends (they were always well-behaved groups of kids). So, there you go, the 2-way radios worked well and allowed us to keep tabs on him at all times. Of course, every night we enforced a 11PM curfew (to his expected protests)... Our rules and expectations have worked out well for both him and us!

[prttygirlmss]

I am taking my granddaughter on a cruise for her 13th birthday. It is a 4-day 3 night. I have never cruised with a 'tween'. How soon should I take her to the activity club for her age? What should I expect as to spending time with her, yet letting her do her thing? Do you have to sign her in and ck her out, or do they let them come and go as the please? She has never been on a vacation so all this will be new to her. I tried searching under tween, age groups, etc. and couldn't find anything. Any help would be greatly appreciated. TIA

On the first night they will have a meet and mingle for their age group. Make sure to go. I traveled with my boys this past Sept (12 and 14). They met kids at the meet and mingle. At their age, the kids come and go whenever they want. I looked at the schedule for the day and knew what activities they would be at. We also set up meeting times for a check in. My kids had so much fun that thats all they want to do now, is cruise.

[cruising lady]

If you are on RCCL go to there site look under Adventure Ocean it shows age group and some activites My granddaughter had a ball on her first cruise on Liberty this summer 12 yrs old a 2way radio does help keep in contact but you have to get them to answer they are usually haveing so much fun they don't want to talk to you.

 

As stated before make sure you go to meet and great for her age, also when you get on the ship look for the childrens activites person.

 

They can come and go as they please but they have listing of all activites and you can make plans where to met at certain times.

 

Have fun my grandchildren still talk about the fun they had last summer and can't wait to go again I need to win the lottery.