Which Cruiseline for Europe with Teen/Tween

[skatie]

We are hoping to do a cruise in Europe late May/early June 2010. We have only ever done Caribbean cruises with Disney and Royal Caribbean. My daughter will be 13 and son 10. Both have loved the clubs on past cruises. I'm not too fussy on where we take off from or travel to and am looking for a 7-11 day trip. Just wondering which cruiselines or itineraries would be best for this age group? Thanks

[kitty9]

I would recommend either Princess or Royal Caribbean. I did a 10 day RCI cruise in the Med and it was loaded with teens and younger. They all seemed to be having a great time.

[lmg1230]

We are going on the Emerald Princess on a 10 day from Copenhagen this August. We are travelling with two daughters who will be 5 and 12. We will be spending a few days in Copenhagen before the cruise. Ports of call are Helsinki, Stockholm, Oslo, Gdansk, Talinn, and St. Petersberg. Both girls are very excited about visiting these countries. If you haven't booked your trip yet when we return then I can let you know how they enjoyed the cruise.

Lisa

[calikak]

You might think about NCL too--the NCL ships over there are mostly big, new, and with lots of tween/teen stuff to do onboard. I also like a ship with flexible dining for Europe, so you're not rushing back to a dining time after a tour, and also not eating too late at night and then having to wake up early to go sight-seeing.

[Keith1010]

Our first time we took the kids to Europe on a cruise was on Princess. We had a great time. Princess has a wonderful childrens program and the ships are great for them and for the adults as well. I would suggest taking one of their 12 day cruises if you can. Given the length of the flights, etc it's nice to take more time on the cruise.

 

Also, be sure to arrive at least one day before the cruise if not a couple of days. You don't want to fly in the day of the cruise as if your flights are delayed or canceled you could miss the ship plus you will be quite tired when you board from the long flights to the jet lag.

 

As you look at itineraries, consider the flights to the port of embarkation and disembarkation.

 

One itinerary to consider from Princess is a Mediterranean cruise that goes between Istanbul and Venice. I think they still offer that one and it is a nice one for the family.

 

Keith

[chipmaster]

We are hoping to do a cruise in Europe late May/early June 2010. We have only ever done Caribbean cruises with Disney and Royal Caribbean. My daughter will be 13 and son 10. Both have loved the clubs on past cruises. I'm not too fussy on where we take off from or travel to and am looking for a 7-11 day trip. Just wondering which cruiselines or itineraries would be best for this age group? Thanks

 

I would say worry less about the kids club aspect for Europe.

10/13 are likely old enough that I would think they would love to see and experience the ports, don't leave them on the ship :mad: Hopefully you'll pick the cruise line based on date/ports of interest first. My kids were 7, 11 and 13 on our cruise this past summer. The 11 and 13 year old really appreciated/enjoyed all the port days in port with us. The 7 year appreciated the busy days less so. We left her on the ship for two of our 10 ports, in hindsight I regret that as even in those "less" interesting ports she missed a lot of fun stuff.

 

I would second Princess their Grand Med is a nice all around cruise; Barcelona, Rome, Florence/Pisa, Naples(Pompeii/Amalfi), Athens, Mykonos Istanbul, Kusadasi ( Ephesus ), Venice, plus a changing stop in France. You have the added plus of starting and stopping in two different ports where you can spend extra time exploring

 

Happy planning

[SelectSys]

We are hoping to do a cruise in Europe late May/early June 2010. We have only ever done Caribbean cruises with Disney and Royal Caribbean. My daughter will be 13 and son 10. Both have loved the clubs on past cruises. I'm not too fussy on where we take off from or travel to and am looking for a 7-11 day trip. Just wondering which cruiselines or itineraries would be best for this age group? Thanks

 

Like you have only cruised on Disney and Royal Caribbean including 3 in Europe all with kids at ages similar to yours. My kids really like RCCL and have never been disappointed in terms of activities and the ability to make friends on board. The later you go in June, the more kids that will be on board.

 

The 12 day trips out of Barcelona on Brilliance would be a great first cruise to the Med. As a side note I would recommend the Med over the Baltic for a cruise with kids as the weather will be warm with lots of time for the pool on sea days.

[cordi]

Sailed on the the Princess Grand Med on Emerald Princess with my then 12 year old twins. We love Princess.

Great cruise. A great mix of historical places they have studied in school along with beach opportunities. Plenty of kids and teens.

One negative for them, they were the oldest in the kids club. While the grouping was 11-12 year olds, they often combined with the 9-10 group

It was also very, very hot.

 

Last summer we sailed the Baltic on the splendid Carnival Splendor. At 13 my kids were in the 12-14 group which was perfect for them. They had a blast on the ship and made friends they are still in touch with. Even though the Med ports might seem more teen friendly, they enjoyed and learned more in the Baltic Ports more because they knew they were going back to their newfound friends on the ship. There were 132 12-14 year olds and about the same number of 15-17 year olds.

Sadly , Carnival isn't sailing Europe this summer.

If you sailed Princess your 13 year old would be mixed in with 13-17 year olds. Are you comfortable with that age spread?

Most of the time the teens hang out around the ship not under the eyes of the counselors.

I would strongly consider a Royal Carribean Mediteranean Cruise as they have a 12-14 age group, ideal for your 13 year old.

[Kimjergen]

We are hoping to do a cruise in Europe late May/early June 2010. We have only ever done Caribbean cruises with Disney and Royal Caribbean. My daughter will be 13 and son 10. Both have loved the clubs on past cruises. I'm not too fussy on where we take off from or travel to and am looking for a 7-11 day trip. Just wondering which cruiselines or itineraries would be best for this age group? Thanks

 

Almost two years ago we took our sons (now ages 13 1/2 & 11 1/2) on a "Roman Empire" 10 day itinerary(Holland America Noordam) which they were fascinated with and enjoyed and so did we. It included Rome, Dubrovnik, Corfu, Olympia, Ephesus, Santorini, Athens & Sicily which was a wonderful combination of history & adventure and definitely a learning experience full of adventure and fun for us all. Plus they loved knowing they were visiting four countries in 10 days.

 

I'd do the same trip again in a heartbeat in a year or so because it was that enjoyable.

 

My kids really enjoyed the pre-cruise stay in Rome too and walked about 15 miles a day in utter wonder. On the ship the number of tweens and teens was relatively low but they made a few good friends and still even email each other now and again. They went to club Hal spuratically but enjoyed it, loved the library, sports deck, ping pong at the pool, and basically just exploring the ship.

[parker6]

Last year we tool the 12 night mediterranean barcelona - Venice on Celebrity (ship was the summit)we had our two children age 10 and 12 with us. They had an absolutely FANTASTIC time. On most European cruises there are not a lot of sea days, so we actually enjoyed a ship that didn't have a theme-park or water-park feel on board. The kids LOVED the kids club.. I'd say it was just the right size in that they had lots of choices of friends their age to meet, and the kids club was divided into age groups nicely... but wasn't so busy that it was overwhelming.

 

We liked eating in the dining room with them every night to talk about that day in port and the day coming up.. and they loved the shows.

 

Of course, all that being said, we went at the very end of June so the school year in Canada and US was out and there were perhaps more kids on board then you might expect in May?