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Teens On Board


Seabourn Again
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I know that the tempting answer to this question will be "No, there are NO teens on board and yours will have a miserable time so leave them at home" in order to keep Seadream from being over-run by kids. I am not unsympathetic to such a view.

 

:)

 

But I am going to pose the question anyway.

 

We love to travel and have been to quite a few places. As my handle implies, we have done one of The Little Sisters on Seabourn (among many other cruises) and quite loved it. On a cruise a year ago, our sixteen year old daughter was the youngest person on the ship although we were traveling with her siblings on that voyage and there were half a dozen other teens on board.

 

We are now looking at a March sailing on Seadream in the caribbean. It would be my wife, myself and our sixteen year old. She is a sun-worshipper and does not need much stimulation. Give her a beach or pool or deck chair and she is good to go. She is quiet (naps in sun most of the day) and enjoys good food. We very much love the itinerary as we have been to the caribbean dozens of times and this would let us see a couple of ports we have not seen.

 

In March, spring break time, might there be a small handful of teens on board? And if not, would a solitary quiet and WELL MANNERED, WELL TRAVELED teen be poorly received?

 

Many thanks

Edited by Seabourn Again
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I know that the tempting answer to this question will be "No, there are NO teens on board and yours will have a miserable time so leave them at home" in order to keep Seadream from being over-run by kids. I am not unsympathetic to such a view.

 

:)

 

But I am going to pose the question anyway.

 

We love to travel and have been to quite a few places. As my handle implies, we have done one of The Little Sisters on Seabourn (among many other cruises) and quite loved it. On a cruise a year ago, our sixteen year old daughter was the youngest person on the ship although we were traveling with her siblings on that voyage and there were half a dozen other teens on board.

 

We are now looking for a March sailing on Seadream in the caribbean. It would be my wife, myself and our sixteen year old. She is a sun-worshipper and does not need much stimulation. Give her a beach or pool or deck chair and she is good to go. She is quiet (naps in sun most of the day) and enjoys good food. We very much love the itinerary as we have been to the caribbean dozens of times and this would let us see a couple of ports we have not seen.

 

In March, spring break time, might there be a small handful of teens on board? And if not, would a solitary quiet and WELL MANNERED, WELL TRAVELED teen be poorly received?

 

Many thanks

 

The last time I ever sailed SeaDream in March, there were 30 kids on board from toddler to teens. It is still referred to as the Kiddie Trip from H*ll. On SD, there is no truly private spaces except your cabin. Passenger make up is critical to actually having the "SeaDream Experience". So, in my experience, she will likely have some teen companionship in March.:eek:

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Thanks Jim Avery.

 

Thirty kids on board?

 

Ouch. :cool:

 

 

Oh well. The itinerary looks good. We know several of the stops pretty well and will be off the boat much of the day anyway.

 

Yep, thirty. Several other trips have had large numbers of kids and large groups but, so far, I was lucky enough to be on the Gold Standard of kid trips.:eek::D

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Yep, thirty. Several other trips have had large numbers of kids and large groups but, so far, I was lucky enough to be on the Gold Standard of kid trips.:eek::D

 

I guess those were large groups with all the kids?

 

Oh well, like a farmer praying for rain, I am not asking for a deluge but I guess I am taking my chances here.

Edited by Seabourn Again
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just wanted to establish for all that you are butch.

 

Won't go there. I shall nobly rise above it.:eek::D:D Anyway, it is a step up from being "Hans und Franz" who are here to "Pump You Up!"

Edited by Jim Avery
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If my job at the carnival was guessing ages management would have no stuffed animals left.

 

That said there appears to be an range this week of 30s to 80s.

 

There is also a 14 year old. He is as the 16 yo you described, well travelled and mannered. People appeared to glare a bit on boarding but are warming up to him. And if not, not his problem.

 

Staff is as always wonderful.

 

There may be a couple other youngsters. For the right young ones it is a wonderful experience.

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My husband and I have been cruising on Seadream for over 10 years. We are 43. 10 Years ago we were the youngest on board. In all the years we have cruised we have seen very few children. There was once a baby that barely came out of the cabin, another year there was a 3 generation family with 2 teenagers, another year there were 2 twenty-somethings from Brazil, and other years there were complete families with 1 or 2 early 20's. I've only ever seen the young add a little energy and fun, mostly on the water sports platform.

Funny, I was on a cruise once where things got a little out of control with a senior lady travelling alone and we had to stop to have her evicted from the ship... You never can tell who is going to cause the trouble :)

I welcome teens.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yes trouble can come from many ages. We have had both good and bad experiences on SD with teens and younger kids. When bad it was horrid, largely ruining an extended trip of the Black Sea in 2013. It was our ninth SD trip and thus far we haven't been back since that time. The teens and younger passengers were compounded by being part of a bigger group that acted and were treated as if they had chartered the ship all to themselves. We hope SD learned a lesson but one can't be sure. The bottom line is one can't take for granted that the passenger mix will always or entirely be as advertised - 56 couples and other adults. When that isn't the case, it can be positive, just ok, benign, negative or highly disruptive - perhaps any or all of the above depending on the day/night of the voyage! We aren't suggesting this is a high risk week in and week out, but when it happens it can be a major problem. With precious time and lots of money involved, each potential passenger needs to ask questions, do their own homework, and determine what risks they are willing or unwilling to take. We truly enjoyed SD on most of our nine trips and miss the staff, but freely admit to still being quite wary given our "kids on the high seas" misadventure.

 

 

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We have taken our daughters on Seadream twice - once to the Greek Islands (15/18), once to Croatia (19/22). They are both reasonably well-behaved and comfortable with the modest pace of entertainment on Seadream (we did a lot of shore expeditions). I do not believe they caused any issues for other guests, and they really enjoyed the experience.

 

The one watchout is that your daughter is likely to be served at the bar. Have the talk with her in advance.

Edited by Reunionmama
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I was simply responding to the OP's question regarding a 16yo girl. IMHO, later teen kids who can self-amuse with books work okay onboard. And certainly class up the pool deck. :D

 

We've done 4 cruises on Seadream. One of those had 6-12 year olds, and I have to agree it changed the ambiance quite a bit. Both the kids that get antsy, and their parents and the staff who are stressed about keeping the kids entertained. Unfortunately, I believe it was the owners' family on that one cruise, so it wasn't worth shooting glares in their direction (my understanding is that the kids had more cumulative days on SD than us).

 

We have a cruise coming up in March, peak spring break season. We'll see how that one goes.

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  • 3 weeks later...
I guess those were large groups with all the kids?

 

Oh well, like a farmer praying for rain, I am not asking for a deluge but I guess I am taking my chances here.

 

Your daughter will be fine and welcomed by the other guests. Having been on the voyages with multiple younger and uncontrolled children those are the nightmares. But we've sailed several times with a family and watched their well behaved children go from under 10 to teenagers and they are a joy to have on board. On our cruises from he## with multiple uncontrolled children the parents watched or even encouraged the bad behavior. Hey, Jim, remember the death threat and thrown drink?

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Your daughter will be fine and welcomed by the other guests. Having been on the voyages with multiple younger and uncontrolled children those are the nightmares. But we've sailed several times with a family and watched their well behaved children go from under 10 to teenagers and they are a joy to have on board. On our cruises from he## with multiple uncontrolled children the parents watched or even encouraged the bad behavior. Hey, Jim, remember the death threat and thrown drink?

 

Yes, that was a night! I wonder if the happy couple is still together??:eek:

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We are taking our two teens and two of their friends on SeaDream in April. They are 16, 17, 18, 18 and well travelled. They have done Seabourne, crystal, etc. I think if you know your kids and have travelled on similar ships it's no problem. Mine usually end up playing cards in the room after dinner. They also hold the elevator for other guests, help the non-ambulatory people get on the tender, give up their seat on the tender, don't 'save' deck chairs all day and are generally good citizens. That said, when they were 8 and 10 we stuck to Holland America etc.

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At the risk of getting a virtual drink thrown at me here, and despite my earlier post about some past SD voyages with teens working out great and others horrendously, please permit this provocative threshold question. No matter how well behaved in fact or perception one's teens may be, why in the first place would one want to bring them on a small luxury yacht that markets itself as being for 56 couples? There are so many other options. Why not enjoy the ship as a couple and leave your teens something to look forward to when they can go as a couple? Said differently, why wouldn't one respect the nature of the voyage including the target audience and self-select to go elsewhere? Is this caught up in people wanting their kids to be their friends?

 

 

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