In between age cruiser 17-20, please help!

[ejkj84]

I am in charge of researching cruise information for our next family cruise, and was wondering which ship would be best for my family and I. I am 20 and my brother is 17. My parents will also be going also. The three we are considering now are:

Carnival Conquest

Princess Caribbean

HAL Zuiderdam

We also looked in to RCCL, the big ships, but they seem to be over our price range. My main concern is meeting up with people my age. I was wondering if any of these ships and anything special to offer that inbetween age of 18-20. I am shy at first, as in I cant just walk up to people I dont know, but usually make friends easly once introduced.

Also with drinking, it is not that big of concern, I dont want to drink alot. But what would they do if say my parents bought me a drink or two? Also let me know if there are any things I cant do besides drink and gamble on each ship.

Any information would be greatly appreciate, expecially from people in this age range. Also any links to posts where this has been talk about before would be great, I could not find much.

I have been on two cruises before. One on celebrity when I was 17, they did not have a very organized or interesting programs for people my age. I will not settle for sitting around playing uno for 3 hours on my vacation! Luckly my brother and I entered about every triva competition and won about 3 times. I loved the looks on the adults faces when a 17 and 14 year old won agame about stuff they should have known.

[CruiseFever]

Well first of all the biggies are that on Royal Caribbean you CAN drink beer and wine legally over 18 and on Carnival you CAN gamble over 18. (At least last time I checked that was right- somebody correct that if I am wrong)

 

Princess' rules do not allow for either until 21. No way you'll be allowed into the casino or drinking places but that's not to say you couldn't get a good game of poker going in your cabin with some booze you smuggled aboard from port (Joke- do not attempt please). ;)

 

As far as your parents buying you a couple of drinks goes, sure, you could probably get away with that but if its belly up to the bar you're looking for you'll have to try pretty hard to make that happen on Princess or Carnival. I've yet to see parents hauled off to the brig for having a drink with their kids and that does happen.

 

Remember, it's a cruise line rule about these things, not the law of the sea.

 

That said (and out of the way) I can't tell you from personal experience about kids on HAL except that on our Caribbean Princess sailing last month we shadowed the Oosterdam (or they shadowed us) through part of our itinerary and my kids (19 and 17) met some of the HAL kids who kind of dispelled the stereotype I had about HAL being all old boring people.

 

Which to me brings us to the most important point:

 

When are you sailing?

 

If its during a time when school is generally out everywhere I'd bet that there will be more than enough kids your age around to have fun (or make up a poker game).

 

As you know, you're in the age group for whom the organized programs for young cruisers do not hold much interest. So the numbers of people your age, as you are rightfully concerned about, become critical.

 

I know you'll find them on the Caribbean Princess, we've sailed her twice so far, both during times when school is out and there were plenty. We've not sailed the Conquest but sailed enough Carnival ships to know that the same would no doubt apply to the Conquest. I don't think it's much of a stretch to apply the same thinking to HAL.

 

Finally, thanks for asking this because it gives me the opportunity to respond AND add a plea for you to be a "good kid" and not one of the unruly, run amok young people that we read about occasionally. Good for you for asking these questions up front to plan accordingly and make an informed decision on where you might want to cruise.

 

On any line, regardless of your age, if you go about having a fabulous cruise without adversely affecting others you'll probably be just fine.

[mlbcruiser]

Just thought I'd mention that I called Princess to ask if my 19 yr. old daughter would be allowed into the bar areas of Princess ships and I was told yes, as long as she was 18 or over, but that she would not be able to purchase drinks. Other cruisers have confirmed this for me as well.Yes, your mom or dad will be able to get away w/getting you a drink here or there if you keep it low key if it is like most ships and isn't overdone, and you aren't conspicuous.

 

As for what ship would be good? I would vote for a ship in the Voyager class of RCCL for sure, and I know whereof I speak on that note. We also sailed the Carnival Pride a couple yrs. ago and though it's nice, their teen activities were very disorganized. But that may not be so on the Conquest - she is very large. Also, the Conquest is also a very popular ship for families and young people. I can't speak about HAL since we've not sailed them, but I have read of their ammenities and they don't really seem to have all that much listed for older teens/younger 2O's. The only Princess ship I have been on did Tahiti and was formerly a Rennaissance ship, not at all geared to younger people except honeymooners. However, we are sailing on a 10 day Sun Princess ship in March w/my 19 yr. old daughter who is very used to RCCL. I'm concerned this ship might be of the "play uno for 3 hrs." variety (that is why we have yet to try Celebrity w/our daughter as we've heard it's not a line for her age group), but I sure hope not! She will have her newly engaged 26 yr. old sister w/her fiance and his parents and us along, though she is used to having a friend or we travel w/other families w/kids her age. We would have chosen a Caribbean Princess class ship (the movie outdoors sounds cool and any of the ships w/Skywalkers disco do, too!) had we known in time she was going to come along. But once the others were coming as well - and the 7 day cruise was about as much as the 10 day one - we just stayed w/the Sun. If I were your age and I couldn't do RCCL, I think I'd choose the Conquest- that is if the itinerary interests you. If not, stay w/Princess.

[cruise50]

I would choose Conquest. Our famly sailed on Conquest in 2002 Spring Break. The ship was new then. Our sons were 17 and 18 . It was a great cruise. There were lots of people their age.They could gamble. Also, we had no problem buying a bucket of beer at the pool or drink anywhere. We also had wine with dinner. No questions We enjoyed it as a family. Have fun!

[iluvcruzin]

Unfortunately there isn't much for the 17-20 group on most cruise ships as far as organized activities. However, this won't keep you from having fun. My daughters have cruised with me during this age bracket. They were happy to participate in the adult games and activities at age 20.

 

As far as cruiselines.. I would take HAL off the list. Honestly.. if you weren't keen on Celebrity.. HAL will put you to sleep. There's practically no activities and the ones they have are far and few between. My daughter did say she enjoyed reading and sleeping on the deck on our HAL cruise but she wouldn't want to cruise with them again.

 

Carnival is a good choice.. so is Princess. But for the most entertainment.. the voyage class ships of RCCL are an excellent choice. Do some price digging before ruling them out.

[bearette]

I recommend that you don't do holland america. The rumor is that they are greared more towards adults and that their is little for younger people to do. If your family wants more of a party type atmosphere with pool side parties and staying up late at the disco than go on carnival. If your family isn't as into that kind of stuff than you should go on princess. You will all have fun no matter which cruise you choose. Happy Cruining!