DCL with an 11-yr old??

[Niquein99]

Hello! I'm a single mom travelling with my DS and I really want to book the Disney Dream for 2012. Do you think taking a Disney Dream cruise with an 11-year old would be too 'baby-ish' for him? If you've taken a DCL cruise with a child this age, can you tell me what you thought of the kid's club for this age group? The last time we were on a Disney cruise, my son was just a baby. However, I want to take another Disney cruise and the Dream looks amazing, but I don't want my son to get there and be dissappointed because the activities and atmosphere is geared more towards the younger kids.

 

We just came off the Carnival Liberty and both my son and I were very disappointed in Carnival and their kid's club. We've also cruised on Royal Caribbean and we both had a blast on RCCL, and are taking another cruise with RCCL next year.

 

Can anyone give me their feedback on the DCL kid's club for 11-yr olds? Thanks for any advice!

[onthelake]

We went when my son was 13 and he still enjoyed it. Of course, he is not interested in meeting the characters, etc. but there is still plenty to do and the ships are so nice. We enjoyed the adults only areas. But, they have changed the kids' club in the past year to 'mix' ages and so someone else will have to let you know how that played out for their family.

 

Certainly, unless you can book it for about the same as RCL, you might want to save the extra $$ and go with RCL again. That is the thing about Disney, those extra $$!

[cb at sea]

Disney is the tops when it comes to entertaining folks...young or old! They have so many things for so many ages, your son won't find it "babyish" at all! And, neither will you!

[mjkacmom]

My 2 oldest were 9 and 11 when we went on a Disney cruise, and they were bored to tears in the club! My 4, 4, and 6 year old loved their club, though. We're going on a NCL cruise in a few weeks, and I'm making ds12 and dd14 the first day, just to find kids to hang out with during the week.

[PAGA]

We cruised DCL Sept 2009. My son turned 11 that week. We had a great time...there were so many family-geared activities that my son rarely attended the children's programs. We usually cruise RCCL (where my son never wanted to leave the children's programs)...we really appreciated the family activities on DCL. You'd have a great time!

[MelissaE1]

We've sailed DCL several times since my kids were 4 and 8; both of them have been on a Disney ship at age 11 and both had an amazing time. The Dream will be even better for the 11-13 year old set as far as I can see.

 

We will be cruising the Dream next year and both my kids (now 12 and 16) are still excited about cruising Disney!

[hightownCO]

DD was 11 on our Disney Wonder (3night cruise) which was our first cruise ever. I'm a single mom too but we had my mother and sister with us too.

 

DD was bored stiff with their kids program. Went for about an hour and checked herself out. The only thing that saved it was she 'met' some other girls - 12 & 14 - on line thru a roll call on a disney related site. So she basically hung out with them or me.

[topspot]

DCL was our first cruiseline, and DD's least favorite kids program. She would take Princess or HAL over Disney. :eek: