my 18 yr old needs help

[Carol999]

My 18 year old daughter is too old for the kids club, and too young for the bars. She is in no girl's land. Does anyone know where/how she can locate others in her same boat delemma? She refuses to wander around aimlessly looking for someone who might be stuck like her

[spunkyhungry]

I've heard that sometimes there can be an event for 18-20 year olds to meet. I've also met young adults by hanging at the pool/hot tubs and going to the activities I'm interested in.

[LHP]

Carnival is currently (seriously) looking at this age group (18-20).....

 

I would go to the Roll Call on Cruise Critic for this cruise and see if there are others that are signed up and perhaps they can chat before they get on the ship....

[Carol999]

Last time we did the roll call ,I made arrangements with a mom that the kids could meet prior thru facebook. My daughter was horrified and really angry. lol

[Mrs CruisinCritter]

We were just on the Legend on 1/27 and they had a meet-up for 18-20yos every other night and it was listed in the Funtimes. I can't find our folder with the Funtimes in it, but I think it was around 9-10pm in different locations like the piano bar, dance club, etc. They put up the sign that said Private Function outside so nobody outside of that age group could enter.

[Carol999]

We were just on the Legend on 1/27 and they had a meet-up for 18-20yos every other night and it was listed in the Funtimes. I can't find our folder with the Funtimes in it, but I think it was around 9-10pm in different locations like the piano bar, dance club, etc. They put up the sign that said Private Function outside so nobody outside of that age group could enter.

 

 

YAY!!! that will be perfect! thanx for posting!

[cardbucfan]

glad to hear that about the Legend because we will be in the same boat (Lol!). One thing DS18 plans to do is go with DS16 to the teen club the first night and see if there are other siblings doing the same thing. Apparently, he has seen this on his previous cruises.

[sparkysj]

My son had just turned 18 on our last cruise but was still a senior in high school and after reading on here we decided to ask if he could still go to the teen club. The head of the kids programs told us that was fine and he was allowed to go to the club events. If she is still in high school you may want to see if they will allow her to as well.

 

Carnival really does need to take into consideration the 18-20 age group and plan activites for them IMO.

[Colorado Kat]

My daughter has met people in the hot tubs. Perhaps also the basketball/volleyball area?

[Allykatt47]

My daughter is 18 and still in high school so I am hoping that she will be able to go to the older teen club too. Although, we are supposed to sail on the Triumph in 4 weeks so, after today, I guess the bigger question will be whether the ship will be repaired by then.

[Almost Packed]

same boat here too....ds is 18 but still in high school. his peers are high school students. I would think that CCL could at least have the kids show a high school ID or something and allow them in.

 

But according to John Heald's fb page, they are now getting serious about something for this age group. I'm glad! I'm not so worried about the 20 year olds, as they have been out of high school, college age now and experienced other things in life...but 18 yr olds still in high school are still hanging around with teens.

[Carol999]

My daughter is already in college. She scowled at me when I told her to pretend to still be in highschool. LOL I will tell her though to come with her brother on that first day in case she can find a few hanging about as you suggested :)

[pbsteve]

My first cruise I was 20, talk about the worst age. 18 year olds still in school can hang out in the teen clubs for their age, but at 20, nope, nothing I could do. What I did end up doing was going to the other clubs, you may not like it, since they serve alcohol, but trust your kid. I had a good time drinking "rum and coke, Hold the rum" at the clubs. that appealed to me, even looking in at the teens club, I had no desire, since most of the teen clubs are filled with 15-16 year olds.

 

On a side note, I'm not sure your parenting style, but should you catch your daughter with a drink, just remember, you brought an 18 year old on the "fun" cruise, and never once was I carded.

[stein123]

Thanks for the info. I have been wondering the same thing. My son will turn 18 2 weeks before sailing but will still be in High School. Which I stink with my 9 yo they will have plenty to do the slides, movies and of course he is excited that once the ship leaves the port he will be able to gamble!..lol I told him he needs his own funds for that.

[okgirl]

We were just on the Legend on 1/27 and they had a meet-up for 18-20yos every other night and it was listed in the Funtimes. I can't find our folder with the Funtimes in it, but I think it was around 9-10pm in different locations like the piano bar, dance club, etc. They put up the sign that said Private Function outside so nobody outside of that age group could enter.

 

On the Breeze a couple of weeks ago my Fun Times lists a few 18 and over times. The 1st is a basketball tournament at 3:30 then a soccer tournament at 4:30...might be fun to watch and cheer the players on...

 

Then there is a Michael Jackson Hour in the nightclub at 9:30 and a Skyy's the Limit Party at 10:30....

 

My sister and I went into the nightclub one evening to see a friend that is the bartender there and it was full of younger adults.....we were quite out of place (mid-50's) and only stayed for one drink with our friend....

[arpie05]

As a parent of a 16 year old boy, I would much rather him hang out in the organized Club activities than meet someone in a hot tub. I totally agree that if they are still in high school they should be allowed into the club. I'm sure some mom's might disagree with 19 year old boys in HS but my nephew was redshirted for kindergarten and will graduate HS shortly before 19. (He's 9 now but in 3rd grade and will be 10 at the end of school) Otherwise he would have been 17 and graduating HS and his parents didn't want that.

 

Age is all relative.

[airmen133]

i am 19 now but i cruised last year yes they do have a meet up but nobodys goes to them. what i did was just go to the lido deck and basketball court if your ship has one. if find people my age. but if she is shy it will be hard for her to meet people just like it would be off the ship. hopefully you have a sea day first because that's is when you will see the most teens out playing sports and things like that.

[YubaSutter]

An 18 YO woman will not have any trouble meeting new people.

[Carol999]

She is allowed to drink now as her friends are all turning 19 which is the drinking age here, and it used to be 18 when we were growing up, so far she has handled herslf extremely well with alcohol. She isnt shy once she has a sidekick lol I will let her read this thread for ideas. I do appreciate all your input

[gnocchi_mommy]

My 18 year old daughter is too old for the kids club, and too young for the bars. She is in no girl's land. Does anyone know where/how she can locate others in her same boat delemma? She refuses to wander around aimlessly looking for someone who might be stuck like her

My 19 yr old son joined us on a cruise in October and honestly, I think he had a lot of bored time. He always loved cruises as a kid, but I do think that in between age is HARD- especially if your kid isnt an extrovert and doesn't have a "wingman" to hang with. He finally met some others by like day 5 of our 6 day cruise. He spent time in the casino with his father and grandfather and I, and he did get in lots of sweet time with his younger sisters (he's in the service so they hadn't seen him for quite some time) Ate a lot of ice cream. Hung out on the pool deck with his ipod and a book. He did a few contests with me. Really, I think he had the best time on the port calls (esp GC and Jamaica since he could drink) the at sea days seemed to run long for him.

[gnocchi_mommy]

i am 19 now but i cruised last year yes they do have a meet up but nobodys goes to them. what i did was just go to the lido deck and basketball court if your ship has one. if find people my age. but if she is shy it will be hard for her to meet people just like it would be off the ship. hopefully you have a sea day first because that's is when you will see the most teens out playing sports and things like that.

It must vary by ship, we asked when we boarded Freedom and were told there wasn't a special young adult meet up. :-(

[laxlove6]

My 19 yr old son joined us on a cruise in October and honestly, I think he had a lot of bored time. He always loved cruises as a kid, but I do think that in between age is HARD- especially if your kid isnt an extrovert and doesn't have a "wingman" to hang with. He finally met some others by like day 5 of our 6 day cruise. He spent time in the casino with his father and grandfather and I, and he did get in lots of sweet time with his younger sisters (he's in the service so they hadn't seen him for quite some time) Ate a lot of ice cream. Hung out on the pool deck with his ipod and a book. He did a few contests with me. Really, I think he had the best time on the port calls (esp GC and Jamaica since he could drink) the at sea days seemed to run long for him.

 

I'm sure you could have gotten him a few beers on board.

[gnocchi_mommy]

I'm sure you could have gotten him a few beers on board.

 

Carnival requires they be 21 to drink so any drinks he would have had would have been on the sly and not quite as enjoyable as sitting at the bar at Margaritaville in Grand Cayman ;-) That said, it really doesn't help with the real problem- for people in this age group, it can be awkward meeting others (if they;re not traveling with a buddy or girlfriend) and it was definitely a little more boring than in the past for my son.

[Mrs CruisinCritter]

It must vary by ship, we asked when we boarded Freedom and were told there wasn't a special young adult meet up. :-(

 

 

Carnival has the usual list of activities that are done on each ship, but the cruise directors can add activities that would appeal to a particular sailing if they need/want to. I noticed that there seemed to be a lot of 18-20yos on our cruise so that may have been why they had so many activities set up. Our cruise director was pretty young himself so he may have also done it because he knows it's tough for that particular age group.