ENTOURAGE question

[rhiannon35]

We are going on the Escape in March, and I'm interested in finding out more about Entourage. My DD is 13, and from what I can gather, she will be grouped in with 13-17 year olds. Is this correct? Or do they separate younger teens from older teens?

 

We cruised Carnival Dream last March, and the 12-14 year olds were in a separate club, which I liked. She is a bit shy and has some qualms about being in a club with kids who are 16 or 17.

 

Interested in any reports from those whose kids have used Entourage, particularly if on the Escape.

[duchesslt]

Yes - the entourage teen room is 13 to 17. I agree with you that a better split would be 12 to 14 and then 15 to 17. You should also know that they can come and go as they please which I personally think is too young for ages 13-15 on a ship with 4000 passengers and 1000 plus crew. My son is shy of 13 and am glad he will need to contact me to leave splash academy. Good luck! Norwegian has an app that will let you and your daughter keep in touch via text just so you know she can contact you from entourage.

[mjkacmom]

Don't worry - when my oldest was 14, she ended hanging out with kids on the lower age range. On our next cruise, she was 17, so her friends were on the older end. Dis was 15, and sometimes his gang would be with dd17, sometimes not. It works its way out naturally. I had no qualms with my teens having the run of the ship, but I live in a walking town close to NYC, which they've had the run of since 10 or so (and they took a bus into the city at 15). They loved going out to eat with their new friends, and hanging on the deck until curfew (which we enforced, NCL did not, I think it was 1).

[GORDONCHICK]

Make sure they go the first night, as that's the best time to meet other kids. They will most likely gravitate to those their age. DS is on the shy side and has been cruising since he was 3.5. Entourage is very different in that they have a schedule of activities and they just show up if they want to do those. However, on our AK cruise on the Sun, they didn't really follow the schedule so DS never knew when to show up or where for the stuff he would have participated so he ended up hanging out with us most of the time. However, while on the Dawn at Thanksgiving, they really followed the schedule, and DS stayed very active. DS didn't show up for stuff like basketball, but did for dodgeball, movies, scavenger hunts, etc.

[rhiannon35]

Yes - the entourage teen room is 13 to 17. I agree with you that a better split would be 12 to 14 and then 15 to 17. You should also know that they can come and go as they please which I personally think is too young for ages 13-15 on a ship with 4000 passengers and 1000 plus crew. My son is shy of 13 and am glad he will need to contact me to leave splash academy. Good luck! Norwegian has an app that will let you and your daughter keep in touch via text just so you know she can contact you from entourage.

 

Thanks, DuchessIt. Yes, I know about the app -- we cruised Getaway two years ago, and used it all the time. So glad they have these now. The year before that we cruised Dis and had these giant phones they gave us to communicate that never worked!

[rhiannon35]

Thanks mjkacmom and Gordonchick. Yes, it makes sense that they would naturally gravitate towards others their age. We have gone on many cruises but my daughter is shy and was never one to go to the clubs herself. (My son was the opposite, but he's 22 and doesn't want to go anywhere with us anymore!)

 

We brought one of her friends with us on Carnival last year, and let's just say there were some problems with the friend and she and my daughter went separate ways with their own groups of friends after day 2! Live and learn -- I told her it's obvious she can make friends on her own, so that's what she will have to do on this cruise -- or hang with her parents, which should provide some incentive!

For the record, our last cruise was the same way Gordonchick-- the counselor didn't follow any of the scheduled activities and the kids just seemed to do their own things. Opposite experience when my son was younger on Dis cruises. Teen club (and kids' club) were very well structured as far as programming.