Third cruise, first with kids

[banshee72]

My wife and I have been on two cruises (enchantment and Indy) and have just booked a 7 day cruise on the Allure over spring break. This will be the first cruise for our 3 boys. They will be 13 and 15 x2. Question for those who have cruised with young teens; I want them to have fun and be somewhat independent, but I also want to know where they are and what they are doing. What is the best way to do this on a ship....especially one that is so big. We all have cell phones so texting would be a great way but not sure if phones/texting will work out on the ocean. Suggestions or tips?

[preschool teacher]

I don't have teens....but want to say good luck...and safety in numbers!

[sotong]

I am not sure how to find it again but with my DD 13 I printed a list of cruise rules from a post on here included various things including

 

curfew

where she can and can't go and how to let me know where you are

ordering room service and tipping

not leaving drinks unattended

not going in other peoples staterooms or letting people in yours

not charging things to cruise card without permission

if loose card tell me urgently!

if not in the teen club then I need to know who are you with

 

luckily she is well behaved and knows her limits and as she has cruised before she was comfortable with arrangements and had a great holiday.

its a great way to let teens have freedom but be safe and also to have some family time.

 

Gillian

[cb at sea]

I would allow them to come and go to SPECIFIC activities, but when that's done, they should come and PHYSICALLY check in with your or spouse before going onto something else! They should pretty much stay together. They should NEVER need to go onto ANY other cabin hallway but yours! Aimless roaming its a no-go.

 

I think physical check ins are much better than some dubious text! Just set some ground rules and stick to them! It will be fine.

Edited October 15, 2016 by cb at sea

[Bizzie07]

Get them to go along to the Kids/Teen Club on the first night. This is when they get to meet all the others in their age groups. Some ships have a free hour in the Arcade for them at this time. Just let them know what you expect of their behaviour and the penalties for not following the rules! On sea days our daughter knew where we would be sitting and she would check in every couple of hours (normally she would just be at the pool with other kids). We allowed a certain amount of freedom with spending. If she was going to Johnny Rockets with other kids - no problem, she didn't need to come to us for permission. She never abused her privileges. We insisted she came off the ship with us and had dinner most nights with us (sometimes Teen Club had dinner organised and it was fun so we agreed). She would normally be in the Living Room after dinner and would come back to the cabin at the time we stipulated. If there was something special going on in the Living Room she would phone the cabin and ask for permission to stay later. She was not allowed to go to other cabins or invite people into ours. One of our rules was no walking on open decks at night. If they go along to the Teen club on the first night the rules of the ship will be explained to them. Im sure they will all have a great time.

[akcruz]

Over on the family board you can find various versions of a "cruise contract". Set up rules with your kids along with consequences before boarding. Overall there are not a lot of places they can go. We had dinner together and excursions in port together. We would discuss plans for the day in the morning along with times to meet up. If something changed with them or us we would leave post it notes in the cabin. We did check to make sure our kids were where they said they would be. After the first day they gravitate to the same places.

 

Personally we found cell phones more of a nuisance as often they wanted to swim, do flow rider,etc and cell phones don't mix well with water. Only you know your kids and how much freedom you trust them with. Go with your gut and you will be fine.

 

Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk

[happymanitee]

My oldest just aged out of the kids club this summer and went to the teen club instead. I paid for the internet package for 2 devices (hers and mine). We both have iPhones, so we could text (iMessage) over the wifi with no additional charges. This worked out great.