Hawaii Cruise - Things to Do for Teens on Sea Days???

[Ted569]

Hey Fellow Cruisers:

 

Looking to see if anyone can provide some insight... My family and I are long time cruisers - to the point that I would even admit that my 2 teens have become somewhat spoiled they have gone on so many cruises at their age. When I told them yesterday that I booked us a Christmas/New Years Hawaii 14 day cruise, instead of joy I was met with..."Dad, not another boring Princess cruise." Wow !!! Don't get me wrong. They were excited about Hawaii. But, the thought of all the sea days is what totally turned them off is what they explained to me. They have come to find that there's really not many fun activities for kids their age on board. And frankly, I have noticed that the amount of activities have definitely decreased in recent years.

 

My question to you fellow Princess Cruisers, if you have done the S.F. or L.A. to Hawaii round trip cruise with Teens in tow, how did it go? What were some of the on-board activities other than Teen Club and Movies? Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[nooptere]

This may not be what you want to hear. The short answer. Fly to Hawaii, your teenagers will be on the beach that afternoon.

[moki'smommy]

The basic answer to what other activities outside of the teen program....the same trivia games and misc. stuff that is available to anyone else. On Princess, the fitness center was open to teens on our cruises. Honestly, there's not a whole lot for them. Some cruises have the Hawaiian cultural activities.

[tillys mom]

Teens on our Hawaii cruse out of SF in February seemed to enjoy the Hula and ukulele classes. There were some young people in the South Seas craft sessions too.

 

 

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[Sillyjilly]

There will be very few teens on the cruise.

 

 

 

I think they will be bored silly.

 

 

If you really want a Hawaii cruise, you might try Carnival. There will still be few kids, but more activities. IMHO

[moki'smommy]

I was looking at the Hawaii cruises last week. If you want a cruise, it looks nice. If you want to see Hawaii, pick a couple of islands that you want to visit. Fly in and spend several days on each of your choice islands. The time the ship is actually docked is not nearly enough to really experience Hawaii.

[99Cruiser]

I've done the LA to Hawaii cruise twice and like others have said, unfortunately there are very few teens and your kids will most likely be bored.

[2theship]

The critical phrase is "Christmas cruise". Because of your timing, there may be more kids onboard than usual. Having said that, I have two daughters who grew up cruising. Once they passed their mid-teens, we stopped cruising with them for a while because the activities were not as interesting. The critical issue is that there are some other kids their own age on the cruise. You should check your roll call and perhaps see if anyone else if traveling with teens.

[1emerald1]

I have taken my daughters as teens and young adults on three 7 day cruises, Mexico and the Caribbean. The 7 day cruises were 3 days too long for them. After the fourth day they were bored and wanted to get home to their friends and animals.

[willrich7]

The reason many of us book Princess cruises is the fact there is not a lot of activities for teens. ;)

 

 

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[riclop]

Meet other teens.

[nooptere]

Meet other teens.

 

They can meet on the beach the first day if they fly to Hawaii. Mahalo.

[A&Jfamily]

I don’t know how old your teens are but my boys are now 14 and 20. I think the 14 yo would be fine - if there were a few other kids on board. And I know the 20 yo would be no more or less bored than he is on any other cruise now that he has aged out of the groups. He misses them, but also loves getting on board and crashing out doing nothing for a few days; he is usually coming out of college exams and has been going full tilt for a couple of weeks.

 

The oldest was about 15 and had zero issue on a 7 day Alaska in late May; he watched for sea life, went to movies, worked out, played games on his phone, went to the naturalist lectures etc.

 

So I think a lot depends on your kids and if they are convinced they will be bored, they will.

 

Any chance you can cancel or switch to a cruise they might be more interested in?

 

 

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[Colo Cruiser]

Eat.........sleep.

[Thrak]

The reason many of us book Princess cruises is the fact there is not a lot of activities for teens. ;)

 

 

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This may seem rude but really it is not. Princess isn't the line for teens. My son (who was in his thirties at the time) found the 15 day Hawaii cruise too long. He liked the first cruise - 10 day SF/Alaska round trip On the 15 day SF/Hawaii round trip he got bored and hasn't cruised since. If someone in his thirties didn't find a sufficient amount of age appropriate companions one really can't expect teens to find any different situation. If anything, teens are more "picky".

 

Note: I'm not using the term "picky" to be crabby or derogatory. I just couldn't come up with the term I was looking for.

[caribill]

The critical issue is that there are some other kids their own age on the cruise. You should check your roll call and perhaps see if anyone else if traveling with teens.

 

You can call Princess and they will tell you now many teens under 18 are booked for the cruise.

[spookyfudge]

For teens on a Princess cruise going to Hawaii is like being at the dentist for 7 days each way!

[99Cruiser]

I'm sorry you are probably not getting the answers you were looking for but we are all just being honest with you.

[Ted569]

Hey Friends - These are definitely the answers I was looking for - so thank you. My final payment is due on October 8th, so there is still time to cancel with the opportunity to get a refund...and not lose any money. You have all made valid points and your feedback has been sincerely appreciated. Its just hard to move away from Princess when you've attained Elite status. Not going to do Carnival. Kids are too old now for Disney. RCCL is just ok, as we haven't had the best experiences the last 2 cruises with them..and their food is meh. Gotta rethink this next vacay.... Best Regards, Ted569

[HomelessBear]

Could you perhaps consider going somewhere else rather than Hawaii that has less sea days? What about the Caribbean? That way your teens have lots of port days to go to the beach or whatever and lovely weather to have fun in.

We did the Hawaii Xmas and new year cruise a few years ago and although I enjoyed it, it was far too many sea days for me and it was too cool and too windy to get much use out of the balcony. We’ve also done the Caribbean quite a few times at the same time of year and it’s hot & sunny, and there will possibly be more teens on board for yours to mix with.

Hope you don’t mind me suggesting this. Just a thought.

 

 

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[A&Jfamily]

Hey Friends - These are definitely the answers I was looking for - so thank you. My final payment is due on October 8th, so there is still time to cancel with the opportunity to get a refund...and not lose any money. You have all made valid points and your feedback has been sincerely appreciated. Its just hard to move away from Princess when you've attained Elite status. Not going to do Carnival. Kids are too old now for Disney. RCCL is just ok, as we haven't had the best experiences the last 2 cruises with them..and their food is meh. Gotta rethink this next vacay.... Best Regards, Ted569

 

Not sure why you are rejecting Carnival, but I can tell you my 20 year old preferred Carnival when he was 15/16 and the now 14 year old preferred Princess at 10. Carnival is going to have more kids and if you went over Christmas in the Caribbean, you are going to be loaded with families and things for everyone to do. Yes, it is more casual, less classic cruise experience but if you recognize and value sailing for family fun, that is what you are going to get.

 

Even Princess will have many more families in the Caribbean at Christmas time.

[Wishing on a star]

Do consider flying to Hawaii !

We spent a week on Kauai. it is a very low key Island... but we loved it.

For your teens, think Jurassic Park.

 

Or, since you have cruised so much... ask them for their ideas on something different that they would like to do this time.

 

I agree with the other comments so far.

We are wanting to have our young adult son with us on a Caribbean cruise. He loves beaches, the tropics, has been to Mexico, etc...

But, a full week on a Princess cruise, with two sea days... I have to admit, I know we are really pushing it !!!

[winncruiser]

My now 28 year old daughter has been cruising with us on Princess, and Princess only, since 2002. Twenty+ cruises. She actually enjoys being with us. Join another family at dinner. The head waiter can seat you with a family with children of similar ages. We have had the best time meeting other families over the years. And staff. If they are 18 go to the disco at night. It’s fun!

 

 

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[FSU Girl]

Growing up I went on multiple Princess cruises and loved them all of them. They were also long cruises usually two weeks or more. I would make friends with kids in the teens club. The only cruise I was bored on was when we went to Alaska and I had turned 18. I wasn’t allowed in the teen center and the 18-20 group was really full with no activities. Up until then I thought princess did a great job. Over Christmas there will be other kids on board

[Roatanfans]

The Christmas cruises have lots of families and many more kids on board- call Princess and ask for a kids count- they will give you the number of kids and they break it up into 5 or so age groups- that should tell you if there will be other kids for them to hang out with. As for other activities- it really depends what your kids are into. The should be all the Hawaiian activities such as Ukelele lessons, Hula lessons, lei making, port lectures and usually they have some really interesting guest lectures on board. There are also movies, trivia, book club, basketball, mini golf, paper airplane and boat building contests. Teens club has social gatherings, dances, dinners and video games- good luck!