Teens on Royal Princess

[MaiTaiMary]

We are looking into an Alaskan Cruise on the Royal Princess. It will be our first time on Princess.  Is there anything for teenagers to do in the evenings on board? Besides the "teen club".  Or if you had a teen sail on this ship, can you tell me their experience and if they enjoyed it? Thank you. 

[mtnesterz]

It would help responders by narrowing it down, a 13 year old, or an 19 year old. Huge difference. Though some teens over 16-17 wouldn't want to vacation with parents or grandparents, even to Alaska. One thing for sure. The younger crowd lives on their phones and tablets and Princess has been having an awful time with their, "Best Internet At Sea"

Edited September 15, 2022 by mtnesterz

[ceilidh1]

I have sailed with kids/tweens/teens many times, including on Royal Princess. The teen club is more of a drop-in where they meet with friends they have made on the ship and then go off and do whatever it is teens do. Royal has a nice outdoor area with hot tub reserved for teens, and almost all activities on Princess are family-friendly. We board on Saturday with two 15 year olds and an 11 year old. Feel free to follow along!

 

[MaiTaiMary]

2 hours ago, mtnesterz said:

It would help responders by narrowing it down, a 13 year old, or an 19 year old. Huge difference. 

At the time we are looking to sail, they will be 16 and 17 years old.  They don't enjoy the teen clubs and they're used to ships with a lot of things for them to do. But with a heavy port cruise like Alaska, that may just have to be enough. Just researching now and seeing what our best options are. 

[Jersey42]

12 minutes ago, MaiTaiMary said:

At the time we are looking to sail, they will be 16 and 17 years old.  They don't enjoy the teen clubs and they're used to ships with a lot of things for them to do. But with a heavy port cruise like Alaska, that may just have to be enough. Just researching now and seeing what our best options are. 

Our kids took many Princess cruises with us starting at about age 9 and loved all of them.  They utilized the kids/teen clubs until about age 14 or 15.  Then as another poster mentioned,  the teen club was pretty much a place you went on the first night to meet people.  Unless there was something special on a particular day, they pretty much did their own thing with people they met. 

 

There will be plenty of teens on a Princess Alaska cruise to interact with. And they will be welcome at virtually any ship activity not based on alcohol.  But, if your kids are expecting some of the teen friendly attractions on NCL and Carnival, they may be disappointed with Princess.   

 

By the way, the hardest age will be in a few years when they are 18-20.  They are not allowed in the teen club to meet people and they will not be served in the bars.  Princess often has a meet-up for people in that age group, but it was very hit or miss when our kids were that age.

[MaiTaiMary]

Thanks for the advice.  Like I said, lots of ports so I know they will get out and not be bored, but just trying to figure out the best option for us. I was very surprised to see Princess was less expensive than Royal Caribbean, NCL, and Carnival. So it moved to the top of our list! LOL!  They go to Glacier Bay, too. Which sounds like is a "must see". 🙂

 

[Mike45LC]

For Alaska, Princess is the best of the major cruise lines.

 

For older teens, Princess is NOT the best -- Carnival, NCL and RC have more activities geared for the kids.  Princess doesn't have a single rock-climbing wall!  It could be worse, though -- at least it isn't HAL!  

 

Alaska is wonderful, so maybe the excursions will make up for a little bit of "I'm bored."

 

[Kay S]

It's been awhile since I took teens on a cruise.  Just before the lockdown we did a short one on the Regal.  The kids were 14-15.  They alternated between Remix and hanging out on deck with the friends they met there.  Alaska is port-intensive, and they won't have much time for socializing anyway.  Besides, I told mine they wouldn't REALLY die from boredom and being bored builds character. 😁

[SouthAltaCruisingFamily]

Our teens hung out with friends or just hung out with each other.
they were not big teen club fans by the age of sixteen but were quick to figure out what to do without being a pain or a nuisance to other guests.

 They often watched movies under the stars (with popcorn  included for free), played trivia and other games, ping pong, star gazing, sports court playing basketball, events in the theatre, and sometimes just chilled with a movie in their room after a very busy port day (and brought in pizza, burgers, and desserts to their cabin).