Mediterranean with teenage boys

[missyal]

We are seriously considering ( possibly booking tomorrow) the Carnival Freedom for the summer of 2007 with our 2 sons. They will be 16 & 18 that summer. My husband and I did this trip on the Millie in 2004 and loved it so much we wanted to take our boys there. It will be a double graduation gift. I chose the Freedom because I think it will be less expensive than Celebrity for a family of 4. My question is, will the boys like this trip/itinerary? Will there be other older teens? Any suggestions for teen friendly side trips? They do enjoy culture but will not want to do museums and churches everyday.

Thank you. Sorry so long:)

 

Missyal

[sunvalley cruisers]

Hi Missyal,

 

I'm taking two "just turned 18 yr olds" on an Eastern Caribbean cruise this summer. We are spending some time in Italy afterwards so I'll let you know how it goes and what they liked when we return home in July. My son chose the Greek Isles cruise as his gradution gift.

[missyal]

Thanks Kayakers! That sounds like quite a trip you have planned. Enjoy every minute. I look forward to heearing from you in the future.

Missyal

[FoxyTerrier]

We are also doing a the Greek Isles as a graduation celebration for my son this June on the new ms Noordam. I'm sure there will be kids his age.

[missyal]

Anyone else out there with experience--teens in Europe? I'd love to hear their likes and dislikes from a teen perspective. I know we won't spend too much time doing lots of churches, etc. They are great about touring around and are "people watchers". Thanks for sharing.

 

Missyal

[dock]

Hi missyal. Last July we did Carnival Liberty to Europe with 2 boys then 15 and 11. This August I gave my kids the option of going to South Africa to visit their grandparents while hubby and I take Galaxy to Eastern Med. Both opted for the cruise. Both enjoyed Pisa, climbing the Leaning Tower was the highlight of the trip for the 11 yr.old. Both enjoyed Pompeii, it helped that just prior to the trip there was a documentary on Pompeii on TV. They also enjoyed the Colosseum, and watched Gladiator before the trip as well. As the cruise was very port intensive, I tried not to book too many 8+ hour tours as I do not think either of us would have coped. I am sure your kids will have a great time.

[missyal]

Hi Dock--thanks so much for the reply. It's nice that your kids chose another trip, family time together. We did this trip in 2004 on our own( kid free) and can't wait to go back with our boys. My DH family is Italian and the kids are anxious to learn about their "roots". I'm glad we have a few sea days to for R & R between ports.

 

Missyal

[alinehu]

We did the Mediterranean last year with 7 teenagers in our group, they had a great time but they especially enjoy private tours over ship tours, they used toask everyday if they were private or ship.In the ship tours large bus they will sleep , with private tours they were always talking and making questions. Just a suggestion is more personal.")We are also planning to go on the Freedom next year.

[Darthtater]

We are taking the Freedom on its June 6, 2007 voyage. My boys will be 11 and 14. They are so excited that they can hardly wait.

[mitaxi]

Missyal...we leave in less than two weeks for a Med. Cruise... The we being myself and twin 18 year old boys.... this is thier graduation gift before they go off to differnt schools....

We have chosen private excrusions in Rome, Naples and FLorence ...shared with other familys met on this board..the other ports we are doing on our own.. also decided not to get to extensive in the museum, churches.... will let you know..upon our return on the 29th

 

Have to say though..after one year in the planning... the boys are really getting excited finally..lol

[alinehu]

Freedom June 6 is the one Im planning to take.Making reservations next week I hope !!!$$$$

[longislandfamily]

We are going on a Med Cruise this summer with our 20 year old. Based on the participants on our roll call, most families seem to do this trip with older teens. I personally can't imagine this trip with my daughter when she was 10. Fun things to do with teens: our daughter had these ideas when she helped plan our outings and shore excursions, but I don't know your itinerary:

 

Venice - climb the campanille in San Marco for the great view of Venice - ride in a real gondola once, not just a vaporetto. Doesn't the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade have major scenes in Venice? Go to the Bridge of Sighs - last glimpse of freedom before imprisonment.

 

Florence - visit the church of Santa Croce. It's where all the major names in Italian art and sciences are entombed (sort of like Westminster in London). She's old enough to appreciate who Michaelangelo, Donatello, Gallileo, Leonardo, etc, are, but young enough to remember when they were only the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

 

Rome - be sure to visit the Colosseum, and be sure to watch Gladiator before you go.

 

Marseille - We aren't doing this, (not on my daughter's list) but I understand that you can visit the Chateau D'If, the prison featured in the Count of Monte Cristo.

 

One advantage of taking a daughter, when all else fails, there is always shopping.:D

[missyal]

Thank you all for your feedback. Longisland--great ideas! We are booked on the Carnival Freedom 6/30/07. It is actually going to be a suprise for my boys. They know they are going to Italy but think it is a land tour. I hope I can keep the secret that long! We plan on doing most of the ports on our own, so it's great to hear what others think the teens will like. I look forward to reading peoples reviews when they get back.:D

 

Missyal

[Learning the ropes]

Just returned from the Liberty in the Med two weeks ago with 3 children - ages 17, 14 & 12. We toured on our own and I gave careful consideration to how much "culture" they could absorb in one day. I gave them a brief history of the sites we were seeing, but didn't overdo it. We didn't take any long bus tours along the coastline looking at the scenery, just didn't think it would excite them. We stayed in the major cities and did the main sites - walked, took buses, subways and trains which was fun in itself trying to figure out how to purchase tickets etc. Some days, in Naples for example, we opted to jdo just Pompeii - we spent three hours in Pompeii and you could tell when everyone had had enough. On that day we came back to the ship to swim and enjoy a burger by mid afternoon. It also meant we did not have to be off the ship at 7 am to cram in a whole day of sightseeing.

 

Churches were everywhere, we only did St. Peter's in Rome and St. Marks in Venice. Unfortunately we were unable to get into the Vatican museums...I think they would have enjoyed the "short" tour there. We had lots of gelato breaks. The kids enjoyed Pompeii, Leaning Tower of Pisa, the pigeons in St. Marks Square in Venice, taking a gondola ride, going to a mask shop, walking the wall around Dubrovnik, taking the hop-on/hop-off bus in Barcelona and wandering down Las Ramblas and into the market there.

 

They got a definate sense of how really old things are in Europe - when you talk in terms of B.C. that's old! They were amazed at the driving in Italy, the number of vespas and smart cars, the dangers to pedestrians! It's one thing to see the movie "Gladiator", but quite another to walk the Circus Maximum and know that chariots really did race here! Tried to make them realize that Venice is very much like it was when the "Merchant of Venice' was written....when our country was just being discovered... Michelangelo was already scupting La Pieta.

 

Did I see all the things I wanted to see - no. Did I get enough time shopping - no....but we took our kids to experience something different and tailored it more to suit them - it made for a happier trip.

[missyal]

Learning--Thanks for a GREAT post! There is no way you could ever get to see everything you want to see. This is our 3rd time going( 1st w/kids) and we still won't get to everything. DH hates shopping, so that almost never happens anyway. All the things you mentioned were basically what I had in mind ( Pisa, Pompeii, Ramblas, etc.) Sounds like a good mix of culture and fun. Did the kids like the ship--activities, shows, food? Were you all in one cabin? Sorry for all the questions, it's just so nice to hear from someone who is just back.:D

Thanks so much.

 

Missyal

[vacationhappy]

We went last August and there were more than 400 teens on board the ship and less than 100 kids younger. If you go during the summer when families vacation, I don't htink that your kids will have a hard time finding other teens to hang around with. We took our two pre-teens which proved to be tougher - there were only 12 kids in their age group that showed up for the get together on the first night.

 

Having said that we had the best vacation ever -

[missyal]

Vacation--glad to hear your kids had a great vacation despite the lack of peers. Kids have a way of finding their own fun if need be. One of the reasons I chose Carnival was for the potential for kids. Our first trip to the Med. was on Celebrity in the fall and there were no kids.

 

Missyal

[Learning the ropes]

Learning--Thanks for a GREAT post! There is no way you could ever get to see everything you want to see. This is our 3rd time going( 1st w/kids) and we still won't get to everything. DH hates shopping, so that almost never happens anyway. All the things you mentioned were basically what I had in mind ( Pisa, Pompeii, Ramblas, etc.) Sounds like a good mix of culture and fun. Did the kids like the ship--activities, shows, food? Were you all in one cabin? Sorry for all the questions, it's just so nice to hear from someone who is just back.:D

Thanks so much.

 

Missyal

 

The kids loved the ship - my son ate non-stop! The variety of food choices meant everyone could find something they liked to eat.The dining room was never a problem. We had two rooms, this kids in an inside room and us in an aft balcony room. A suite was the only other option for a family of five - but it was too expensive. The beauty of two rooms is TWO bathrooms when getting ready!!

 

The kids didn't participate in many ship activites....by the time we toured all day, had the late dinner we were tired. We went to a couple of the musical productions at night, saw the magician and comic. Some nights we opted to go to bed, especially if we had a busy day ahead. The drawback to travelling in May was there were very few children on the cruise - we knew that when we booked. On days in port it wasn't a big deal as we did everything as a family. The kids were disappointed and ended up hanging out with eachother (and us) more than they thought. There were trivia contests which they entered,the arcade, the girls went to a couple of dance classes - mostly on sea days we just enjoyed the sun, slide and pools. There were a lot of activites we didn't even get to - basketball, volleyball, ping pong, shuffleboard....

 

Keep asking the questions, I gained so much info from these boards, it is nice to give something back!

 

Heather

[missyal]

I can understand why your kids may have been disappointed, but it sounds like they had the time of their lives! How did you sneak them out of school in May? I bet ya the cruise fare was a bit lower in May the the peak summer months.:D We have no choice as far as timing next year. I had to do end of June--right after our graduations and before the frenzy of sending DS #1 off to college. It seems so far off. Can't wait!

Thanks for the post.

 

Missyal

[Summertimescallingme]

Learning the Ropes - We are departing on the Liberty on July 6th with two sons, ages 8 & 13. Thanks for the helpful information. I have a couple questions - We were thinking of renting a car in Cannes and driving up to St. Paul de Vence and Antibes. We have also considered taking the train down the coast to Monaco. Do you have any suggestions? We are in the Cannes port on Sunday and I've read not much is open on Sunday. We are also planning on renting a car and going to Pisa, then to Lucca when docked in Livorno. Unfortunately, I understand the main museums in Florence are closed on Monday, thus we are skipping Florence. Would you recommend the trains over renting a car? Thanks for your advice.

[Learning the ropes]

Depending on your comfort level with driving I would go with the rental car in both locations. We rented a car ahead of time for Livorno and drove to Lucca and Pisa. It was 60 euros, plus we paid an extra 15 euros to pick up and drop off the vehicle at the port. I had been to Florence before and felt that perhaps by that point in the cruise the kids would be "cultured out".

 

The Hertz rental agency was right on the dock in Livorno - there was also an Avis rental booth there as well. They had all our paperwork and upgraded out car at no extra charge. While I had printed off reams of maps, the Hertz rep gave us maps too and much simpler directions. It might have been a little confusing getting out of the port as it is quite large, but fortunately one of the Hertz employees was heading back into town and so they drove ahead of us and pointed to the turn-off we needed to take. Getting to Lucca was no problem, we took the interstate. From Lucca to Pisa we took the country roads and again no problem. Well signed, and much more "normal" driving than what we witnessed in Rome!!

 

We opted to stay in Cannes to see what the Film Festival was all about. The train schedule to Monaco is pretty straight forward from what I had read, but getting to the other spots might require some tricky scheduling - renting a car would seem obvious, although the roads are fairly twisty...to see all three spots I think I would consider hiring a private driver, or teaming up with another family so you can maximize your time in all three places and enjoy the scenery too?? There are many posts on these boards about trains and private drivers along the coast.

 

Regarding the question about taking kids out of school - all the teachers involved were fine with them leaving and seemed to realize it was a great opportunity for them. My husband can't always get holiday time in the summer and to be honest in May the cost of the cruise and airfare was cheaper plus the temperatures and crowds more manageable. We had been to Europe many years ago in August -- the heat combined with the walking was brutal!

[crazy4cruzin]

mathwiz- I'd like to add my 2 cents worth. Please do not skip Florence just because the museums are closed. Florence is so much more than just museums. The entire city is an open-air museum. Everywhere you walk and everywhere you go you will see art and the architecture of the Renaissance. The Duomo is incredible, the Santa Croce church is where many famous people were laid to rest. Many of the churches have beautifully preserved artwork in them. Piazza Signoria has many copies of statues including the 'David' in the piazza. I would never dream of skipping Florence because the museums are closed, Florence has so much to offer. Pisa will be a quick stop mainly a photo op and a quick look-see. If you want to climb the tower you need to make reservations in advance because they limit the number of people. Lucca will be great to visit, but doesn't compare to Florence. Can you tell I like Florence? I will be visiting Florence (3rd time) in July for a few days pre-cruise with my 2 teens (14 & 17) and they are both looking forward to it.

[Summertimescallingme]

Thanks for the replies. I agree, I hate to miss Florence, but I just don't know how the boys will be doing by the end of the trip. For now I have rental cars reserved in Cannes and Livorno. We'll see how it goes.