traveling with teen & 21 year old

[juicifer]

My husband and I would like to take our children on a cruise next summer. Our oldest, who will be 21 will be studying in Spain. Our youngest is 13. He is interested in archeology & baseball. What is Princess like for kids/teens?

We loved our cruise in the Eastern Med ( Greek Isles, Turkey & Italy) last year and it was our first cruise( on Celebrity). We don't want a "party" atmosphere but we do want our children to have fun. What's Princess like compared to other cruise lines? We're not experienced cruisers so any help would be great.

peace-

juice

[woodofpine]

If you hang around these boards long you realize that the customer base of Celebrity/X and Princess largely overlap. A lot of cruisers (most?) that like one also enjoy the other. Naturally, primacy favortism for the first OH WOW! cruise/cruise line (in my case Princess as an adult) is hard for another line to overcome but both these lines are excellent.

 

Celebrity's multi-level dining room architecture is more impressive than Princess' and cruise media seems to call X food a tad fancier (but food is SO subjective), but Princess has impressive, better cared for ships than X, with the best pool decks afloat (fresh water open 24/7 [kids go for that!]) and a very good - just slightly more gregarious (usually) crew.

 

6 one; half-doz. the other... :)

[CalTravelers]

We traveled with 5 16-18 year olds in the Mediterranean. Your 13 yr old will probably join the age-appropriate group and meet lots of kids from around the world! Our son (only child) did bring a friend along. The remaining kids in our group were cousins and their friends. There is a group for young adults, but that age is actually harder if they are not with someone they already know. A port intensive trip is usually better as your are busy each day.

 

We were also in Alaska with a similar group when they were 13-15 - Royal Caribbean. While the kids enjoyed that cruise, they were much happier in warmer cimates - you enjoyed the full range of activities on the ship.

[Colo Cruiser]

I think they would be well suited for a Princess cruise, lots to do for both ages. :)