18 year old high school son

[rian90]

Our family is booked in March on a cruise with RCI, Navigator of the Seas. My 18 year old son will be with us. He is still in high school and has nothing in common with college students. However, we noticed the teen programs only go to age 17. Has anyone been in this situation and will they make exceptions for kids still in high school? He is a very responsible kid, doesn't drink or party. It just seems sad that he will have to hang with us the entire time. He is a shy kid and probably won't meet anyone on his own.

 

Thanks!

 

Laura

[Infi]

I'm not sure if the teen program will still accept your son if he is 18, but on our last Princess cruise we did notice a "Club 18-21" that had one or two activities each day in the bulletin. Seems like it would be a nice way to meet up with others of the same age. Maybe RCI has something similar? There's a chance he could still meetup with high school-age teens while aboard even if he doesn't attend the organized programs...plenty of kids skip the program after the first few days.

 

I agree that that age is really difficult, especially for the shyer kids. Cruise lines need to address this much better than they have. :(

[rian90]

Thanks, Infi. I have a feeling they won't let him participate and I know he won't approach kids on his own. You are right, they do need to address this. More and more kids, especially boys are not graduating high school until 19. It seems unfair to penalize them for this.

 

Oh well. He will bring a gameboy and his Magic cards. You never know when another kid like him might be sitting across the pool deck. :)

[BarbaraM]

I've cruised with my kids alot, and from my experience, the only "teens" at the teen club are the 13 year old girls! Higher age teens don't participate, unless they happen to be with a large group of friends! I wouldn't get too worked up if they don't let him participate.

 

This is a crazy age, and whenever I've taken my kids, that is the age they have the least amount of fun, more so if they are shy or not partiers. I've had to convince my kids that most of the kids on the ship aren't travelling with their best friends from home. The kids will mingle in certain areas at night, he just might have to bust out of his comfort zone and approach someone who looks as miserable as he does. I'd suggest doing this the very first night, otherwise the longer he waits, the harder it is going to be to try to find someone to hang with. If there is an 18-21 year old activity group, encourage him to participate. He'll be heading off to college someday, and might acquire some needed social skills!

 

I agree with the above poster, re: teen group programming. This is a weakness from my experience. Part of the problem is parents convincing staff to allow younger and younger kids into the teen programs, which makes it very unattractive for the age kids it was designed for.

[rian90]

Thanks, Barbara! I will tell him this. I absolutely agree about breaking out of his comfort zone. We adopted my son when he was 4 so he has always been a bit shy and very attached to his family. I have to 'push' him out of the nest, so to speak. Once at a conference in a safe hotel, we gave him twenty dollars, one of our cell phones, and walked away. He ended up having a great time. lol

 

I think even if he sits and reads and relaxes on the deck he will have a good time. We will all be together at port and are going on a ruins trip. He loves ruins and archeological sites as much as I do so that will be worth the trip for him alone.

 

I will give him your advice and hope he at least tries. :)

[Romy40]

We took our son on a high school graduation present cruise. He was not quite 18. He checked out the 17 y/o group and said, "Ugh." However, the next day he found 6 others his age who also said, "Ugh." We never saw him again (except at night). He had a BLAST!

Fear not.

[wrp96]

A few times in the past, RCCL has let 18 year olds participate in the teen clubs but they had to give up the right to do things only 18 and up could do (like go to the casino and the disco). This usually only happened on sailings with low counts of kids/teens. It's unlikely that it will be allowed on a March cruise (spring break = lots of kids), but you can go to Adventure Ocean the first night and ask if they would allow it.

 

Does he play basketball? Video games? If so, if he hangs out around the basketball court or the arcade he may run into other teens his age.

[tigercheerfan]

The first day our teenagers find people to hang out with by hanging out around the pool and the food. lol They didn't like the group things so the kids they met would agree to meet up at different places the rest of the cruise.

[Karysa]

Our family is booked in March on a cruise with RCI, Navigator of the Seas. My 18 year old son will be with us. He is still in high school and has nothing in common with college students. However, we noticed the teen programs only go to age 17. Has anyone been in this situation and will they make exceptions for kids still in high school? He is a very responsible kid, doesn't drink or party. It just seems sad that he will have to hang with us the entire time. He is a shy kid and probably won't meet anyone on his own.

 

Thanks!

 

Laura

 

If you haven't joined your roll call maybe you could see if other's are traveling with a similar aged teen and if you have a meet and greet you could have them meet then.

Karysa

[rian90]

He likes video games but the arcade seems to be quite expensive. I can't imagine him spending that much time there.

 

I did join the roll call but there are only a few people and they do not post often. I am the last poster and no one has posted after me. Hopefully it will pick up closer to the cruise date.

[Dpeeps]

He likes video games but the arcade seems to be quite expensive. I can't imagine him spending that much time there.

 

I did join the roll call but there are only a few people and they do not post often. I am the last poster and no one has posted after me. Hopefully it will pick up closer to the cruise date.

What date are you going??? We are cruising on the Navigator in March with a group of kids....actually there are 2 girls who are 17 and a boy who is 17 or maybe 18??? Was just wondering....might be on the same sailing!! :)

[Dpeeps]

Hey Rian......I think I found your thread......I believe you are on the sailing the week before we are sailing??? Right? You are sailing on the 23rd? Well, that is too bad....we are missing you by one week! I see that you have other kids too.....we have big group of kids sailing with us....I my self have the 1 daughter who is 17, and 2 boys 14, and 12. My daughter is taking her friend. Then there are 3 other families ....total of 6 more boys!! ages 10, 12, 12, 14, 16, and 17!! Should be fun!! I'm sure your son will find friends on board!!

[rian90]

Yes, we are sailing on the 23rd. Sounds like you will have a wild time with all those kids. :) Since I booked late, I had to find a date that had enough cabins left near each other so ended up on the 23rd.

 

I am sure he will have fun no matter what he does. We did give him the option of staying home and he opted out of that idea. :) So he does want to be there, even if he sits on the deck all day long.