Spring Break questions for teens

[kthill]

I'm taking my teen son and his friends on a cruise for spring break. I hope you don't mind but I'd prefer your answers to these questions rather than other parents...

If you've gone on a cruise with a group of friends with a couple cabins, did you have all the teens stay in one cabin? How many will fit?
Did you get bored on days at sea? if not what did you find to do?
Did you have any rules to follow that you thought were ok?

Thanks for your input.

[Kristina99]

I have not been on a cruise with a group of friends yet. You should make sure that everyone who plans on going gets along really well since they will bascically be living together for the next week (or however long your cruise is). If you plan on sailing on Carnival, you can fit up to 5 teens in a room for relatively cheap (they tend to have cheap prices, plus even cheaper 3rd/4th/5th guest prices). On most other lines, you can fit 4.

I definetly did not get bored on sea days. Theres always so much to do on the ship, or you can just do nothing at all and lay by the pool. I would attend the dance classes or art auctions, and eat. A Lot. Usually the teen program will have activities scheduled to keep everyone busy too.

My parents only had a couple of rules...

1.) I had to eat dinner with them every night.
2.) I couldnt go onshore without them.
3.) I had to be back in the cabin by a certain time...which changed depending on what we had planned for the next day (usually around 1am)

Hope this helped.

Kris

[girl_next_door]

yea i havent been on a cruise with a group of friends, but i would probably put them in one cabin. my parents usually have their own while me and my sister have another. and it works out really well. we stay out of each others way and they never get sick of us which usually tended to happen many times before on vacations.

i never got bored on days at seas, as long as i met people to hang out with. only one time i didnt and i just laid around the pool and ate which wasn't too bad. but try to get them to meet people, even if they don't want to. tell them its worth it and makes the cruise so much fun. cuz i know people who went on cruises without meeting new people and didn't really have a good time.. but i always do and i always meet exciting new people.

with my parents.. our rules were..
- eat dinner with them
- can't get off the ship without them (except they let us in bermuda because it's such a safe island, we just had to tell them; but some strict security people running check in and out wont let you out without a parent anyway, but sometimes they do)
- no boys in the cabin

don't give them too many rules.. and no early curfews. as long as you trust them not to get drunk and fall off the ship.. they can't really do anything so late at night. past like 12 usually teens are sitting around somewhere around the ship talking so it's okay if they're out late, but that's just my opinion.

[ollyohh]

How many people to a room really depends on what cruise line you go on. Generally you can fit 4 people to a room, and depending on what ship, it can be sort of crowded or not.
As long as you trust your kids, don't give them an curfew, or at least not an early one. It tends to work out well if you just have them check in with you, or let you know when they are back in their room.

my parents rules-
eat dinner with them (except for nights which they wanted to themselves, in which my friends and i ate together)
no loud people in the rooms
if i go on shore, i have to go with guys. (protection)
and to be smart and safe in general.

the beauty of a cruise is that you can go with your family, see them daily, not get sick of them, and really be able to be by yourself or be independant most of the time. its pretty wonderful, and something i don't think should be bogged down with a lot of rules.

Im going on the royal caribbean 'Mariner of the Seas' for my spring break, on march 18th. its supposed to be an amazing cruise ship for teens, and still amazing for the parents.

Let us know what you decided!