meet people
 

ok, so im 14 and going on freedom of the seas in a week. well, im going with my mom and my younger brother, so i will be alone. I'm nervous about meeting kids my age. what should i say so i dont seem like a dork when i start to talk to people. i really need some help cause im not a really outgoing person, but im not weird either. please please help me!

hi :)
i am your age too, and i went on freedom of the seas in august. first off, i wanted to say that the ship is INCREDIBLE! you will never ever be bored.

also, as far as meeting people go....it is REALLY easy. just a bit of advice: ***try to meet people early in the week so that you have plenty of time to
hang out.
***to meet people, go the the fuel dances/ activities, try to hang out in
the living room at nights, and INTRODUCE YOURSELF!!! it may seem
awkward, but everyone is in the same boat!
***take TONS of pictures. the more you take, the more it will help your post cruise depression (you'll have some). i didnt take many, and i sure wish i took more. it will really help you remember the crazy fun times you had!
***be yourself

hope this helped! you WILL have a great time on that ship, and you will meet tons of new friends. this ship is SWIMMING with teenagers, so you should easily be able to find people your age!

I'll just note that the cruising offseason has officially started (I believe it would be last weekend), so you won't see nearly as many people onboard as one would in August.

Some advice, pegging on to what teencruiser had to say, yes introduce yourself: "hey what's up, I'm [insert name here], what's your name?" then proceed to ask where they're from, are they excited for the cruise, had they been on cruises before, etc... strike up a conversation. Once you meet one person, just repeat for the rest and before you know it, you'll have a group.

Keep in mind that even though you're not outgoing, you're also on a cruise, so if you do something severely awkward, everyone will forget about it anyways, or will make good stories out of it during those "remember back on that cruise when..." moments.

Yes to hanging out in Fuel/Living Room. Those are the easiest places to meet people. If you're sporty, I also recommend sports deck. The pool tends to be a great place as well. Again, don't be afraid to let loose. No one will bite your head off, it tends to be awkward [at least the first 5 or so times on a cruise] for the first day or so. There's no avoiding it unless you've been on a significant amount of cruises (as several members here have been).

Pictures are great. If you're into photography, you'll go crazy. Freedom OTS (and the rest of the class) is/are a real eye-catcher for landscapers. I've personally gone down to Port of Miami just to shoot pics of Liberty OTS. I have some excellent shots of ships. Take advantage of that if it's your thing. Also, casual pictures make for great memories. Take a group shot if you can so you all can have a nice facebook group to keep in touch post cruise.

I don't know whether Freedom still uses a curfew, but just FYI Royal has a curfew of 1am for all guests under 18. They generally use rent-a-cops to enforce this curfew.

yes, they still have a curfew of 1am. BUT... you are allowed to hang out in the living room till 2am. also, the sailing i went on was not strict about cerfew, sometimes my friends and i would hang out till about 4 in the morning. haha.

thanks for the advice everyone! I'm leaving tommorow. I really cant wait now! Hopefully I'll meet some new people. Bye!!!!! :D

I can't even tell you guys how much I appreciate the advice! I met so many new people and had the best cruise ever! Thankyou thank you thank you!!!!!:)

Glad to help. Post pictures!