Cruise with 17 year old - suggestions please!

[Haliwood]

Where are the best places on the ship and Castaway Cay to relax and find quiet outside of the adult only areas? My daughter is months away from 18, so we can't yet enjoy the adult only areas together. Hoping there may be some quiet spots we can enjoy away from the family activities. Any advice or suggestions you can provide will be appreciated!

 

[Doingitagain]

What ship are you on? That will help with better responses.

 

[Rob1872]

When you say, "relax and find quiet", what exactly are you looking for? A place with activities that is under-attended, or literally a corner to sit and relax? If you have a verandah stateroom, the best quiet relaxing will be on your verandah.
If you are on Fantasy/Dream, the port passageway back to Animator's palate has seats built in to the port holes that my kids have liked hanging out in. (Possibly not ideal for multiple people trying to talk.)
There are benches outside on deck 4 where you will occasionally have walkers/joggers go by but for the most part you will be able to have a private conversation.

 

[Rob1872]

Also, the area just forward and port/starboard of the basketball courts are usually fairly quiet; normally I just see a few stacks of extra deck loungers being stored there. You have a long distance view of the funnel vision screen also there.

 

[Doingitagain]

Most lounges don't become "adult only" until later in the evening. They generally are quiet when there is not an activity.

 

[HeatherLassell]

When you say, "relax and find quiet", what exactly are you looking for? A place with activities that is under-attended, or literally a corner to sit and relax? If you have a verandah stateroom, the best quiet relaxing will be on your verandah.
If you are on Fantasy/Dream, the port passageway back to Animator's palate has seats built in to the port holes that my kids have liked hanging out in. (Possibly not ideal for multiple people trying to talk.)
There are benches outside on deck 4 where you will occasionally have walkers/joggers go by but for the most part you will be able to have a private conversation.

I love sitting on the loungers on deck 4!

 

[princesscinderella]

We hardly saw my 17 year old as he was enjoying his last time in vibe before becoming 18 and no longer allowed. Deck 4 with the loungers in a nice place to relax, just stay away from a shuffleboard area.

 

[meliscan]

I will say the lounge chairs near the quiet pool are my favorite. Typically it's not very crowded there and I sit there often vs the adult area which can fill up especially on sea days.

 

[Haliwood]

Thank you for the suggestions! My daughter is shy and won't go to the teen clubs, which is why I won't be able to leave her to enjoy the adult only areas. Good to know the quiet pool can be a good spot, as well as Deck 4. What about Castaway Cay? What is the best spot for us to shoot for there? Again, we are looking for a quiet place to relax without lots of little ones. I've done my time with the littles, and they're adorable, but we're hoping for a more adult theme this time around. Thank you!!

 

[lanejudy]

I will say the lounge chairs near the quiet pool are my favorite.

What is the quiet pool? If you mean the Cove Pool, that is adults-only and the 17-yr-old won't be allowed to lounge in that area.

OP - if you are looking for indoor spaces, the nightclubs aren't adult-only until evening and they are often very quiet during the day. If you want outdoor spots, I agree with deck 4 is good. At Castaway head to the 2nd family beach, even though closer to Pelican Plunge it is usually much less busy than the 1st family beach area.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

Thank you for the suggestions! My daughter is shy and won't go to the teen clubs, which is why I won't be able to leave her to enjoy the adult only areas. Good to know the quiet pool can be a good spot, as well as Deck 4. What about Castaway Cay? What is the best spot for us to shoot for there? Again, we are looking for a quiet place to relax without lots of little ones. I've done my time with the littles, and they're adorable, but we're hoping for a more adult theme this time around. Thank you!!

My daughter is 17 and will be 4 months away from 18 at the time of our cruise. She is also very shy and probably won't go to Vibe. She may take a peek but that's about it. My husband and I would like to do Palo and some other adult activities but don't want to leave her out.

 

[CatsnDogs]

I agree with the second family beach, we went as far as we could go before hitting the cabanas. You also might try bingo, the movies, mini golf. We would also grab a pizza/snack and sit at the tables past the pool area where it was quiet.

 

[princesscinderella]

Thank you for the suggestions! My daughter is shy and won't go to the teen clubs, which is why I won't be able to leave her to enjoy the adult only areas. Good to know the quiet pool can be a good spot, as well as Deck 4. What about Castaway Cay? What is the best spot for us to shoot for there? Again, we are looking for a quiet place to relax without lots of little ones. I've done my time with the littles, and they're adorable, but we're hoping for a more adult theme this time around. Thank you!!

My daughter is 17 and will be 4 months away from 18 at the time of our cruise. She is also very shy and probably won't go to Vibe. She may take a peek but that's about it. My husband and I would like to do Palo and some other adult activities but don't want to leave her out.

You may try hanging out with her in the teen area during open house on the first day especially and you can play games together and she can see how the space works. We had fun playing guitar hero on the fantasy with my teens. Maybe that will help her feel comfortable with the space. They have lots of little nooks where the kids who don’t want to socialize too much can chill.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

You may try hanging out with her in the teen area during open house on the first day especially and you can play games together and she can see how the space works. We had fun playing guitar hero on the fantasy with my teens. Maybe that will help her feel comfortable with the space. They have lots of little nooks where the kids who don’t want to socialize too much can chill.

I thought about that, the IceBreaker when you first board? Also just going with her to drop in but I don't think she'd "appreciate" me being there. I will offer though. My daughter always feels like the odd person out. That they already have a brother or sister they're hanging out with or the few that are there by themselves already have a group and she's left out.

 

[princesscinderella]

I thought about that, the IceBreaker when you first board? Also just going with her to drop in but I don't think she'd "appreciate" me being there. I will offer though. My daughter always feels like the odd person out. That they already have a brother or sister they're hanging out with or the few that are there by themselves already have a group and she's left out.

I think that’s the case in the oceaneers club but usually in the teen/tween clubs there a smaller age gap so a lot of times they are on their own with their siblings in the other clubs. We saw a great change with our youngest daughter after our spring break sailing on the fantasy. Her socializing skills had really been impacted by covid and she really bloomed and made lots of friends onboard. We are sailing again right when school gets out thanks to a 50% off and she’s already worried that the kids won’t be as cool on the next sailing. My kids especially love all the scavenger hunts they give the kids to do on the ship. They had a big one that lasted the cruise and they had to take pictures with the cruise director for example.

 

[Haliwood]

You're all so kind to offer your suggestions! My daughter didn't like the kids club when she was small (only lasted about 30 minutes and that was with her older sister along for morale support) and wouldn't even consider the teen club! Its just her personality to keep to herself. That's why I so appreciate all of your suggestions for quiet spots on the ship and the island. If we're lucky enough to get a "next time", we'll all get to enjoy those adult only areas!

 

[Lizard78]

My 16 year old daughter sounds a lot like your daughter. She has never really cared for the clubs (my son on the other hand...). She mostly enjoys relaxing in our room/veranda, but she does enjoy playing Bingo and seeing the shows and movies. And the food...she loves the food. I can't wait until she turns 18 and I have a buddy for the adult areas!

 

[lanejudy]

I thought about that, the IceBreaker when you first board? Also just going with her to drop in but I don't think she'd "appreciate" me being there.

All the kids' spaces are in "open house" mode when you first board - that entire afternoon until maybe 4pm or 5pm.

The "Ice Breakers" activity usually occurs the first night (maybe 9pm at Vibe?) and that is when a lot of the friendships develop. Kids who miss that first night tend to have a harder time connecting with the others during the cruise.

As for going with her -- only during "open house" which is the afternoon of embarkation and then usually an hour at some point each day during the cruise. But you are probably right that after embarkation day (when lots of families will be stopping in) she probably doesn't want you anywhere near Vibe during the rest of the cruise.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

I think that’s the case in the oceaneers club but usually in the teen/tween clubs there a smaller age gap so a lot of times they are on their own with their siblings in the other clubs. We saw a great change with our youngest daughter after our spring break sailing on the fantasy. Her socializing skills had really been impacted by covid and she really bloomed and made lots of friends onboard. We are sailing again right when school gets out thanks to a 50% off and she’s already worried that the kids won’t be as cool on the next sailing. My kids especially love all the scavenger hunts they give the kids to do on the ship. They had a big one that lasted the cruise and they had to take pictures with the cruise director for example.

My daughter has a hard time making friends. Some of the friends she used to have were not very nice, sneaky and took advantage of her. Then Covid hit and socialize was pretty much gone. On top of all that, she is very shy. I'm just really hoping she gives something a try and even more than she can meet at least one other teen on the ship.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

My 16 year old daughter sounds a lot like your daughter. She has never really cared for the clubs (my son on the other hand...). She mostly enjoys relaxing in our room/veranda, but she does enjoy playing Bingo and seeing the shows and movies. And the food...she loves the food. I can't wait until she turns 18 and I have a buddy for the adult areas!

Our daughter never liked the clubs either. On our first Disney cruise, she was 10. We did put her in the kids club so my husband and I can go to Palo. She was bored, didn't like it at all. I felt guilty afterwards, felt like I was just putting her somewhere so we can do something. About 2 years before that we were at Aulani. Put her in that club that was all day, she was interested in feeding the fish (I think that was what it was). But she didn't like it either. After the club on the Disney cruise, we didn't do clubs anymore. Decided it was a family vacation and we should be together. I do think, and hope, that if she scouted out the Vibe and met someone, she may enjoy herself. But I'm not going to push it.