Notes on July 23 2018 Rhine River cruise

[Eastridge]

It looks amazing and I would love to go but the whole point of group travel, at least for our family, is companions for our son. I've only been on 1 ABD but it seems that the trips skew toward the younger side. Were there any/many teens on this trip?

This particular cruise had ~150 guests and 20-25 kids. There were around 5-10 teens.

Each cruise varies. You could ask a Vacationista for the number and ages of the kids on the particular cruise you are considering.

Given the much larger size of a cruise compared with a normal land-based ABD, I would expect the odds of having other teens would be higher on a river cruise.

A note about teens and activities: Since parents could not leave children behind on the ship during excursions, I saw kids in wine tasting events. Non alcoholic drinks were available but the venue also allowed teens to drink, if the parents gave permission. They also allowed teens in the nominally "adult only" Chef's Table.

 

[OhanaCuz]

We chose the Rhine cruise because of the excursions and since we wanted to see Amsterdam. I think they use the same class of ships on the Rhine and Danube cruises

That's correct. An example is the AmaViola for the Danube and the AmaKristina for the Rhine.

 

[tink1970]

It looks amazing and I would love to go but the whole point of group travel, at least for our family, is companions for our son. I've only been on 1 ABD but it seems that the trips skew toward the younger side. Were there any/many teens on this trip?

I've been on two holiday ABD River Cruises and there have been several teens and young adults on those-maybe due to the holidays but can't be sure. My DD enjoyed the Rhine so much we're going on the Danube for her graduation. Since it's late June I'm pretty sure there will be lots of summer time vacationing families (or I sincerely hope so anyway).

 

[lpm23]

We went on the Rhine at the end of June. There were at least 10-15 teenagers. The teenagers looked like they had a great time and were all best buddies by the end of the week. They had special rooms reserved for the teens to eat dinner together. The guides also went out of their way to set up separate activities for the teens and kept the younger kids busy with something else. (For example the teens took over the pool while the younger kids did crafts.

 

[terkov]

Loved seeing your write up- I am considering a river cruise this summer (abd) and had a few questions- it will be three of us- me, hubby and our 11 year old daughter. I saw in the itinerary several activities where adults did one thing kids another. Same with dining that they eat seperately (even called out they had special menus with hot gigs and chicken fingers!?!) is that mandatory they eat Seperately? That will be a deal breaker for us as we travel to spend time together. We have done several DCL European cruises (as well as Caribbean) and we have traveled all over Euope and Asia- as a family doing things together. Did you find you couldn't all eat together or do all tours together?
* note before everyone jumps on me- everyone travels differently- we love traveling with our daughter and enjoy doing things with her- why we are looking at a river cruise with Disney vs not Disney

 

[OhanaCuz]

Loved seeing your write up- I am considering a river cruise this summer (abd) and had a few questions- it will be three of us- me, hubby and our 11 year old daughter. I saw in the itinerary several activities where adults did one thing kids another. Same with dining that they eat seperately (even called out they had special menus with hot gigs and chicken fingers!?!) is that mandatory they eat Seperately? That will be a deal breaker for us as we travel to spend time together. We have done several DCL European cruises (as well as Caribbean) and we have traveled all over Euope and Asia- as a family doing things together. Did you find you couldn't all eat together or do all tours together?
* note before everyone jumps on me- everyone travels differently- we love traveling with our daughter and enjoy doing things with her- why we are looking at a river cruise with Disney vs not Disney

When you go to a place like a museum during a day trip they have fun activities for the kids to do while the adults roam the museum but I'm pretty sure it's not forced. I could swear I remember seeing kids in some of our adult groups.

Dinner is super casual also. They didn't care if people were wearing jeans or t-shirts. I'm pretty sure they're not going to mind if your child eats dinner with you.

 

[lpm23]

hi we just did the Rhine in June. no kids can go everywhere the adults go. there are sometimes that there is a kids alternative, but kids can always choose to stay with the adults. even at the wine tasting etc. there were a few kids tasting juice.

in terms of dinner kids can choose to eat dinner with the other kids or eat with the adults. they can also choose each day so they don't have to commit to one or the other. it's all very casual. if they get bored of sitting with you at dinner they can go up with the kids. the boat isn't that big and it is all very casual. you will have a blast. my kids were 6 and 8 and we had to beg them to eat with us for dinner. (which they only agreed to once. ha)

 

[Eastridge]

My 11 year old ate dinner with us in the main dining room every evening except for two nights. For one night, he wanted to eat with some of the other kids and they took over one of the wine rooms (semi private dining areas). The other night, all of us ate together at the Chef’s Table. This is supposed to be the adult-only dining area but the crew said he could join us.

The lounge area above the dining room was staffed by some guides and that is where kids could go if they didn’t want to eat dinner with their parents.

I don’t recall any tour that was exclusive to adults, although some had restrictions, such as the zip lining. I saw kids at a wine tasting event, and they even offered wine to older teens (if their parents allowed it). If all the adults in a party were taking excursions off the ship, their kid(s) had to accompany them. You could not leave a child unattended aboard the ship. We actually did every excursion together as a family except for one time slot where I did wine tasting and my wife and son made macaroons instead.

This is a great trip for a family, and has lots of activities suitable for kids. If you want to do everything together as a family, you should be able to.

 

[sabrecmc]

We did the July 2, 2018 Rhine. My daughter is 12. Most of the tweens and teens did choose to sit in their areas with friends for dinner and the younger kids went to their area with the counselors, but it wasn't mandatory. There were definitely a few (particularly the younger) kids who stayed with parents. I would say that from our trip, an 11 year old would probably want to be in the room with the other kids at least some nights. I don't think I noticed anyone who sat with their parents the whole time, but a lot who switched off nights or spent part of the dinner with parents then went off with friends. It's very flexible.