Thinking of taking my son but is he too old ???

[coastermom]

We want to go on the Disney Cruise next June on the Dream with my sister and her family. My son will be 17 and her children are still very young like 7. 5 and 4 . It will be a short cruise 4 days I believe with two days at Castaway Cay but he will be traveling with just us ( his parents ) which I think will make him very board . Is there anyone who had done this type of cruise with older kids , this will be our first cruise ever too !! Is he too old? He is a little shy and wondering if he will even go to the ships teen areas . Any input from people who have been or have done this is wonder !! Thanks

 

[kid-at-heart]

I think your son will have a wonderful time and not be bored at all. Encourage him to go to the Vibe the first night for the greet and meet or whatever it is called. My daughter loved it at both age 15 and 17. In her "group" was a young man who was extremely shy, the group made sure he was always included and never felt pressured to do anything beyond his comfort level.

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

We want to go on the Disney Cruise next June on the Dream with my sister and her family. My son will be 17 and her children are still very young like 7. 5 and 4 . It will be a short cruise 4 days I believe with two days at Castaway Cay but he will be traveling with just us ( his parents ) which I think will make him very board . Is there anyone who had done this type of cruise with older kids , this will be our first cruise ever too !! Is he too old? He is a little shy and wondering if he will even go to the ships teen areas . Any input from people who have been or have done this is wonder !! Thanks

My teens, (16 and 18), still love DCL, but they also love Carnival just as much. Their favorite vacations are cruises so they really don’t care which shipbor itinerary, they just really want to be on a ship whenever possible. Since 2011, we’ve been on 9 cruises and they’ve never been board on a single one. There is so much to do on every ship, at all times of the day they can’t come close to having nothing to do. Book it and don’t look back.

 

[dprincessmom]

First cruise was last December with 14 year old daughter (she's not shy and is an old soul). She absolutely loved the cruise...but wasn't a huge fan of the clubs. She did go one night, but said it wasn't her thing. That being said, we spent a lot of time in the D Lounge for the family stuff, on the sports deck and In Da Shade on Castaway Cay. We didn't book any excursions. Movies in the theaters, On Demand in the room, Bingo, Room Service, trying new foods, the shows, there was always something going on. I let her set the pace and if she wanted some down time by herself, I let her.

All this to say, if he loves Disney he's not too old. Check out the clubs, they may be for him. Give him some leeway about his activities and family interaction AND unplug that was the best thing about the trip. I used my phone as a watch and as a camera the whole time but no uploading or surfing the internet ($$$$$). You will have a great time

 

[Pens Fan]

Our son has been on 4 DCL cruises. He was 17 on the last one and he loved every minute of (it was an 11 night cruise). That being said, the next year we let him choose the summer vacation for his graduation trip and he chose 2 weeks of fishing, jeeping and hiking in Colorado. He is now 20 and is completely thrilled to be going to the Outer Banks of NC in a few weeks for the gazillion-th time.

Honestly, I think once "kids" get to be a certain age they just appreciate the fact that travel takes them away from their normal routine and responsibilities. We have done pretty much every thing there is to do in Nags Head, NC at this point but I have no doubt our son will be more than happy to not be preparing for finals in Thermodynamics, Strengths, etc..... and just watching the waves, fishing, taking naps in the middle of the day - you know, vacation stuff!!!

The thing I love about cruises (any of them - the cruise line doesn't really matter) is that you can do as much or as little as you want. If you ask our son what he loves about DCL he will probably mention hanging out in the cabin watching old Disney cartoons . He did enjoy Vibe, but didn't spend every waking minute their either. Vacation = good in his book. I'm sure you son will have a blast.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[FigmentSpark]

My shy DS was 12 when we first sailed. I sent him off to the Edge on the first night and he made friends and had fun. My older son, the outgoing one, had to be coaxed to go to the Vibe, but it took him under a minute to make a friend. In addition to other kids being there, the counsellors are there, too. Your son might enjoy chatting with the counsellors and they might help him get into a group of friends.

But even if he prefers to stay by himself or with you, there are movies, shows, on demand TV, mini golf, basketball, virtual sports deck (if you book early enough), the aquaduck and just chilling on deck. He might even enjoy playing with his cousins once in awhile or even standing in line to meet Mickey, or maybe a princess or two? There is something for everyone, I believe.

 

[Racer X]

It's a cruise after all!! Who cares if there are Disney themes. It's not like he has to go to a club or bingo or dance party... any more than any other cruise line. Does it matter there are characters walking around? Or big mickeys on the stacks? If hes open to going on a cruise then fine, if he doesnt want to cruise then its a bad match.

 

[buzzrelly]

We just got off the Wonder with my DS 16 and DD 14 and they LOVE the cruise and clubs. In fact, we booked another cruise for next April because that will be DS's last time he gets to go to the clubs. Make sure he goes to the ice-breaker on the first night. My son isn't overly social but he finds a couple kids to hang with and has fun.

 

[CamColt]

My DSs favorite years on DCL have been the teen years. They have had so much fun in the Vibe over the years to the point when I made the kids go to dinner with us (as I do) on the last night of my oldest's last cruise as 17, he was arguing saying he only had so many hours left in the Vibe. It was really sad, LOL! One highlight for them has been the Wild Side adventure on CC. I agree with the above poster though, be sure he goes the first night to meet people, and I'm sure he will have a blast.

Outside of the Vibe they enjoy it too, but that has been the highlight for them.

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

We want to go on the Disney Cruise next June on the Dream with my sister and her family. My son will be 17 and her children are still very young like 7. 5 and 4 . It will be a short cruise 4 days I believe with two days at Castaway Cay but he will be traveling with just us ( his parents ) which I think will make him very board . Is there anyone who had done this type of cruise with older kids , this will be our first cruise ever too !! Is he too old? He is a little shy and wondering if he will even go to the ships teen areas . Any input from people who have been or have done this is wonder !! Thanks

Of course, a lot of it depends on your son and his interests. And also your expectations.

My sons loved the Vibe and participated in a number of activities there or just hung out and drank smoothies. But there are plenty of other things for him to do as well. As for your expectations, if he just wanted to lounge in the sun, and read or sleep and enjoy the included, virtually unlimited food, that would still be a great vacation for him, right?

Also, I don't know his situation, or your philosophy, but I am always looking for chances for my teen sons to "spread their wings" while still being partially sheltered. The ship offered them a great chance to wonder around and explore on their own and meet people, yet the ship is not so large that it is hard to find them or see who they are hanging with, etc. We ended up spending a bunch of time together too, which was great bonding time!

I loved looking at the pictures they showed on their phone afterwards. Such a different perspective on the cruise. Fantastic!

 

[jrabbit]

Started cruising when DS was 9 and DD was 10. Were fortunate enough to sail every couple of years. They LOVED the kids clubs. And only just liked the Vibe (pre Edge days). Sometimes they had a great time with the Vibe, other times they rarely visited it, but made friends and hung out by the pool, played on the sports deck, at "junk food" (pool deck pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken tenders and all of the soft serve ice cream they could suck down).

So by the time they were 18 - 21 ... they knew the drill and continued to have a very good time sailing with us. They are now 28 & 29 and still enjoy going on DCL!

 

[darnheather]

He will love it. The teen club is amazing. My daughter has dear friends (both boys and girls) she's met on our two cruises and can't wait for one last cruise in the teen club.

 

[mmouse37]

Our kids literally grew up going on Disney Cruises (been cruising with DCL since Day 1). Even at the teen ages they LOVED the cruise. Always found things to do, always made ship board friends and were never bored. I love that now they have kids and we bring our grandkids onboard as well to continue to tradition!!!

MJ

 

[Stacey1980]

We just got off our first Disney cruise (first ever cruise for that matter), with our daughters ages 8 and 15. Before we left for the cruise my 15 year old was hesitant to even try out Vibe. She thought she would not enjoy it. She did agree to try out the ice breaker there on the first night. From that point forward we hardly ever saw her. She found friends in the club that she absolutely adored spending time with. She also really enjoyed the CM's that worked in the club. We have already booked an Alaskan cruise for June 2019 because we all had such an amazing time! As others have already said, it depends a lot on the kid as to how well they will enjoy a Disney cruise, but our older daughter really loved the whole experience!

 

[rcchello]

Your son is in the between years, according to my daughter. Possibly feeling too old for the club's and too young to utilize the adult areas. My daughter found this the hardest time as a cruiser. She had a good time, but felt there was something missing at times. Once she hit the age she had access to the adult areas it was more fun again.

Access to Palo and the adult entertainment in the evenings really helped.

 

[kylaura]

My 14 year old got to go to the Vibe the first time in March. She loved it, especially the Castaway Cay excursion. She said that was the highlight of the trip, went on a high speed boat ride, snorkeling, and biking.

 

[Sunshine2U]

You can't compare 14 and 15 year olds to 17s. Heck, most of the time you can't compare any two 17 year olds. My view is any one should be able to get through 4 days of misery. So that's the worst case - he hates it. Every thing from there an improvement. Back when he was 17 I would have made the following deal with my introverted son. 1) I want you to go with us because xyz, 2) you have to go to the icebreaker at the club the first night, after that it's up to you 3) we eat dinner together every night 4) after that you can do pretty much whatever you like 5) we'll tell you what we plan to do and where we'll be and we'd love to have you join us at some activities.

Before that discussion I'd figure out pretty much everything DCL has that I think would appeal to my son so I could paint the picture for him. Oh, and I'd make sure it's a "good day" to broach the subject.

We did not cruise when our kids were teens because someone was always involved with some play, or sport, or whatever. I hope y'all can go and everyone have fun.

 

[cruiser21]

I totally agree with above poster. You just never know with teens and no two teens are alike. I can't say because my teen likes cruising that your teen will.

It's only 4 days he'll survive even if he hates every minute of it. He may end up loving it...or not.

If he doesn't want to go just think of it as money saved.