Celebrity cruises - will a 12 and 11 year old be bored? Is RC better?

[2018name]

Trying to book a cruise for the summer - probably 14 nights - the travel agent thinks that celebrity wil be dull for children this age - there is just an acceptable kids club and nothing else. Royal Caribbean on the other hand has better kids clubs - water slide., ice skating rink, bowling alley. Has anyone got thoughts on this? Thanks.

Honestly, they will be fine!! Mine only use the club sparingly on sea-days, otherwise they are out and about, swimming, wandering, playing sport, watching films, reading/playing on tablets and generally chilling on board...so much time is spent off the ship the time 'on' seems like a relax. And there is always food available my 13yr old wants me to add...

RCI & Celebrity have very different feels to them. RCI is very bold & brash compared to some cruise lines with lots of young children still running around at midnight, but, as your travel agent says, the facilities are fun. DD enjoyed the limitless Mr Whippy ice cream, but the wave rider quietly lost its attraction on a cold October day!

We have been on Celebrity twice with Dd.

The first time was to the Baltic's when she was 13. There weren't many children on that cruise but she still made friends. Most of them made a point of going to the teen club in the evening to do activities. Such as table tennis, pyjama party, chocolate party. Didn't see a great deal of each other during the day as it was a port intensive cruise. There were other teens on the private tours we did so they did have others to speak to.

The following year we went with them to the Med. there were loads of teens on that cruise but not as many as RC. Again she went along to the club the first night - some of the staff on that cruise had been on the Baltic's one with her. They remembered her which she liked and she knew they were good fun. During the days we were in port they all tended to do their own thing with parents and then met up in the evening. Sometimes going to the club to use the facilities other times to meet up for pizza and go to the parties on deck etc. Sea days they tended to meet up by the pool during the day.
We found that they tended to gang around in groups of no more than 10 so there was never a mass of them in the way.

There were less obvious activities than RC but she loved it and still keeps in touch with some of the friends she made. We are back on a short cruise with Celebrity this summer - again in the Med and she is looking forward to it. She is a teen though that doesn't need loads of non stop entertainment ( and the queues that go with it).

I think it depends on your children, and the itinerary of the cruise.

My kids (12, 15, 17) aren’t very keen on kids clubs or organised kids activities, which seems to be the main source of entertainment on Celebrity cruises, so I think they’d be bored on sea days.

They prefer lots of things to do, such as water slides, mini golf, sports courts, climbing walls, shuffleboard! etc, which they can go to whenever they want. So we find NCL or Royal Carribean suit them better .