Best cruise with teenager at Xmas/new year

[DJ1701]

Hi,

Just wondered if anyone had experience of booking a cruise over Xmas/new year with a teenager. I have had a look and there are some with princess/celebrity/TUI and Norwegian. The problem is in searching the ships they all seem to be the older ships. So don’t know if it will be great. Also really need things to keep my 13 year old entertained. Anyone have any experience please or advice. It would be really appreciated.

Thank you
Deb

Where are you thinking of cruising from/to?

We took our teenagers in a cruise at Christmas 2017 out of Miami, on the Norwegian Getaway. Fantastic ship, with loads for teenagers to do. My kids aren’t keen on teen clubs, so just do their own thing, but were never bored. There are lots of large, new ships sailing the Caribbean at that time of year.

However, if you are looking st Europe, then it does tend to be the older/smaller ships during the winter. We’ve been on one smaller ship (without the children). There’s definitely less to do, although there are still teen clubs. But personally I’d think carefully about taking my kids on a smaller ship, as they probably wouldn’t join the teen club, so may struggle to find enough to do. If your teen is the kind to join the teen club, I think you’d be fine on a smaller ship

Thank you for your advice. We are looking at Caribbean so maybe Norwegian Gem.

Thank you

With the age of your children I’d probably look at the newer NCL ships (Bliss, Breakaway, Getaway, Encore I think all do that area at Christmas). There will be loads of stuff specific to teens and families with teens. Cruise Critic is a useful resource :)

We went on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas over New Year about 9 years ago with our DC's who were then 11 and 14 and had a superb time.

Since then we have been on several RC ships and they were all fabulous, great for teenagers with loads of things to do. In fact we went on Allure last summer and are going on Anthem this summer.

With the age of your children I’d probably look at the newer NCL ships (Bliss, Breakaway, Getaway, Encore I think all do that area at Christmas)

I’d agree with this, at least from my point of view, as the Gem is a smaller ship, with not as much to do. It depends on what your child likes to do. If they like clubs and meeting other children, I think they’d probably be ok. If they like lots of activities- water slides, rope courses, mini golf etc, then the Gem might not be quite so suitable.

Another vote for RCI. We cruised with our boys from when they were small to adulthood and although P and O was great for them when they were little, RCI was brilliant for them as teens. We now cruise alone on Celebrity or Oceania neither of which would suit children or teens. Hurrah!