Easy to Follow Rules for Cruising with Your Teens

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by: abigail8723burton
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Date: Thu, 7 Apr 2011 Time: 10:49 PM
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I have three grown up kids now and one of the nicest thing we did as a family was to go on cruise vacations. Here are a few tips to ensure that you and your teens can enjoy that cruise vacation.

1. You can pick any ship and it will work out.
The bigger ships will have more teens and more facilities and programs specifically for them. These programs are nice but not critical since teens, as we all know, just find other teens to hang out with. These programs are more important if you have younger kids in tow since the structure it provides means less worries on keeping the small ones entertained.

2. Teens will gripe initially about the trip but usually end up enjoying it.
Teens griping about something is almost an universal rule, so don't let this faze you. They will always say that they would rather just stay at home and hang with friends .. but from my experience, at the end of each cruise, my teens are always glad they came with mom and dad.

3. Teens can carry their own luggage (just kidding!)
Some truth to it though ... remember those days when you have to push them on strollers when you go on vacations? Now you can focus on more adventurous destinations that you have always wanted to visit.

4. Teens need breathing room, space-wise.
If you have younger kids, a triple cabin or a quad cabin will work since it's a bit cozier than the larger rooms. Teens need their space, so you need to match your budget with choices available -- mini-suites or family suites which can hold five or more people, adjoining cabins with a private connecting door between them (similar set-up you can find in hotels), two adjoining cabins with no privacy door, or cabins facing each other with one across the hall and one with a balcony and a nice ocean view!

Options will vary for each cruise that you take so it's recommended that you reach out to a cruise counselor before you even start booking. In my experience, mini-suites are usually larger than the largest regular room, with curtains separating the sleeping areas. A regular suite will be larger than two regular rooms combined and might be less expensive than the two rooms.

If the pricing between a suite and two separate rooms are similar, then focus on which is more comfortable while providing privacy at the same time. The full suite might be comfortable for the entire family at the expense of privacy requirements for your teens. Just keep in mind that if you go with separate rooms, it's harder to monitor your teens. To address this, you can always book adjoining rooms so you can at least hear your teens activities next door.

Due to the above factors, adjoining cabins are usually the first to be booked during summer and spring breaks, so try to reserve them months in advance.

5. Teens need their freedom.
While your main agenda is to just enjoy the vacation with the family, your teens might just want to be on his own as much as possible!

Not a problem with cruise vacations -- you can compromise by being together on those on-shore excursions but when you are on board the ship, let your teens set their own activities away from you. Just adopt a simple curfew and check on them once in a while.

Just follow these simple tips and you are on your way to a relaxing cruise with your teenagers. Our kids grow up too fast and before you know it, they will be out of the house, so I say enjoy the time you have with them as much as possible!

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