I am booking a quick 3 night January cruise to Cococay and just realized that RCCL separates 12 - 14 yo teens from 15-17yo. While I completely understand this, it will be devastating to my shy 15 yo, since her younger 13yo brother is the social director. Does anyone know what activities/clubs they can join together? I understand that all of the water slides and pools etc. are available to everyone, but are the arcades and hangouts and gaming areas restricted by those age groups?
thanks!
I can't answer your specific question, but I can say several other things:
- Log onto Cruise Critic. They have a section where you can "connect" with other people who will be on your specific cruise. Ask who else is bringing teens. Likely you'll find that other parents have teens who'd like to make friends ahead of time. Since you don't know these people, I'd definitely suggest that you (AND the other parents) set up a group text message that includes the adults -- at least a first. No risks with your kids' safety.
- I made rules such as "no one else in our cabins /you're not in anyone else's cabins", and I was very pleased to see that all the other parents had the same rules.
- Definitely push your teens to attend the first night teen activities. The teen counselors are used to situations like yours, and they will have lots of "getting to know you" activities on the first night -- but if your kids miss that night, they may find that the other kids have "partnered up", and it'll be harder to fit in.
- When we last cruised with our daughters and nieces, our two youngest were the shy girls. They came back from that first night beaming ear-to-ear about their new BFFs, and -- yep -- they did pal around the whole week. On Day 2 I was a bit embarrassed to see the bunch of them running through the public areas participating in a scavenger hunt, but they had the time of their lives.
- Don't break RCCL's rules. My niece, the youngest in our group, was too young to attend a one-hour teen dance party in one of the discos, but she BEGGED me to allow her to go. I relented, saying she had to stay with her sister and older cousins, and I would take my book and drink a drink just outside the dance party for one hour. She and the other kids were in the party for maybe 10 minutes, and I'd just settled in with my book when my niece came out BOO-HOO CRYING -- I jumped up, thinking she'd been injured. Nope, she'd just been caught where she shouldn't have been, and she had been humiliated at being caught /had been banned from the dance club. When I reminded her it was the last night of the cruise, and the banishment meant nothing, her pain did not decrease -- I should have followed the rules.
- I bought the soda package for all the girls. I didn't want them ever to be in a position where they felt obligated to drink something that'd been out of their sight for even a moment.