Meneer Guggenheimer

When my kids go to high school I take them on a trip for a week. Now my youngest son will go to high school next year and he is firm on one thing!

He wants to go on a cruise!

I have never cruised myself and I am wondering if it is suitable for me and my son to go on a cruise.

He thinks he is going to lay in a chair all day read his books and eat 3 times a day!

I was thinking of doing an Atlantic crossing back to Europe or something in that sense.

Any suggestions? Appreciated!

Jaimito Cartero

I'd try a shorter cruise before I'd try a transatlantic one.

We did a 4 day one to Mexico out of Long Beach. Everyone liked it, and we have a 7 day one planned next year.

Cruise lines vary a lot, so choose the amenities you want carefully.

MSPeconomist

Are these trips you give your kids supposed to be educational in some way? If so, I'd do something other than an Atlantic crossing.

Would he (and you) be interested in Alaska? Greek and Roman sites? St Petersburg and nearby countries? The coast of Turkey? The Nile? You could think in terms of stuff that would be more difficult to see without the cruise.

Don't forget to allow time to get to and from the cruise, including arriving at least one day early in case of IROPs.

wrp96

Cruises are typically great for kids, especially teenagers, with most of the mass market cruiselines having activities and areas geared specifically towards kids and teens. But for most kids a transatlantic sailing will be quite boring as there will be few other kids onboard, so no one to hang out with. And on many of the cruiselines, they won't offer as many activities for kids when there are few onboard.

If you want to take him on a cruise, consider a 4 to 7 night Bahamas or Caribbean cruise, or a short Mediterranean cruise. There's more likely to be other teens and activities geared towards his age group, which will keep him interested.

Linda VH

May I also suggest getting a suite (on Royal Caribbean, Carnival or Norwegian - the more young fun cruiselines) with a pullout sofa. We did this and invited our 12 year old to bring a friend. They had a blast. There were all kinds of activities (it was Royal Carib) and they amused themselves during the day. They zip lined (we did Caribbean) at the private island, etc. The only problem I had was that his friend kept going out and sleeping on the balcony. Cannot tell you how many times I checked on him

MarkOK

I brought my 6 year old on a Carnival carribean cruise over 7 days in April (yeah, I took her out of Kindergarten for a week for it). She loved it, we'll probably do another cruise in a few years. There were lots of kids from all ages on it.

My suggestion is that you should go on a cruise that will likely have other teens for two reasons. A. Some cruisers hate kids on cruises (I personally prefer cruising on a boat with kids compared to the gumpy geriatrics), so if you go on a cruise that is more kid-friendly you and your kid may feel more comfortable not 'impeding' on other people's ideas of a vacation. B. Your 12 year old may meet some new friends, which I think is always important for young teens to become comfortable doing.

I wouldn't think of the cruise in any term as a cultural or "educational" trip -- port calls are just too short for anything like that, but I think all travel and experiences are really good for children for developing social comfort and awareness.

So, I would suggest something low key!

As for booking, I find it too easy to just go online and book directly on cruise websites. It takes about 20 minutes to look at maybe three cruise lines for the dates/iteneraries you want to find what looks to be the best deal. I worked with a travel agent about 15 years ago for a cruise and found it quite tedious to work with a middleman.

Jaimito Cartero

Just make sure you sign up for the cruiseline loyalty program before booking. Some, like Carnival, give you a discount right off the bat.

Some also have discounted gift cards that can apply to your cruise. I think AARP and Allstate give 10% off Carnival, but often you're limited to $300-500 in cards per purchase. Some credit card loyalty programs may give discounts, too. If you can pay for most of your cruise with these, you can save hundreds.

Kagehitokiri

examples of shorter >
cunard has quite a few 2+ night
ms europa has 2/4 night
silversea may still do custom 5+ night "personalized voyages"

obscure2k

Friends recently brought their 12 year old son on an Alaska Disney Cruise. He had a great time and so did his parents,.

Jaimito Cartero

Gasp! A kid having fun on a Disney cruise. Whodathunk.

obscure2k

The big surprise is that his parents also had a great time.

DJ_Iceman

Not to anyone who's been on a Disney cruise, that's for sure.

pseudoswede

I would actually recommend a 7-day cruise, but probably not a TATL as your first cruise. The problem with a 4/5-day cruise is that it feels like you just finished unpacking when you have to start packing again to disembark.

Need

My son loves cruises. He is 11. June, 2018 we will be taking him to another cruise (12 days) starting from your place, Amsterdam! If your son is like mine, he is not going to eat 3 times a day... it will be more like 6 or 7 times a day. I think he hit the buffet every 2/3 hours.

We have not been to any crossing cruise...I don't think we could handle too many sea days back to back. It is nice to break up the cruise with ports and excursion. Otherwise it would be easier to just stay at a seaside resort I think.

Kagehitokiri

comparisons are important..

personally, i found seabourn ok a while ago, and had some issues on silversea.