David

Ship Faced

Cruising as a teen and as a young adult, what’s the differences?

I have cruised as a teen and as a young adult and it is a very different cruising experience. I was sceptical the first time I cruised after becoming too old for the teens club. I loved cruising as a teen but would still love it as an adult (I do) Both have benefits. I did most of my teen years on Royal Caribbean so I will be comparing the experiences on RCI.

Cruising as a teen

Cruising on Royal Caribbean as a teenager is a great experience, especially as they have an award winning adventure ocean program. 

They have great workers and amazing activities. Such as; the rockwall, flowrider, ice rink and water slides. They also do exclusive hours for these activities. They also have exclusive areas just for teens called the “Living room” and “Fuel”. The living is like a relaxing area, consisting of: football tables, xbox and comfy seating. This is open most of the day. Fuel is the teen night club, and they sometimes use it if the living room is too busy, especially during school holidays.

I find it a really good environment to make friends on board. I have made lots of lifelong friends from cruising. I have cruised many times with some friends, because you seem to bump into the same people when cruising, especially the summer holiday.

Overall it's good to go because at that age you don't really want to spend the whole holiday with your parents. 

Also, if you think you are going to be bored as a teen on a cruise, they have so many activities to do! 

For example: If you like shows in the theatre they have world class productions. As well as this, they have mini golf, water slides, rock walls and football/ basketball courts. Also it's always good to play some shuffleboard. Furthermore, with all this on the ship you get to see amazing places around the world.

Cruising as a young adult

When I became too old for the teens club I was not sure because it was a big change to what I was used to. I have really enjoyed it since then. I have done solo cruises and cruises with friends and family. When cruising as a young adult on Royal Caribbean you can still have access too all the activities that I have mentioned. As well as this, there are many more activities that you can indulge in, such as the casino. You can also go to the night club and don't have a curfew (on Royal Caribbean there is a 1am curfew for 17 and under) which gives you more freedom.

You also can get off the ship by yourself which gives you more independence. 

A good tip on how you can meet people your age is by joining facebook groups for your cruise. There is normally one for every cruise. Another good tip is that is is always good to be friendly to the crew because they are always willing to have a chat and help out where they can. They are very interesting people from many different backgrounds. 

Also Royal Caribbean has amazing entertainment such as: broadway style shows, ice skating shows and sometimes diving shows. They have lots of cool bars like playmakers sports bars ( that’s the place to watch the football game). They have an English style pub that normally has live music. The schooner bar that has live piano music. So there are lots of places to sit and relax and have a drink with good music.

Overall, I really like cruising as a young adult and there is so much to do. It is a really fun way to travel. You get to see lots of new places in a short period of time. If you are lucky enough to be in the position where you are going for the first time as an adult after cruising as a teen, There is no need to be worried you will have a great time.