Important Tips on Teen Travel

My teens are all grown up and one of the nicest experiences we shared as a family has been to go on cruise vacations. Follow these simple guidelines and you can enjoy that cruise with your teens.

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 always complain during the planning stage but always end up enjoying the trip.
Teens griping about something is almost a universal rule, so don't let this faze you. It's pretty much standard to hear that they would rather be left behind at home to be with their friends .. but what usually happens at the end of each cruise is that you teens will be happy that they went with you.

3. You don't have to carry their luggage anymore! (just teasing)
It's true though ... Remember those days when you had to carry them and their stuff when they were younger? Now you can focus on more adventurous destinations that you have always wanted to visit.

4. Teens need breathing room, space-wise.
When the kids were small, going for a triple cabin worked since it was cozier for everyone. Teens will need more space, so depending on your budget, you have several options -- 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!

Each cruise will present you with various options so it's best to confirm the details with a cruise counselor before you book it. 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 you will be charged the same for a full suite versus two regular rooms, then you need to evaluate which one is better in terms of comfort and privacy. 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.

The adjoining cabins set-up are usually in high demand especially in the summer and at spring break, so try to book 6 months or so in advance.

5. Teens need their freedom.
As a parent, you just want to enjoy that cruise vacation with the entire family. Your teens, on the other hand, might have a different agenda and might just want to be as far away from you 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.

If you follow these basic guidelines, you are set in terms of enjoying that cruise with your teens. 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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