Disney Cruise Line
We sailed away on our second Disney Cruise last year. Our teen absolutely loved everything the ship had to offer for his age group! Funny enough, he did not remember his first time on a Disney Cruise ship, perhaps because he was 2 1/2!
And Disney is adding three more ships to its stable:
The Disney Cruise Line fleet has the most beautiful ships at sea and the three newest vessels setting sail in 2021, 2022 and 2023 will be no exception. This first, early rendering depicts the magnificent exterior of the newest Disney ships that will elevate family cruise vacations to a whole new level. In keeping with the distinct Disney Cruise Line style, the new ships will embody the elegance and romance of the golden age of ocean cruising with unique touches all their own. The new vessels will offer more innovation, new technologies, spectacular entertainment and more Disney stories and characters than ever before. Ingenuity and innovation from stem to stern will amaze and delight Disney Cruise Line guests of all ages. Each new ship will be approximately 140,000 gross tons and each is currently planned to include about 1,250 guest staterooms.
Our last cruise experience was part of a Disney media trip, and we watched our teenaged son very carefully to see which he preferred and why. Our prior family vacation at Walt Disney World was in August, 2017, and we found out our teenager was getting bored traveling with just his dads. He knew he would have old friends on this current trip, so he was all in!
We had a blast, we had the trip of our life, we had more fun than we ever had at Walt Disney World. At the end of the last night on land, in Magic Kingdom, we were four families and 14 people. Adults and children, we traveled as a large pack and had a fantastic, wonderful, fun filled evening. Click this link for the pictures I just posted showing our group experience!
And yet, for teens, I recommend the cruise.
The chances of us being able to return to Walt Disney World knowing a dozen friends, is slim, unless it is another conference. My son is at an age where he needs to be with other kids his age. I do not know if I can afford to bring his friends on vacation with us in the future, that might be out of our price range.
So why is a Disney Cruise better for a teen?
Freedom. We started the cruise by registering Paul at Club Vibe, before the boat left the dock. He now had his freedom. Club Vibe is for teens 14+, perfect for my teenager. He started the cruise knowing many other teens from the first half of the trip, and then met a whole new bunch who were on the cruise and not even part of the conference.
We rarely saw our son, except when he was stuck with us for dinner!
The kids would congregate at Club Vibe, or just meet up to stroll around the ship. He and his new friends attended two movies when we were on the boat: NOTE – Disney Cruises are famous for playing first run Disney movies!
Disney Cruises are fantastic for your teen, especially if he/she is out going and makes friends easily. Even if your teen has trouble making friends, the club is set up for kids to mingle and meet, and there is always the basketball court as the hub for teenagers to become instant friends. We always felt our son was 100% safe on the boat, so it was easy to let him have this greater amount of freedom. Same for Castaway Cay, the Disney private island. We did not see our son except in passing during the day, he was roaming the beach with a gang of new friends. We knew he would find the barbecue , and we were able to check with the boat crew to find out that he was back on the boat when we returned. We live in the heart of New York City and would never give him this level of freedom to come and go as he pleases, but on a Disney Cruise, we all tasted freedom!
The Disney Cruise is the best choice for your teenager to enjoy freedom and new friends. We absolutely love the Disney Parks, but unless you are traveling with other teens, it might not be the first choice for your teen. For the sake of disclosure, we have also been to the Disney Parks one to two times every year for the last six years, so it is not as exciting as it once was, for our teen.
Check out this article form the Disney Park s Blog on how to pack for your Disney Cruise!
It would be a dream come true to go on a Disney cruise with my grandkids. Maybe some day.
Looks amazing! a Disney cruise is at the top of my bucket list!