Teens On A Disney Cruise

Will teens enjoy a Disney Cruise? Well, my teens would tell you, “Absolutely!” In fact, during Covid the thing they talked about more than anything else was when they’d get to go on another Disney Cruise. Let’s dive in to why you’ll like, why they’ll like it, and other considerations to keep in mind.

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Why you’ll love it

I’ve done Disney Cruises with small kids, and now I do them with teens. I loved those early cruises, but it’s even better now. My kids pack for themselves, schlep their own suitcases, don’t get lost in the buffet line, and pretty much entertain themselves.

Why They’ll love it

Here are a few reasons your teen will have a blast:

Food

There’s food everywhere on a Disney Cruise, and most of it is free (well, let’s say included in the price of the cruise, but it’s free as far as the teens are concerned.) In addition to the main dining areas, there’s the buffet, room service, and several on-deck eateries. They can get pizza, chicken strips, shwarma, and frozen yogurt whenever they want, and they don’t need to have a parent with them.

The on-deck food is all included in the price of the cruise.

Freedom

Once you’re on board, you can give your teens quite a bit of freedom to choose their own activities and schedules. I remember that on Embarkation Day of our second cruise, as we finished our lunch, my son said, “Well, I’m headed to the club. See you later!” And I, his completely overprotective mother, felt fine with that. Short of falling off the ship, there wasn’t much trouble he could get into, and he knew how to use the Disney Navigator App to contact us. Which meant that I could enjoy some freedom too!

Clubs

Disney has thought of everyone when it comes to onboard entertainment. Most people have seen pictures of the adorable themed clubs for the younger set, but Disney also has the Edge for tweens and teens and Vibe for the older teens. These older clubs allow kids to come and go at will. They have lots of organized activities as well as unstructured time. The Crew Members there are pretty adept at drawing kids into the fun and feeling connected too.

Water

All the ships have pools, hot tubs, and at least one waterslide. The pools themselves aren’t all that big and draw a lot of younger kids. However, waterslides are a perennial favorite for teens. The Wonder has just one, the Twist and Spout, which is a traditional waterslide with appropriate dips, turns, and splashiness. On our last cruise, there were evening times when it was reserved just for the kids from the Edge and Vibe. I imagine the other ships do similar things. The Magic has the Aqua Dunk for older kids and adults. After entering the loading capsule, the floor drops out from under you, and you’re off. Your ride includes a jaunt out over the side of the ship in a clear plastic tube. That just screams teen-magnet to me.

The larger ships, the Dream and the Fantasy, both have the AquaDuck which is basically a water coaster that has you whizzing all over the top decks of the ship in a single or double inner tube. The Wish has the Aqua Mouse which is a themed water attraction that builds off the the popularity of the AquaDuck coasters.

Teens, Disney Cruise Line
Take your teen on a Disney cruise? Absolutely!

Activities and Shows

There’s a ton of stuff to see and do on board. Our teens have enjoyed the Broadway-style shows, deck parties, comedians, and magicians. They’ve also skipped some of these when they were more excited to go to the club or join up with some friends. Teens can also head to the sports deck, join a trivia competition, or catch a Marvel movie in the Buena Vista Theater.

Excursions

The ports are what you make of them. There are plenty of active, challenging excursions like zip-lining, snorkeling, or rock-climbing, depending on the location. There’s also sight-seeing by bus, shopping, or a day at the beach. It’s pretty likely that you can find something to suit your teen’s style.

The same can also be said of Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay which is a stop on many Disney Cruises. Teens can enjoy waterslides and swimming for free, or opt for a bike ride or parasailing for a fee. Teens 14-17 have their own Teen Hideout on the island too, free from parents and little kids.

Other considerations:

“It’s for little kids.”

Many people associate Disney with entertainment for little kids. There will in fact be little kids and dancing Disney characters on the ship. However, that’s not all the time and everywhere. The ship was designed to resemble classic 1930’s ocean liners. There are Disney touches throughout rather than in-your-face Disney theming.

Activities for teens are age appropriate too. Instead of listening to Snow White tell stories, Teens at the Edge and Vibe play video games, have trivia contests, and play games up on the sports deck.

The Awkward

Some teens are comfortable just walking into one of the clubs with strangers and joining in the activities on a Disney Cruise. Other kids find the idea awkward or downright scary. As I mentioned before, the counselors in the teen clubs are really good at helping kids feel comfortable. One strategy to use for your reluctant teen is to go tour the clubs on the first afternoon aboard to check them out as a family. All of the clubs are open to everyone during the open house. While you’re there, you can meet the Crew members, play some of the video games, etc. Your teen will probably want to come back again. I’m sure my kids would say it would be cringey for me to come with them the first day, but plenty of parents do it.

Another great strategy if you can manage it is to travel with some built-in friends. We’ve cruised before with friends and family, and my kids have really enjoyed it, even when the other people weren’t exactly their own age. When they weren’t the right ages to go to the clubs together, they could still hang out at the pool together, grab food, or see a movie.

18-20

This may be the trickiest age group. Most of the people on board are either kids and parents or older adults without kids. Cruisers between 18 and 20 years of age are too old to go the teen clubs, but possibly not excited to hang out with a bunch of parents at the pool. Anticipating this, Disney Cruise ships have the 1820 Society. There is no dedicated space for this group, but meeting times and places are listed in the Navigator app. As an added bonus, the activities they do are generally free, even when they would usually incur a cost such as taking a bike ride on Castaway Cay or making smoothies.

In addition, those over 18 get to take advantage of all the adult areas on the ship that were off-limits before such as the Cove Cafe, the adult pools, the fitness center, and spa. They can generally visit the adult nightclubs as well though they can’t drink alcohol. The adults-only restaurants, Palo and Remi, become options to them as well.

Getting them on board. Pun intended.

I’m taking my three teens on our next Disney Cruises, and they are completely excited about it because they know they’ll have a great time. If your teen hasn’t taken a Disney Cruise before, they might not be excited about the idea. A little research can show them the possibilities. You can watch videos of the Aqua Duck and the teen clubs on YouTube. As a family, we spend quite a bit of time researching the possible excursions we can do in the ports and try to pick something we’ll all enjoy. We’ve also been known to look up Disney Cruise line menus. After reading about appetizers, steaks and soufflés for ten minutes, my teens are ready to pack their bags.

What do you think? Have you taken teens on a Disney cruise? Please be sure to scroll down to leave a question or comment below.

For more articles about Disney Cruises, please click here.

4 Comments

  1. I went on a Carnival Cruise with my husband and siblings with our kids. We were celebrating 3high school graduations. Our kids were the last ones to graduate high school. The freedom in having all the kids over 18 was fantastic. One day I’d like to do a Disney Cruise with my husband. They sound wonderful.

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