jbiz

has anybody who has used the kids club in the last bunch of years ever heard of this system?

 

 

 

The OP seems clear that her experience after 10 years with NCL is this is a major change.

 

 

 

We were on the gem about 2.5 years ago and there was never any discussion of a limit. And it was a thanksgiving sailing. Kids were 5 and 8 then

And OP is a he ;-) Lol

- Jon

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Can anyone clarify if this new policy includes the teen age group? Most posts seem to be for the up to 12 age groups. Thanks!

I have to check but the 76 does NOT count teens. I think they have their own limit since they have the teen club, so it's whatever that rooms limit is

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In case you missed the safety drill, in the unlikely event that the ship should be evacuated or an on-board emergency, those people will be wholly responsible for marshaling and shepherding all the kids to safety. It's not you -- in fact, you won't be allowed to go get your kid in the case of an emergency --, or anyone else in the ship, for that matter. The youth leaders and care-takers are the ones to follow safety protocol. They cannot accept more kids than they can handle. It's a simple concept, not sure why people are upset by this.

 

 

 

We always travel with both of our kids who are 10 and under. And if I the kids can't get in the club, it's so freaking easy to entertain them in a cruise, really, not understanding the pitchforks and torches attitude.

 

 

 

If this is not acceptable to you, fine, cancel your reservation. No need to spew your sour grapes about the $7.95 room service change in every thread that pops up in this forum.

I think you are missing the point entirely. No one (at least no one reasonable) is saying to do ANYTHING that would compromise the safety of the kids or anyone on the ship for that matter.

It's up to each parent and their kids to decide how they want to spend THEIR cruise. It's not up to you to decide that they should go find other activities on their own. The line aggressively promotes their kids programs and never once discusses some sort of limit as to when your kids can play, and even so, such a SMALL limit makes it not even worth mentioning as it sets unrealistic expectations.

I have traveled with kids on ncl for many years, and this is a SIGNIFICANT change to their program and warrants being discussed and maybe a slight hope that ncl sees this an thinks again (not holding my breath)

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Not having small children, I don't know the answer to this, but wonder is there a rule about the number of children per staff member?

When I asked they specifically said the security officer was the one who determined max capacity in the room. It's actually about 20 in the 3-5 room and 55+/- in the main room (for the 6-9 and 10-12)

Now it could be that tied to that number and a capacity per child, using a new process they will need to hire more staff since they would have to move around the ship more and need more coverage in a per child basis (but that then would require more staff, more costs, and even assumes its part of the equation)

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Maybe your kids will have to adjust, or maybe they will lose out to the kids who are the waiting types. Either way if they say there's no room tell them your kids are not the waiting types lol.

Not sure why you keep trying to make the parents seem unreasonable. I am guessing you don't have school age kids and this topic is of no specific relevance to you (other than the side effect of possibly more kids elsewhere) so kind of surprised to see you soo engaged in this thread.

I think most of the conversations on this thread have been reasonable and about parents planning to travel with their kids and a new set of rules and procedures they might unexpectedly have.

The capacity and safety topic, however much I think is not "really" the point since that is the capacity of only one room not the ship other facilities and nothing to do with what events they actually run for kids, is at least valid for this thread.

On the contrary seems like your "tell them your kids are not the waiting types lol." Comments are more like trolling and trying to stir up some conflict in this thread and just seem to be causing noise.. I could be wrong but...

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T

 

 

 

So I still stick to safety concerns. Does anyone know how many youth staff is on board a jewel class ship like the gem? Even if they had other spaces to put kids like the theatre or other lounges not needed they still need staff for that as well.

Looks like the normal size staff from any of the previous sailings

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I would NOT want them to take in more kids than they could safely monitor or than the room was designed to hold.

 

 

 

 

 

Hope this helps.

Not sure why people keep coming back to safety and room capacity. The ship is huge and if the room holds only 75, take a group to play basketball on the sports court, etc etc. This is not a discussion on safety or capacity but rather offerings for their customers, nothing more nothing less. Anyone going towards the safety and capacity topic is missing the point. Of course I would not want my kids in an over capacity facility, no one would.

(And not directed toward the quote above) They also only have enough food on the garden cafe buffet to feed 150 passengers. But don't worry though, there is other food around the ship for you to eat, but if you don't get a ticket, you will have to dine elsewhere ;-) So it's not like you will go hungry. Just kidding.

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I do not have kids so this won't affect me but it stinks for the families with kids for sure.

I hope you're right. Though when 300+ more kids start showing up "elsewhere" next time, I have a feeling a new round of posts will start ;-)

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Jbiz,

 

Stop posting until you back. Your just going to get angry and spoil your family vacation.

 

I hope the rest of your week you get to just enjoy the company of your family.

Haha. Not at ALL. (And I have the unlimited internet package which is great btw). we are (and will) still have a GREAT time. We have the Haven and plenty of places and way to enjoy this cruise

I just hate to see my "staple" cruise line for all these years start to make it less desirable. I have 4 more sailings booked between now and August 2106 and to have to think again, based on making sure my kids can have the very best time they can, is just disappointing.

I have been a loyal ncl customer for a long time, sailing my my kids as early as 9 months old, so when you start to see things going on the wrong direction you can't just sit and say nothing. Maybe they care, maybe the don't, but if I sat quiet about it I can't blame anyone but myself.

Clearly this new policy is not in the best interest of their customers.

For this cruise I am enjoying every minute with the family, just maybe next cruise I might branch out to see how rccl is now since its been many years since I sailed them. the Haven product, combined with the kids program, was a fantastic offering for me and my school aged kids but the kids enjoyment is more important to me than the accommodations of the Haven.

so to all that say it's about "dumping the kids off", you couldn't be more wrong. I am willing to give up the luxury of the Haven for them to have a better time by looking at another line the better suits their enjoyment.

And when my 10 year old just said to me, "I want to go back to camp, I made 10 friends today" on the first day alone, and now he might not be able to get back in to hang out with them because I had him dress in a suit and come to a family dinner at le bistro, it makes you think twice.

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Did they give you any reason for this? I can understand how you feel, I can also understand why NCL might limit the number of kids they can handle in the kids programs.

 

 

 

I am surprised this is just being mentioned now. I understand NCL has been very lax on letting us know about changes, but it the policy went into affect 2 months ago, I wonder why no one has mentioned it before?

I totally agree. When I heard March I was shocked to not hear more of this. and as I was saying earlier the room limit is just fine. I get that part of safety, but not really offering any events for kids outside of that program and therefore being very limited in those programs is my problem.

76 kids to 400-1500 kids on a sailing just seems WAY out of scale when you promote your company with things like this http://www.ncl.com/why-cruise-norwegian/family-cruises

It's almost not worth legitimately promoting if you can only accommodate such a small percentage.

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This is a deal breaker for me. We cruise because our kids enjoy it also. We don't cruise to stand in line for tickets and to be turned away. This is not a safety issue. It's a staffing issue that could be addressed by NCL.

 

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I agree, and I know the kids club staff is not happy about this either. I usually tip them all at the end of a sailing for keeping my kids entertained and safe, but I am pretty sure the kids will just swim in the haven this week instead. I feel bad for the staff, the pool of people that tip them will start to be much smaller and the quality of the staff might go down.

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Jbiz

This is CRAZY, I don't get this at all. Could it be a staffing issue on the ship?

I have seen your name pop up on so many threads over the years. You have lots of credibility here. It just does not add up.

 

Is there a sign or posting up somewhere. I'm A TA. I have clients sailing on BA, GA, Star, Gem, Epic in the near future Most with preteen. There will be fist fights on your cruise before weeks end.

 

A part of me wishes this was a joke. But you would have no reason to do so.

 

Anyway enjoy the week the best you can

I don't think it's a staffing issue. They said it was an email sent out with an effective date of late March.

We will enjoy the cruise just fine, I just feel bad for my kids who really used to enjoy the "freedom" they felt they had being in kids club by themselves and meeting new kids.

I also feel bad for people who didn't know this change was happening and now are bummed.

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LOTS of drama in this thread :rolleyes:...amazing how upset some people get when faced with the fact that their own children might have to spend time with them on their "family vacation". Gone are the days when you could just dump your kids off and let someone else worry about them while you're out having fun.

I love how you think his has anything to do with dumping off kids. How about its their vacation too and they want to meet new people and play with other kids their own age and not just hang with adults.

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You are being purposely dense and unnecessarily negative and refusing to see the facts. The most important one is that this change is a safety issue. All cruise lines _have to_ adhere. Not an option. Nothing corporate or sneaky change to get more of your money about this. It doesn't get any clearer than safety.

Why do you keep focusing the a safety issue. It's not an issue of they need to capacity control the room. There are MANY other venues for them to host kids functions but they are choosing not to.

Everyone understands saying only x people in this room, but saying on a cruise with 500 or so kids that we will only have events for 76 of them is just not ok. they should find other ways to entertain and hold events thought the ship for the kids.

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Kids in the kids club don't spend money, kids not in the kids club has the potential to spend money :p

I would say the opposite.

The Kids in kids club parents are free to roam and spend money. Kids not in kids club parents are babysitting and therefore too preoccupied to spend money

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Dupe

Actually, they have. Last year on the Breakaway we were on a sailing with 1600 kids on board. We were turned away one night because they were at capacity. They did try to plan things in other spaces thT could accommodate larger groups. At least with the new policy you know what to expect. Sounds like they are trying to put a process in place to help things run more smoothly.

76 kids when they average 400-600 every sailing

You can no longer call this a family friendly cruise line if they can only accommodate 76 kids for events.

And there is no attempt to find other spaces. 76 hits, rope is up, your on your own.

I don't see any scenario where this makes things run more smoothly.

As someone pointed out earlier, people will just start camping out for tickets, this will get ugly fast. The line was already crazy this morning on day one

I now have to just make sure I have alternate plans for the kids since the can no longer come and go as they wish. They want to sleep in a little, nope sorry., You must get to camp by 9am or you won't be allowed in later and I have to get up early to get a place in line and do it 3 times a day. Fantastic vacation. Thanks ncl.

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I agree but this is the wording they will try to justify this dreadful policy.

Lol. Not will. Are.

I would understand saying event X has a limit, but the ENTIRE program.

Hopefully I get better news back from their corporate offices tomorrow or Tuesday since I know an email has been sent to them internally

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Youth Programs and Youth Program facilities adhere to fire code safety and maximum occupancy guidelines outlined per vessel based on Fire Safety Standard Code.

Pointing at a safety code makes no sense. There are plenty of areas on the ship that they can "host" kids events (sports court, spinnaker lounge for arts and crafts or games, etc etc) Turning away 300-600 kids when we bought this as a family vacation with a lot of emphasis on kids programs is very dishonest. I find it hard to believe any person with camp age kids who bought their trip without know this would not be upset.

Where are kids going to meet eachother if there are no kids events for them to do so.

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Also if you kid leaves for 30 min they will likely lose their "spot" and might not be able to come back in. We have sailed ncl for years with kids. Almost 10 years and there has never been such a crazy policy. If there are too many kids then break them up around the ship by age group, but right now it's 76 all inclusive. So when my son sees a basketball kids thing in the schedule he wants to attend, it's likely that he won't be able to because I didn't wait in line for 30 min before the session to get a ticket and he didn't START that session even though basketball isn't until the latter half of the session. He also will have no interest playing basketball (he is 10) with a group of 6 year olds, if his age group didn't make the cut.

Also getting a ticket doesn't mean you can leave the area and come back later, you get a ticket 30 min before and have to wait in line and can't leave, once they start letting kids enter the kids club your kids need to be with you or you pretty much lose their spot

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How could that be. If you are on the gem there would have to be something in writing. Can't wait to see this policy in print.

 

Thank you in advance.

I just left the kids mangers desk 2 min ago and they are finding out more. It is 100% in effect at least on the gem. Picture attached.

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Not only did I talk to guest services, we are in the haven and have concierge looking into it as well. They said it was supposed to be fleet wide starting in March as a "high season" kids policy and all based on the security officers max capacity in each kids area. On the gem its 76 but for example the getaway its higher due to a dual floor kids club. They put in a call/email to ncl corporate for me and will let me know tomorrow what the answer is. Which is 1- if this was a high season only policy can they remove it now, 2- is this going to stay this way.

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I get the impression it IS fleetwide since the manager of the kids program said the capacity limit is a little different for each ship. "A little", not that it did not exist for other ships

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New ncl kids camp policy

much to my dismay ncl (at least on the gem) has instituted a new kids camp policy that now only lets 76 kids attend camp (of all ages, with a separate minimum for 13+)

We are onboard right now with two 4 yr olds, a 7 and a 10 year old.

This new system is beyond terrible and now having me reconsider sailing with ncl anymore. We booked this family cruise so not only the kids could have fun, but so could the adults. And now this new system is terrible

The new policy is there are 3 camp shifts 9-12, 2-5, 7-10 (this part may have been the same as before). you now need to line up at least 30 min prior and they hand out camp tickets. If you do not at have a ticket between 1-76 you get put on a wait list and they will call you if someone leaves and a spot frees up.

Also there is no guarantee that anyone your kids age group even gets in. So if all the 6 year olds happen to get in before your 10-12 year old, your older child would be stuck with a group of 6 year olds even if there were 50+ other older kids on board. Even if there are separate activities at the sports court, the same overall 76 kid total counts for that session.

Apparently this policy went into effect mid March. With 400-600 kids on board this sailing (which they say is not a lot and about average for a sailing), a kids sail free promo and the constant promotion of kids programs, ncl is failing miserably with this now.

So now I either need to line up three times a day 30 min before each session (and the line takes about 30 min to complete) as well as the pickup line is just as bad. So I now get to spend at least 1-3 hours each day waiting on kids camp lines.

Very disappointed, and as a loyal ncl platinum member with 4 more haven future sailing booked on ncl, I now need to start considering a new line that is more kid and family oriented. Maybe rccl will status match.

I am going to be sailing on the Gem on Saturday 5/23, does anyone know if they offer the "Unlimited Cruise Plan" (unlimited internet) on this ship?

also, i think i read it was cheaper the 2nd day, anyone have any experience with that and know if thats true? (its a 7 day sailing)