RCKM43

We have done three Celebrity cruises starting when my youngest was 2 and oldest was 4, again the next year, and this past year when they were turning 5 and 7. We usually have to drag the kids out of the fun factory. They do not do all day, but go about 2 -3hours during sea days and they go up after they have finished dinner until a little before 10. They liked the Reflection better than the second Summit trip. The second summit trip had a lot of kids and they had some rough 6-8 years old coming into the 3-5 group and taking toys, not being nice. It did not happen the 1st trip nor on the Reflection.

We cruised the last week of August 2015 and are booked for 2016 also. We did not feel that the ship was overwhelmed with kids. Yes, there were some kids but I have seen a lot more kids on other cruises. Every year can be different but we are hoping for the same environment as last year. We found plenty of spots on the ship where we could relax and enjoy.

 

You might want to post your question on the roll call for that week and see what kind of responses you get from others booked for the 28th.

NY summer 2015 might not be a good comparison. Many schools started before Labor Day because of the Jewish holidays, etc. It is unusual for us to start before Labor Day. It probably greatly reduced the number of kids that would normally be on the week before school returns. We have twice done the week before the Labor Day sailing. Our week had a lot of children. The next week had very few because the children were returning.

Schools in the NY return on the 6th. I would expect there to be the potential to have a lot of children as it ends before Labor Day.

We sailed on the summit twice to Bermuda. My kids were 2 and 4 and the next year they were 3 and 5. Not once were they treated like anything other than princesses. My younger one was fully potty trained at 26 months just so she could swim. There is nothing for them to go in if they are not fully potty trained. No wading pool or splash pad. I have see many suggestions of a small blow up baby bath for them to splash in. They have a children's menu with pizza, chicken fingers , hot dogs, fruit, etc. At that age my kids ordered off both the adult menu (steaks, salads, etc) and some off the kids menu. My kids loved it both times. Make sure if your older one is potty trained to try some of the fun factory activities. They do a lot of fun things. You can look at threshers and just choose the activities you think he would like (I.e. Pirate night....they get eye patches, hunt for treasure, or superhero afternoon...they play superhero games and make masks). We just pick and choose what appealed to our child and that is what she went to. She liked going after lunch for an hour or two, or after dinner for a little while. We never did meals or any paid time. They mostly swam with us sea days. One warning we often had to drag them from the fun factory.

Yes, I certainly agree that water wings are not to be used in place of close and vigilant supervision by a responsible adult. I would never leave him to go to the bar or bathroom. I intend to watch him at all times - just want to stay dry while doing it!

If you want to be say arms length away from him on the side you won't be able to do that and stay dry. The pools have a tile shelf around them with a few inches of water. To stay dry you would need to sit on the side steps and there are lounge chairs there. It is a few feet away too. Most parents sit n the tile side where you will get wet with their legs in the pool. My kids are good swimmers but I still got in or sat on the tile with my legs in where I could grab them. The pool gets very crowded. You can use a device. I saw puddle jumpers and jackets. The smaller pool does get deeper the closer you get to the bridge/walkway between the pools.

We have done the fun factory three times and have never done the VIP pass. The kids like eating in the MDR with us. For us to go for maybe 1 meal wasn't worth it. My kids were ready to leave the fun factory at 10 so we didn't use the slumber party. I think if you will use the tour and the paid times for most of the week it is worth it, otherwise you are pretty much just paying for the bag and tour.

While dressier than Smart Casual, Evening Chic is intended to be less dressy than Formal attire.

 

 

 

Women should feel comfortable wearing:

 

•A cocktail dress

 

•Skirt, pants or designer jeans with an elegant top

 

 

 

Men should feel comfortable wearing:

 

•Pants or designer jeans with a dress shirt, button-down shirt or sweater

 

•Optional sport coat or blazer

Very disappointed with this. While packing will be easier, you have taken away what made the evenings special. While we might not have necessarily worn tuxes and formal dresses, we did enjoy wearing cocktail dresses and suits. While I am sure some will suggest bringing it anyway. It takes the fun out of it when you are the only ones dressed up. Feels more like they are lowing the bar than raising the modern elegance. Even our children enjoy dressing up. If you don't want to dress there are many more casual lines and more relaxed alternative vacations.

For us in Florida we have the week of thanksgiving off. I think that is pretty standard for the States. My wife teaches, so we vacation when she and the kids are out of school. Sure doesn't help with the rates.

Wow you get the whole week off in Florida? We have always only gotten Thursday and Friday off, some years Wednesday is either an early dismissal or occasionally we get it off. I have not seen a whole week off.

Many families will take that whole week off to go away even if they only get 2-3 days off. Most families will be on 7 nights at that time, less so on longer cruises.

Do the kids programs give out pagers or some way to communicate with us while our kids are in the programming? On the Disney ships my daughter would have us paged every so often to have us come and pick her up. She was also injured once and they contacted us immediately.

No. When you leave your child you write where they can find you. They do have a very limited number of pagers, but they were reserved for those with food allergies so they could get parents in an emergency. You could talk to them, but no normally they do not have phones or pagers.

I agree that it'd be relaxing for parents/but how do you dump the water from the pool out, if not by throwing it off the balcony when you're done....because isn't it prohibited to throw anything overboard off of a balcony? And f that's the case, I don't want to be in the balconies below getting dumped on....

Well I understand some use a sand pail to then empty it into their shower. They are rather small blow up tubs. They could be carried too. They are not big like a true baby pool. The blow up tubs can fit on a kitten counter next to a sink.

Awesome, now in addition to dodging other passengers on crowded sea days by the pool, we can look forward to tripping over baby pools all over the place, since I'm seeing this recommended regularly on here now. :mad: I'm sorry but I think putting a baby pool on a balcony deck so a baby can "swim" is also just ridiculous...

I have only seen one person do this and it was a small rectangular deal that fit nicely between chairs so no one was disturbed or tripping over it. I don't think you will see tons of them. I have heard about this trick for at least 5 years but only saw one on crowded family sailings. The parents sat on either side. As far as pool on a balcony, sounds like a great idea. Not in anyone's way, but the parents can still get sun and relax too.

No they do not allow and children not potty trained in any pools on Celebrity. My daughter potty trained several years ago to swim on the summit.

I have been sailing Celebrity since the the late 80s, my kids (6&8) have sailed on celebrity three times. Please ignore most of the negative comments. It couldn't be further from the truth on board. My kids have loved their sailings. They actually beg to go back. We drag them kicking out of the fun factory, they are begging to dress up for lunches and dinners in the MDR. We get a lot of older guests who comment and chat with us. They are a family friendly line. They key is to go over school holidays. The key with any cruise adult or family is being respectful of other passengers. While I am sure there are some adults who don't watch their kids, equally we have found those adults who touch and replace food at the buffet, talk down to the staff, run over others in scooters, or drink too much and shouting/talking to loud in the MDR. No matter age, everyone is welcome on Celebrity who is respectful of the rules and others enjoyment.

With that said, I think you would enjoy either line. My kids love dressing and going to the MDR to eat. They were treated like royalty. They loved the kids club and would look at the daily activities and choose those that interested them the most. They enjoyed several of the shows, I.e. Doug Camereon. They swim with us every day. On the reflection they enjoyed walking around with their grandparents exploring the various artwork around the ship.

Yes unfortunately there are signs up saying that pool is for adults only. I don't know why they did that.

 

 

 

The thing that irks me is adults w/ out kids would come to the kid pool then bitch & complain about the kids splashing...its like hello then get out of the kids pool!!! DUH!

I know adults like that pool because it is shallow so they can stand, but kids need somewhere to swim. But if I remember correctly it had a ridiculously small capacity like 12 or 15 people. So it wasn't really big enough to accommodate all the families on the Bermuda sailings.

Looks like a great cruise! Did you notice if both outdoor pools were open to the kids or only the smaller one you posted earlier in your review. I thought I saw after our last Summit cruise that the larger/deeper pool was converted to adults only.

Just cruised with Celebrity last week. Eclipse

 

Wanted a nice dinner at Murano and we were next to a family with 3

 

kids (toddler in high chair) and the other running around and screaming.

 

Suppose to be 12 years and older to be in Murano.

 

We couldn't have a conversation and enjoy our dinner.

 

Very surprised that they don't enforce the rule that they have.

 

Kids should not be in restaurant or theater at night time.

 

I have children and grandchildren, I love kids but don't impose them

 

to others.

As a parent who cruises celebrity with my children, you have my sympathy. I believe the rule is 12 and up in Murano except at lunch. Celebrity should enforce their rules. Then maybe there would be less annoyed adults on here. I personally wouldn't bring my children there because I would want a long relaxing meal. My children do however go to the theater and the MDR. We get plenty of compliments from surrounding tables. My children love the shows and sit more quietly than many of the adults surrounding us that talk through the show. But it is up to the parents to remove them if they are disruptive, just as I would expect if an adult wishes to chat rather than watch the show that they would excuse themselves.

My children completed their third celebrity cruise this past April. Celebrity is the line my parents will only cruise on, and since we travel with the grandparents that is our preferred line.

For those who wish to see fewer children the key is to choose longer cruises and cruises during the school year. Their might be a small handful on the above, but much fewer than shorter cruises during school breaks. I am glad celebrity welcomes families. The key imo, whether a family or an adult cruise, is to follow the cruise rules, and be respectful of follow cruisers. IMO adults who have over indulged or who are not respectful are just as bad as unsupervised kids. Either way, I think most families and adults are respectful, but the few who aren't tend to stand out.

That is the same one I saw on the reflection in April 2015. My younger daughter (was almost 6) had the chicken fingers a few times. They were pretty good. She ordered the rest of her meal off of the regular menu. They will also make a shaped fruit plate for the kids if they want it. My younger one often ordered an appetizer and salad, or soup and salad off of the adult menu. They would bring all her courses at once so she could eat and go to the fun factory around 715. My 7 year old only ate off the regular and anytime menu. In addition to the kids menu the anytime menu has things like steak, chicken, Caesar salad, French onion soup, fruit plate. So if your child doesn't want the kids food, they can get some less adventurous adult options. Plus they will let them order things like steak and French fries.

Did they fix the aft elevator stuck on the 9th floor? It was out our entire cruise.

On sea days our kids got up, had breakfast and then swam most days until about 1145. They wanted to go to the dining room for lunch. They then either went back to the pool or into the fun factory for about 1-2 hours. We changed for dinner and had early seating 6 pm. We had the waiter bring their food first. They liked to experiment so they got 3 courses to taste and an entree. They served the three courses together. Then when finished they got their entree and dessert. The adults got their food at the normal pace. The kids finished mainly between 7:15 and 7:30. One of us would take them to the fun factory between the entree and dessert courses. We picked them up after the show. My younger one did go to two shows. We picked them up right before 10. We didn't keep them in later because I knew they would be too tired the next day as they were getting up around 7.

 

Port days. They got the ship with us. We do mostly family time things. The fun factory supplements our time. The kids basically choose what they were most interested in. While the activities in the themes seem to have changed slightly from our two summit cruises, the themes themselves pretty much stayed the same. So in the past we had under the sea and pirate themes, but the activities they did during that theme are slightly different.

 

I will say it can be hit or miss. My daughter loved the fun factory on her first summit cruise, but not the second. But loved this reflection one. We literally dragged a very upset child out of it each night. My younger one loved it but was happy to rejoin us at any point.

On our cruise the 3-5 shipmates and the 6-8 cadets listed the same activities and same themes. I had one in each group. They said they did the same things. I will say the shipmates were coloring quietly or listening to a story at pickup, but it always sounded like the cadets were much more active and loud.

On sea days our kids got up, had breakfast and then swam most days until about 1145. They wanted to go to the dining room for lunch. They then either went back to the pool or into the fun factory for about 1-2 hours. We changed for dinner and had early seating 6 pm. We had the waiter bring their food first. They liked to experiment so they got 3 courses to taste and an entree. They served the three courses together. Then when finished they got their entree and dessert. The adults got their food at the normal pace. The kids finished mainly between 7:15 and 7:30. One of us would take them to the fun factory between the entree and dessert courses. We picked them up after the show. My younger one did go to two shows. We picked them up right before 10. We didn't keep them in later because I knew they would be too tired the next day as they were getting up around 7.

Port days. They got the ship with us. We do mostly family time things. The fun factory supplements our time. The kids basically choose what they were most interested in. While the activities in the themes seem to have changed slightly from our two summit cruises, the themes themselves pretty much stayed the same. So in the past we had under the sea and pirate themes, but the activities they did during that theme are slightly different.

I will say it can be hit or miss. My daughter loved the fun factory on her first summit cruise, but not the second. But loved this reflection one. We literally dragged a very upset child out of it each night. My younger one loved it but was happy to rejoin us at any point.

A mermaid?!? My granddaughter wants to be a mermaid when she grows up. Do you think the mermaid thing is a standard of the kids program on Reflection? I could have her whipped up into a frenzy of excitement for the kids club on that alone.

I have no idea. They had an evening of theme under the sea. One of the activities that night involved the staff taking them at 8pm for 20 mins to the solarium where there was a mermaid swimming and the prince read them a story.

Off the top of my head...other activities included...

Monsters...mummy wrapping, despicable me 2, various monster games

Pirate night with treasure hunt, face painting

Olympics

They do a cute talent show the last day at the 2-5 time frame.

I think we grabbed a bunch of the dailies for the week. I have the 6-8 groups if I brought them home.

Just off the Reflection with two kids in the program. We did not do the VIP. Not worth it IMO unless you want the tour and will use a lot of the paid times. We did not do any of the paid times on our three Celebrity cruises with the kids. They did mainly nights from about 7, 7:30-10. Paid times were 12-2 for lunch, 5-7 for dinner and 10-1 for the slumber party. $6 per hour.

Our kids ate in the dining room. They ate a bit faster than we did and one of us brought them up between 7 and 7:30.

They went for one morning and part of two afternoon activities.

My kids did not want to leave and were very upset when we tried to pick them up. They had a great time. They especially loved the mermaid in the solarium pool and the prince who read them a story in the solarium.

If you have any questions, we just got off the ship today.

Thank you for your review! We board this week. Glad to hear your child enjoyed the activities. Were there many kids on board?

we are on the April 4 Reflection with kids between 8-12. We went on this same cruise 2 years ago and there were loads of kids. Honestly I felt like the kids club was a bit overwhelmed with the spring break number of kids and the activities had to be tweaked because of the masses of kids. We've taken the boys on a lot of cruises (mostly Celebrity) and my experience is that your child has to be in the group of his age, and even if the child has a bday during the cruise he or she must be in the lower age group. I'd love to move my younger one up, he turns 9 two weeks after the cruise and will have zero interest in hanging out with 6 year olds.

Not sure how much it matters. But on our Summit cruises even though the kids club was at capacity they were doing a lot of mixing of the 3-5 with the 6-8. I remember only because my kids went in less because a few of the 6-8 were taking toys from their hands, picking them up, pushing them around, etc. others have mentioned this happened to them as well on other trips. So your kids might be in different groups but still be somewhat together.

I am so happy to have found this thread. We will be on the April 4th Sailing on Reflection with our 9 year old daughter. We are from Avon, Ohio.

Would love to meet up with anyone with kids the same age!

 

The Fun Factory Dailies are great, my daughter is super excited about the activities now. Feel free to message me if you want to meet.

:):):)

 

Past Sailings:

RCI Allure of the seas 4/2013

Disney Magic 1/2011

There should be plenty of kids on our sailing. Did you check out the roll call for that week. There are several sailing with kids! I think most are in the 6-8 age group.