booger5

On embarkation day you can go and sign the kids up and there is a schedule for every day and the activities they will be doing. We were on the breakway over the summer and kids were given an option on arrival. Stay downstairs for a structured activity or go upstairs and play video games or other similar type things. I also believe they could choose to move around so if tired of games, come downstairs and do the arts and crafts, etc. The staff are super friendly and learn to recognize the kids quick. I am sure they will love it.

On the breakaway over the summer daytime hours included 10am-12pm and 2-4pm so maybe that second time block would help for nap time. It was the slot we almost always missed because it was peak pool hours :). I also highly recommend making sure to take 5 year old first night to meet others. Then they see familiar faces at pool, other splash academy hours, etc.

Was open first week of August the entire cruise. Only caveat was you had to join a queue each day via the NCL app and watch for notifications when it was time to bring your child down. A lot of kids missed out because parents didn't know or understand the process so make sure on the first day you go and visit and make sure you have the app set up to get reservations in each day.

I was at GSC in August and asked for an umbrella/clamshell on board and they had no issue doing it on the ship and there were plenty. They gave me a map to show where they were located and it gave the impression they were central to most things. However, once we got on the island I noticed they are only set up to the very far right of the first beach, away from the food, bathrooms and music. We were traveling with a young child and definitely preferred to be closer to the other amenities and kids so she could play so returned the voucher and were not charged.

Will really depend on the day. We were on the Breakaway out of Miami in August and had boarding group 4 (arrived around 10am also). We did not board until after 12:30 and it was a free for all when boarding did start, groups didn't seem to matter.