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We dont have kids - but our friends are bringing theirs.....


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Our friends are first time cruisers and bringing their 13 year daughter and 10 year old son along. We have no issues traveling with the kids, but I have also made it very clear that I will be marching them down to the kids club to make friends the first day! ;p

 

Are there any other suggestions that I should make for our friends and their kids?

Here's what I have already passed along (from reading recent reviews)

  • watch their spending in the arcades (or they may end up with hundreds of rubber duckies in their room)
  • register their son's food allergies prior to boarding
  • closed toe shoes for the ropes course

Are lanyards a good idea for the kids? Or is it better for them to just carry their passes?

 

 

THANKS - 25 days and counting

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Curious as well - you state you have no issues traveling with your friends' kids ... yet are already planning on passing them off to the kids club straightaway? What if your friends actually want to cruise WITH their kids so they can spend time WITH their kids?

 

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Why are YOU "marching" them anywhere? What are your friends going to be doing?

 

Just the way our 30+ year friendship works I guess - I am the outgoing one who does not mind new social situations, and my friends are more introverted. The kids are quite excited to know that I am going to take them to the kids club the first night!

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Curious as well - you state you have no issues traveling with your friends' kids ... yet are already planning on passing them off to the kids club straightaway? What if your friends actually want to cruise WITH their kids so they can spend time WITH their kids?

 

LOL! Yes, I am going to wrestle my friend's kids away from them and force them all to spend time away from each other! You are reading way too much into this - I can guarantee you that we will all have a great time traveling together, and that includes the kids making some friends to hang out with during the cruise. Oh, BTW, the kids are more excited to be away from the adults, then the other way around. Thanks for your great suggestion though! Much appreciated. Have a great cruise!

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Just the way our 30+ year friendship works I guess - I am the outgoing one who does not mind new social situations, and my friends are more introverted. The kids are quite excited to know that I am going to take them to the kids club the first night!

I’m guessing the 13 year old can manage getting to the kids club. My teens loved it, they have some organized activities, but it’s mostly a place to meet up before hanging out elsewhere. My biggest problem was seeing my teens! The 10year old can be given sign out privileges, which will be needed for the scavenger hunts. That’s a pretty easy age for kids, self sufficient yet young enough not to get in serious trouble. I gave my 10 year olds freedom to go places without me, limited tim limits and I had to know where they were.

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Our friends are first time cruisers and bringing their 13 year daughter and 10 year old son along. We have no issues traveling with the kids, but I have also made it very clear that I will be marching them down to the kids club to make friends the first day! ;p

 

Are there any other suggestions that I should make for our friends and their kids?

Here's what I have already passed along (from reading recent reviews)

  • watch their spending in the arcades (or they may end up with hundreds of rubber duckies in their room)
  • register their son's food allergies prior to boarding
  • closed toe shoes for the ropes course

Are lanyards a good idea for the kids? Or is it better for them to just carry their passes?

 

 

THANKS - 25 days and counting

 

I'm not an expert, but have read, the arcade uses the onboard account (room key) and the parent can put a certain amount on the card per day to limit their spending. Someone else will chime in if I'm wrong. I also believe they have a meet and greet the first evening for the kids. It's been awhile so someone may correct me on this too! Kids need to have their fun too! We made it a point to have dinner together to chat about our day and what we were going to do the next day.

 

 

Happy sailing!!

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You CAN NOT SIGN THEM IN THE KIDS CLUB- only THEIR Parents can do that. Nor can you sign them out.

 

Yes you are right, only parents can sign up their children to be in the kid's club. However grandparents, etc. can be on the drop off, pick up list if pre-authorized by the parents.

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The 13 yo will be in the teen club not the kids club and she can come and go as she pleases. I signed up my son at age 10 and 13 for Splash Academy then Entourage, but it didn't do any good as he never went once. You can't force the kids to go. There are plenty of other activities for them, but they will need parental supervision more than you might think. You may want to plan to meet up with your friends based on their AND their kids' schedules but not plan to see them every minute of every day if you don't want to be around the kids. Otherwise it's just not realistic.

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Wow some of you people are RUDE! I'm sure she knows her friends love their kids and will like to spend time with them! She is also aware she would like to have some adult time too, which is WHY THE KIDS CLUB EXISTS. Lord leave this person alone! I have never seen people attack someone over such an innocent question!!!

 

RUDE!

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You CAN NOT SIGN THEM IN THE KIDS CLUB- only THEIR Parents can do that. Nor can you sign them out.

 

The parent will need to sign up the kids for the clubs. However, when signing the 10yo up for the Splash Academy, the parent may select up to four individuals that are 18 or over (including themselves) to be registered to sign the children in/out.

 

The 13yo can sign themselves into/out of the Entourage club themselves (although you may need to coax them to go there on the first evening).

 

@OP: March your friends right down to the kids club during registration hours to sign up their kids for their respective clubs (Splash Academy and Entourage). Then in the evening you can march the kids to their clubs for their own meet and greets.

 

Both of my kids have enjoyed their times in the kid's clubs. However, we have still had many, many great times together as a family while on cruises. As you alluded to, it is usually the kids that want to time away from the parents more than the parent want to get rid of their kids.

 

I haver written some of my thoughts on kids and their respective clubs in my last review, beginning with post #109 on the following page - https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2519816&page=6 - so it may provide some other information and ideas for you and your friends.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

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Wow some of you people are RUDE! I'm sure she knows her friends love their kids and will like to spend time with them! She is also aware she would like to have some adult time too, which is WHY THE KIDS CLUB EXISTS. Lord leave this person alone! I have never seen people attack someone over such an innocent question!!!

 

RUDE!

 

I really took the initial post as kind of tongue-in-cheek that the OP wants to share what they have learned from cruising. And we have friends where I would have said much the same thing about, and it's not that I'm parenting their kids. I just know the families well.

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Wow, sorry OP - there is a lot of people not seeing the fun tone in your post, at least that's how I read it.

My then 8 year olds love Splash, we put them there every night and they happily went and were upset when we took them away. They missed some of the prep time for the show that is done at the end of the week and they were upset - because they didn't get to learn the cooler aspects of the show. They are 10 now and sailing Sunday. My son asked to have a night with mom & dad, but my daughter still wishes they had overnights there. \We didn't spend a dime in the arcade. We spent the days with the kids doing excursions or in port (we had a port heavy trip) but nights were for hubby & I.

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Wow some of you people are RUDE! I'm sure she knows her friends love their kids and will like to spend time with them! She is also aware she would like to have some adult time too, which is WHY THE KIDS CLUB EXISTS. Lord leave this person alone! I have never seen people attack someone over such an innocent question!!!

 

RUDE!

 

I guess with your 18 posts you haven't been on here that long. I've been on these boards for years and it still amazes me how insulting people can be. I guess some people have not heard the saying, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

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Thank you to those who gave some great suggestions and ideas - I am sure it will go a long way to ensure we all have a great vacation. Good to know that I will need to start the marching in the afternoon and not the evening. ;p (this emoji depicts the humour and tongue in cheek personality that I currently have)

 

To everyone who is so very worried about the welfare of the children, the parents, their family, my family, our friendship and my so called 'trying to parent' - I want to assure that that at no time will anyone be hurt or harmed in the making of this vacation! Nobody will be forced to spend time together or apart (well, except for my husband and I (;p more humour). Nobody will be forced to participate (well, except for that ropes course, someone with a fear of heights will be doing that for my shear enjoyment. Nobody will be forced to consume copious amounts of food (well, except for all of us, this is a cruise for goodness sake!)

 

I am extremely grateful for our friends, their kids, our relationship and the travels we have all taken together. It is just the dynamic of our friendship - I am the planner, the researcher, the one on the quest for information - they are the ones that just come along for the ride. It works for us, not sure why it should matter to anyone else!

 

Hope everyone has a great cruise and vacation - I know we will!

 

PS - Guess I need to go cause some needless commotion elsewhere....does anyone know if we can just leave the kids in the room while we go off on our excursions? (;p, yep, more humour!)

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Definitely have them put a daily limit on their sea pass. My 11 year old has typically been very good at self limiting and the arcade REALLY got away from him. It's nothing more than kid geared gambling and there are very few actual *games*. Instead they are more of a swipe card-slot pull-swipe again action. Like you can swipe multiple times a minute - and games are $1.50 - $2.00 a swipe.

 

On the plus side, my 11 year old is cleaning kitty litter boxes at $1.00 per clean to pay off his arcade debt and the lesson learned (by us) may be well worth while to NOT clean the cat boxes for a while. :)

 

At 13 and 10 they're certainly old enough to do much on their own, and with adults. Our teens really preferred the buffet. I'm not a buffet fan, but we'd sit with them while they ate, then scoot off to an adult dinner once even meeting up with another CC member of our roll call.

 

My boys were great with their sea pass cards and just stuck them in a pocket. The boys never lost their sea pass card - that was my husband that managed to misplace his.

 

Also, they HAD A BLAST at karaoke and I wish we'd taken them prior to the last night. Unfortunately we were 4 hours time zone difference and also with a toddler, so we tended to retire pretty early each night.

 

For your friends, never hurts to snag fresh fruit, cereal, yogurt off the buffet in the morning to have handy snacks in the room also.

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