Splash Academy/ Kids Crew raising age to 3!!!

[vanilaise]

Anyone else ticked off about this? apparently with the new Splash academy the age for unsupervised play is raised to 3... Most people wanted this lowered yet now they are raising it that you can't drop the kids off under 3... this is my 3rd cruise and I thought i was going to finally have a break... now my son will be 2 years and 10 months and wont be able to be dropped off.. what gives NCL!???!!

[djmess]

Unfortunately it appears NCL is now becoming not as family friendly with their kids programs.

 

The age thing has been out there for implementation beginning Jan 2013. I know a few of us have discussed it a couple times on these boards.

 

Something I recently experienced is NCL moving away from Freestyle and moving backwards in the kids program. NCL now closes the kids clubs for 4 hours each day on sea days on a couple ships. 12-2pm and 5-7pm. They also have absolutely NO kid/family activities scheduled during these times.

 

It's sad seeing NCL become less family friendly, while other lines are moving in the other direction and Not closing the program at designated times AND allowing the programs to accept children under 3. Come on NCL. Why are you going backwards

[che5904]

Not sure how "new" this is, wasn't this announced about Feb 2012? It was implemented on a few ships and then was to go fleet wide in 2013.

 

OP since you knew this back in march (on the thread you started) "Names were also selected for the four age groups in the Youth program: Guppies for ages up to 2; Turtles for ages 3 to 5; Seals for ages 6 to 9; and Dolphins for ages 10 to 12." Were you thinking they would change their minds between March and now. Or was there something that gave you the impression they weren't going to follow through with the change.

Edited December 12, 2012 by che5904

[swimmingotter]

Stop whining and spend some time with your kids...........

[serene56]

As much as parents want the kids to have some "nice" time on a cruise too the counselors need down time too.

 

Closed for 4 hours?? Please

 

carnival seems to be closed more then opened.. closed from 1-2 doesnt even open until 10am. closed from 5-7

(feeding times)

 

if it was up to some parents those kids will be in that camp 24/7

 

 

As for kids under 3 in the water areas-- its a health hazzard for non potty trained kids to be swimming.

 

I under stand that most kids are potty trained before 3 but for the chosen few that are not-- the rest will pay for it. SOrry

[mjkacmom]

As for kids under 3 in the water areas-- its a health hazzard for non potty trained kids to be swimming.

 

I under stand that most kids are potty trained before 3 but for the chosen few that are not-- the rest will pay for it. SOrry

 

It's called Splash Academy, but has nothing to do with the pools. The clubs don't take the kids swimming, and the pool rules have never changed - no diapered children in ANY pools on the ship, regardless of age.

 

I know I'd be upset if I had a 2 year old I planned on dropping off for a bit, but this change has been noted for about a year now, and they took a long time to implement it.

[swimmingotter]

There is a good reason that the Kids Club is closed from 12-2 and 5-7......It is called lunch and dinner time. Why wouldn't you want to spend mealtimes with your children? NCL is very family friendly.................

[che5904]

There is a good reason that the Kids Club is closed from 12-2 and 5-7......It is called lunch and dinner time. Why wouldn't you want to spend mealtimes with your children? NCL is very family friendly.................

 

To answer this from what I have read on CC, so take this as you will. Some kids love the kid's crew, just as some love summer camp. It does not take a child 2 hours to eat, as a matter of fact some can wolf down a meal in about 15 minutes flat if they are anxious to get back to something. So parents take their child to eat, then wish to have a nice meal themselves without their little ones but have to wait until the club opens again.

 

And for those that say "take your kids to eat with you", I can't count the amount of threads I've seen that say "drop your kids at the kid's crew then go for dinner because we don't want to be bothered by children dining near us" :eek: :rolleyes: (not my words BTW).

[che5904]

Stop whining and spend some time with your kids...........

 

 

Contrary to popular belief of some. You are a parent 24/7 but that does not mean you have to spend 24/7 attached to them. My children went to summer camp for 5 days every summer from the time they were 6 until about 13 and then my daughter went on for CIT and councillor. Sure I enjoyed the break but they went because they loved it and wanted to go not because I wanted to get rid of them.

 

Yes most children love time with their parents, but they also enjoy time with their own age group to play.

Edited December 12, 2012 by che5904

[luddite]

It might be that they are having a hard time finding crewmembers who want to babysit kids who aren'y toilet-trained.

[swimmingotter]

We have eaten at the Specialty restaurants alongside families with small children and even infants. Most are well behaved as they have experienced fine dining with their parents.

 

If you can't stand to spend 2 hours with your kids, you should have thought about that before you had them.

[che5904]

We have eaten at the Specialty restaurants alongside families with small children and even infants. Most are well behaved as they have experienced fine dining with their parents.

.

 

Too bad all cruisers didn't feel this way. Take a few minutes and do a search on taking kids to NCL dining venues. It may be eye lifting for you.

 

 

If you can't stand to spend 2 hours with your kids, you should have thought about that before you had them.

 

Good grief :rolleyes:

[vanilaise]

it just really sucks, even an hour break here and there is like a vacation in itsself...

[Mrs. Squirrel]

There is a good reason that the Kids Club is closed from 12-2 and 5-7......It is called lunch and dinner time. Why wouldn't you want to spend mealtimes with your children? NCL is very family friendly.................

 

That works out great if you happen to eat lunch and dinner during those times. We don't. My husband is european. We eat lunch about 2-3 and dinner about 8-9. What we loved about NCL's program over Carnival's was that freestyle cruising extended to the kids as well. If the change goes fleetwide, now we have to eat at a certain time. This is the exact opposite of the freestyle concept and no different than being on a ship with a set dining time. By the way, usually the only time our son goes to kid's club is from 4-7pm so we aren't upset about the closures due to wanting to leave him all day.

[che5904]

That works out great if you happen to eat lunch and dinner during those times. We don't. My husband is european. We eat lunch about 2-3 and dinner about 8-9. What we loved about NCL's program over Carnival's was that freestyle cruising extended to the kids as well. If the change goes fleetwide, now we have to eat at a certain time. This is the exact opposite of the freestyle concept and no different than being on a ship with a set dining time. By the way, usually the only time our son goes to kid's club is from 4-7pm so we aren't upset about the closures due to wanting to leave him all day.

 

Well since freestyle doesn't mean eat a specific meal whenever you want, but means when the dining venue is open for that meal. Not that things never close. Your example of when you eat lunch, you would only have had one option on our cruises, since the MDR closed at 2 for lunch and didn't open again until 5:30. Your only option would have been the buffet.

 

I understand what you are trying to say but I really don't think it has much to do with "freestyle" as I do that you liked that open option of taking your kids in and out through out the day without any closing times. And as you can see from my above example freestyle does not = no closing times.

[NYteacher]

I agree that I wish they hadn't changed the opening times. I think some parents leaving their kids all day long is what led to the changes. That said, I wish they had found a way to deal with that issue for those parents, rather than changing for everyone.

 

The problem isn't spending time with our son, it is that the set opening and closing times do not necessarily match our eating schedules. Also, with the set times, that means there will be long lines to sign in and out. Before, with people picking up and dropping off their kids at different times, there weren't long lines except for opening night and sometimes at day's end.

[djmess]

Thank you Che5904 for pointing out everything you have. Very well said!

 

Unfortunately some comments are made by those that do not or will not ever have children and others that have simply forgotten about the days of their young Children.

 

The biggest disappointment with both the age and the closure times is that NCL seems to be building these wonderful ships and advertising Family, but then once onboard, the young children (9 and under and Under 3) are forgotten about.

 

Freestyle was always promoted as dining and dressing as you please (roughly stated). As you can see from my signature, I've been pretty loyal to NCL since about 2005. The reason being is that they were the most flexible with the childrens program schedule and being able to work in everything the ENTIRE family wanted to do when they wanted to do it. Other cruiselines at the time and until recently did not have this flexibility.

 

Now if one does a search on the family boards especially, it can be noted that many other lines such as RCCL, Carnival and Disney are being much more flexible in the kids club operational hours and age ranges. (check out the posted kids schedules) NCL is working in the opposite direction currently. They WERE the leaders and other cruiselines began to follow, now they are going backwards. IMHO. My guess is economically it must be better for them to not be as concerned about this age group. I know it is all about the bottom line.

 

Here is a scenario EVERYONE should think about. I've cruised many times and experienced 1 or 2 bad weather sea days. Think about a kids club closure between 12-2. NO kids or family activities scheduled at all during that time. Weather bad enough that Pools are covered, no rock walls, basketball courts, or any outdoor areas able to be used by families. Now you have families of 2, 3, 4, 5, and more people wondering around. kids saying I'm bored. yes you can read a book or play a board game. Is the Library open during this time? Are there enough board games to go around for everyone that is now forced indoors? This is just a scenario and I wonder if NCL has really thought about it. Again, maybe this happens very rarely, so it may not be on their radar. I know I have experienced bad weather sea days and my son was so happy to be able to eat his lunch and go back and play with other kids his age. I then got to gamble in the casino, go shopping in the stores, participate in various wine, martini tastings. Things that if I was entertaining my son would not have happened.

 

Most of us parents are EXCELLENT! We do enjoy eating meals with our children, we do love spending time with our children. Even when they are not on their best behavior, we still love them. Other passengers, may not love our children like we do, so just experience that rainy sea day and come back to these boards after the cruise and just read all the complaints about the kids going crazy on the ship!

 

Fortunately my son will be 10 very soon and will be able to sign himself in and out of the kids program. Of course we will have rules and procedures for our family and this situation. Now this can be good or bad for some of the other passengers. Think about what happens when a group of 10y/o kids sign out of the program on that rainy day. No activities scheduled. They grap a slice or 3 of Pizza and begin doing what 10 y/o active boys and girls do. Again, those complaints will be written all over these boards.

 

If NCL wants to close the program for the hours, maybe they should incorporate some of the Family activities during these times. family pizza making, cupcake decorating, lego building, etc. These are generally led by just one or 2 counselors, so those counselors that need a break can get it. As for that break. After talking to most of the counselors on the Epic, they informed me the DO NOT get breaks during that time, but are assigned other various duties.

[che5904]

Thank you Che5904 for pointing out everything you have. Very well said!

 

Unfortunately some comments are made by those that do not or will not ever have children and others that have simply forgotten about the days of their young Children.

 

The biggest disappointment with both the age and the closure times is that NCL seems to be building these wonderful ships and advertising Family, but then once onboard, the young children (9 and under and Under 3) are forgotten about.

 

Freestyle was always promoted as dining and dressing as you please (roughly stated). As you can see from my signature, I've been pretty loyal to NCL since about 2005. The reason being is that they were the most flexible with the childrens program schedule and being able to work in everything the ENTIRE family wanted to do when they wanted to do it. Other cruiselines at the time and until recently did not have this flexibility.

 

Now if one does a search on the family boards especially, it can be noted that many other lines such as RCCL, Carnival and Disney are being much more flexible in the kids club operational hours and age ranges. (check out the posted kids schedules) NCL is working in the opposite direction currently. They WERE the leaders and other cruiselines began to follow, now they are going backwards. IMHO. My guess is economically it must be better for them to not be as concerned about this age group. I know it is all about the bottom line.

 

Here is a scenario EVERYONE should think about. I've cruised many times and experienced 1 or 2 bad weather sea days. Think about a kids club closure between 12-2. NO kids or family activities scheduled at all during that time. Weather bad enough that Pools are covered, no rock walls, basketball courts, or any outdoor areas able to be used by families. Now you have families of 2, 3, 4, 5, and more people wondering around. kids saying I'm bored. yes you can read a book or play a board game. Is the Library open during this time? Are there enough board games to go around for everyone that is now forced indoors? This is just a scenario and I wonder if NCL has really thought about it. Again, maybe this happens very rarely, so it may not be on their radar. I know I have experienced bad weather sea days and my son was so happy to be able to eat his lunch and go back and play with other kids his age. I then got to gamble in the casino, go shopping in the stores, participate in various wine, martini tastings. Things that if I was entertaining my son would not have happened.

 

Most of us parents are EXCELLENT! We do enjoy eating meals with our children, we do love spending time with our children. Even when they are not on their best behavior, we still love them. Other passengers, may not love our children like we do, so just experience that rainy sea day and come back to these boards after the cruise and just read all the complaints about the kids going crazy on the ship!

 

Fortunately my son will be 10 very soon and will be able to sign himself in and out of the kids program. Of course we will have rules and procedures for our family and this situation. Now this can be good or bad for some of the other passengers. Think about what happens when a group of 10y/o kids sign out of the program on that rainy day. No activities scheduled. They grap a slice or 3 of Pizza and begin doing what 10 y/o active boys and girls do. Again, those complaints will be written all over these boards.

 

If NCL wants to close the program for the hours, maybe they should incorporate some of the Family activities during these times. family pizza making, cupcake decorating, lego building, etc. These are generally led by just one or 2 counselors, so those counselors that need a break can get it. As for that break. After talking to most of the counselors on the Epic, they informed me the DO NOT get breaks during that time, but are assigned other various duties.

 

I agree with everything you have said and especially the last paragraph. Now at this point I do not have a pony in this race as I have not taken any of my 4 young grandchildren on a cruise, although I would love to. ;) But life just has not allowed this to happen. I did family vacation a ton when my children were little and never had the luxury of vacationing someplace that had a children's program, that actually would have been kinda cool.

 

And so far, for as much excitement that parents had at the prospect of the revamped program (parents of 2 yr olds excused or those that just did not like the new age breakdowns in general) But hey you aren't going to please everyone. There was a lot of excitement about the programs themselves. I really haven't seen a lot of postitive posts regarding the changes. There were suppose to be new structured events and activities etc.

[Julienatul]

It does stink that they are closed for set times. I wanted to do the wine tasting at 1pm but now wont be able to unless I bring along my 4 and 7 year-old (which I never would do). Although I do understand why they are closed if parents were leaving their kids their from open to close without feeding them. I think even the responsible parents are being punished with this type of program. They also need to offer some sort of babysitting for the under 3's even if its pay per hour.

**FYI Carnival now stays open from 10am-10pm and doesn't close for lunch or dinner. We just sailed Carnival Dream for Thanksgiving. We were just reminded at dropoff that they do not close so please pick up your child for lunch/dinner. **

It was so nice to be able to plan around our schedule versus planning activities on their schedule.

[Mrs. Squirrel]

It was so nice to be able to plan around our schedule versus planning activities on their schedule.

 

Exactly what I was saying. Plus, we do not look at the kid's club as babysitting. Since we don't drink or gamble, there is not a time that our DS cannot be with us for the activities we enjoy. We really don't care if he ever goes to the kids' club. The point is, the kids' club is what he likes to do on a cruise for a few hours per day. I still see having to schedule around a closure as anti-freestyle.

 

In your example, che5904, after 2pm the main dining room may be closed for lunch, but as you pointed out the buffet is open, usually a comfort food option is available and there is room service. There are options. There were no options on djmess' Epic cruise for families during the kids' club closure times.

 

**FYI Carnival now stays open from 10am-10pm and doesn't close for lunch or dinner. We just sailed Carnival Dream for Thanksgiving. We were just reminded at dropoff that they do not close so please pick up your child for lunch/dinner. **

It was so nice to be able to plan around our schedule versus planning activities on their schedule.

 

Strange that Carnival moved toward NCL's former kids' club schedule while NCL is moving toward Carnival's former schedule.

[vanilaise]

I was on the GEm last march and the Under 2 activities are rubbish.. scnsory songs? they set up a boom box and play a CD... pretty weak... my 6 year old LOVEd kids crew though

[che5904]

In your example, che5904, after 2pm the main dining room may be closed for lunch, but as you pointed out the buffet is open, usually a comfort food option is available and there is room service. There are options. There were no options on djmess' Epic cruise for families during the kids' club closure times.

.

 

I guess you missed my point. "And as you can see from my above example freestyle does not = no closing times" :rolleyes:

[Mrs. Squirrel]

I guess you missed my point. "And as you can see from my above example freestyle does not = no closing times" :rolleyes:

 

No, I got your point. Apparently you missed mine. Freestyle=options.

[blindrid]

We have eaten at the Specialty restaurants alongside families with small children and even infants. Most are well behaved as they have experienced fine dining with their parents.

 

If you can't stand to spend 2 hours with your kids, you should have thought about that before you had them.

 

IMHO, this type of opinion is uncalled for and rude. Anyone that has had kids like some down time away from the kids. Those that think like this poster has not had kids.

 

Now as a grandparent, I look forward to the day that the g-kids are old enough to enjoy a cruise and make it easy on their parents, not being so young the hassle factor becomes too great potentially ruining the cruise for us, the parents and the kids. To me, age 2 is a bit young but obviously there are others that think otherwise. A two year old is a heckuva handful.

[che5904]

No, I got your point. Apparently you missed mine. Freestyle=options.

 

Of course it does but not necessarily options that you personally want or are happy with. There are always options. Are you trying to say that if the kids crew is closed for 2 hours that there is nothing else a parent can do on the ship with their child?

 

Don't get me wrong I think it sucks that they close for these hours, but as I said I just think using the "freestyle" card doesn't add up.

 

Because the same could be said about the pools and hottubs that close at 9pm. What if I wanted to swim or dip at 11pm. I could not. So they just blew "freestyle"? I still have other options of entertainment, exactly the same as children do at the times kid's crew is closed. It just may not be the exact entertainment that a parent wants.