Adventure Ocean: More focus on sports activities than other kids' clubs?

[ericrz]

Hi:

 

So we just stepped off the Freedom OTS yesterday morning. Beautiful ship, great weather, we had a marvelous family vacation.

 

This was my 7-yo daughter's third cruise. We took a cruise for her 4th birthday and another last fall, both on the Carnival Legend.

 

Comparing RCCL and Carnival's kids programs, this AO staff seemed to put much more emphasis on physical games than on either of our Carnival cruises. Dodgeball, "gaga" ball, and other games like that were played every night. There was a gaga ball tournament at the beginning of the post-10PM "late night party zone" every single night.

 

There were many less non-sports activities -- like arts & crafts, computer games, music/dancing activities, etc. -- than on our previous two cruises.

 

While our daughter had a good time (she loved the pirate parade!), she's not super competitive and not particularly into sports. A couple nights she didn't want to be there at 10PM, because she was sick of the gaga tournament.

 

I don't think AO should necessarily have sporting tournaments every single night; and I think it would have been good to have an alternative activity for kids who didn't particularly want to play dodgeball or gaga ball seven nights in a row. But nope -- if there was a tournament going on in the Explorers' room, everyone had to participate.

 

For those of you who've cruised on Royal and on other lines, I'd like to know -- does Adventure Ocean tend to be more "sports-oriented" than kids' clubs on other lines? Maybe the AO staff on this ship all just really love sports.

 

I'd like to know, for future planning purposes, if AO has a reputation as the "PE lovers" kids' club, or if this was just a one-off. Thanks.

[KidneyMom]

Oh no... We're leaving in less ten two weeks with our 8.5 year old daughter (only child), and if its all sports... we're in trouble. Big trouble!

 

2 years ago, they had a movie night, craft night, fashion/dress up....

 

Some sports fine, but what you describe sounds a little much.

 

Hoping there's a nice balance.

[Gardeneroflove]

what is gaga ball?

 

Dodgeball is mean and no way would I let my kids play. "Hey, here's a ball, throw it as hard and as fast as you can trying to hit the other kids.' Yeah, great lesson there. (I always faked out in school, claimed the ball hit my foot on first throw!)

 

I agree, they should have more than one thing planned or let the kids sit out (maybe not enough kids for another activity?)

[Onessa]

I don't know if I can explain gaga ball. Our DD is as non-competitive as you can be (from a sports standpoint) but enjoyed gaga ball -- most of the kids seem to really like it which is why it is played so much.

 

Each evening there is a "theme" with crafts and activities around that theme. But in the same way as your kid may not "like" certain sports activities there are kids who do not "like" crafts or video games or whatever. I've found the kids programs on RCCI to have a pretty good balance overall.

 

The dodge ball isn't the same dodge ball I grew up with -- balls are softer and the counselors are better at maintaining order than my grade school gym teacher (forgive me Sister Marie :rolleyes:). I've not heard about it being played really often on board either.

 

It could well have been that the OP's experiences were particular to a cruise. Sometimes you might have a particularly "sports oriented" group of kids on board and when there are points in the schedule where the group decides what to do, if the bulk of the kids wanted to play physical games that may have been why.

[ericrz]

Here's the wikipedia article on gaga ball:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ga-ga

 

It's Israeli in origin -- my daughter goes to a Jewish day school and a JCC summer camp with an Israeli counselor every year, so she's certainly played it many times before. And I think she would have been happy playing it 2, maybe 3 times during the cruise.

 

It's just that every single night got to be a bit much. And I don't think it was this group of kids asking for it -- on the first night, the AO staff already had their poster board signs made up, "Gaga tournament every night at 10PM." So I think this particular staff was more sports-oriented.

[giselleacttwo]

We've only cruised on Princess with our kids, but their activities were definitely not that sports-oriented. More arts and crafts, movie nights, Wii tournaments, that sort of thing. I don't recall dodgeball or gaga ball ever being on the agenda.

[sharktums]

Just wanted to give a follow up on this as we just got off Allure of the Seas today.

 

My 6.5 year old daughter has cruised a LOT. Disney, Carnival, Princess, and mostly Royal Caribbean. She loves the Royal Caribbean kids program and usually has to be pulled out of it.

 

This weeks cruise was her first time as a 'true' Explorer (6 - 8 age group). She's been combined into it before on cruises with very few children.

 

She was really annoyed and upset by the amount of sports that were played. It wasn't just on 'sports night' or during the late night pay session. There were ALWAYS sports being played and in fact the room smelled like a kids gym!!! The whole Explorer age group seemed very much geared toward boys with sports most of the days as well as aliens, monsters, building stuff, etc.

 

The biggest bummer was that if the schedule/planner they give you was accurate, I could send her when I knew they would be light on sports, but I would send her when it said they weren't, and they just ended up playing more sports!

 

I did make sure to mention this on my guest satisfaction survey and from what I could see the other two age groups did not have this crazy sports focus.

[crusinmama06]

My oldest is extremely non-competitive and despises all sports. I remember when she was little she begged me to write her an excuse to get her out of dodge ball in gym class (I didn't). But she has LOVED everything Royal since she was a toddler. She is a teen now. I have to drag her (and now her younger much more sports loving sister) out.

 

They love gaga ball. I don't know why. I can't quite explain it.

 

What my youngest REALLY doesn't like is STORY TIME! I had the worst time with that! Lol she once got kicked out of AO because she wanted to slide down the boat slide during story time and crafts time instead of SITTING. I had to go talk to the director at AO and have her accepted back in. It was her first full day/night and she got THREE strikes for SLiDING and not sitting Hahahahaha. Yeah it was just too tempting ;)

[snorkelman]

... if there was a tournament going on in the Explorers' room, everyone had to participate.

 

 

^^ This is simply inaccurate. I too just got off the Allure from the oct 13-19 sailing and my two kids were in the AO program. One did not want to participate in the sports the night they had it up on deck where you play basketball, and I simply informed the staff and they said, "no problem. Your child does not need to participate in the sport if they do not want to. We even bring up uno cards for that."

[ericrz]

^^ This is simply inaccurate. I too just got off the Allure from the oct 13-19 sailing and my two kids were in the AO program. One did not want to participate in the sports the night they had it up on deck where you play basketball, and I simply informed the staff and they said, "no problem. Your child does not need to participate in the sport if they do not want to. We even bring up uno cards for that."

 

Glad your child had a different experience. On the 9/22 sailing of the FOTS, this was not the case.

[ericrz]

Just wanted to give a follow up on this as we just got off Allure of the Seas today.

 

My 6.5 year old daughter has cruised a LOT. Disney, Carnival, Princess, and mostly Royal Caribbean. She loves the Royal Caribbean kids program and usually has to be pulled out of it.

 

This weeks cruise was her first time as a 'true' Explorer (6 - 8 age group). She's been combined into it before on cruises with very few children.

 

She was really annoyed and upset by the amount of sports that were played. It wasn't just on 'sports night' or during the late night pay session. There were ALWAYS sports being played and in fact the room smelled like a kids gym!!! The whole Explorer age group seemed very much geared toward boys with sports most of the days as well as aliens, monsters, building stuff, etc.

 

The biggest bummer was that if the schedule/planner they give you was accurate, I could send her when I knew they would be light on sports, but I would send her when it said they weren't, and they just ended up playing more sports!

 

I did make sure to mention this on my guest satisfaction survey and from what I could see the other two age groups did not have this crazy sports focus.

 

Yep, yep, yep. I bolded the portions of your post that were exactly identical to our experience. Why have a schedule for events in AO when you're not going to stick to it?

 

Disappointed in RCI on this (I too noted it on my guest survey) and even more disappointed to see others chime in with similar experiences.

[cb at sea]

Could someone describe Gaga ball, please????

[ericrz]

Here's the wikipedia article on gaga ball:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ga-ga

[sharktums]

^^ This is simply inaccurate. I too just got off the Allure from the oct 13-19 sailing and my two kids were in the AO program. One did not want to participate in the sports the night they had it up on deck where you play basketball, and I simply informed the staff and they said, "no problem. Your child does not need to participate in the sport if they do not want to. We even bring up uno cards for that."

 

What age group were your kids in? The 9 - 11 age group I saw that they had an option, the 6 - 8 year olds were not given that option, unless maybe the parent bugged the staff.

 

You also didn't address the rest of what I described. How they didn't stick to the activities and how the room smelled like a gym due to all of the sports.

[snorkelman]

What age group were your kids in? The 9 - 11 age group I saw that they had an option, the 6 - 8 year olds were not given that option, unless maybe the parent bugged the staff.

 

9-11. However, both of my children actually expressed a desire to not participate in a certain sport that was listed on the flier, so when I dropped them off, I specifically had a chat with the staff who checked them in. I don't really characterize this as "bugging" the staff, but rather, clarifying to make sure my kids were happy. I have found that the staff is usually very accommodating. I also happen to know the AO manager on the Allure and he goes out of his way to make people happy. I would encourage you to voice your concerns next time while you are on the ship.

 

You also didn't address the rest of what I described. How they didn't stick to the activities and how the room smelled like a gym due to all of the sports.

 

I think my kids said that one time something didn't follow the flier (it took place in the evening rather than the afternoon or something like that) but generally the fliers were accurate.

 

As for the room smelling, it didn't bother me at all when I entered the room. I saw a whole bunch of kids running around, working up a sweat, and they all have to keep their shoes in a cubby. I bathed my kids daily, but I suspect some parents don't do that.

 

I for one appreciate the staff's ability to ensure my kids are tired at the end of the evening. That way they sleep when in the cabin.

[Mom2B&Z]

Fwiw I noticed a big change in NCL's children's programming, starting in 2012. Before that it was heavy on arts and crafts, Lego building, dramatic play etc as you describe on RCCL. However, sometime between Jan and Dec 2012 a change occurred, and there was a lot more sports programming offered. It wasn't just on the ships we sailed, because I noticed it in other kids crew dailies that were posted here on cc. The differen seems to be that the sports on NCL are often taken it of the kids club proper, so there is an alternate non-sports activity as well. Their overall programming also reduced the screen time and increased the physical activity. I for one love the change, I have one ds who loves sports and another who would rather build Lego all day (!), but I don't like them plopped in front of a tv for hours on end. That's what really disappointed me about DCL, the technology in the kids areas was crazy and definitely seemed to be how they entertained the mass numbers of children under 12... But I digress :)