Question about Circle C and teens programs.

[JustCruiseMe]

My niece and her son are going with her parents on the Dream next month. Her son is 14, mature and 6' tall (210lbs). I don't think he's going to enjoy being in a club with 12 year olds (they probably won't want him with them either..lol). I was wondering if there is any leeway with the ages and clubs? He is mature mentally as well as physically. Not overly so but more than most 14 year olds because he has only been with adults most of his life. No giggling, goofy kid silly stuff. Any ideas?

[SadieN]

They do not move kids up in age groups. At those ages they form 'packs'. So even though they are in the same group they will not be stuck together. Of course it all depends on the makeup of the kids onboard.

[Colorado Kat]

Is he close to being 15? Sometimes they move the kids up, but not often.

 

Once, when my daughter was 15, she didn't care for the makeup of the kids in Club o2. She found 3 other teens with the same issues, but of differing ages, and the 4 of them hung out together for the entire cruise.

[JustCruiseMe]

He's about 4 months away from being 15. I've made him promise to at least go and sign up, just in case he finds something or someone he enjoys but I am a bit concerned.

[dolphins76]

On our last cruise there was no problem..they were just happy to have kids there at that age.

 

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[DKF97]

My niece and her son are going with her parents on the Dream next month. Her son is 14, mature and 6' tall (210lbs). I don't think he's going to enjoy being in a club with 12 year olds (they probably won't want him with them either..lol). I was wondering if there is any leeway with the ages and clubs? He is mature mentally as well as physically. Not overly so but more than most 14 year olds because he has only been with adults most of his life. No giggling, goofy kid silly stuff. Any ideas?

 

I don't know when you are going, but if its over Christmas, there will be lots of kids on board and there is bound to be someone he will want to hang out with. Last December by son was in Circle C at 14 along with his brother who was 12. My 14 year old was almost 6ft tall at the time. This was at the beginning of December and there was only 12 kids in circle c. They would often all group together for certain activities but when they were just hanging out around the ship they tended to stay in groups of 3 or 4. My son always stood out as he was at least a head taller than everyone else, but he is used to that. He had a great time and still talks to a few friends he met onboard. This Christmas they will be in separate clubs and there should be lots more kids.

 

I think he will be fine, just make sure he goes to the party the first night. My kids didn't want anything to do with the club at first, but I told them they had to go to that party then they could decide if they wanted to participate in anything else. With so few onboard I was glad for that tip from the boards. They thought it was silly, but the kids they clicked with during that party were the one's they hung out with for the rest of the cruise.

[bell777]

We were on the Dream and had our son 14 2 months shy of the next age group and all his friends are over 15 needless to say he went the first night and never returned. They will not allow him to go to the next age group but that did not stop my son from having fun he hung with us or at the basketball court most of the trip. He should be able to go were you go other then the casino or the late night comedy.

[hfweather]

We were on the Conquest during Thanksgiving and we asked during orientation and they let our granddaughter move up to the next age group. We told them she would be bored in the group she was supposed to be in and her birthday was in 2 months. They told us no problem and moved her up. Guess it wouldn't hurt for you to ask.

[HappyAboard]

The 14 year old might find that he is "stuck" with a bunch of other mature 14 year olds that feel "stuck". My 11 year old thinks she will feel stuck being the oldest in her group, but I am sure there will be other mature 11 year olds for her to relate to.

 

As far as the teen groups, my older kids have found that there is rarely anyone in the actual clubs. They meet up, make friends, and quit going to the actual club and simply end up hanging out all around the ship together because there is not much scheduled in 02, and in Circle C they go off and do sports around the ship, and if you do not play team sports then you are out of luck because the camp counselor is with the team playing the sport and the club door is locked. Can't tell you how many times I walked my 12 year old to Circle C to stop and see what was going on to get him interested, but found the door to be locked (during the day while it was supposed to be open) and absolutely one around and no indication of when anyone might show up (except the was often another parent or child coming to peer in to the club window only to wonder where everyone was and why the door was locked? just like us)

 

My experience was from 2 years ago, so I am hoping it has improved. I'm also hoping it will be better on a different ship.

[krogers2063]

We are on the Triumph on May 5-10 and my son turns 15 on May 23 so we will for sure be asking. He said they same thing about hanging out with a "bunch of 12 yeaer olds". We are hopeful they will allow him to move up but I told him if not that just go to the meet and great and give it a try. He might be surprised there might be another kid in the same boat. :D

[palmtre2]

Do encourage your teens to go the first night, DD did and always found friends. Whether they stay at Circle C the rest of the cruise or not, they will have like minded teens to hang out with. If they are that close in age to the next level chances are they won't stay at the club anyway. O2 really doesn't do much with the kids just provides a place to meet up and listen to music.

[Andoria]

My son just turned 15 today but when he was 14, he was on the mature side because he's an only child. Not all 14 year olds are goofy.

[happybooker1]

Course he loves to dance so he would go every.single.night and stay till the club closed. Oh no - he doesn't dance WITH anyone usually either. But I understand those 'line dances' are what all the teenagers do now.

[JustCruiseMe]

Thanks for everyone's input. He has promised to go the first night. It's not over Christmas so might not be as many kids there in Jan but he promised me he will go. He's an only child and an only grandchild and has always been sorta mature. He never cared to do any field trips with school, he rather stay back with the teachers. He's not a let loose kinda kid. He's cute (really) but always prefers adult company. He's not antisocial but not into sports type either. He'd rather hang out with his cousin who is 30 and help around the house and yard. He's starting to like girls and it's funny the punkish, but smart girls really like him (he's an all A kid now, loves high school, hated jr high and has blue hair)..I dunno but we'll see and I'll for sure to report back. Heck if it were me, I'd have been a bit shy but I'd have been chomping at the bit to be with kids my own age away from the folks.

 

Just so I don't come across as he's perfect, he's not! Can be smart mouth and moody like any teen, never likes to clean his room and his feet stink really bad. Seriously, we laugh about it but if he takes his SIZE 13 shoes off (remember he's 14) we make him put them outside and wash his feet if he is going to be in the room with us.

[TikkiTembo]

We were just on the Pride and my 11 y.o. daughter (3 months shy of 12) was moved up to the 12-14 y.o. group. I was skeptical about requesting the change because I read on numerous occasions that they do not move move kids up. I started with Guest Services and they referred me to the director of Camp Carnival. The director wasn't available when I went to the Camp but her assistants were. They looked at my daughter and then looked up her info (i.e. her DOB) and said it was no problem moving her to the next age group. They filled out a slip, signed it, and told me to take it the counselor at Circle C. She had a ball in that club. Circle C and Club O2 did quite a few activities together.

 

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[JeanieTheMom]

My son was a month and a half away from turning 15 when we went on a cruise on the Paradise when it was still in Los Angeles. He had already topped 6 feet, and was mature for that age. This was in mid May when there weren't tons of kids on board. Just after embarkation, he went to the O2 Club and asked the director there about the possibility of moving up. He was allowed to.

 

I think sometimes it depends on the number of kids scheduled in each age group. After he got into the O2 Club, there were less than 20 kids. I don't know how many were in Circle C. Also, he had a 16 year old brother with him. Don't know if that made any difference.

 

It wouldn't hurt to ask.

[AdobeRN]

Last time we cruised my youngest was 14, just a week shy of her birthday. They allowed her to move up - they told me as long as it was within 3 months of the birthday.

 

Encourage him to go the first night - 1st time we cruised my kids were shy & worried about going, 2nd cruise they couldn't get away from us fast enough :) they met a group of kids and hung out with them all week. My husband said they had thier own "gang".

[Sue Do-Over]

At age 10 or so, the kids can sign themselves in/out of the programs, meaning that they don't 'have to stay all day'. Send him (don't go with him!) to the first meet & greet. The older kids mostly use the center as someplace to meet up. Singles will hang out there or the arcade until a group forms up.

[Laurin612]

We were just on the Pride and my 11 y.o. daughter (3 months shy of 12) was moved up to the 12-14 y.o. group. I was skeptical about requesting the change because I read on numerous occasions that they do not move move kids up. I started with Guest Services and they referred me to the director of Camp Carnival. The director wasn't available when I went to the Camp but her assistants were. They looked at my daughter and then looked up her info (i.e. her DOB) and said it was no problem moving her to the next age group. They filled out a slip, signed it, and told me to take it the counselor at Circle C. She had a ball in that club. Circle C and Club O2 did quite a few activities together.

 

Thanks for the confirmation that it can be done! My son will be 12 in early March and is quite mature for his age. He has been avoiding Camp Carnival since he was 9 because he thought the activities were too babyish. So since then he has just been hanging out with us on cruises.

 

We will be on the Sunshine Christmas cruise and there will probably be a lot more kids in Camp Carnival than Circle C so I am hoping they allow him to change.