Dawn - Kids Club Questions

[Pickles61]

I have a question about the Kids Club. On past cruises (other lines) my 11 year old son was able to check himself in and out of the kids programs. It seems that on NCL they are not allowed to do that at age 11. He like being able to come and go as he pleased from the club (he had to follow some rules I set for him to do this) and I'm not sure if he will even want to go to the kid's club on this cruise. Has anyone had any experience with this? I also have a 5 year old who will be in the club - no, I never let him check himself out :) - can I get a beeper so that if they want to leave they can? I'd rather not have to stop what I'm doing to get my 11 year old, him being able to check himself out was a big plus for me. My 5 year old will probably never want to leave the camp.

 

I'm also a little concerned is the age range is 2-5 - do they separate them more at that age - I can't see my 5 year old (he'll be 6 in Dec) happy playing with 2 year old's all day. Can my son go up to the 6 year old's if he's not happy in hte younger group?

 

Anymore info on the kids club would be great.

 

[POOHISME2]

Hi We are also sailing with you on the Dawn 8/28. Children under 13 can not sign themselves out. You will have to go and get him.

 

 

 

Why dont you join our roll call

 

Click here: Cruise Critic Message Boards - Dawn: 8/28/05 Roll Call

 

There are a lot of kids on the roll call that have been emailing each other to get aquainted. I also have an 11 year old son, along ith a 9 year old daughter, 13 year old daughter and a 12 year old son.

 

Sherrie

[laughoutloud]

No, the 5yo cannot join the 6yos. They are pretty strict with that on NCL. On the Bright Side, I just went w/my 4 1/2 yo son, and the activities were a lot of fun for him, esp. tha ball pit. I think that kids are less bored when they're with other kids (no matter what they're doing) than when they're w/ us parents.

[Pickles61]

Hi Laughoutloud. I agree - my son would not be happy to spend all of his time with me - some yes, but he does like to play with other kids. I was just worried about the age range and if he would have a good time. If he doesn't have a good time then I won't have a good time. By the way I tried to send you an email and when I looked at your info - we share the same birthday - a couple of years difference. Do they keep the 2 year old's together with the 5 year olds? If they do I would think alot of the activities have to be geared to the younger age. DO they have computers for the kids to play on?

 

[laughoutloud]

Pickles,

Now I'll always think of you on 9/30! Yes they keep all the 2-5 together. But I don't think you have anything to worry about. At home, my son usually only plays w/his age or older and he still loved the camp. They do Legos, face painting, games, movies, songs. I don't think they do computers at that age.

There are theme nights: Pajama Party, Blues Clues, etc. MY 5yo had a blast & he's difficult. Just like you, the whole success of our cruise was based on whether or not he would join the camp...

[CruiseQueen13]

Under 13 not allowed to sign out. Also, they don't mix ages - they are strict on that. Personally the Dawn was one of our most disappointing cruises. The kids program was nothing like those on other lines. MANY activities required parental supervision and children could not participate without them.

 

I had to supervise my 11 y/o so she could make pizza, have a water balloon toss, etc. It was ridiculous. Also, their daily schedule read something like this: 10:00-12:00 activities; 12-2:30 - closed for lunch, 3:00-5:00 activities. Most of you with children know - at this age they want to know exactly what they will be doing. Other cruise lines read like this - 9:00 arts/crafts, 10:00 outburst, 11:00 relay races, 12:00-2:00 Lunch, etc.

 

This was our most expensive cruise and she spent about 5 hrs all week in the kids program. Little ones tend to love it. Other cruise - had to drag her out. LOL. Hope your experience is better.

[Pickles61]

HI,

 

I have a feeling my 11 year old will not be spending much time at all in the kids club since he can't sign himself out. On other cruises he would pick and choose if he wanted to go based upon what his friends (he always meets kids on cruises) were doing and what the activities are. Since they do not list activities and he can't sign himself out he won't go. I'm hoping my 5 year old will like it. I showed him pictures I found on-line of the room and pool and he's really excited about it.

 

Does the kids club take the 5 year olds to the kids pool area?

 

Hopefully everything will go well on this cruise, if not we are taking another one in November I'll see how that one is (Royal Caribbean Voyager out of Bayonne) something else to look forward to.

 

[laughoutloud]

Hi Pickles,

The kids club doesn't take the kids to the pool; my guess is that it's a liability issue. No life guards either, a parent is supposed to be present for children under 12. It turned out to be more fun for me than I thought: the slides & hot tub were great & the the water temperature was always warmer than the main pool. Also I met a lot of nice moms/dads to chat with...BTW I think the pool area was designed for access from the kids crew, but now that entrance is blocked off. ( you have to go thru the gym to get to the pool - a really dumb idea...)

 

Do you want me to fax you the kids schedules?:)

[Pickles61]

Hi Laughoutloud,

 

 

If you could fax me the schedule that would be great. Could you send me your email and I'll give you my fax # - my email is pickles61@aol.com.

[CruiseQueen13]

Pickles - IMHO better off with Voyager. I don't think your 11 y/o would be spending much time in kids club even if he could sign in and out on his own. Activities were so-so at best for that age group.

 

My daughter missed a lot of the usual ship activities, i.e., kid's dinner, kids night in the disco - no adults allowed, slumber parties, making and decorating the ship for the island night parties, etc.

[Pickles61]

CruiseQueen13 – Thanks for the info, hopefully my 11 year old will still have a good time on the Dawn – he didn’t really go to the camp that much on our last cruise (Carnival) and he had a good time – as long as he meets other kids to hang with he should have a good time (I hope). What did you mean by your daughter missed a lot of the usual activities and why – was it because of the age range? Hopefully there will be enough for my 5 year old to do (I’m a little bit concerned since he will be on the higher age range for that group). If the kids don’t have a good time then I won’t because they will be complaining to me that they are bored. I guess I can always take a lot of quarters for my older one to play in the arcade if nothing else – but I’d rather he not spend too much time in the arcade.

 

 

The Voyager is in November so maybe since we are doing the Dawn first they won’t be looking for “more”.

[ontheopenseas]

From CruiseQueen13-"Under 13 not allowed to sign out. Also, they don't mix ages - they are strict on that. Personally the Dawn was one of our most disappointing cruises. The kids program was nothing like those on other lines. MANY activities required parental supervision and children could not participate without them.

 

I had to supervise my 11 y/o so she could make pizza, have a water balloon toss, etc. It was ridiculous. Also, their daily schedule read something like this: 10:00-12:00 activities; 12-2:30 - closed for lunch, 3:00-5:00 activities. Most of you with children know - at this age they want to know exactly what they will be doing. Other cruise lines read like this - 9:00 arts/crafts, 10:00 outburst, 11:00 relay races, 12:00-2:00 Lunch, etc." End of quote from cruise queen 13

 

My daughter also was not thrilled with the kids club. She was not happy about being unable to sign herself in and out as she had been on her last Disney cruise. Beside not being able to sign out, parents of the older kids are not given pagers as was the case on our Disney cruise. Therefore, the older children know they cannot leave the kids club until the designated pick up time, whereas on Disney, parents would be paged if the child was ready to go for whatever reason. This was hard for us since we weren't sure if she was happy there or wanted to stay longer, etc. The room was very stark and she did not find the activities very appealing which was surprising since she is very social and generally happy to be involved in ANYTHING as long as there are other kids around. As mentioned above, the limited hours of the kids club make it very difficult to participate especially if you want see a show together. The middle part of the day when the kids would be looking for something to do, it is closed, and by the time you get out of the show it is closed again. You really need to be at dinner by 5:00 for a sit down meal if you want to make the first show, so you can't even stay for the whole 3-5 slot and then it closes early at night, so the kids have nothing to do at night. It is very out of the way and confusing to find at first, so plan extra time for drop offs and pick ups. Another odd thing was that my child's aunt was not allowed to drop her off, they needed a parent to come and do it. I can understand not letting her pick her up if her name is not on the list, but the other way around seemed strange. Just thought I'd mention it. Overall, my DD really enjoyed the Disney clubs much better and the hours available there and pager/sign out system worked much better for us, of course, each kid is different. I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining about our whole cruise because even though she didn't use the kids club much, she really enjoyed the cruise overall. My 14 yr. old wouldn't even try the club, so I can't comment on that. I think no matter what, the kids will have fun on the cruise unless they really don't want to!

[CruiseQueen13]

Oh yeah - forgot that fun part - PARENTS had to pick up. If you wanted someone else in your party to pick up, they had to register in the kids club to be a designated person & you needed to carry your id. Safety I understand but, my child is 11 - I think she knows if someone trying to pick her up is a stranger or not.

 

Pickles - What I meant by usual activities she missed - on other cruises they do certain things she enjoyed. There was none of that on the Dawn. For example, kids making decorations and helping actually decorate for the Island Night party, kids night in the disco, family night in the disco, scavenger hunts & slumber party.

 

Overall people say Celebrity & Princess are not as "kid friendly" as RCCL & NCL. Frankly, I found NCL to be the most out of touch with kids and what they want. They played a lot of board games - not very creative. We sailed on the Dawn in August - packed with kids - she was bored.

 

We sailed on the Golden Princess in May 05 - 119 kids only on board - she had a blast. Creative activities - she loved it.

 

Her not being able to sign herself out is not a big deal to me - we don't have her signing in and out on her own. But, the parents only w/ id pick up - Please!

 

Good luck Pickles - I am sure 5 y/o will like it. Part of the problem I think is we've cruised many times before - she had other lines to compare it.

[jmurph]

We have traveled with 4 kids, now 18, 16, 9 and 7 on Carnival, RCCL and NCL. The best advice I can offer is to sign up the first night, then pick and choose what activities the kids want to do based on there preferences. They don't have to be there the entire time.

 

Some days we just want to sleep in and the 2:00 - 5:00 time is just better spent by the pool on sea days, so that is what we do.

 

My kids have never complained about any kids club and really look forward to the new friends that they meet.

 

I love my kids, but I don't want to spend a major portion of my day doing crafts as a family, we can do that at home. PICK and choose and do the things that the kids like or you like.

 

Jean

[cruizinwithkids]

I would definately recommend checking out the kids crew the first night and signing the kids up. It seems pretty obvious when it will and will not work out during the first activity. My kids hated the Dawn kids crew, loved the Crown, hated the Sky, and have both loved and hated the Majesty (they've been on it three times). Guess it's just the passengers, the counselors and the mix. Sometimes the combo works and sometimes it doesn't.

[1cruise4us]

Hopefully there will be enough for my 5 year old to do (I’m a little bit concerned since he will be on the higher age range for that group). If the kids don’t have a good time then I won’t because they will be complaining to me that they are bored.

 

Pickles, we were on the Dawn in March and my 5 yo was not happy at all to be in the kids crew. He's normally very social and outgoing, but I don't think he liked being with mostly 2 year olds. He really only tried it the 2nd day of the cruise and most of the 2 year olds were crying for their parents so he didn't want to go back.

[Pickles61]

I guess I just have to hope for the best. Since it's the end of August I think there will be a lot of kids on board so hopefully that will include a lot of 5 year old's going to the kids crew. If the staff is good and he gets to play io the ball pit that will help a lot