Leaving children in kids club port day?

[newcastlemam]

Hi,

We are sailing on the independence of the seas on the 1st of November for its transatlantic sailing and upon docking in san juan me and my partner would like to do an excursion without the children as my eldest daughter does not want to participate, is it possible to leave the children in kids club while we go on the excursion ? haven't decided yet if we will be doing this through royal or an outside source not sure if this makes a difference to the rules.

Thanks in advance xx:)

[Clarea]

Yes, you can leave children with Adventure Ocean while you leave the ship.

[MaddyandMax]

We left my daughter in the kids club last cruise when we were in Samana. We didn't feel it was 100% safe and we wanted to do a tour she was too young for. She could have cared less. She LOVED the kids club. We could barely get through breakfast every day without her begging to go. If you keep them in the club for lunch or dinner they charge a fee. 3 years ago it was $7. It might have gone up a bit. Honestly my daughter had more fun than my entire family combined. She was 4 on our last cruise. They must be 3 and potty trainined to be in the kids club.

[snorkelman]

When they stop at their private island AO has a set up on the island and you can check your kids in there. On other ports they do not and you can leave your kids in the program. Normally you must remove them during a 2 hour lunch period, but I don't know if that is only sea days or whether that is the case while in port. I am pretty sure you can leave them in the program while in port through lunch, but there may be a small charge for that lunch period.

[newcastlemam]

Thanks everyone my kids were the same last year didnt want to leave kids club to come to the mdr with us I nearly forgot I had children kept having to force family time lol xx

[jticarruthers]

Our son has stayed on board in Cozumel while we wandered around the island, we have been several times and he was more interested in some play time than exploring. We weren't completely comfortable but it worked out fine, he was happy and we got to enjoy a few beverages and wander around without hearing "its hot, im bored, when are we going back to the ship".

[ARCruisinNana]

When in port, Adventure Ocean is open from 30 minutes before the first excursion meets until 30 minutes after the last excursion gets back. On port days it is open thru lunch at no charge. They take the kids to WJ.

 

 

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[Jen1000]

I think I would book with the ship just in case there is a delay in the excursion, the ship will wait.

 

Hi,

We are sailing on the independence of the seas on the 1st of November for its transatlantic sailing and upon docking in san juan me and my partner would like to do an excursion without the children as my eldest daughter does not want to participate, is it possible to leave the children in kids club while we go on the excursion ? haven't decided yet if we will be doing this through royal or an outside source not sure if this makes a difference to the rules.

Thanks in advance xx:)

[gerif]

I think I would book with the ship just in case there is a delay in the excursion, the ship will wait.

 

Uh, no they won't - they will, however, get you to the next port at their expense.

[jticarruthers]

It depends, our last two trips to Cozumel we have been very late getting back to the ship due to the RCI tour operator detouring for "shopping trips" on the mainland. Both times there were probably 100+ passengers coming back in a group together and they held the ship.

 

If you were the only one on your excursion, maybe not.

[snorkelman]

Uh, no they won't - they will, however, get you to the next port at their expense.

 

I have seen many times the ship waiting for a ship-sponsored excursion arriving late. In fact, that is a major selling point made to encourage people to buy ship-sponsored tours rather than going on their own.

 

I am not aware of any instance when a tour group sold by the ship returned to the ship late (30 or 60 minutes) and the ship left. Perhaps you are aware of a specific situation, in which case I would like to know more about it because it would not be the standard practice as I understand it.

[Jen1000]

I just got off Brilliance of the Seas and the ship waiting for late excursions was certainly a selling point of booking their shore excursions. I have been on other cruise lines that did wait. I have been on the excursion the ship has waited for and we waited several hours on a Celebrity ship while about 300 from an excursion were delayed in Panama. The tour guides have said they are in contact with the ship and they will wait.

 

I too would be curious about stories of being flown to the next port when the ship would not wait for a ship's shore excursion.

 

If my kids are on the ship and I am in port, I stand by my statement that I would rather be on a ship excursion in case of delay.

 

Uh, no they won't - they will, however, get you to the next port at their expense.

[Algebralovr]

The ship will wait if at all possible. A friend of mine was on an excursion many years ago that involved a boat. The boat broke down and had to be towed back to shore. The excursion was 3 hours late returning. The ship had to vacate the port spot, but they parked out away from the shore and dropped anchor, waiting for the 25 people on the excursion to return. The people on the excursion were tendered out to the ship.

[ronandannette]

Hi,

We are sailing on the independence of the seas on the 1st of November for its transatlantic sailing and upon docking in san juan me and my partner would like to do an excursion without the children as my eldest daughter does not want to participate, is it possible to leave the children in kids club while we go on the excursion ? haven't decided yet if we will be doing this through royal or an outside source not sure if this makes a difference to the rules.

Thanks in advance xx:)

 

When our DS was little, as an only child he LOVED any chance to be part of organized activities. We couldn't pry him out of Adventure Ocean and on one itinerary (Western Caribbean) we did leave him aboard while we enjoyed Ocho Rios and Cozumel. He was perfectly fine and all's well that end's well but I've since often thought of how an emergency would have been handled; most specifically if something had happened to us while ashore. If I'd dwelt on that at the time (or now that I've fully considered it) I don't think I would have made the same decision.

[matj2000]

When our kids were little we left them on the ship all the time.

It is a service the ship provides and we took advantage of it.

Many others do also.

Never had any issues....

[sharktums]

If you do a search you will find the worst case scenario as it was reported here several years ago.

 

It was a Mediterranean cruise and one ship sponsored excursion was going to be so delayed that they did decide to sail without them and get them at the next port. Not a big deal right? Well, some of those people had left their kids in kids club and done the excursion on their own. I'm sure they were freaked out beyond belief but all reports were that Royal handled it wonderfully keeping the kids in kids club till late then sending a same sex counselor with them to their cabin to sleep.

 

So yes, that can happen, but it's the exception to the rule. We've left our daughter on the ship while going ashore as she prefers it but we always explain the 'worst case scenario' just so she would be prepared.

[alwaysflyin]

On our transatlantic, we had ports in Lisbon, Mallorca, and Cadiz. We left our daughter at the Aquanauts program. She had a great day and we got to really see some things! We had done the same bus tour in Lisbon when she was 1 (we weren't on a cruise that time) and I hadn't really gotten to enjoy it because I was busy with her. This time was so much better. This is one of the reasons that I love cruises: parents really get some quality time together.