Bringing the 10 year old :)

[kdubbo]

My husband and I just booked our first cruise!! Alone :) Not really!! We have now decided to take our 10 year old daughter with us because we would miss her. Need any advice on cruising with kids. We will be on the Oasis of the Seas. We have a cabin on 12. Should we move up to 14 to be closer to the pools, kids club?? Will we ever have ANY time alone?

[scooter90]

If your take your daughter and enroll her in Adventury Ocean, she will make friends and you will have alone time....when our daughter was 9 she barely wanted to have dinner with us as they had so many activities going on that she didn't want to miss them.

 

Book the cabin you want...you don't need to be near the kids clubs because adults are not allowed in once they are dropped off (security reasons). Although I believe at 10, she will have the ability to sign herself out and meet you at the pool, etc.

[Cruisegirl6]

Stay on your deck its centrally located.

 

My kids are grown now but they never did the camp thing, they always found kids their age to hang out with, perhaps she want to do the camp, they have many good activities for them. My kids always ate meals with us I wouldn't have it any other way, after all, a family vacation is to be all together, although I do know some parents want "down time"...its up to you.

[Kdiamond55]

My kids have been on 5 cruises, starting when they were 6 and 8. Now they are 11 and 13 and still love Adventure Ocean. We're also going on the Oasis, have been on the Allure and there is so much for them to do even aside from Adventure Ocean. I agree, get her registered right away so she can start meeting friends. You guys will get some alone time if she likes AO as much as my kids do! I also agree it's not necessary to be on deck 14, in fact I don't necessarily care for being near the noisy kids area. Have fun!

Edited February 3, 2015 by Kdiamond55

[skyking]

My 4 year old loves AO, the best part is they are opened from 10pm until 2am, but they do charge 7.00 per hour after 10pm....In my opinion very worth it, and if she loves it she wont mind staying at all. Have a blast!

[caribsun]

My daughter had no desire to go to the kids club, she was very happy to swim all day.

[Wilda]

OP, you know your daughter best. Adventure Ocean for her will be 9-11 year olds so she will be smack dab in the middle of that age group. You will receive a calendar for the week and she can pick what days/times she is interested in ( 9-11, 2-5, 7-10 or any of the above). Our grandsons really enjoyed the AO experience but every kid is different.

 

There is a lot to do on Oasis. Check out your roll call...there may be other kids on the cruise that she can begin to communicate with prior to the sailing. Rest assured, all will have a great time:D

[vondofife]

We have stayed on deck 12 on both Oasis and Allure. We really liked this location. I personally would not stay on deck 14 as you are right underneath the pool deck and may get some noise from the deck above. As there is no deck 13, you only have one flight of stairs to climb to get to Adventure Ocean. I'd stick where you are.

 

My son loved ice skating, the shows/evening entertainment, carousel, climbing wall, parades .... he also loved Adventure Ocean. On Oasis and Allure, Adventure Ocean has a theatre, science lab, wii consoles, fantastic staff who really make the children enjoy their time there. My son still talks fondly of his time spend there. Your 10 year old will love it.

[OCruisers]

My husband and I just booked our first cruise!! Alone :) Not really!! We have now decided to take our 10 year old daughter with us because we would miss her. Need any advice on cruising with kids. We will be on the Oasis of the Seas. We have a cabin on 12. Should we move up to 14 to be closer to the pools, kids club?? Will we ever have ANY time alone?

 

Hi and Welcome to Cruise Critic!

Do make sure you get your daughter to the first meeting for her age group.

Hopefully, she will like and enjoy it. If not, she will have at least met others her age. ;)

Look forward to having a wonderful cruise! :)

LuLu

[Canada22]

Just getting ready to go on my third cruise with my two girls now 17 and 9. Oldest never cared for the kids club but my youngest loved them - interestingly enjoyed Adventure Ocean on RC better than the kids club on a Disney Cruise. They can go as much or as little as they want. My daughter looks at the schedule and decides what interests her. She loves having it as an alternative to going to the shows with mom. Security is great - you have to be on the list or you cannot remove the child. My mother was not allowed to get my daughter until I had her on the list. I think my girls are even more excited than I am about our upcoming cruise. Have fun!!

[ColoradoGurl]

My husband and I just booked our first cruise!! Alone :) Not really!! We have now decided to take our 10 year old daughter with us because we would miss her. Need any advice on cruising with kids. We will be on the Oasis of the Seas. We have a cabin on 12. Should we move up to 14 to be closer to the pools, kids club?? Will we ever have ANY time alone?

 

I always travel with my daughter (single child). She was 10 going on 11 during out last cruise and ended up completely attached to my hip. If I had been traveling with a significant other and wanted alone time, it would not have happened....ever. Adventure ocean was closed because there weren't enough kids on board and she had absolutely nobody to hang out with. There was a lot for her to do on the ship, but nothing that she wanted to do alone. I don't know how your daughter is, but while mine is independent and sometimes left to get ice cream or something by herself, she was never gone long enough for any "adult time" to happen. My first suggestion to you would be to make sure you are sailing during a school break to ensure other kids are on board. This will allow her to meet friends who she will enjoy hanging with at the pool or movie theater. If not, you can always book her a facial at the spa, and you would at least have a guaranteed hour :)

[kdubbo]

Thank you all! This is very helpful :)

[Royalmoyal]

You will all have a blast! She'll remember this for the rest of her life.

[bellabaloo]

Our first cruise was on the Oasis when my son was five in a boardwalk balcony. We were worried about leaving them at the kid place and didn't want to take away from their (my nieces as well-four and five) family vacation. We took them on the third day and they always asked to go back. The last night, we went to pick them up early to spen the last night together on the boardwalk-they all cried. They did not want to leave the kid place...we were so upset! lol. We got them at the end of the night instead. Now they want to go as soon as possible and can pretty much pick the activities that they want to do. Your kiddo will have a blast.

[powelweb]

On a ship like Oasis, there will always be lots of kids around, some times too many, lol.

 

Like other posters have said, she should check out Adventure Ocean the first night to make some friends, and then check the compass to see what might interest her in their activities.

 

Think about whether you want her to have sign out ability when you register her- you may want to pop over to the family boards and see some of the rules that parents put in place when they do permit their kids to self sign out.

Edited February 4, 2015 by powelweb

[dfgf]

My youngest (now 9) loves Adventure Ocean. If it were up to him he'd spend every minute of every day in it.

 

My oldest (now 12) never really cared for it.

 

Agree with the other posters - have her go the first day for a couple of hours and try it out. If it's not for her, it's not for her.

 

One of the posters mentioned dining. They have this thing called "Adventure Dining" that you can sign them up for. Basically, she will get her full kid's meal when you get your appetizers. When she's finished eating you take her over to the Adventure Dining staff at the entrance to the dining room and they escort the kids upstairs. Works out for everyone. You get to have a family meal, plus you and your husband get to enjoy some dining time at a leisurely pace as well.

[Madsofa]

We will be on the Oasis in March as well. I have two girls and this will be their 3rd cruise. First time they were 7&5 and loved AO, rushed through dinner so they could get back to their "club". The 2nd time they were 9 & 11, and used the club every once and awhile. We always vacation with another family so all of kids hang out with friends they already have. This cruise they will be 13 & 11, and once again we're going with our friends. Not sure how much they will use the kids club but we will definitely sign them up and make sure they check it out.

I say take her to the club and see what she thinks. Hopefully she will like enough to hang out there a bit, meet some friends, then you'll have what you're looking for - that blend of family and alone time. No matter I think you will love having her along and you may end up wanting to spend all of your time together. 😄 We've taken a variety of family vacations and by far we love to cruise, just wish we could do it every year.

[kdubbo]

Still trying to figure this site out. Where do I find the family boards?

Thanks for all your help!

[LuCruise]

Guess it depends on what works for your family. We booked our first cruise with your kids on Allure (6.5 and 10.5 when we go). I researched well between Disney and RCL and we decided on Allure (sister ship of Oasis) as there is sooo much for them to do...arcade, ice skating, rock climbing, ping pong, mini golf, flowrider, carousel, dreamworks stuff (parades, shows, ice show), fountain shows, aqua shows, cupcake decorating, 3D movies, ...and of course the kids club. For us, this is a family trip so we'll let our kids go to the club for times if they'd like, but would also like us to enjoy this stuff together. The club though will let your 10 year old meet other kids.

 

As for location, I agree with others and just stay where you would like (unless any mobility issues).

[LuCruise]

I always travel with my daughter (single child). She was 10 going on 11 ....Adventure ocean was closed because there weren't enough kids on board and she had absolutely nobody to hang out with. ...My first suggestion to you would be to make sure you are sailing during a school break to ensure other kids are on board.

 

This is the first I've heard of this happening. Can I ask what ship and what month you went in?

[ColoradoGurl]

This is the first I've heard of this happening. Can I ask what ship and what month you went in?

 

We were on the Mariner during the last week of February of 2013 out of Galveston. They left the arcade open, but she was unimpressed with it. We were also on the Explorer in 2004 out of Miami, that time during spring break and it was packed with kids. Unfortunately my daughter was only 3 and while she was mostly potty trained, she still needed swim diapers and help going #2, so she was not able to use Adventure Ocean then either. She also couldn't use the pools. I paid $1800 for her during that cruise and she couldn't do ANYTHING. It was not a fun trip for me, with a toddler having to sit through 3 hour dinners and napping during port days. From what others say though, if you have the right age child and go during a time that there are enough kids, kids seem to really enjoy it. I have never experienced anything good with Adventure Ocean myself though.

Edited February 4, 2015 by ColoradoGurl

[mil76]

In my opinion, 10-11 is just about the perfect age for a kid to go on a cruise. They are in the oldest Adventure Ocean group, so they have the organized activities, but you can give them a little bit of freedom with self-sign out. Once they turn 12 they go to the teen club, which can be hit or miss since it's not as organized and the kids tend to clique up and it turns into the whole High School dynamic. When my youngest son was 11 his last Adventure Ocean cruise was like an end of an era since he had been doing AO since he was barely potty-trained and went through all the age groups.

 

Oasis always has plenty of kids, and even if it's an off week they will combine age groups to get enough kids to do the activities.

[vacation_junkie]

My husband and I just booked our first cruise!! Alone :) Not really!! We have now decided to take our 10 year old daughter with us because we would miss her. Need any advice on cruising with kids. We will be on the Oasis of the Seas. We have a cabin on 12. Should we move up to 14 to be closer to the pools, kids club?? Will we ever have ANY time alone?

 

Our 14 yr old has been on more cruises than he is old! After dinner he has always wanted to go hang with his friends in the kids/teen club.

During the day is family time. Dinner is family time...after dinner is party time for the kids :D and adult time for mom & dad.

[vacation_junkie]

Adventure ocean was closed because there weren't enough kids on board :)

 

I have never ever heard of the kids club closing.

They do cancel activities if there are not enough kids but the kids club /room itself is always open and staffed during the posted hours. Bizarre..

Edited February 4, 2015 by vacation_junkie

[LuCruise]

We were on the Mariner during the last week of February of 2013 out of Galveston. They left the arcade open, but she was unimpressed with it. We were also on the Explorer in 2004 out of Miami, that time during spring break and it was packed with kids. Unfortunately my daughter was only 3 and while she was mostly potty trained, she still needed swim diapers and help going #2, so she was not able to use Adventure Ocean then either. She also couldn't use the pools. I paid $1800 for her during that cruise and she couldn't do ANYTHING. It was not a fun trip for me, with a toddler having to sit through 3 hour dinners and napping during port days. From what others say though, if you have the right age child and go during a time that there are enough kids, kids seem to really enjoy it. I have never experienced anything good with Adventure Ocean myself though.

 

That's a shame. I think the Mariner is one of the smaller / shorter destination ships? We had the same issues with Disney cruise when my DD was 2.5 years...wasn't allowed in the pools or the kids club except during open hours. Not a huge deal, but I agree that it's better to cruise when your kids are at least toilet trained. Hopefully you'll actually get to experience kids club in the future.