Solstice - Need Kids Club experiences

[KrystaGali]

We are sailing on Solstice to Alaska this Summer. We are traveling with a large party of 12 including 7 adults and 5 children (2, 6, 8, 9 and 11). I know the 2 y/o will be limited in what he can participate in and only while his parents are present.

 

I have looked at Celebrity's website and I have searched the forums here yet I still cannot find out any REAL information about what to expect (what kinds of activities) in the kids clubs.

 

From pictures and video that I've seen on You-tube, the Fun Factory is VERY small. (We have been on Disney before and the kids have a HUGE area). I'm worried that my kids (the 9 and 11 y/o) will be BORED!

 

Please help! What have your kids experienced in the Fun Factory? What can I get my kids excited about?

[MessyJessy]

We took a 7 day on Silhouette the other week (April 12). I saved all the fun factory sheets left in our cabin. I can share them if you would like. It's not Alaska...but it will give you a general idea.

 

Our daughter is 7 and she loved the fun factory and wanted to go whenever it was open. Lots of activities, crafts, games, family game time, face painting and field trips (ocean view for ice cream, theater for circus theme show, etc.,).

[KrystaGali]

Jessy,

That would be awesome!!! I'm fairly new to CC so how would we go about sharing those?:)

[GatorMomInNC]

We are sailing on Solstice to Alaska this Summer. We are traveling with a large party of 12 including 7 adults and 5 children (2, 6, 8, 9 and 11). I know the 2 y/o will be limited in what he can participate in and only while his parents are present.

 

I have looked at Celebrity's website and I have searched the forums here yet I still cannot find out any REAL information about what to expect (what kinds of activities) in the kids clubs.

 

From pictures and video that I've seen on You-tube, the Fun Factory is VERY small. (We have been on Disney before and the kids have a HUGE area). I'm worried that my kids (the 9 and 11 y/o) will be BORED!

 

Please help! What have your kids experienced in the Fun Factory? What can I get my kids excited about?

 

I am following this thread! We are going on Solstice to Alaska with 2 boys ages 11 and 8. We are used to Disney and huge kids club and tons of activities for the whole family. When I showed my kids pictures of the tiny kids club, they were like "meh"!

I am also concerned that there will be hardly any kids on our cruise (the last one, in September).

[MessyJessy]

Here you go! Hope this helps.

 

The 2 weeks prior to our sailing was spring break. The factory staff said they had over 100 children in her age group 3-8 for those sailings. On ours, there were 8 in her age category.

 

I'm sure it's not going to be similar to Disney cruise line as far as size or activities. They don't have a bibbidi boutique but they do have theme nights. Sometimes they did face painting for pirate night and carnival theme.

 

They did offer clean, secure facilities that were well staffed. They had a variety of video games too for older kids.

 

They offered enough to engage my daughter and she met a few kids (from Australia, Canada and Midwest) that she had fun playing with.

 

It probably will depend on your child's personality and interests of they enjoy the fun factory. For us, it worked. However, our daughter is pretty laid back and we don't have a gaming system at home. She enjoyed the crafts and games with other children.

 

 

 

 

[MessyJessy]

Here is a link to the pdf file to make it easier to see the program schedule.

 

Fun Factory Schedule

[Cruise Arizona]

We cruise with Celebrity 5 times when our kids were between the ages of 7 and 14. The number of kids on board varied with ship and itinerary from as little a 3 to as many as 123.

 

Staff keep them busy with games, arts and crafts, and themed activities. Games varied from sports type activities to board games and the occasional video game.

 

On the Solstice my kids also love the Hot Glass show and bocce ball or bean bag toss on the lawn.

[KrystaGali]

Thank you all for your input.

Yikes only 3 kids on a cruise??? I sure hope my kids have more than just each other to play with. I guess I'll find out when we are on board.

[CanadianDee]

These activities look like a ton of fun.

 

We'll be on the Reflection with our granddaughter ... I would imagine the Fun Factory offerings are similar throughout the fleet?

 

She didn't care for Camp Carnival much, partly because I think the themes, at least on the days/times she went, were pretty loose. The prince and princess party (for which she looked forward to, and dressed up for - she's nearly 5) was a disappointing non-event for her. :-(

 

I've heard nothing but positive things about Celebrity, so I'm hoping she'll engage more with Fun Factory.

[GatorMomInNC]

Thank you all for your input.

Yikes only 3 kids on a cruise??? I sure hope my kids have more than just each other to play with. I guess I'll find out when we are on board.

 

Yes, that is scary!

 

You aren't by any chance on the Solstice in September?

[KrystaGali]

Yes, that is scary!

 

You aren't by any chance on the Solstice in September?

 

Nope. We are going in August.

[Cruise Arizona]

Thank you all for your input.

Yikes only 3 kids on a cruise??? I sure hope my kids have more than just each other to play with. I guess I'll find out when we are on board.

 

 

The cruise with three kids was a Trans Atlantic, kids were about 10 and 12 years old I think, maybe 11 and 13. Any way, they had a blast on that cruise. They would go to the fun factory and basically the counselors would give them some choices and they could decide what to do. They had a schedule of activities every day based on what they normally do, but often the kids wanted to play monopoly or clue or a card game.

 

The kids actually enjoyed doing a lot of activities with us too like trivia, and some of the other all ages activities. On the second TA I think there were 10 kids or so on board, and on that one my kids loved the Hot Glass show.

 

When I was a kid my parents took me cruising and there was no such thing as a kids program, so we did things with Mom and Dad like ballroom dancing, or moved the wooden horses for the "horse races" or we would play in the pool. If you are going when school is out there will be a nice number of kid on board.

 

The good thing about Celebrity is that the ship will never be completely overwhelmed with kids because of the limited number of quads, and even those can't all be filled due to life boat restrictions. Carnival and Royal Caribbean have their ships set up to fill all those berths. Celebrity has to quit selling 3rd and 4ths even before they all sell out.

[KrystaGali]

 

 

The good thing about Celebrity is that the ship will never be completely overwhelmed with kids because of the limited number of quads, and even those can't all be filled due to life boat restrictions. Carnival and Royal Caribbean have their ships set up to fill all those berths. Celebrity has to quit selling 3rd and 4ths even before they all sell out.

 

This is exactly why I tried to convince the person coordinating our cruise (multi family with 5 kids ranging in age from 2 to 11) that Disney would have been a better cruise line for us. But, Disney would have cost 15K more for the same cruise. :( This is also why each family has to have 2 staterooms instead of 1.

 

There are two things I am nervous about on this cruise....activities for the kids and packing without having access to self serve laundry. Oh well, take it as it comes I guess.

[cynthia808]

This is exactly why I tried to convince the person coordinating our cruise (multi family with 5 kids ranging in age from 2 to 11) that Disney would have been a better cruise line for us. But, Disney would have cost 15K more for the same cruise. :( This is also why each family has to have 2 staterooms instead of 1.

 

There are two things I am nervous about on this cruise....activities for the kids and packing without having access to self serve laundry. Oh well, take it as it comes I guess.

 

We have taken our 8 yr old & 4 year old on almost every cruise line, even Disney. They love Celebrity & Princess the best. They were disappointed with Disney. The staff in the Fun Factory had lots of activities & knew them personally. We are headed on Celebrity on May 22, & my sons can't wait to go to the Fun factory. He loves it so much that he says he may not get off the boat.

Kids can stay on the boat while we get off the boat. We only pay for the Fun factory during lunch time supervision because they take them to buffet for lunch.

If this helps you my boys are active boys who play every sport.

If your 2 year olds is potty trained with no diaper he/she can possibly go to fun factory too. My youngest son was able too. It will be up to the supervisor.

There is a family veranda which is double the size of regular cabin. Check with your agent.

[CoopColbie]

We did a family cruise on the Solstice in December last year. My boys were 6 and 4 at the time and loved going to the kids club. The counsellors were great and there were lots of activities and options for them. The cruise was right at the start of school holidays so there were a lot of kids for them to play with. But even on port days, when lots of kids got off with their families, my boys still wanted to go to and had a great time in the kids club.

Edited May 13, 2015 by CoopColbie