New ncl kids camp policy (Live from the GEM)

[jbiz]

Maybe your kids will have to adjust, or maybe they will lose out to the kids who are the waiting types. Either way if they say there's no room tell them your kids are not the waiting types lol.

 

 

Not sure why you keep trying to make the parents seem unreasonable. I am guessing you don't have school age kids and this topic is of no specific relevance to you (other than the side effect of possibly more kids elsewhere) so kind of surprised to see you soo engaged in this thread.

 

I think most of the conversations on this thread have been reasonable and about parents planning to travel with their kids and a new set of rules and procedures they might unexpectedly have.

 

The capacity and safety topic, however much I think is not "really" the point since that is the capacity of only one room not the ship other facilities and nothing to do with what events they actually run for kids, is at least valid for this thread.

 

On the contrary seems like your "tell them your kids are not the waiting types lol." Comments are more like trolling and trying to stir up some conflict in this thread and just seem to be causing noise.. I could be wrong but...

 

 

 

 

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[LMaxwell]

I understand that there has to be a limit somewhere. But such a low number seems to indicate a shortage of staffing and / or a pay to participate program coming. I would hate to waste three hours per day dealing with a kids club.

 

As far as pushing families away; TMNT golf, ropes courses, water parks, Dora, Spongebob, KSF...believe me, they don't want singles or DINK's. Families spend money and the ships are set up to accomodate families. Or so it would have seemed.

 

We are going on Escape with our kid and yes, there are times it would be nice to know he is in a supervised, structured activity, a safe environment with other kids his age to play and be entertained. NCL has told us of all these kid and family friendly amenities. No, I don't expect to drop him there 24/7, but NCL has told us that as parents we can expect to spend time together without our child doing adult activities as well.

 

I can say none of this has EVER been an issue on Royal Caribbean.

[tvguy72]

We have not yet done DCL but unless they get serious about the outrageous prices, it won't happen. I know people say it is well worth it but if I can stay at the GF for the same price as I can for an OV cabin, I'm taking GF (which we would never do - we are POFQ people).

 

 

DCL is a premium cruise line. You get what you pay for. Unlike NCL, RCCL, CARNIVAL, Princess they are mainstream. Disney is hands down worth every penny they charge. You are paying for an experience you will not get on the aforementioned mainstream lines.

 

You are definitely in the extremely small minority who thinks that way. And, unlike every other line, DCL sails year round at 110% occupancy. That has to tell you something.

 

Every client I've every booked RAVE about it. I have toured the Magic, Wonder , fantasy

Food and service top notch.

 

I hope you change your mind and give them a shot, you will see the difference.

 

[emoji3]

[coldflame]

So many people commenting in this thread with so much self-righteousness and so little clue about child-care safety rules and regulation is disheartening.

 

Cruise lines are given (by the regulating agencies) the maximum capacity as well as the maximum suggested child:care-taker ratio. That max number can be lowered if for whatever reason they don't have enough personnel, even if the physical space is the same.

 

In case you missed the safety drill, in the unlikely event that the ship should be evacuated or an on-board emergency, those people will be wholly responsible for marshaling and shepherding all the kids to safety. It's not you -- in fact, you won't be allowed to go get your kid in the case of an emergency --, or anyone else in the ship, for that matter. The youth leaders and care-takers are the ones to follow safety protocol. They cannot accept more kids than they can handle. It's a simple concept, not sure why people are upset by this.

 

We always travel with both of our kids who are 10 and under. And if I the kids can't get in the club, it's so freaking easy to entertain them in a cruise, really, not understanding the pitchforks and torches attitude.

 

If this is not acceptable to you, fine, cancel your reservation. No need to spew your sour grapes about the $7.95 room service change in every thread that pops up in this forum.

[jbiz]

Not having small children, I don't know the answer to this, but wonder is there a rule about the number of children per staff member?

 

 

When I asked they specifically said the security officer was the one who determined max capacity in the room. It's actually about 20 in the 3-5 room and 55+/- in the main room (for the 6-9 and 10-12)

 

Now it could be that tied to that number and a capacity per child, using a new process they will need to hire more staff since they would have to move around the ship more and need more coverage in a per child basis (but that then would require more staff, more costs, and even assumes its part of the equation)

 

 

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[djmess]

That looks like a 7.6 to 1 Kid to Staff ratio. Kids that make it into the club should get some awesome special attention.

 

I'm so glad my son is now 12. We have the Escape TA planned (we homeschool) and there will probably be very few to no kids, so it shouldn't be a problem. After that the next cruise planned he will be 13.

 

I've said over the years that NCL's kids club has gone down hill in it's offering. When we began cruising NCL almost exclusively 10 years ago, it was because of the kids club and how it fit freestyle. It used to NEVER close between 10am-10pm. I NEVER left my kid all day, but in those early years it was great to have flexibility with nap/rest times and some adult times. Then a couple years ago they began closing for a total of 4 hours in that time frame. Forced everyone with kids to eat lunch and dinner at the same time. We've seen some results of that with long waits to get into dining rooms.

 

Unfortunately, now I think we will begin to see even more complaining about kids "running" around the ship, invading the pools and that includes the Haven. Parents that actually supervise their kids, will not be able to spend as much time in the casino. There will be more kids taking up seats in the bars as they will have to be with their parents. Then those kids, maybe the 10 and up age that may not need constant supervision will be wondering around the ship much more because they can't get into the club to have some supervised fun. NCL had/has a policy that 10+ could sign themselves in and out of the club. I know my 12 y/o will NOT wait 30 minutes to sign himself in and then be required to stay for 2 hours if there is a chance that he is the only 12 y/o and everyone else that got in was 6. He would much rather hang with me at a bar (martini tasting for example) and play his IPad. Sorry, but that is what will happen.

 

Such a crazy move NCL. After reading on some other cruiseline threads, if there is a capacity issue, it seems that they move kids to other areas of the ship.

 

I am using up all my Future cruise reward certificates. Cruises booked through 2017. Have not bought any new ones and will just wait and see what happens.

[jbiz]

 

 

 

In case you missed the safety drill, in the unlikely event that the ship should be evacuated or an on-board emergency, those people will be wholly responsible for marshaling and shepherding all the kids to safety. It's not you -- in fact, you won't be allowed to go get your kid in the case of an emergency --, or anyone else in the ship, for that matter. The youth leaders and care-takers are the ones to follow safety protocol. They cannot accept more kids than they can handle. It's a simple concept, not sure why people are upset by this.

 

 

 

We always travel with both of our kids who are 10 and under. And if I the kids can't get in the club, it's so freaking easy to entertain them in a cruise, really, not understanding the pitchforks and torches attitude.

 

 

 

If this is not acceptable to you, fine, cancel your reservation. No need to spew your sour grapes about the $7.95 room service change in every thread that pops up in this forum.

 

 

I think you are missing the point entirely. No one (at least no one reasonable) is saying to do ANYTHING that would compromise the safety of the kids or anyone on the ship for that matter.

 

It's up to each parent and their kids to decide how they want to spend THEIR cruise. It's not up to you to decide that they should go find other activities on their own. The line aggressively promotes their kids programs and never once discusses some sort of limit as to when your kids can play, and even so, such a SMALL limit makes it not even worth mentioning as it sets unrealistic expectations.

 

I have traveled with kids on ncl for many years, and this is a SIGNIFICANT change to their program and warrants being discussed and maybe a slight hope that ncl sees this an thinks again (not holding my breath)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[NLH Arizona]

When I asked they specifically said the security officer was the one who determined max capacity in the room. It's actually about 20 in the 3-5 room and 55+/- in the main room (for the 6-9 and 10-12)

 

Now it could be that tied to that number and a capacity per child, using a new process they will need to hire more staff since they would have to move around the ship more and need more coverage in a per child basis (but that then would require more staff, more costs, and even assumes its part of the equation)

 

 

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Thanks. Seems like maybe the Security Officer was quite conservative. I could see a small ratio of children to crew member for the smaller kids, but the older ones don't need as much supervision. Adding more staff would be the optimum measure, but would they have to take staff away from another part of the ship, due to cabin constraints? I would rather them take a few spaces away from say restaurant staff and add it to the children's programs, especially during holidays and the summer cruising times. Or they could add bunks to existing cabins, adding one more person to a few cabins or they could convert some passenger cabins to crew quarters. Edited May 25, 2015 by NLH Arizona

[legion3]

Okay, I often try to look at the other side of the coin, even though for some reason that makes people angry.

 

First of all, hasn't there always been a limit to the number of kids that can be in the kids club? Prior to both of our cruises last year we received emails warning us that there might not be space due to the volume of kids sailing, and to arrive early, etc. That part isn't new.

 

It's logical and expected that there would be a limit to # of kids due to safety. I think everyone would agree to that. Do we have any idea what that number was before? Do we know that the number was reduced, or is it just now finally being posted so that people are aware?

 

On both of our cruises last year (Getaway and Epic), there was never a time when there were more than 75 kids in the club at one time.

 

How can you be sure of that? Did you count them or some other way?

There was almost always a line of people waiting to sign their kids in. Were any kids turned away? Was yours? Lines occur but I have never seen a kid turned away after waiting in such a line If I'd gotten to the front after waiting all that time and been turned away, I'd have not been very happy that I wasted all the time waiting. Under this new system, it eliminates that (if I'm understanding correctly). You show up, you either get a ticket if there is space, or you don't if they are already handed out. Am I misunderstanding this? You wait in line to get a ticket and then don't get one, this system does not eleminate waiting in a long line to be disappointed in any way.

 

I haven't seen this mentioned yet, but during the late night (for pay hours) in the club, the most kids ever signed up on either of our cruises (which were overflowing with kids) was 11.

 

FYI, we sailed summer and Thanksgiving on Getaway and Epic - both "high kid" times on family ships.

And ddi anybody get turned away or did you hear complants ?

 

A lot of speculation on this other side of the coin.

 

On your sailings were any kids turned away or forced to get a ticket for each damn the club opened? According to the OP this is not an all day ticket it's once in and if you leave you may not come back, unless you wait in line again.

 

I'm sorry to everyone who wants to speculate but

 

has anybody who has used the kids club in the last bunch of years ever heard of this system?

 

The OP seems clear that her experience after 10 years with NCL is this is a major change.

 

So please stop with there has always been a limited number, certainly there is, but how many have heard of this system?

Edited May 25, 2015 by legion3

[legion3]

Thanks. Seems like maybe the Security Officer was quite conservative. I could see a small ratio of children to crew member for the smaller kids, but the older ones don't need as much supervision. Adding more staff would be the optimum measure, but would they have to take staff away from another part of the ship, due to cabin constraints? I would rather them take a few spaces away from say restaurant staff and add it to the children's programs, especially during holidays and the summer cruising times. Or they could add bunks to existing cabins, adding one more person to a few cabins or they could convert some passenger cabins to crew quarters.

 

Are you guessing how many crew bunks there are?

[CavalierX]

However, without this service they will have less people in the Casino, playing Bingo,those 'bar hopping thingies' (I forget what they're called), and I'm sure more things I haven't mentioned.....as they won't have anyone to care for their children to allow them to do these things.

 

Harriet

 

Someone, somewhere ran a cost/benefit analysis and figured they'd make a few more bucks from the kids wanting Cokes or pastries from Carlos' or other things that would cost money (my two nephews once ran up a $50 tab in a couple of hours just playing video games in the arcade, for instance). And then there's always renting a movie in the cabin for them to watch... and then, of course, you have to order snacks via room service. Plus, NCL can hire fewer camp counselors to save even more dollars.

Edited May 25, 2015 by CavalierX

[luvtovaca]

Can anyone clarify if this new policy includes the teen age group? Most posts seem to be for the up to 12 age groups. Thanks!

[CavalierX]

Not sure why you keep trying to make the parents seem unreasonable.

 

NCL cheerleaders start with the premise that NCL is always right and the customer is always wrong; therefore, any problems must be the fault of passengers who just like to complain and cause trouble over nothing.

[jbiz]

Can anyone clarify if this new policy includes the teen age group? Most posts seem to be for the up to 12 age groups. Thanks!

 

 

I have to check but the 76 does NOT count teens. I think they have their own limit since they have the teen club, so it's whatever that rooms limit is

 

 

 

 

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[MCAT48]

I don't consider people with legit concerns about this to be self righteous. Who wants to wait in line for an unlimited time only to be turned away or wait until another kid leaves in order to get their child in the club. Considering the limited times the club is actually opened during the day...that's a lot of waiting around.

It would work better if they extend the times the club is open and not close it so often during the day.

[jbiz]

has anybody who has used the kids club in the last bunch of years ever heard of this system?

 

 

 

The OP seems clear that her experience after 10 years with NCL is this is a major change.

 

 

 

 

 

We were on the gem about 2.5 years ago and there was never any discussion of a limit. And it was a thanksgiving sailing. Kids were 5 and 8 then

 

And OP is a he ;-) Lol

 

- Jon

 

 

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Edited May 25, 2015 by jbiz

[jbiz]

I don't consider people with legit concerns about this to be self righteous. Who wants to wait in line for an unlimited time only to be turned away or wait until another kid leaves in order to get their child in the club. Considering the limited times the club is actually opened during the day...that's a lot of waiting around.

 

It would work better if they extend the times the club is open and not close it so often during the day.

 

 

Let me sort of clarify something on the line part. The line is to get a ticket about 30 min prior to opening (so let's say 830am for the 9am session) and they start handing out tickets. Your kid does not need to be in line again with you until 9am when they actually open. After ticket #76 they have a clipboard sign up sheet where you put your name/room number and they will call you when a spot opens up. With this system I always get there 830-835 so I don't have to worry about it.

 

 

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[LrgPizza]

And ddi anybody get turned away or did you hear complants ?

 

A lot of speculation on this other side of the coin.

 

On your sailings were any kids turned away or forced to get a ticket for each damn the club opened? According to the OP this is not an all day ticket it's once in and if you leave you may not come back, unless you wait in line again.

 

I'm sorry to everyone who wants to speculate but

 

has anybody who has used the kids club in the last bunch of years ever heard of this system?

 

The OP seems clear that her experience after 10 years with NCL is this is a major change.

 

So please stop with there has always been a limited number, certainly there is, but how many have heard of this system?

There is a lot of speculation all around. I have not yet sailed under this new policy, and I'm guessing neither have you. I have decided to try to gather more information before simply getting pi**ed off. I'm sorry that rattles you, for some crazy reason.

 

No, I've never heard of this system. I do know that lines to pick up have been long on all my cruises. So have lines to check in. My son was never turned away. It doesn't sound like the OPs kids were turned away, unless I missed that part. When I sailed, I was not informed what the capacity was, and I'd be interested to know. There were NEVER more than 75, and I do know that, because I constantly asked staff how many were in there, and also because my son has half a brain and can count. (Genius, right?!)

 

We were on the gem about 2.5 years ago and there was never any discussion of a limit. And it was a thanksgiving sailing. Kids were 5 and 8 then

 

And OP is a he ;-) Lol

 

- Jon

Thanks, Jon, for sharing all this info. Do you know how this affects the ability of kids (I think 10 and above) to sign themselves in and out of the club? That was one of our tricks to avoid the lines, but it certainly doesn't sound like it would work with this new system.

 

Have you noticed lots of children being turned away? Again, I am wondering if this is a new limit amount, or if for the first time the limit that has always been in place is being posted. There was never a discussion of what the limit was previously (at least that I was told), but we were warned that space was limited via email on both our cruises.

[William W]

I was on the Gem the week before the OP cruise. In a way, they have already improved the system by issuing tickets. During the last night of the cruise, my DW and DS lined up at 6:30, half an hour prior to the kids club opening, only to find out at 7:45 after they finishing processing the first 76 kids that they no longer have rooms for my son. If they were issuing tickets prior to Splash Academy openings in the evening during the week we were on, they would not have wasted an hour and 15 minutes standing in line for nothing and could have gone to the farewell show or participated in some other activities.

 

On the flip side, I can understand where they are coming from. My son was just in the pool an hour before the drowning happened in the pool. And the pool along with the hot tubs were pack, and capacity level is not enforced. The hot tub say maximium capacity of 8, and there must have been at least 15 if not 20 kids stuffed in each of the hot tub. And I wasn't there nor did I do a head count when my son was there, but I would assume the main pool would have been over capacity by the same percentage as the hot tub at the time of drowning, yet no one was enforcing the rule.

 

In my opinion, NCL should look at increasing staffing level at the Splash Academy to increase capacity given the KSF promos they have been running lately.

Edited May 25, 2015 by William W

[texangal39]

Sailed on the Epic @ Thanksgiving 2010 and we were advised then that the kids club could fill up and our DD might not get in all of the time as there were 1500 kids on board. It turned out not to be a problem b/c whenever we went there was space. She never stayed all day, but I think since there were so many other activities on board (other family activities, water slides, sports deck, etc) no ones kids stayed all day ... So I don't understand what the big deal is? I am a Risk Manager and it makes since to me that NCL may be working on enforcing their safety policies for the good of the guests on board. We could speculate all day as to the "why" but it doesn't gain us a thing except frustration. I guess if they already believed the many activities they have on board are sufficient, maybe they didn't think they needed to move the programs to another venue. If you want change, legitimately ask for it. The best way to express your dissatisfaction would be to email the NCL corporate offices and submit your suggestions; I'm sure many of my fellow CC members have some great ideas that NCL would benefit from in this regard -- it takes a village and all that! Griping on the CC board doesn't get us much except the satisfaction of complaining and it's not the appropriate medium for addressing a legitimate concern with NCL. At least you can say you tried and if it doesn't work, then move your dollars elsewhere. I will be sending my official email this afternoon and ask everyone else who is serious about their concerns to join me. So, happy letter writing and happy cruising!

[LrgPizza]

I was on the Gem the week before the OP cruise. In a way, they have already improved the system by issuing tickets. During the last night of the cruise, my DW and DS lined up at 6:30, half an hour prior to the kids club opening, only to find out at 7:45 after they finishing processing the first 76 kids that they no longer have rooms for my son. If they were issuing tickets prior to Splash Academy openings in the evening during the week we were on, they would not have wasted an hour and 15 minutes standing in line for nothing and could have gone to the farewell show or participated in some other activities.

That's ridiculous! I hope they get this ironed out. I'd be livid if I had to stand around for that long.

[cadien]

We were on the Star in April, so apparently after this policy was implemented.

 

There was not an official capacity posted, but we absolutely were lining up 30 minutes before opening, three times a day. I'm pretty sure the staff said it was 80 for the room. And kids were regularly turned away, especially in the 6-9 age group. That was a regular topic of conversation among the parents while waiting in line. Sometimes one kid would make it in but the sibling would not, because of being in different age groups.

 

The 10-12 group was in a conference room at the other end of the ship. It was right next door to the library and they were LOUD so I wonder how well that went over.

 

They did regularly take the 6-9 group outside, but that didn't change room capacity. They still all got checked into and out of the club and only spent part of the time outside.

 

DS was in the 3-5 group and they had four counselors. Much more than I was expecting, so we had to hit the casino ATM for tips.

 

There's no question it was inconvenient. Especially being three times a day, not to mention the mandatory pick-up at 12 and 5. We spent a lot of time either standing in line or keeping an eye on the clock. He had such a great experience in there though.

 

I don't really see this being a cost-cutting issue. As others have said, there are so many things that parents can't spend money on when they have the kids with them. Things much more expensive than sodas and video games. The afternoon wine and martini tastings. The speciality restaurants in the evening. The spa. The jewelry. The casino.

[MissDaisyofTexas]

I was on the Gem the week before the OP cruise. In a way, they have already improved the system by issuing tickets. During the last night of the cruise, my DW and DS lined up at 6:30, half an hour prior to the kids club opening, only to find out at 7:45 after they finishing processing the first 76 kids that they no longer have rooms for my son. If they were issuing tickets prior to Splash Academy openings in the evening during the week we were on, they would not have wasted an hour and 15 minutes standing in line for nothing and could have gone to the farewell show or participated in some other activities.

 

On the flip side, I can understand where they are coming from. My son was just in the pool an hour before the drowning happened in the pool. And the pool along with the hot tubs were pack, and capacity level is not enforced. The hot tub say maximium capacity of 8, and there must have been at least 15 if not 20 kids stuffed in each of the hot tub. And I wasn't there nor did I do a head count when my son was there, but I would assume the main pool would have been over capacity by the same percentage as the hot tub at the time of drowning, yet no one was enforcing the rule.

 

In my opinion, NCL should look at increasing staffing level at the Splash Academy to increase capacity given the KSF promos they have been running lately.

 

You waited 1 hour and 15 minutes to get into the kids club???!!!??? Whoa.

 

We are going in mid-October when a lot of schools have Fall break, but I don't think the kids around the NYC area have fall break at that time, so maybe there won't be so many kids on our Breakaway cruise.

 

My concern would be that we book a specialty dinner and Rock of Ages show (not appropriate for small kids) for my husband and me and when we try to get the kids to the clubs for our date night they will be full. Would our dinner cost be refunded? I hope so. :)

[legion3]

You don't piss me off this policy does. And this is a big reason to cancel our upcoming ncl cruise if this becomes some sort of norm.

 

Why is NCL coming up with this stupidity?

 

And whats next?

[texangal39]

I was on the Gem the week before the OP cruise. In a way, they have already improved the system by issuing tickets. During the last night of the cruise, my DW and DS lined up at 6:30, half an hour prior to the kids club opening, only to find out at 7:45 after they finishing processing the first 76 kids that they no longer have rooms for my son. If they were issuing tickets prior to Splash Academy openings in the evening during the week we were on, they would not have wasted an hour and 15 minutes standing in line for nothing and could have gone to the farewell show or participated in some other activities.

 

 

 

On the flip side, I can understand where they are coming from. My son was just in the pool an hour before the drowning happened in the pool. And the pool along with the hot tubs were pack, and capacity level is not enforced. The hot tub say maximium capacity of 8, and there must have been at least 15 if not 20 kids stuffed in each of the hot tub. And I wasn't there nor did I do a head count when my son was there, but I would assume the main pool would have been over capacity by the same percentage as the hot tub at the time of drowning, yet no one was enforcing the rule.

 

 

 

In my opinion, NCL should look at increasing staffing level at the Splash Academy to increase capacity given the KSF promos they have been running lately.

 

 

I can see the wait to be a clear problem and maybe they haven't thought about how to cure the issue. Perhaps they might spare a staff member to do line checks and a head count and cut the line off before people wait too long. I've already stated I'm writing an email to NCL today and think I'll include it as one of my suggestions. They won't get things perfect all the time, but if we as guests communicate to them our ideas and concerns on how to improve things we can certainly hope they listen and things will get better. If they don't then we can sail on another line.