Question about Circle C program (12-14yr olds)

[elektrawmn]

Hi All!

 

Scheduled to go on the Sensation in November with my 13 yr old daughter.

 

Wanted to know if anyone can offer up pros and cons with the Cirlce C program.

She's very excited and I'm sure it will be a full group since it's Thanksgiving week.

 

Also, I'm a bit leery with letting my daughter come and go from the program without having to be signed out. Any tips would be appreciated, especially with things to discuss ahead of time as well as staying in communication with each other.

 

Thanks so much!

[2paradise]

Following. I would like to know too!

 

Thanks! :)

[Drazil65]

My son is in this group as well. He was 12 over our new years cruise on the Liberty and 12 1/2 in August on the Fantasy. He will be 13 on our Valor cruise Jan 2nd, you do not have to let them sign themselves out in this group if you do not want to or are uncomfortable. We did not let him on either the Liberty or the Fantasy. He was fine when he went (only goes for certain activities) and he said the Liberty was much more fun. It will be the same on the upcoming Valor cruise.

 

My child does not run the streets at home, nor is he outside unsupervised at any time so I cannot reason letting him run unsupervised on a ship full of strangers and things to get into. He goes through the schedule for circle c and lets us know what he is interested in. The bigger the ship the more there is to do I guess and he usually has fun with whatever he chooses and there were several kids that stayed in the circle c room with him. The groups seemed to have fun.

 

He did make many friends and saw them on the waterslides later so DH and I could hang out and watch them while relaxing as he had friends to go on the waterslides with.

Edited September 14, 2015 by Drazil65

[sarahbeth476]

Last November we sailed on the Dream with 2 other families. My daughter, then 12 was in Circle C with 2 other friends. They had some fun in the group, but its very unstructured. There were times my daughter would go and not see a camp counselor but they could hang out in the space. My daughter is pretty shy, so she didn't go as often as her two friends. My son, then 9, was in the Camp Carnival with a friend and they had way more fun. We also allowed them to check themselves out too.

 

On the first day, we walked with our kids back and forth to Circle C (and Camp Carnival) and our cabin, letting the kids walk first and us parents trailing, so we could see if the kids could find our room. They could, so we felt pretty good about them walking around-the ships can be kind of confusing. We preferred if the friends would all walk together, but did not insist on this.

 

Other things that helped- we had their room keys on a lanyards-so they wouldn't lose it. We decorated our door, to make it easier to find. And we used bright sticky notes on the mirror inside the room to communicate where and when we all would be. We had some general check in times. And this worked really well for us.

 

I think going in November near Thanksgiving would be a fun time and I'm sure your daughter will make friends. My kids most enjoyed the scavenger hunts.

[maeormaenot]

My son was 12 the first time we cruised, and will be 14 this February on the Dream.

 

He is not a big fan of the Circle C program. He feels that some days its kinda "babyish". We always cruise with another couple and their son is the same age as mine, he seems to enjoy it more. He does always go, and joins in on different things that he feels like doing. Usually he ends up playing basketball or volleyball all day.

 

What works for us, may not work for you but this is how we do it:

DS and his friend both have walkie talkies, so do we.

We leave notes just in case. Every morning we get an idea of their plans for the day. They know we will be laid out sunning, if there is a major change...they come tell, or call us on walkie. Every night, they are to be at dinner unless arranged before hand. No going in other people's rooms (except each other) and no one comes in our rooms. Stay together. Keep an eye on your drink, do not accept drinks from anyone. Be in room by 12, sometimes later if there is something they don't wanna miss. My son hunts/fishes by himself, he is independent, and is responsible-most of the time. But he is still a teenager. I give him his space, until I see a reason not to. He has done very well on every cruise and he knows if he messes up...he stays with the grandparents while we cruise. IMHO if you don't give them freedom, when they get a little taste of it, they aren't gonna know what to do with it.

 

As far as in port...he is right beside me or his daddy. No other option given.

 

Have fun...I'm so jelly...I have 160 more days!!!

Edited September 14, 2015 by maeormaenot

[sweenbean21]

We let our son begin checking himself out at 9 1/2. He is very responsible and we felt safe with this. He knew one slip up and the perk would be gone! He had to stay in the club until a set time, that was decided up front based on the activities that day, and had to report to us at the location designated immediately. It worked well.

[Cruznjuly]

Our son was 13 on the Breeze this summer and he's pretty shy.

We found that there is a clique of "cool kids" who hung around and soon the quiet kids kind of fell by the wayside.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[cruizinisthebest]

My son was in Circle C for the first time last month on the Sunshine. From all accounts, he enjoyed himself and made friends. You know it's hard to get information out of a 12 yo boy. Like pulling teeth!

 

Each day he would look over his schedule and decide what he wanted to do. I found there to be alot of activities. More than I thought it would be. But not everything is supervised. Just lay out the ground rules and repeat them until they are like "ok ok, I got it." Then drill them in again! I didn't try to scare him to death. I wanted him to have fun. But Circle C is a whole different ball game from Camp Carnival.

 

My son had to check-in (we all had the social media plan specifically for this purpose if nothing else), and he had a curfew. I quite pleased that he never broke it once in 8 days. Circle C has no sign in and out option. The kids are free to come and go as they please at all times.

 

Make sure your daughter knows her way around and exactly where her room is. Pick meeting spots. The Pizza joint was one of ours. My son is VERY introverted but made friends and most of them were in tears on the last night at the farewell party. Hope this helps. Enjoy your cruise!

[minnesotamamafish]

Google "cruise ship teen contract." You can choose to just use the samples for their suggested rules and discuss why the rules are important, or actually type one up and have her sign it. It may provide more incentive to actually follow the rules, and the consequences of not doing so are clearly laid out.

[IPlayWithString]

Has anybody with an autistic kid whose done Circle C? Because he would tend to wander, get lost and then have a meltdown because he's lost, our son wouldn't be allowed to check himself in/out and I'm concerned he would just stay in the Circle C room playing video games all day long if there's not a lot of structured entertainment, games, etc.

[singbluesilver1]

You should check out autism on the seas

 

We took our severely autistic son on s cruise with them and it was excellent