Adventure Ocean Questions

[larkwind]

I'd like to start a thread for AO questions--easier to find quickly if they're all in one spot.

My first are about port days--is there a cost for leaving kids in AO while parents go ashore on an excursion? Another thread mentioned that the pagers (for the youngest group only, it seems) don't work off the ship--true? Any other comments about AO on port days?

[cruizinmimi]

larkwind

 

I can only answer for the 3-5 and 6-8 groups. Yes, AO is open during port days and No, there is no charge. They do have pagers for the 3-5 group, but they do not work off the ship.

 

My grandson (who is now in the 6-8 group) absolutely loves the AO programs.:)

 

Linda

[4merlurker]

Great thread! I'm sure us parents all have tons of questions about AO!!

 

If AO takes the kids to JR's is it comp also I read on an older post that if they take the kids to the arcade its "free" games :confused: Can anyone confirm?

 

Thanks,

~Connie :) 2 more weeks!!!!!!!

[4merlurker]

OK, got another one...or two: If the kids stay past 10pm can they charge it on their own seapass or does it have to go on the parents?

 

Whats the deal with the 12-14 group. I read they get kicked out around 10pm so the "older" teens can come in. What's up with that??? :confused: And where are they supposed to go??

 

~Connie

[cruizinmimi]

I'll try and answer, but keep in mind this is from experience with my grandson who is in the 6-8 group.

 

When they took them in May to the JR my daughter had to use her sea pass card to pay and also late night (after 10pm) babysitting. I do not think they took that group to the arcade, I just don't remember that one.

 

Maybe someone else can answer the older group. I do believe at the age of 10-12, their sea pass cards can be used like adults. You can put limits on their card though. It seems like I do remember that, but maybe someone else with experience from that age group can answer.

 

Linda

[MGoodyear]

Hi

 

Our son LOVES AO, we do not give him charge privileges though, The older kids have their own area later at nite, depending on the ship, they have a teen disco that is supervised, on our June Cruise on Mariner, there we alot of young teens in the disco having a great time.

 

They do not kick the younger kids out of AO.

[DPurcell58]

On the Voyager in Aug, my son went to Johnny Rockets with AO and I never paid anything.

[bld16]

1. Port days I remember the AO club opening 1/2 hour before we were able to leave the ship for the port and stayed open straight through until 1/2 hour after left port. Lunch at JR was comp., the 8-10 year group also did a backstage tour with the dancers, and ice skaters.

 

2. We gave my 10 yo sea pass charge authority ($50.00 limit for the trip) She was very good about not spending money. However, the ship crew did tell me that if she went over her limit I was still responsible!

 

3. 8-10yo can sign themselves in and out of AO if you give permission. However, I felt the need to keep a closer watch on my daughter so she was not given permission to do this.

 

4. Remember that the AO closes sea days at meal times for 2 hours.

 

5. Most importantly, your children may not want to ever leave, I had to drag my daughter out.

[HappyFamilyNJ]

bld16 -- how did you set the seapass limit? Did you just tell her, or can the purser limit her spending? You are lucky your DD was good about it... I'm not sure if I trust my 9 year old DS to be so good! :eek:

[con3]

I have a 14 year old son who is pretty mature and usually gets along better with older kids. We will be on the Grandeur 4/8/06 for 5 nights, he turns 15 on April 19th. Does anyone know if they are really stict with the age groups for the teens or could he hang with the older group? (We are also going with another couple who has a son who will have just turned 15 before the cruise)

[coast2coast]

Here's what I pulled off from the RCI website.

 

"If your child wants to join a different age group, they must participate in one day-activity session and one night-activity session with their proper age group first. The Adventure Ocean Manager and youth staff will then make the decision based on their maturity level."

 

My daughter will be 5 1/2 when we go in December and has already told me that she wants to go to the "other side" of Adventure Ocean (6-8 age group). We'll see what they say...

 

Happy cruising!

[4merlurker]

I have a 14 year old son who is pretty mature and usually gets along better with older kids. We will be on the Grandeur 4/8/06 for 5 nights, he turns 15 on April 19th. Does anyone know if they are really stict with the age groups for the teens or could he hang with the older group? (We are also going with another couple who has a son who will have just turned 15 before the cruise)

 

From what I've read on these boards you will need to register your son in with his actual age group - then if the councelors think he is mature enough they will allow him to go with the older group. Good Luck!

 

~Connie

[iamkaramia]

They only allow the kids to bump down to the lower age group, not up.

[con3]

Thanks everyone! I guess we will see what happens, either way we will all have a great time!

[Tommy's Mommy]

Be prepared you will drag your kids kicking and screaming from Adventure Ocean. You must get over the fact that they have FUN there and prefer it over being with you. You will have to put your foot down on some occasions and make them go with you. The older they are the more they can read the daily schedule and want to go. Seriously, the activities are all age appropriate. Your kids must stay with their age group until they are signed out. At age 10 they can sign themselves out. That is strictly a personal decision. We did not allow our 10 year old to sign himself out. Go to Guest Relations and have a limit put on the SeaPass. The video arcade seems to be a big draw and there is a machine similar to an ATM where the kids can just add money onto their SeaPass. This is where the limit is a good idea. Also you can look at your daily SeaPass acount on the TV in your stateroom. That 's how we found out about the ATMSeapass thing. We had given our son a llimit verbally but he had no clue except that all the other kids went to the machine and could play more games.It will be noted on the calendar what days they can eat with AO. That is included. Otherwise, they eat with you. Have a great time.

[barbyma]

Moving from age group: CAN occur UP OR DOWN, but it is not just a matter of maturity. The AO staff also reserves the right to keep them in their age group to keep the distribution of kids to staff balanced. It will depend on the number of kids in each age group AND the child's behavior.

 

Signing out: The official age you can consent to self-checkout is 8, but I saw at least 2 families giving permission to allow children to sign out at 6 :eek:. Of course, they may have much older siblings that can escort them; I don't know.

 

The ship phones for the youngest group: I think this is more for the comfort of the parents than the AO staff; we never used ours even though we carried it everywhere. If they really needed you, they could always use the ship's PA system. No, they don't work off-ship, but the cool thing is that they now use ship phones, so you can call Portofino's for reso's or the Purser's desk, or whatever.

 

The one thing I was never able to find out on these boards before my trip last year: no snacks or drinks allowed in AO. They sometimes take the kids for ice cream or the like, but the kids can't just get a snack at the club. There are snacks & soda's available at the teen's club/disco.

 

I'd also like to add that the staff at AO are TOP NOTCH!

 

Barb

[wishtdream]

The one thing I was never able to find out on these boards before my trip last year: no snacks or drinks allowed in AO. They sometimes take the kids for ice cream or the like, but the kids can't just get a snack at the club. There are snacks & soda's available at the teen's club/disco.

 

I'd also like to add that the staff at AO are TOP NOTCH!

 

Barb

 

We were on the 10/7/05 sailing of voyager There was allways a platter of fresh fruit available for the 3-5 year old group. I agree that the staff at AO are TOP NOTCH! my dd loved it there.

 

Anna

[sailor05]

 

"If your child wants to join a different age group, they must participate in one day-activity session and one night-activity session with their proper age group first. The Adventure Ocean Manager and youth staff will then make the decision based on their maturity level."

 

This is exactly what they will make you do. My 5 yr. old was turning 6 less than a month after our cruise and she was older than most in the 3-5 yr. olds. She did two 2 hour sessions and then they allowed her to move up. We had to "force" her to come to dinner with us every night, even then we had to run her up during the dinner. She only went into port one time with us only because we were doing the dolphin encounter. They are open 1/2 hour before the first scheduled shore excursion until 1/2 hour after the last shore excursion group came in.

 

My 15 yr. old absolutely loved the program also. They constantly had sporting events, scavenger hunts, and lots of other things that kept him busy. So the only time we really saw him too was at dinner, then he was gone until 2-3 a.m. And he is still in contact with many of the kids through e-mail. He's excited about going again!

They did take them to JR's once for free. They also had one night that they got 2 free hours of video gaming. And at $1.50-$2.50 per game, that was nice!

[Excited about Cruising]

We are taking our 6, 9, and 11 on the Enchantment the beginning of March. What do they do?

[LisaGoeke]

I LOVE AO club. They were great with the kids. In port days they are open 1/2 hour before arriving and right around departure time, my husband and I were able to drop our kids off before we got off the island and explore without having to drag them along. They will feed them during the meal times and I believe they also had an afternoon snack. Correct, the pagers don't work off the ship but they said if it was a true emergency your seapass card would "beep" as soon as you got back on the ship and you would be informed of the emergency.

 

You can also sign up, for no charge, to have your kids dine with AO at Johnny Rockets three separate nights (2 of the nights were the formal ones).

[barbyma]

We are taking our 6, 9, and 11 on the Enchantment the beginning of March. What do they do?

 

They have a FULL schedule of age-appropriate activities, from games to cooking to science experiments to movies. They also have theme nights like "pajama party" and "pirate night". At "late night party zone", after 10pm they are a little looser, but still keep them busy with parades through the ship, etc. Some afternoons they take them for snacks like ice cream. On our last sea day they had a talent show for parents (and anyone else who wanted to see the cuties!).

 

Your kids will LOVE it.

 

Barb

[larkwind]

On our last cruise (Celebrity) the kids' program had a little talent show. What a hoot that was--funny jokes, imitations, etc. Does AO have anything like this for the kids? If so, do all ages participate?

[PelicanBill]

They did the talent show on Voyager... definitely for the 6-8 ages group, not sure how many others. They also did Circus of the Seas with the Cruise Comics, and a clown day with them too. Pirate night is don't miss.

 

Note on scheduling - if you are trying to schedule a couples Spa appointment such as Rasul or couples massage, especially for a sea day, do it on the very first day to get a clean time slot 9:30 or 10:00, or 1:30 - 2:30. You need to schedule the Spa appointment for 1/2 hour after adventure opens, and be sure your appointment is over 1/2 hour before it closes - that's a very small window and the spa fills up its books for sea days fast! Adenture ocean closes at 4pm several days and you may not be able to find out which days ahead of time.

 

We had a surprising thing happen. Our 6 year old would not go without a lot of cajoling... she was going through a "mommy separation anxiety" phase and so she only went 1/2 the time I expected. We talked to other parrents going through the same thing at that age. It's a common thing and it might not show up until on the ship and a room full of strangers. We made friends with a couple of other families with a child on her age group so there would be someone she knew and that helped. She got much better about it by the end of the trip.

[QuitMyDayJob]

The two kids in our group will be six and two years eight months. We're thinking that at least one port day the parents would like to do an excursion without the kids, but we're not sure if babysitting would be available for the two year old. My understanding is that under three there is no AO or similar (other than the parent-accompanied activities.)

 

Any thoughts from all you RCCL experienced cruisers out there?

[tupper]

The ship phones for the youngest group: I think this is more for the comfort of the parents than the AO staff; we never used ours even though we carried it everywhere. If they really needed you, they could always use the ship's PA system. No, they don't work off-ship, but the cool thing is that they now use ship phones, so you can call Portofino's for reso's or the Purser's desk, or whatever.

 

Does this mean that they are FREE (if I have a 3-5 yr old) and I will not have to rent one of the phones onboard? We were thinking of getting a phone for us and a phone for our 12 yr old, so maybe this means I only need to rent one for him, instead of two?