Princess Kids’ Club

[phabric]

57 minutes ago, Simple_Travels4578 said:

 

Hi. We just got off the Caribbean Princess for a Christmas/New Year's cruise. So of course there will be more kids on that kind of cruise than a transatlantic in the middle of January, for example.

 

A few years ago, we were attempting to book a cruise on Princess with our child and we were unable. Apparently there are safety rules for the maximum number of kids in certain age groups that can be on board. So there is a limit. But it's probably pretty big.

 

On sea days, there wasn't a cap on kids going to kid's club. But there might be a cap on port day programming. You have to sign them up for that the night before, and there is a limit. There are also limits on certain special activities such as Junior Chef, where they are taken into the Galley and taught how to decorate cakes. (And your kid's creation will be served to you in the MDR that night!)

 

Frankly, most of the kids on this cruise were well behaved and we didn't have any problems. But that's really luck of the draw. It only takes a few to ruin it. It's hard to generalize and say "Yes, it will be fine" or "No, it will be awful".

 

 

 

I am going with my cabinmate's 9yr granddaugther in March on the Caribbean Princess.  This will be the girl's first cruise and not sure if she will want to go to the kid's club.  I believe you need to go the first night to see the Kid's Club.

 

On the first night -

- do they give out the week's program so you can see what is going on for the all week?

- or do you have to go each day to get the daily program?

[ceilidh1]

36 minutes ago, phabric said:

 

I am going with my cabinmate's 9yr granddaugther in March on the Caribbean Princess.  This will be the girl's first cruise and not sure if she will want to go to the kid's club.  I believe you need to go the first night to see the Kid's Club.

 

On the first night -

- do they give out the week's program so you can see what is going on for the all week?

- or do you have to go each day to get the daily program?

The program for the whole cruise will be in your stateroom when you arrive on day one. You can check what will be of interest and pick and choose times to go. Open house and registration is usually for 2-3 hours on embarkation day, around 12pm-3pm if I recall. That is a great time to go because parents are allowed in to the club and you can wander through with your child to check it out - all other times, you drop off and pick up at the door. If you can't make the open house they have late registration during the first hour or so on the first night - parents can't walk through but they will ask you medical questions/pick up authorisation, etc. My biggest recommendation would be to have your child attend the first night - many friendships are made from the get-go and it's much easier walking into a situation where no one know each other than showing up next day when groups have already been established!

 

While we love Princess and cruise them way more than other lines, this has primarily been because the kids love the kids clubs so much. Quite honestly, if they had no interest in going to the clubs at all, I'm not sure how I would entertain them on the ship the whole time - the activities onboard (while mostly appropriate) are definitely geared more to the older crowd, and the ships don't have the bells and whistles that some of the other lines have. We are not a "sit by the pool" kind of family and while we enjoy hanging out together playing cards and board games, there is only so much time you can spend doing that!!!

 

Good luck - I'm sure the child will have a blast!

[phabric]

Thank you for the information.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

9 hours ago, Simple_Travels4578 said:

A few years ago, we were attempting to book a cruise on Princess with our child and we were unable. Apparently there are safety rules for the maximum number of kids in certain age groups that can be on board. So there is a limit. But it's probably pretty big.

this happened to us as well. We wanted Regal Princess, but ended up going on Caribbean princess to ABC islands, which was so much better in terms of the itinerary.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

7 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

While we love Princess and cruise them way more than other lines, this has primarily been because the kids love the kids clubs so much. Quite honestly, if they had no interest in going to the clubs at all, I'm not sure how I would entertain them on the ship the whole time - the activities onboard (while mostly appropriate) are definitely geared more to the older crowd, and the ships don't have the bells and whistles that some of the other lines have. We are not a "sit by the pool" kind of family and while we enjoy hanging out together playing cards and board games, there is only so much time you can spend doing that!!!

Our DS doesn't do kid's club, so I completely agree - Princess doesn't have anything in terms of family activities onboard... Sigh. So, we just went on Norwegian Getaway (average to below average food, but great activities and entertainment) and will be going on Allure of the Seas next (bad food, great activities and entertainment).

[cruiseyj]

18 hours ago, Simple_Travels4578 said:

 

Hi. We just got off the Caribbean Princess for a Christmas/New Year's cruise. So of course there will be more kids on that kind of cruise than a transatlantic in the middle of January, for example.

 

A few years ago, we were attempting to book a cruise on Princess with our child and we were unable. Apparently there are safety rules for the maximum number of kids in certain age groups that can be on board. So there is a limit. But it's probably pretty big.

 

On sea days, there wasn't a cap on kids going to kid's club. But there might be a cap on port day programming. You have to sign them up for that the night before, and there is a limit. There are also limits on certain special activities such as Junior Chef, where they are taken into the Galley and taught how to decorate cakes. (And your kid's creation will be served to you in the MDR that night!)

 

Frankly, most of the kids on this cruise were well behaved and we didn't have any problems. But that's really luck of the draw. It only takes a few to ruin it. It's hard to generalize and say "Yes, it will be fine" or "No, it will be awful".

 

 

 

there was a limit on the number of kids when we were on golden last October. You had to run up there right when it opened and sign your child up. After a certain number they didn't allow any more in. If you missed out you got priority for the next kids club session, but it was disappointing to miss out when the kids were excited.