Cruising with 11 year old on Celebrity Solstice

[Helen*Back]

Hi. Cruising to New Zealand on Celebrity Solstice next year (2019). Haven't been able to find much information on kids club for my 11 year old boy. I know there are no water slides, rock climbing..... am concerned he is going to get very bored. Anyone cruised Celebrity with a child this age?? Thanks for any help. 

[Chiliburn]

Celebrity is more aimed at a mature clientele.

But I don’t think he will have any problems they do cater for families.

you will have 2 sea days going there and coming back ,the rest of the time there will be ports to explore.You might want to get the internet for him?

[Helen*Back]

Thanks Chiliburn. Do you know if they have any childrens programs? Am trying to avoid getting the internet. Would be great to get him away from a screen for a while. 🙄😊 

[GUT2407]

They have kids programs and actually have a fair number of kids on some of their cruises.

 

of course that will be impacted by timing and cruise length.

 

my kids are way past that age (in fact I guess they could have an 11 year old of their own if they’d started in their early 20s)

 

Saw a group of kids (from kids club I assume) eating together in the buffet a few nights, with supervisors on hand.

[Helen*Back]

Thank you GUT2407. Am happy for him to spend as much time with us as he wants and certainly have all our meals together. Just don't want him to get bored. I was hoping they may have a group for kids his age to hang out and do some interesting activities. We are sailing over Christmas and New Years 2019/2020 so would expect a fair few kids on this cruise? 

[Swissmiss6253]

My daughter was 12 when we were on her last and enjoyed the kids club.  We will be on again in 5 days and my now 14 year old says she will give it a try again.

[Chiliburn]

3 hours ago, Helen*Back said:

Thank you GUT2407. Am happy for him to spend as much time with us as he wants and certainly have all our meals together. Just don't want him to get bored. I was hoping they may have a group for kids his age to hang out and do some interesting activities. We are sailing over Christmas and New Years 2019/2020 so would expect a fair few kids on this cruise? 

Does he want to mix with other kids because my daughter refused to enroll in kids groups ,Probably a bad thing on her behalf,some people are happy with their own company.

but she is now 18 and a cruise junky ,waiting for our next cruise.

 It’s a bit Ship and there’s ports to explore I wouldn’t worry to much.

[JenNZ]

We went on Solstice January 2017 when my boys were 11 and 14. They had such a great time and loved kids club. They also made some good friends that they would hang out with. They definitely didn't get bored at all over the 12 days and loved it so much they wanted to go again so we are heading away in a few weeks on Solstice again (also hoping there are kids their age this time!). Although Celebrity doesn't tend to aim at families however they definitely cater for them.  As you are travelling over Christmas/New Year there's a good chance there will be quite a few other families onboard 🙂 Oh and they do have a kids programme like most the other cruise lines with organized activities/sports competitions etc.

Edited December 30, 2018 by JenNZ

[Helen*Back]

Thanks everyone! We sailed on RCI (Radiance) when he was 7. He tried the kids club but he was locked in with a huge group of babies, toddlers..... needless to say he hated it! He lasted a couple of hours and never went back. 😂 Sounds like this will be more to his taste if he can not be placed in with 2yr olds. He has friends going so am sure he will be fine. I just couldn't find any info in my search. And good point that we will be off the ship a fair bit anyway. Hoping the weather will be warm enough on the crossing over and back for some use of the kids pool. 

[Chiliburn]

1 hour ago, Helen*Back said:

Thanks everyone! We sailed on RCI (Radiance) when he was 7. He tried the kids club but he was locked in with a huge group of babies, toddlers..... needless to say he hated it! He lasted a couple of hours and never went back. 😂 Sounds like this will be more to his taste if he can not be placed in with 2yr olds. He has friends going so am sure he will be fine. I just couldn't find any info in my search. And good point that we will be off the ship a fair bit anyway. Hoping the weather will be warm enough on the crossing over and back for some use of the kids pool. 

Sounds like you are being to good a mother.

just enjoy 

[Kangakid]

We sailed on Solstice during school holidays (January) and there was over 500 kids on board.  The most they had ever had, but have to say all seemed well behaved and yes Celebrity did cater for them with many activities we noticed pool games and disco at night.  You will be fine, I am sure your children will have a great time.

[The_Big_M]

Agreed, those sailings typically have ~500 children, though that's across 1-17 years old. 

 

Celebrity do have integral kids club as part of their offering, with things like xbox, movies, the usual activities and hang-outs. Note they're not as wild as RCL i.e. you don't get the 'gloop' obsession or whatever else they have. There will be Santa and gifts on Christmas day as well. Hours and procedures are similar to RCL.

 

From memory, I think 11 yo are in the 8-11 age group.

[Suzi66]

On 12/30/2018 at 11:23 AM, Helen*Back said:

Thank you GUT2407. Am happy for him to spend as much time with us as he wants and certainly have all our meals together. Just don't want him to get bored. I was hoping they may have a group for kids his age to hang out and do some interesting activities. We are sailing over Christmas and New Years 2019/2020 so would expect a fair few kids on this cruise? 

At a similar time (leaving Jan 3 2018) there were 200 kids on the Solstice.  I know this even though I hardly saw them because we were told by staff we were friendly with.  We saw them coming and going from the kids clubs, at the glass show (not that it runs anymore), having family photos, meals and doing scavenger hunts.  I think getting off the ship for ports was the time you saw them the most.   They all looked like they were enjoying themselves when you saw them around the ship doing kids club activities.

Late Feb 2016 there were 5 kids and one was the Staff Captains daughter in contrast.

[Helen*Back]

Thanks so much for the information. Very encouraging. 😁 Looks like he will have a great time! 

 

[Ned Flanders]

We sailed on the 2018 Christmas/ NY Solstice NZ trip &  we travelled without any kids. However, may I make a suggestion? 

 

I joined a trivia team which included a Mum & her teenage daughter. The daughter didn't attend the teens' club until a couple of days after Solstice sailed & unfortunately, she found, as can happen, that groups & cliques had already been formed & she felt unwelcome & left out & thus didn't return. 

 

Sad, because she thus had to rely on her Mum for company & entertainment & the cruise wasn't as enjoyable as it should've been for her.

 

So may be best if anyone is contemplating going to the kids' clubs, they be encouraged to go at the start & try them out.

 

At least your son will have friends for company regardless.

 

Happy sailing!

 

Phil

 

 

[MicCanberra]

Agreed, get the kids there early so the friendships start right form the get go.

[Helen*Back]

Thank you Ned Flanders and MicCanberra! Great advice! 😊 Ooh, Phil (Ned) so you went on the same cruise we are going on?! (except I think your last port was Melbourne and ours is Newcastle?). I would love to know more. I thought I read somewhere that the crossing from Sydney to Picton was very rough on your cruise? True? 😮

[Ned Flanders]

1 hour ago, Helen*Back said:

Thank you Ned Flanders and MicCanberra! Great advice! 😊 Ooh, Phil (Ned) so you went on the same cruise we are going on?! (except I think your last port was Melbourne and ours is Newcastle?). I would love to know more. I thought I read somewhere that the crossing from Sydney to Picton was very rough on your cruise? True? 😮

Hi Helen

 

I hope to write a full review on our Solstice trip in the reviews section by Monday, but briefly, we had a fabulous time.

 

As you'd expect, the staff were wonderful & in terms of the Syd - Picton crossing, whilst the seas were somewhat bouncy at 3 to 4 metre swells, my wife & I both commented how smoothly the ship handled them. We were on Deck 10 forward.

 

We've lately sailed on Carnival Spirit & whilst she inevitably coped reasonably well with choppy waters, we're in no doubt Solstice was smoother. Of course, being a bigger ship would probably assist in that regard.

 

If you have specific questions not covered in my forthcoming review, feel free to ask. But from our experience, you & your family will have a memorable Christmas/NY cruise!

 

Cheers.

 

Phil

[Helen*Back]

Thanks Phil! Look forward to your review. 😁 We have only cruised once before on RCCL Radiance of the Seas. We are on deck 8 hump cabin for this cruise, so midship. Should help a little with any high seas. 😃 

[Guymer]

I am looking at booking Solstice for next January school holidays travelling with Mr 13. We were on Explorer of the Seas this Xmas jut gone and he loved meeting at teen club so much, and I was worried there might not be many youngsters on Solstice! Thanks for all the advice/feedback!