Kids club question

[kkat10]

My daughter will be 12 when we sail on the Allure in February. Can she do the activities with the 9-11 group if she likes what they are doing? Its a hard age and she may still like what the younger group is doing vs the older kids---I heard the 12-14 group isn't much structure or activities as much as the younger one....any help? Thanks so much!!!

[Clarea]

Depends on the amount of children in each group, you won't know until you are onboard.

[gerif]

All you can do is ask on the first night. If they do allow her to age down, she won’t be able to bounce back and forth between the groups. 

[mjkacmom]

The only time my kids didn’t enjoy cruise ship kids clubs was when they were 9/10/11/12 (12 year old were on NCL in the 10 - 12 group). They all agree the teen groups were the best.

[taglovestocruise]

Once they are in the 12 y o group they can sign themselves in or out when ever they want..

[rimmit]

They almost always let kids age down a group if you ask and it’s not insanely busy.

 

The much harder line is letting kids age up.  They are much stricter on that.  My son and some friends we cruise with have aged down multiple times with no problem.   If there are very few kids they combine age groups anyway.

 

The big worry is making the older kids feel like they aren’t cool, because little kids are in their group.  The younger kids typically welcome the older ones without issue.

 

The pre teen group has much less structure but there are still some organized activities.

Edited March 13, 2019 by rimmit

[mjkacmom]

2 hours ago, rimmit said:

They almost always let kids age down a group if you ask and it’s not insanely busy.

 

The much harder line is letting kids age up.  They are much stricter on that.  My son and some friends we cruise with have aged down multiple times with no problem.   If there are very few kids they combine age groups anyway.

 

The big worry is making the older kids feel like they aren’t cool, because little kids are in their group.  The younger kids typically welcome the older ones without issue.

 

The pre teen group has much less structure but there are still some organized activities.

I doubt they do a lot of combining of the teens with the kids. It is always easier to age down, but I don’t know if that’s the case with someone who is supposed to be in the teen club to age down to a kids club.

[1992cruiser]

I saw something online that said navigator is going to have ages 3-11 combined on a trial basis. Has anyone seen or heard this?  Sorry op, a little off your post. 

[rimmit]

23 minutes ago, 1992cruiser said:

I saw something online that said navigator is going to have ages 3-11 combined on a trial basis. Has anyone seen or heard this?  Sorry op, a little off your post. 

 

That’s interesting.   If they are truly testing it out they are following the Disney model how they do their kids program.   Wonder if it’s really gonna have a trial.  It works greart on the Disney ships because their kids program is huge and expansive.  Not sure how well it would work in AO?

[GarlicBread]

31 minutes ago, 1992cruiser said:

I saw something online that said navigator is going to have ages 3-11 combined on a trial basis. Has anyone seen or heard this?  Sorry op, a little off your post. 

 

Ugh. I hope not. That's the reason I left Disney.

It wasn't running a kids programme it was 11 hours a day hearding cats. Stopping younger kids running in the middle of ball games and getting hurt, so the older ones can play. Only every being able to entertain a small percentage of the group because older kids aren't interested in 'baby games' and the little ones dont understand the more active games...

 

It will end up just being a free play programme...the kids a Disney were boring, they just wanted to play video games all day lol.

My favourite part of AO is age appropriate groups with age appropriate activities. You really get to know the kids that way... 

[rimmit]

10 minutes ago, GarlicBread said:

 

Ugh. I hope not. That's the reason I left Disney.

It wasn't running a kids programme it was 11 hours a day hearding cats. Stopping younger kids running in the middle of ball games and getting hurt, so the older ones can play. Only every being able to entertain a small percentage of the group because older kids aren't interested in 'baby games' and the little ones dont understand the more active games...

 

It will end up just being a free play programme...the kids a Disney were boring, they just wanted to play video games all day lol.

My favourite part of AO is age appropriate groups with age appropriate activities. You really get to know the kids that way... 

 

I agree 100 percent!   My wife and I equated the Disney kids club to « Pleasure Island » for kids.  They can literally do WHATEVER they want while they are in there as long as they aren’t interfering with another child or hurting another child.  If your child wants to play one of the 100 iPads in the program and never interact with another person they can.  While there are organized activities half the time the kids don’t realize they are taking place and they miss them or if they just would rather play a video game the whole time that’s what they can do.

 

The counselors never get to know any of the kids as they are just trying to maintain the peace.  What we love about AO is the counselors really get to know the kids and every time they see them on shore or around the ship my kids get so excited to see their counselors.  Not so much on a Disney.

 

IMO the Disney kids program is really designed to make parents feel better about dropping their kids off as it’s gorgeous and pretty.  Realistically the kids don’t care that their play space looks like the Millenium falcon.  It gives an initial great first impression but ultimately they just want people or kids that will play with them.