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NCL Escape — How quickly does Splash Academy fill up?


Kswnyc
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First time cruisers. Do we need to make a beeline for Splash Academy as soon as we board?  I've heard Splash Academy quickly reaches its maximum capacity, which means your kid could be locked out for the entire voyage.  Is that true? 

 

Thanks!

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A - depends when you're sailing. Spring Break or other times when kids are out of school it will be busy, other times not.

 

B - I've not heard of them denying registration (I guess its possible but somehow I doubt it).

 

C - I have witnessed them turning away kids when a session was full. In other words if you show up late for the evening session you may not get your kids in if it's busy. When we did spring break on the breakaway if you didn't start lining up ~20 minutes before they opened in the evening the line was miles long and the kids at the back didn't get in.

 

D - That's the only time there was ever an issue in all my cruise history with kids.

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This is my one gripe with NCL and I have been bummed about the Splash Academy changes for a couple years now.

 

You will be allowed to register your children (no maximum on registration) the problem arises when you try to sign them in for certain sessions often they are already at capacity and you are turned away. Capacity changes depending on counselors, age group, space available etc. The capacity per age group is usually pretty low, like 20ish kids which is crazy considering some cruises have 1,000+ kids sailing. 

 

This is something new NCL has been doing and it's a bummer for those of us with children that love the program. They never used to turn kids away as they always had plenty of counselors and plenty of space and then suddenly one cruise (on the Gem) my kids couldn't get into hardly any sessions, constantly turned away. After that we switched from the smaller ships to the megaships hoping it was just a space problem and the newer ships would have more space for the kids. Our very first cruise on the Breakaway I was speaking to the counselors about the problem and they were shocked, told me we have never turned away children ever we simply open up another space with another counselor, problem solved. Perfect! That cruise was awesome and kids were welcomed into every session. A few more cruises on the Breakaway without any issues and kids had a blast. Then sadly our last Breakaway cruise we saw the dreaded capacity notice. Seems they were now making cutbacks on the megaship as well. Now every cruise we are on regardless if it's off season, spring break, holiday etc. capacity is limited. Guess this is part of the NCL cutbacks.

 

So to answer your question yes it's true. No need to make a bee line to register them but if you actually want to get them into any of the sessions you need to be online at least 20 mins before they open and keep your fingers crossed.

 

That said NCL has one of the best kids program at sea! Splash Academy is awesome and my children love it.

 

Enjoy your cruise!!!

Edited by fourofakind
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