More kids on X

[ecslady]

19 hours ago, morfred said:

It was more of a disappointment with the parents. After all the hard work that I had done with students that needed more help or who had fallen behind the parents would have no regard for the work that needed to be done and would take them out of school promising that they would "catch up" when in fact a week off was the last thing that the child could afford. Parents were the eventual reason that I retired at 65yo not my love of teaching. Sorry/not sorry for getting off topic.

 

I also retired from a school district this summer after 30 years.  And, the last few years, we noticed increasingly that parents are taking off according to "their" schedule or what is convenient for them, not the "school" vacation schedule.  Never would have done this years ago. I, too, try to stay away from school vacations when I cruise, but I have seen more kids in the last few years also.

[dkjretired]

17 hours ago, Mike981 said:

 

I believe the point is that when the "kids" become 21, they will have a much higher status and receive whatever perks are being offered at that time for their higher status.
Not, "Mommy I only want to go on Celebrity to get my points." 🙂

Its actually at age 18, parents should save the cards though  because computers change and are updated. Info can be lost, I know from experience.

[slei15]

We cruised on the Edge in January without the kids. It was a great adult experience as it always is on X, but we also kept saying he whole time that our kids would love this or that on the ship.  Our 7 and 10 year old boys have been on 8 cruises, and they both love them.  They love to order from the adult menu in the dining rooms and try new foods, and while they will have fun for an hour or two on the waterslides, it does not make or break the cruise for them. They had just as much fun on the Enchantment of the Seas as they did on the MSC Seaside. While we were on in January, we spent a good amount of time talking to the kids club manager. She had all of 20 children on that sailing, and most were not attending kids club. She went into depth with us about what the kids program offers, which is a STEM curriculum with a "journey" to complete during the cruise. The kids that do go absolutely love it and don't want to leave. After talking with her, we decided to book the Edge with the kids for Christmas to try it out. We know the kids will love the better food on X than the others, and the theater entertainment will also be right up their alley. With the way the kids program sounds and knowing my kids, I do not expect to see much of them during the day as they will love it. To each their own, but I think X does make the concerted effort to ensure the kids have a great time, even when the ships are not really designed for them.

[dkjretired]

19 hours ago, Mike981 said:

 

I believe the point is that when the "kids" become 21, they will have a much higher status and receive whatever perks are being offered at that time for their higher status.
Not, "Mommy I only want to go on Celebrity to get my points." 🙂

 

No but they will appreciate when they get older. Our son is E+ and uses the benefits.

[Nymich]

3 minutes ago, dkjretired said:

 

No but they will appreciate when they get older. Our son is E+ and uses the benefits.

I wish I could have been your son.

[Baron Barracuda]

19 hours ago, rimmit said:

 

I think this is an unfair generalization.  There are too many reasons to list why a parent may take child on X as we have.  Sure RCI, DCL, and CCL have more for kids,  but is life really all about ice skating rinks, bumper cars, and water slides??

 

Maybe, just maybe, some parents want to expose their children to the world and other cultures rather than just going to the same beaches year in and year out.  Maybe they want them to gain appreciation of how people in other countries and cultures live and how lucky they may be to have a roof over their head and a warm meal everyday.

 

If you are talking about exotic or old world destinations where X doesn't directly compete with the new mega ships, fine, don't disagree.  When my family sailed Alaska, Galapagos and Panama Canal our focus wasn't on onboard amenities.  My comment was more about the Caribbean where many ships sail very similar itineraries.  There, I doubt an X cruise provides any greater cultural enlightenment and is much less kid friendly.  

[rimmit]

5 minutes ago, Baron Barracuda said:

 

If you are talking about exotic or old world destinations where X doesn't directly compete with the new mega ships, fine, don't disagree.  When my family sailed Alaska, Galapagos and Panama Canal our focus wasn't on onboard amenities.  My comment was more about the Caribbean where many ships sail very similar itineraries.  There, I doubt an X cruise provides any greater cultural enlightenment and is much less kid friendly.  

 

For the Caribbean we typically go RCI or Disney, but as I stated in some previous post at some point you exhaust what RCI can offer.  We are down to our last RCI Cruises, a Aus/NZ and the Arctic TA that goes to Greenland/Norway/Iceland on the brilliance next sept and we are tapped out on RCI except for the short Asia cruise market, some random ports in the med, and a transpacific which I just can’t take off for 22 days of work for.  After that it’s all X cruises as we are out of itineraries on RCI except for the occasional Caribbean/Bahamas break. 

 

We did do the summit to Bermuda in August and I must say the kids program is very good.  Better than RCI and more organized I felt.  While the ship doesn’t have the bells and whistles, the youth staff was very good and better than RCI imo.

[Iamcruzin]

On 10/16/2019 at 8:46 PM, Bootstrap77 said:

I’m curious do you usually just sail during school breaks or take them out. We try to book when most families wouldn’t but it seems like more and more parents are taking the kids out of school at various times 

I totally understand your concern for too many kids on board. We have kids so I'm not a child hater but we do cherish our adult time. To put it in perspective we reluctantly booked on Royal Caribbean which is a family magnet, due to time and itinerary They also offer Kid's sail free. We went in early June out of NJ so school was still in session. That ship is so well designed with the kids actives (flow rider, rock wall, basketball, roller skating) at the stern and the adult solarium at the bow. We barely saw a child or families. We had a very enjoyable cruise. Now since Celebrity was never geared towards families I don't know how it will play out with KSF. I'm hoping they beefed up the children's activities which will keep them occupied.

[Iamcruzin]

On 10/16/2019 at 9:16 PM, morfred said:

As a former teacher parents were constantly taking their children out of school for family vacations and cruises. When asked, they explained that airfare and cruise prices were too expensive on school vacation weeks. Invariably the ones who missed school were the ones that needed it the most.

If they were poor students an extra week in school wouldn't make a difference. We always took our kids out of school mid May. Now that they are adults they pay for and book their own cruises and land vacations. They go to more places than we did at their age.  I guess they did alright. 

[Iamcruzin]

On 10/16/2019 at 10:14 PM, DebInAntigua said:

I cringe every time I see this promo come back. We’re cruising next month and really hope we won’t see many kids onboard. I wish X would stop doing this promotion but I guess it’s to attract younger demographics than DH and me. 

With all of the changes I'm finding it hard  to figure out who they are trying to attract.

 

The White Rabbit ad baby boomers identify with

KSF attracts Families

The prices indicate a luxury experience

They are just trying to be everything to everybody and losing their identity completely.

 

Wonder certainly does Await.

Edited October 18, 2019 by Iamcruzin

[mahdnc]

On 10/16/2019 at 7:29 PM, Bootstrap77 said:

Has anyone been on a recent X cruise with the promo “kids sail free”? We have noticed more kids on celebrity in recent years, the amount of families with young kids  growing and wondered if this promo has increased the amount of them by a lot. We have cruised with X for 10 years. 

 

Celebrity for the last few years has had a 50% off for 3rd/4th passengers promotion (and many times with a free soda package and 40 internet minutes).  So in some ways they have had a kid friendly promotion out there for some time.

[dkjretired]

7 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

Celebrity for the last few years has had a 50% off for 3rd/4th passengers promotion (and many times with a free soda package and 40 internet minutes).  So in some ways they have had a kid friendly promotion out there for some time.

As I said earlier we did kids sail free 25 years ago.  Those writing that they can’t understand why kids would enjoy Celebrity need to realize that not every kid wants an amusement park on board. I had one who could care less about rides and one  who did but both loved Celebrity children’s  programs. 

[dkjretired]

2 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

If they were poor students an extra week in school wouldn't make a difference. We always took our kids out of school mid May. Now that they are adults they pay for and book their own cruises and land vacations. They go to more places than we did at their age.  I guess they did alright. 

What I always found hysterical was the many kids taken out of school threads years ago. Every parent who took their kids out of school had straight A students who were on their way to Harvard.

[mahdnc]

8 minutes ago, dkjretired said:

As I said earlier we did kids sail free 25 years ago.  

 

I am just pointing out that the current promotion is not hugely different than what they have been doing recently.  And so, I don't expect a big change in the number of kids on board.

Edited October 18, 2019 by mahdnc

[dkjretired]

5 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

I am just pointing out that the current promotion is not hugely different than what they have been doing recently.

exactly, that’s why I don’t understand the almost panic. There was a thread a couple months ago that was really crazy.

[mahdnc]

2 minutes ago, dkjretired said:

exactly, that’s why I don’t understand the almost panic. There was a thread a couple months ago that was really crazy.

 

ah.  I usually don't read these types of threads much anymore so I must have missed/ignored that one.

 

Why did you change your avatar?

Edited October 18, 2019 by mahdnc

[rimmit]

51 minutes ago, dkjretired said:

What I always found hysterical was the many kids taken out of school threads years ago. Every parent who took their kids out of school had straight A students who were on their way to Harvard.

 

While they are not likely straight A and all going to Harvard, I would wager the students that travel have a better gpa and SAT score than the average student.

 

Basic demographics state that.  To travel,  you have to have some degree of expendable income.  To travel over the ponds you really need a steady stream of income.  People with a decent income likely value education to some degree and will invest more in their kids education because they value it, and because they can afford it.

 

Obviously there are exceptions, but as a whole I am betting the kids that travel tend to do decent in school.  And I am talking traveling to see new countries and cultures,  not just going to Disney and a bunch of beaches.

[morfred]

3 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

If they were poor students an extra week in school wouldn't make a difference. We always took our kids out of school mid May. Now that they are adults they pay for and book their own cruises and land vacations. They go to more places than we did at their age.  I guess they did alright. 

If they were poor students the missed week would very likely make a difference. Parents with your outlook on education still disappoint me.

"I guess they did alright".  I guess that they could have done better.

[villauk]

On 10/17/2019 at 2:29 PM, dkjretired said:

I laugh because years ago on this board there would be very long and nasty threads on that subject.  Drove the moderators nuts.  They were just as prolific as kids on a cruise and dress code threads. 

 

 

Yes, I remember them well, Don.

 

 

 

On 10/17/2019 at 2:12 PM, rimmit said:

 

As someone who travels with our kids who are 4 and 8,  I’d have to say the itineraries for us.  

 

We are diamond plus on RCI,  and have exhausted their itineraries except for a couple med ports,  the South Pacific (Vanuatu, etc), and the short Asian cruise market.  Celebrity just more inspired itineraries for a mass market line.  The ships have a pool and a kids club and that’s typically all my kids need to be entertained.

 

The KSF is nice but not a necessity as RCI offers it as well, albeit with more restrictions.  It comes down to the ports for us.

 

 

Our kids have been on all of our cruises and not once have we ever received a KSF promotion. They do have many friends from all over the world which they keep in contact with though.

 

Oh, and we get fined for removing children from school during term time.

Edited October 18, 2019 by villauk

[the_dylaness]

On 10/16/2019 at 8:46 PM, Bootstrap77 said:

I’m curious do you usually just sail during school breaks or take them out. We try to book when most families wouldn’t but it seems like more and more parents are taking the kids out of school at various times 

Take them out

[rimmit]

4 minutes ago, villauk said:

 

 

Yes, I remember them well, Don.

 

 

 

 

 

Our kids have been on all of our cruises and not once have we ever received a KSF promotion. They do have many friends from all over the world which they keep in contact with though.

 

Oh, and we get fined for removing children from school during term time.

 

Yes,  I am assuming you are from the Uk based on your sig.  we have met many people from the UK that have told us about the fines.  😞

[the_dylaness]

On 10/17/2019 at 2:16 PM, 2flacruisers said:

 

I asked someone this question once a long time ago...the response was because the children, just like the parents accrue points....when they reach a certain age, an account is set up for them. By the time the little tykes are able to cruise alone, they have enough points to be in the top tiers....

 

I find this interesting... I've taken my kids on Disney, NCL, and X, but it never even remotely occurred to me that a reason would be to get loyalty points!

[the_dylaness]

On 10/17/2019 at 2:28 PM, hcat said:

They do have good  programs for children but lack outdoor activities specifically gearsmed to youngsters and teens.  They no longer  have a children's swimming pool area....thus use of the hot tubs  as a substitue, or having  toddlers in swim diapers in the pools..yuck!

 

Hot tubs are high up on EDGE so hope that will discourage that!

 

Also, we  never see the spray area used on S Class anymore...usually covered with lounge chairs.

 

We were disappointed on Reflection to see the spray area was no longer spraying... more of a dance floor?

[the_dylaness]

On 10/17/2019 at 2:54 PM, Baron Barracuda said:

What kid would choose X over bumper cars, skydiving, rock climbing, surfing, ice skating, etc etc...

 

Quiet, maybe younger kids, who like the small, intimate kids club?

 

Disney's kids club was total pandemonium and WAY overwhelming for my then 5 year old DD and her 6 year old cousin.

[lovedecruise]

Do Celebrity cap the numbers on children per cruise?  I know some other cruise lines do.