Sailing with a 12 year old

[jkrislc]

We are on the Gem at the beginning of January 2022 and received the following email stating that only the teens program would be available. Perhaps as more children get vaccinated and more end up onboard, this will change.

 

Dear Valued Guest,

Thank you for choosing Norwegian Cruise Line. We're glad to have
you sailing aboard Norwegian Cruise Line and can't wait to help
you make new and exciting memories on your amazing vacation.
Sailing from the US, and per the CDC Guidelines, Entourage Teen
Program will be open for teens ages 13-17. Once onboard, you can
refer to the Entourage Daily Program for activity times and locations.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic and CDC Guidelines, Splash
Academy will not be offering drop-off services during your sailing
for children ages 5-12 years old. However, we will be providing tailored
activities for youth and families on board. We are offering a range of
daily activities from relaxing movie nights and game shows to our fun Feel
Free Play sessions. Feel Free Play is not a drop off service and parents
must attend the session with their children. Times and locations will be
noted in the Freestyle Daily.

Check out the Freestyle Daily for the complete schedule, times and
locations. In addition, be sure to download the NCL mobile app, so you can
keep up to date with everything happening on board right at your
fingertips!

To ensure your health & safety, and with an abundance of care, all activities
will follow the social distancing, sanitizing and mask protocols that are in
place on board. All guests must adhere to the direction of the crew while
participating in the activities.

We hope you have an incredible vacation, and we look forward to seeing you around
the ship.

Best Regards,
Norwegian Cruise Line


Please do not reply to this email.

Edited December 11, 2021 by jkrislc

[jetact]

26 minutes ago, jkrislc said:

We are on the Gem at the beginning of January 2022 and received the following email stating that only the teens program would be available. Perhaps as more children get vaccinated and more end up onboard, this will change.

 

Dear Valued Guest,

Thank you for choosing Norwegian Cruise Line. We're glad to have
you sailing aboard Norwegian Cruise Line and can't wait to help
you make new and exciting memories on your amazing vacation.
Sailing from the US, and per the CDC Guidelines, Entourage Teen
Program will be open for teens ages 13-17. Once onboard, you can
refer to the Entourage Daily Program for activity times and locations.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic and CDC Guidelines, Splash
Academy will not be offering drop-off services during your sailing
for children ages 5-12 years old. However, we will be providing tailored
activities for youth and families on board. We are offering a range of
daily activities from relaxing movie nights and game shows to our fun Feel
Free Play sessions. Feel Free Play is not a drop off service and parents
must attend the session with their children. Times and locations will be
noted in the Freestyle Daily.

Check out the Freestyle Daily for the complete schedule, times and
locations. In addition, be sure to download the NCL mobile app, so you can
keep up to date with everything happening on board right at your
fingertips!

To ensure your health & safety, and with an abundance of care, all activities
will follow the social distancing, sanitizing and mask protocols that are in
place on board. All guests must adhere to the direction of the crew while
participating in the activities.

We hope you have an incredible vacation, and we look forward to seeing you around
the ship.

Best Regards,
Norwegian Cruise Line


Please do not reply to this email.

Thank you for posting this as we sail in January also. I wish they would have told us this sooner. I dont see why this is happening as the kids have to be vaccinated to board the ship and our 9 yr old grand daughter is who enjoys slash academy. Why not have it if everyone is vaccinated?

[wally4ever]

I got an email on the 7th for my cruise leaving the 22nd about closing the Splash Academy.  I'm kind of pissed off about it.  One of the big reasons I chose NCL was because of the Splash Academy, and the ability for my significant other and I to have some kid-free time to ourselves.  We probably would have ended up going anyway, but by telling us two weeks before, they took the decision out of our hands.  It was obvious well in advance of the 60 day window that 9 year olds would be able to travel, so they should have told us then. 

[gmkgks]

We are sailing on 12/23 with a 12 year old. We specifically asked about Splash Academy when we booked two months ago and was told “everything is open.”  We’ve gotten almost daily emails making sure that our daughter is vaccinated and asking us to upgrade, but we have not received that email.  I pray they are open for the Christmas/New Years sailing. At 12 she’s ages out of RC kids club, so we specifically booked NCL for this exact reason. 

[CruisingBeans]

Well this is a bit disappointing to hear! I have 7 and 10 year old daughters who I raced to get vaccinated so we could cruise. My 10 year old daughter is an introvert and won’t care as much about Splash Academy but did like the parties. Now my 7 year old daughter is the extrovert and loved meeting other kids. 
 

I haven’t got the email yet. But if anyone is on the Encore sailing 12/26/21 with kids around those ages and wants to meet up at the pool or one of those Feel Free Play, let me know!  

[topaz2314]

That is indeed disappointing. When they mandate kids be vaccinated above the age of 2 to board the cruise and have a negative pre-test, they should provide this service when onboard. I am not sure if there are areas of the cruise kids are not allowed, that will totally ruin the experience and limit our activities.  This is our first cruise ever, so the experience of understanding/planning the cruise itself has been mind boggling and now to find that the essential service I was looking forward to is not offered, is very disappointing. I am going on Norwegian Getaway on Dec 22nd with a 7 and 11 year old. Would love to connect with others on this cruise. 

[rimmit]

This is highly disappointing.  When we booked this I along with many other posters were assured “everything is open and operating as normal.”  We are booked on the Star roundtrip Buenos Aires departing Feb 13-Feb 27 and final payment is due on the 15th and we have a 6 and 11 year old.

 

I contacted NCL as well and they state there is currently no timeline for reopening the kids club.  I wonder if the Breakaway has given them second thoughts on reopening the kids club??

 

There are A LOT of sea days and outside of BA and Punta del Este the ports are cold, so burning my kids energy off without an indoor pool is gonna be tough.  We will almost assuredly have to cancel as I dont think I can keep them entertained on a ship that long without a kids club for some variety.  

 

If the policy changes we may rebook, albeit we lose the airfare deal which would be unfortunate, but I cant make finaly payment in 4 days without knowing there is a kids club.

Edited December 12, 2021 by rimmit

[wally4ever]

1 hour ago, topaz2314 said:

That is indeed disappointing. When they mandate kids be vaccinated above the age of 2 to board the cruise and have a negative pre-test, they should provide this service when onboard. I am not sure if there are areas of the cruise kids are not allowed, that will totally ruin the experience and limit our activities.  This is our first cruise ever, so the experience of understanding/planning the cruise itself has been mind boggling and now to find that the essential service I was looking forward to is not offered, is very disappointing. I am going on Norwegian Getaway on Dec 22nd with a 7 and 11 year old. Would love to connect with others on this cruise. 

I'm on that cruise with a 9 year old, and it's our first cruise ever too.  I love my daughter, but I was looking forward to having some adult time.

[Shayhooper]

We are on the Escape with our 12 year old daughter and the concierge said they didn’t anticipate how many children under 12 were going to be on board so they are going to plan activities for kids 12 and under. It won’t be drop in like Splash Academy but it will staff organized events. This is in addition to the family time hours that someone up to thread mentioned. I hope this will work because my daughter is having trouble finding and connecting with some peers. 

[rimmit]

8 minutes ago, Shayhooper said:

We are on the Escape with our 12 year old daughter and the concierge said they didn’t anticipate how many children under 12 were going to be on board so they are going to plan activities for kids 12 and under. It won’t be drop in like Splash Academy but it will staff organized events. This is in addition to the family time hours that someone up to thread mentioned. I hope this will work because my daughter is having trouble finding and connecting with some peers. 

Well this is promising….  Maybe they will ramp up the kids clubs faster if they see the demand is there.  Please keep all of us apprised to how things are going and what they are doing.   Thanks!

[MellaJoyce]

Hopefully they'll start opening up those younger kids clubs soon for people with younger kids. For us, we'd just order her room service dinner and then we'd go out to the specialty restaurants. She loved it, and at 12 years old, plenty old enough to be left alone locked in the stateroom while we went to dinner. If she'd been much younger though, that would have really made it hard.

[sparkygirlfamily]

On 12/11/2021 at 11:32 PM, rimmit said:

This is highly disappointing.  When we booked this I along with many other posters were assured “everything is open and operating as normal.”  We are booked on the Star roundtrip Buenos Aires departing Feb 13-Feb 27 and final payment is due on the 15th and we have a 6 and 11 year old.

 

I contacted NCL as well and they state there is currently no timeline for reopening the kids club.  I wonder if the Breakaway has given them second thoughts on reopening the kids club??

 

There are A LOT of sea days and outside of BA and Punta del Este the ports are cold, so burning my kids energy off without an indoor pool is gonna be tough.  We will almost assuredly have to cancel as I dont think I can keep them entertained on a ship that long without a kids club for some variety.  

 

If the policy changes we may rebook, albeit we lose the airfare deal which would be unfortunate, but I cant make finaly payment in 4 days without knowing there is a kids club.

I am on the Star January 16th sailing with my 11 year old.  I've been watching the ports weather and it actually isn't as cold as I was expecting.  I'm packing activities for us to do in our cabin, I've also mapped out the activities that are available on the ship (ping pong, chess, shuffleboard, basketball), the Feel Free Play times for Entourage as well as went ahead an purchased the unlimited arcade pass for the two weeks for the entire cabin.  I'm also going to be more flexible with screen time, allowing screens after she finishes her dinner while we continue to eat.  

[rimmit]

I’ve been on a cruise around the horn before, and also to Antarctica on an expedition and also a separate expedition to South Georgia.  

BA and Punta will be pretty warm, but once you get farther south while the temps can be 40s and 50s the wind is brutal at times, and weather in this region can change in a split second especially as you get to Ushuaia and then leave and approach Antarctica.

 

It can be beautiful sunny one moment and warm enough to tempt you to take off your coat, and 5 minutes later its a total whiteout with 40mph winds.  When the wind gets high they shut down and rope off the outer decks.

 

Crossing the Drake can be hit or miss as well regarding how rough it is.  I have never done it on a cruise ship, only small expedition vessels, including an ice breaker with no stabilizers.  I was hoping that the larger ship would help mitigate some of the pain of crossing the Drake as there was definitely a two day time span when I thought I had made the worst mistake of my life by going.  

 

Sounds like you’ve got a great plan and you’ll have a great time no doubt.  We debated still doing it, but the negatives (not actually going to the peninsula and just two outer islands, missing Falkland, and no kids club) were just too many for us to justify pulling them out of school for two weeks.  Not going to the peninsula and falkland was already disappointing but the kids club was the final straw for us.  We were originally booked in 2020 on X for their Antarctica cruise, then their 2021 that also got cancelled and now this one.  X along with HAL and PCL all actually go to the peninsula for a drive by.  I dont understand why NCL doesnt.

Our kids are super high energy, and we’ve done many repo and TA cruises with them at all ages so I have a good feel for what it takes to keep them occupied on a ship this size.  I could definitely keep my 11 year old son reasonably entertained with a ton of screen time, but my 6 year old daughter really needs a kids club with some interaction.  She loves going and its her highlight.

[Caaake]

I'm really irritated that ncl hasn't made this public knowledge. I emailed my pcc and she said she hadn't heard about it. We're sailing in Jan with our 11 year old who loves the kids club. Nowhere on the ncl site, splash academy pages, etc does it say that it's closed! We'll still have fun but I'm disappointed for my kid to miss out on one of his favorite parts of the cruise. If they don't have virgin strawberry daquiris he might mutiny, though 😄

[bkrickles1]

37 minutes ago, Caaake said:

I'm really irritated that ncl hasn't made this public knowledge. I emailed my pcc and she said she hadn't heard about it. We're sailing in Jan with our 11 year old who loves the kids club. Nowhere on the ncl site, splash academy pages, etc does it say that it's closed! We'll still have fun but I'm disappointed for my kid to miss out on one of his favorite parts of the cruise. If they don't have virgin strawberry daquiris he might mutiny, though 😄

Technically, Splash Academy is not closed. It doesn't have drop-offs available.

 

[rimmit]

19 minutes ago, bkrickles1 said:

Technically, Splash Academy is not closed. It doesn't have drop-offs available.

 

From my understanding they were using the teen club for the all age family events.  I did not see that Splash Academy was offering any programing whatsoever.  

Where did you see that?  Are you onboard right now?  Could you please elaborate on what Splash Academy is doing as I and many would like to know what programming they are offering as from my current understanding there were just some “feel free play” events taking place in the teen club at this time a couple times a day,  but no formal “Splash Academy” programming.  The “feel free play” seemed not organized from what it sounded like and more like “lets put out some board games and let the kids play in the teen club” kind of a thing.

Edited December 14, 2021 by rimmit

[Arizona Packer Backer]

6 hours ago, rimmit said:

6 hours ago, bkrickles1 said:

Technically, Splash Academy is not closed. It doesn't have drop-offs available.

 

From my understanding they were using the teen club for the all age family events.  I did not see that Splash Academy was offering any programing whatsoever.  

 

I was told that Splash Academy is closed, and that the Feel Free Play will be in "some area"(??) of the Entourage Club, as well as other areas of the ship for movie nights, etc. They apparently don't have any staff for the Splash Academy, so maybe that's why they're saying that the area isn't currently open, even if the parents are with the kids, because there's no staff supervision?

 

All I know is what I've been told by the NCL Sales Managers, but like other cruisers here, I'm also hoping that current guests can report back with what's actually happening onboard, because it seems like there's some confusion among guests, NCL phone reps, and even PCCs.

[raitch]

We are on Gem 12/26 with 3 minors (8, 14 & 17) and I haven’t received an email or any other notification from NCL about Splash Academy.  Thank goodness for people on this forum or I never would have known.  At least this way I can try to temper expectations.

[bkrickles1]

1 hour ago, Arizona Packer Backer said:

 

I was told that Splash Academy is closed, and that the Feel Free Play will be in "some area"(??) of the Entourage Club, as well as other areas of the ship for movie nights, etc. They apparently don't have any staff for the Splash Academy, so maybe that's why they're saying that the area isn't currently open, even if the parents are with the kids, because there's no staff supervision?

 

All I know is what I've been told by the NCL Sales Managers, but like other cruisers here, I'm also hoping that current guests can report back with what's actually happening onboard, because it seems like there's some confusion among guests, NCL phone reps, and even PCCs.

I was really just referring to the program, not the facility.

Nobody knows how it's gonna be because there haven't been any kids yet under 12.

What I've been told by various reps and my pcc is that there will be some sort of activities planned but that it won't include any dropoffs.

I'm sailing with my 2 little nieces in January on Joy and I hope, for my sister in-laws sake, that they have some stuff going on.

[LGW59]

3 hours ago, raitch said:

We are on Gem 12/26 with 3 minors (8, 14 & 17) and I haven’t received an email or any other notification from NCL about Splash Academy.  Thank goodness for people on this forum or I never would have known.  At least this way I can try to temper expectations.

Simply tell them you decided to sail during a pandemic, we will find out what is available once we board.

[jesstree]

I called today. I was told that as of four days ago they are looking each sailing. It was a scripted answer with no elaboration. He did state they planning activities but no drop off. I complained that basically my husband I are cheated out of adult activities because this. I ask should parents just drag their kids to the Cavern Club or the dance club, he said why not. He was very sympathetic to the problem and understood that this was not right, and the lack of info on the website is also not right. Maybe more complaining with get them back online faster.

[LGW59]

2 minutes ago, jesstree said:

I called today. I was told that as of four days ago they are looking each sailing. It was a scripted answer with no elaboration. He did state they planning activities but no drop off. I complained that basically my husband I are cheated out of adult activities because this. I ask should parents just drag their kids to the Cavern Club or the dance club, he said why not. He was very sympathetic to the problem and understood that this was not right, and the lack of info on the website is also not right. Maybe more complaining with get them back online faster.

You made the decision to sail under ever changing protocols, what is in place today May/will change in the coming days/weeks/months.  Easy button is to blame someone else.

[jesstree]

11 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

You made the decision to sail under ever changing protocols, what is in place today May/will change in the coming days/weeks/months.  Easy button is to blame someone else.

I specifically call and asked in early November when the CDC approved. They told me they would be open. This was something I also discussed a few times even prior when researching this cruise for extended family as well. The website should call this out. I have been sent other communications regarding this cruise but nothing about the Splash Academy unless I call. 

[LGW59]

4 minutes ago, jesstree said:

I specifically call and asked in early November when the CDC approved. They told me they would be open. This was something I also discussed a few times even prior when researching this cruise for extended family as well. The website should call this out. I have been sent other communications regarding this cruise but nothing about the Splash Academy unless I call. 

Understood but early November is now different from mid December 

[mjkacmom]

7 hours ago, LGW59 said:

Understood but early November is now different from mid December 

But what has changed? In November it changed to fully vaccinated kids under 12 can sail and go to the kids clubs. A month later they are saying fully vaccinated kids can sail but there won’t be any kids clubs. Who would’ve seen this coming? Why close the clubs? Other lines not only have clubs open, but kids are not even required to be vaccinated.