Update on Splash Academy for Spring Cruises??

[margie1221]

6 hours ago, oteixeira said:

But think of all the extra drinking those parents will need to do.  Easily surpass the free drink a day limit, right??  🙂

No limit on number of drinks with Beverage Package on NCL...  just sayin'

[oteixeira]

28 minutes ago, margie1221 said:

No limit on number of drinks with Beverage Package on NCL...  just sayin'

I always heard the stop you at 15 a day (my game is not that strong, so I have no proof).

Edited March 2, 2022 by oteixeira

[euclidian_99]

I  sure there is a number cruncher somewhere going... ehh until enough people speak with dollars. What they fail to account for are kids running wild because parents say oh well NCL you did it to yourselves lol... dumbest crap ever.. splash academy is not open but you can bring your kids and stay with them at the splash academy activities... yeah that reduces so many issues and "exposure hazards" lol.... sorry feeling a bit jaded against NCL right now. 

[mjkacmom]

16 hours ago, oteixeira said:

I always heard the stop you at 15 a day (my game is not that strong, so I have no proof).

No limit on NCL.

[shof515]

17 hours ago, oteixeira said:

I always heard the stop you at 15 a day (my game is not that strong, so I have no proof).

that limit is on another cruise line. the most popular cruise line with a drinks limit is carnival. once you reach that limit you can still get non acholic drinks like sodas 

[oteixeira]

13 hours ago, euclidian_99 said:

I  sure there is a number cruncher somewhere going... ehh until enough people speak with dollars. What they fail to account for are kids running wild because parents say oh well NCL you did it to yourselves lol... dumbest crap ever.. splash academy is not open but you can bring your kids and stay with them at the splash academy activities... yeah that reduces so many issues and "exposure hazards" lol.... sorry feeling a bit jaded against NCL right now. 

I am sorry but any parent that would bring there children and then not watch over them when a babysitter (in this case the babysitter is NCL) does not show up is not doing their job as a parent.  Do you still go out with friends when a babysitter calls out last minute and just throw your hands up and say "oh well, if the kids trash the house that is the babysitters fault, not mine?"

[JeninIndy]

I just wanted to say I love how this thread quickly went from "There's no onboard day care" to "How many drinks are we allowed to consume in a day?" 😂 

 

Definitely bummed Splash Academy won't be available for our March 20 cruise, but was also worried the whole family would get quarantined if there had been an "exposure." Maybe next time! Thankful my kids are older and can sit through long dinners and shows, and looking forward to seeing what kind of programming they come up with for us.

[jessjax11]

Just tried chat and basically was told that this is protocol and the agent disconnected the chat.

This was his response each time "I have advised you of all the information I have available. If there is nothing else I can assist you with today, have a nice day."

Also when I went to leave feedback I got a message saying "thanks for your feedback", did not get the opportunity to leave any, and press X to disconnect.

Tried to chat again and got this "

Chat started at 11:11 AM

• No Agents Available. Please contact us back during our hours of operation. https://www.ncl.com/about/contact-us
   
• K
  Goodbye! Click the “x” button at the top to end this chat

This is very frustrating.

[Lil_Em]

I just did the online chat, hoping to get a date that they expect to have SA open.  They said they have not announced a reopening date yet - nothing mentioned about June.  We were thinking about booking a haven suite for the first time, but will be looking at other cruise lines if they do not make an announcement soon.  

[PeeDeeEX]

Aside from staffing up the kid’s clubs, they might also be figuring out rules and/or protocols to account for the fact they are allowing unvaccinated kids 12 and under to board cruises.

 

No first hand information. Just a theory.

[Bluefox]

I’m not booking again until splash academy is open. That’s the major draw of bringing kids on a cruise! 😭

[marci0914]

When I spoke to NCL today, they had mentioned that at this time the splash club is only closed until March 31st.  They plan to update the situation on April 1st.  Fingers crossed that means that they open the kids club up (I am sailing 4/16!)

[Cilosgirl]

We just got back from our trip and the kids programming was crap, all they did was open up Entourage for free play 2 to 3 times a day. My husband and I were not able to enjoy any evening activities and the only thing we could do with our daughter after 9pm was watch movies in the atrium that we have already seen. They used the Splash Academy space for the Paint on Canvas paid activity. We made the best out of the situation but I am extremely disappointed on how they handled the situation from start to finish.

[PeeDeeEX]

On 3/18/2022 at 10:48 AM, marci0914 said:

When I spoke to NCL today, they had mentioned that at this time the splash club is only closed until March 31st.  They plan to update the situation on April 1st.  Fingers crossed that means that they open the kids club up (I am sailing 4/16!)

Given the above information, have any April cruisers (with children of course) received the dreaded "we are so sorry but we won't open the kid's clubs for your cruise" email yet?

[bigrednole]

NCL along with other cruise lines are still not making money. They are about breaking even at best. I do not see them adding an expense to the books and exposing their entire crew to unvaccinated kids in the Splash Academy. This is just my realistic view on this subject. If you are taking kids that don't meet the age requirement for the clubs that are open, plan on them needing to be watched the entire time. If that is too much for you or them, reconsider the vacation. Or, take someone along that can help like a sitter, niece/nephew, another family member. 

 

I honestly don't see them doing this until June at the earliest. Even then, it will be a question of whether they want to take on the added risk. I know things with covid are pretty stable now, but China just released a new strain and Disney shutdown their Shanghai park.

[JillK]

2 hours ago, bigrednole said:

I do not see them adding an expense to the books and exposing their entire crew to unvaccinated kids in the Splash Academy.

 

No doubt this plays into it.... of course similar to their re-opening approach of requiring 100% vaccination, they could offer SA only to vaccinated children. 

 

We booked two weeks before our cruise on March 13th. Before I booked, I checked the website under Family Cruising to see what closures or restrictions may be in effect. At least for anyone currently considering booking, there is now a notice that SA is closed until March 31st but when I booked, there was no indication whatsoever that it was closed and our PVP did not mention it either. 

 

We met lots of other families who similarly were not aware that it was closed. There were plenty of teens and kids on this cruise and we overheard many kids whining that they were bored, including my own.

 

My sons (10, 12) were disappointed as they loved SA when they were on the Escape. They weren't able to meet any other kids other than in the line ups for the slides and we weren't able to enjoy any of the 18+ entertainment other than what was offered in the atrium or the big marquee shows. 

 

What our family likes about cruising is the ability to do stuff together but also to get a break from one another - after two years of multiple lockdowns here in Ontario, we were all prepared for a bit of space from one another and instead, we were crammed in even tighter for the week with the net effect being that I came home from this trip physically and emotionally exhausted. 

 

Overall we had a good week with excellent food and service but it was far from the relaxing experience we generally find cruising to be and frankly we would not have booked had NCL been transparent this service was not currently being offered. 

 

For those already booked, I hope that they do open up in April but when I finally heard about the closure here on CC and asked my PVP, I was told closed until June.

[jethrojam]

I talked to a David yesterday.  He said Splash Academy is back on by the end of March for all cruises.  I will be on Pearl April 15th and I hope he wasn’t mistaken.  

[JeninIndy]

Just wanted to share my experience on the Breakaway last week. Splash Academy was open nearly every day for all-ages game play, but parents were required to stay with any children younger than 10. Older children could stay and play games unattended. They had multiple gaming consoles, board games, arts and crafts, etc. The free play times were only about 2 hours at a time and I don't think there were any past 7 in the evening.

 

They did have plenty of additional family activities as promised (e.g. movies, fun demos, game shows, even a 7PM PG-rated comedy show a few nights at Headliners). We appreciated all of that, but I said in my post-cruise survey that we won't cruise again until they fully reopen because our kids got tired of following us around, and we missed out on a ton of evening fun and visiting any 18+ spaces. Hope everything reopens for all of you sailing this spring!

[acct1975]

1 hour ago, JeninIndy said:

Just wanted to share my experience on the Breakaway last week. Splash Academy was open nearly every day for all-ages game play, but parents were required to stay with any children younger than 10. Older children could stay and play games unattended. They had multiple gaming consoles, board games, arts and crafts, etc. The free play times were only about 2 hours at a time and I don't think there were any past 7 in the evening.

 

They did have plenty of additional family activities as promised (e.g. movies, fun demos, game shows, even a 7PM PG-rated comedy show a few nights at Headliners). We appreciated all of that, but I said in my post-cruise survey that we won't cruise again until they fully reopen because our kids got tired of following us around, and we missed out on a ton of evening fun and visiting any 18+ spaces. Hope everything reopens for all of you sailing this spring!

Thanks for this. We cruise on the Breakaway in June and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that things will ease up even more and the Splash Academy will be open like before. Things are changing so quickly with COVID that I want to think that it's possible. 

[aropero06]

On 3/24/2022 at 12:11 AM, jethrojam said:

I talked to a David yesterday.  He said Splash Academy is back on by the end of March for all cruises.  I will be on Pearl April 15th and I hope he wasn’t mistaken.  

I just had a chat and there is not a date for resuming SA. It is a shame, i have my cruise this April 3rd and now I will have to take care my teenager and my 8th year old kiddos for the whole trip 🥵

[sugarsnap1981]

Just got off of Bliss March 27 with my husband and 7 year old daughter. We went in with eyes wide open that SA wasn't open with the promise of fun family activities. There were some family friendly things going on during the day, but we didn't call them fun. My daughter isn't old enough to enjoy the trivia, the showing of Raya and the Last Dragon was a horrible 3D version that gave us headaches so we left 20 min in, and the times they opened up teen club for families was disappointing too.  Overall, we still had a decent time and enjoyed ourselves most when on excursions. In our view, the SA is critical for ALL members of our family to enjoy ourselves and participate in activities that we each like. For this cruise, we all were mostly disappointed...no bingo or spa day for me, no friend making for my daughter (other than the pool where she (we) all spent most of our time, and no lounge crawls for my husband.

 

My opinion only - they could have opened up SA and required masks while attending. This would have made for a better business decision..the kids having fun, the parents spending $$ elsewhere. I saw many many bored crew members very happy to be there and waiting for something to do...

[YVRteacher]

It was announced this week that Splash Academy will be opening fleet wide on June 1.

[jemz1949]

7 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

It was announced this week that Splash Academy will be opening fleet wide on June 1.

Where was this announced?  

[bkrickles1]

7 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

It was announced this week that Splash Academy will be opening fleet wide on June 1.

I had read this somewhere last week and my pcc told me this is a target date, although it's a fluid situation.

I'm hopeful as I'm travelling with my 2 nieces (7 & 8 yo) June 26th on Joy.

[Homosassa]

For you people screaming that NCL is  hiding information on the availability of Splash Academy or other kid programs, a quick search of the NCL website will show you  highlighted statements that the programs are not available.

 

Try the FAQ section or the link for Family Cruises. It's there.