NCL Splash Academy Kids Club Current Hours?

[Lyssa78]

Hello, we are booked on the Norwegian Jade the week of Oct 30th. I have a premium dining option included with my booking and want to book it when the kids can go to the kids club. They are 7 and 10 years old. I made a reservation for 5:30pm, but just saw a thread showing only open hours in the evening from 7-10pm. That was from August. Has anyone seen the hours recently? 

 

I´m still glad to be taking the cruise, but I wish they were more transparent about the kids club hours. 

[NYMama]

From what I have seen via individuals posting the dailies, is that it varies by ship and sailing.  If there are enough kids onboard then it appears they offer staff supervised hours in the morning and in the evening with family time midday.  If there are not enough children onboard, it appears they are not offering a staff supervised kids club.  They are instead offering hours in which families can access the kids club facilities.  

[mconthehighseas]

I am new to NCL.  Is babysitting offered? If they aren't providing kids club when there isn't enough children,  do they then allow children in the all the finer dining ?

[dandelpino]

1 minute ago, mconthehighseas said:

I am new to NCL.  Is babysitting offered? If they aren't providing kids club when there isn't enough children,  do they then allow children in the all the finer dining ?

No babysitting at all sadly. Kids are allowed in all restaurants at all times. 

[mjkacmom]

Even during regular times, the clubs closed during main meal times, probably so kids could eat. Kids of every age are welcome in every restaurant.

[pyropoodle]

5 hours ago, mjkacmom said:

Even during regular times, the clubs closed during main meal times, probably so kids could eat. Kids of every age are welcome in every restaurant.

hijacking this thread to ask a question, i'm normally a carnival cruiser, so i'm used to dropping kids off at the club so i can have a nice dinner with my family. are you saying the clubs are closed during that time?  DANG.  i was hoping to have my kidds go to dinner at the buffet, then drop them off, then go to dinner with my hubs since we never get any alone time.   if this is true, carnival does it better

[mjkacmom]

1 hour ago, pyropoodle said:

hijacking this thread to ask a question, i'm normally a carnival cruiser, so i'm used to dropping kids off at the club so i can have a nice dinner with my family. are you saying the clubs are closed during that time?  DANG.  i was hoping to have my kidds go to dinner at the buffet, then drop them off, then go to dinner with my hubs since we never get any alone time.   if this is true, carnival does it better

Well you can, but you won’t be eating dinner at 5:30.

[dcipjr]

2 hours ago, pyropoodle said:

i was hoping to have my kidds go to dinner at the buffet, then drop them off, then go to dinner with my hubs since we never get any alone time.

 

We never do either...

 

My wife and I are going on the Breakaway next week, and I see from the dailies that Splash Academy is open 7 PM - 11 PM each night, 5-12 years only. 

 

Our daughter just turned 5, and we're planning to do the buffet for her, then drop her off at the club.

 

We'll have more date nights in the span of a week than we have in the past 5 years.

[pyropoodle]

11 minutes ago, dcipjr said:

 

We never do either...

 

My wife and I are going on the Breakaway next week, and I see from the dailies that Splash Academy is open 7 PM - 11 PM each night, 5-12 years only. 

 

Our daughter just turned 5, and we're planning to do the buffet for her, then drop her off at the club.

 

We'll have more date nights in the span of a week than we have in the past 5 years.

this is making me feel so much better.  we have some dinner res at 7:30 on a couple of nights and i really didn't want to fight with my kids at the table to tell them to please not throw food at each other!  
7-11 is puurrrrfect thank you so much

 

we don't have family where we live, so we literally do not get a break of any kind so this is amazing

 

[Luvmypups]

On 10/25/2022 at 3:00 PM, dcipjr said:

 

We never do either...

 

My wife and I are going on the Breakaway next week, and I see from the dailies that Splash Academy is open 7 PM - 11 PM each night, 5-12 years only. 

 

Our daughter just turned 5, and we're planning to do the buffet for her, then drop her off at the club.

 

We'll have more date nights in the span of a week than we have in the past 5 years.

Curious to know how Splash Academy worked out for you. 

[dcipjr]

2 hours ago, Luvmypups said:

Curious to know how Splash Academy worked out for you. 

It was wonderful! My daughter loved it and looked forward to going every day, and my wife and I had 5 date nights over the course of the cruise. 

 

10/10, would do again

[ShadowRegent]

On 11/10/2022 at 8:56 AM, dcipjr said:

It was wonderful! My daughter loved it and looked forward to going every day, and my wife and I had 5 date nights over the course of the cruise. 

 

10/10, would do again

 

We're going to be on the Escape in a few weeks and have been trying to figure out what the hours will be.  Were they only open in the evening or were they also open during the day on sea days?

[dcipjr]

On 11/18/2022 at 4:00 PM, ShadowRegent said:

 

We're going to be on the Escape in a few weeks and have been trying to figure out what the hours will be.  Were they only open in the evening or were they also open during the day on sea days?

 

They were open 7 PM-11 PM on your standard port days (in port from 8 AM - 5 PM). For a couple days with later port arrival / departure times (in port from 12 PM to 8 PM), Splash Academy was open 9 AM to 12 PM and 8 PM - 11 PM.

 

For sea days, I believe they had a few sessions: 9 AM - 12 PM, 2 PM to 4 PM, 7 PM to 11 PM, if memory serves.

[carohs]

This is good info. Does anyone know if these times are consistent fleet wide?

[Luvmypups]

On 12/11/2022 at 9:50 PM, carohs said:

This is good info. Does anyone know if these times are consistent fleet wide?

The times seem pretty consistent from what I’ve seen posted recently on some Western Caribbean sailings. Breakaway and Prima. 

[SuzieQ521]

On 11/10/2022 at 5:56 AM, dcipjr said:

It was wonderful! My daughter loved it and looked forward to going every day, and my wife and I had 5 date nights over the course of the cruise. 

 

10/10, would do again

Going on Bliss in January and I assume it's the same as yours, I have a 4 year old (not sure how the age groups are broken up) but glad to hear your daughter loved it!

 

For the paranoid parent, how does it work? Do they give you a pager and call you if needed? Do they have any food for the kids at all or are they required to eat beforehand?

 

Thanks!

[kitkat343]

4 hours ago, SuzieQ521 said:

Going on Bliss in January and I assume it's the same as yours, I have a 4 year old (not sure how the age groups are broken up) but glad to hear your daughter loved it!

 

For the paranoid parent, how does it work? Do they give you a pager and call you if needed? Do they have any food for the kids at all or are they required to eat beforehand?

 

Thanks!

Due to potential allergies, I've never seen food on the kids clubs.  NCL kids clubs are closed from 12-2, and 4-7, so you have plenty of time to feed your kids at the buffett or any of the sit down restaurants, whatever you prefer.

 

The last time I sailed on NCL, they had a lot of pagers because NCL lets kids who are not fully potty trained participate if the parents agree to come right away to change the child if they need any assistance in the potty because staff absolutely cannot help with that (some of the lines don't have enough pagers and give you a hard time if you request them.)  If you sail lines without pagers, you can tell the staff where you will be and they will call you (room is easiest, but they did explain they have the ability to page one section of the ship if you are supposed to be there on one of my cruises).

[dcipjr]

14 hours ago, SuzieQ521 said:

For the paranoid parent, how does it work? Do they give you a pager and call you if needed? Do they have any food for the kids at all or are they required to eat beforehand?

 

On the Breakaway, they had "handy phones". It's basically a tiny little phone the size of a keyfob, that works on the ship's phone system. It doesn't have a dial pad—it can just receive calls.

If they need you (and they'll explain at orientation what they could need you for), they'll call you on that phone. Each time you drop off, they'll issue you a phone on a lanyard, test it with you, and then you return the phone when you pick your children up. 

 

One reason why you could be called: the staff doesn't wipe butts (can you blame them?!). If your kid isn't fully potty-trained (as in, they can wipe themselves clean after #2), and they go to the bathroom, your services may be called upon, so plan accordingly.

 

If you're called on the phone, you have 10 minutes to get to Splash Academy.

 

Kids are required to eat beforehand. Splash Academy is closed for a portion of mealtimes, to make sure unfed kids aren't being dropped off. We would bring our daughter to the buffet around 6 PM, and then head to Splash Academy at 7 PM after she was done eating. Then it's Date Night!