Adventure Ocean Reservations

[vacationlover16]

Hello! Is Adventure Ocean reservations only or can you drop your kids off at your leisure during the open times? The app notes reservations are required (Independence) due to capacity limits but I wasn't sure if this was old verbiage that hadn't been updated or was actually being enforced. There are 7 kids in our traveling group the week of October 3 and if we need to make reservations we will want to coordinate times as soon as we are able to once on on the ship and I want to let the other parents know so we can be prepared to coordinate. TIA for any info anyone has.

[Subman738]

Not sure about the Independence but we were on the Oasis in late Mar and they wanted you to set up reservation times but my son  didn't have any issues dropping his kids off at other times when needed/desired.

[vanesssss]

We most recently sailed Indy in July and reservations were not required, though Adventure Ocean did fill up almost every night. We made sure to get there a bit before they opened and by the time they did at 7pm there was already a line of 8-10 kids waiting to sign in. One night we snagged the last spot and there were 3 or 4 people behind us trying to drop their kids off that weren't able to.

Edited September 22, 2022 by vanesssss

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

Navigator in July was capacity controlled.  I would go when you first get onboard and do all the paperwork and ask about RSVP.  Couple of times we had to wait at the door until somebody left so our GD (9 & 7) could go in.  Another night we took them up after dinner and they were closed for another 15 minutes.  I was going to leave and come back, but the line started to form while we were standing there so we hung out until they opened.  By the time they opened there were clearly more kids in line than were going to get in.  

[docsneeze]

Thanks to the OP and others for their feedback.  We are going on a Mediterranean cruise in October when there will likely be fewer kids on board.  I assume it will be easier to access AO during these times but would appreciate any advice you might have.  Thank you.

[vacationlover16]

Thank you all for your replies! This is helpful. Follow-up question, I have been on Royal before but never with kids. Is this normal or a result of post Covid protocols? On Carnival (pre-Covid) we could take the kids whenever. We have MTD and our reservations aren't until 7:45 most nights. So, if folks are lining up at 7:00 it sounds like we likely won't stand a chance with getting our kids in unless we forego having dinner with them and I don't want to do that every night. We only have one sea day so I am not as worried about day time hours as they will be with us during port days and we will likely spend the sea day doing activities together as a family and with our friends around the ship. But during the evenings we will want some adult time.