Adventure Ocean Activities

[KS17]

Just wondering if anyone had a sample of the scheduled activities offered at Adventure Ocean. I read on another thread that if you do late dinner seating, the kids would miss out on the evening activities. Just wondering what they might be missing.

 

Kids will be 9 and 12 at time of cruise and we will be on FOS Eastern Itinerary. (For all of you late diners, don't worry they are extremely well behaved. You won't even know they're there! ;) )

[shrimp0]

The evenings are indeed fun. My 8 year old has been on 3 cruises so far. We choose to go to late seating dinner even though we know he may not be there every night. We leave it up to him... though we try to encourage at least one formal night with us. ( the first 2 cruises he dined with us most of the time but the 3rd cruise we were seated at a table with just the 3 of us and he decided that AO was more fun than dinner with just mom and dad)

 

Anyway, they will have a pirate night ... this is when the kids dress as pirates and learn a cute song. They then parade through the ship (very well superivised) to the dining room and perform their song. It is a riot and the kids really have fun!!!! They will also have other themes like disco night or games night. What we would sometimes do was have our son go to AO right at 7 and participate for an hour or so and then pick him up to go to dinner and then sometimes we would even bring him back around 9-9:30 after he finished eating. ( usually between our starters and main course one of us would bring him up... and on the 2nd cruise the other family at our table did the same with their same age daughter).

 

There will be 2-3 nights where the kids can eat with AO staff at Johnny Rockets.. this will be at 6pm on the 2 formal nights .. and usually one other night in the middle. Our son enjoyed these and would still sometimes come with us just to be with us in the dining room at 8:30. We were really flexible with letting him enjoy his evening activities and his new friends. If he didnt eat with us... we would either get him some pizza at the cafe or bring him to the windjammer before going to AO at 7. Our son enjoys being with us... and we enjoy being with him.... he would spend most of the day with us... so we felt it was reasonable to let him decide what he wanted to do in the evenings.

 

The AO program is free until 10pm every night... after 10 there is a 5 dollar charge per child per hour. There were a few nights that we let DS stay for late night. The night of the Quest show was one night that he was there late. Otherwise, we would pick him up at 10 and take him out to the shows or late night walks with us... or some evenings to the cabing for bed. (when we were all ready to crash for the night after a long day in port)

 

This is how it has worked for our family. If you are flexible and willing to let them miss dinner with you then the late seating can certainly work for you. However, if you insist that the children have dinner with you each evening.. they may feel they are missing out on activities and the early seating would be better. ( they will still be a bit late as AO starts at 7 and early seating is at 6... but the main activities do not start until 7:30 -8:00 to account for this)

[morgan1312]

Very well stated shrimpo!!

 

We've also taken our now 8 yr old grandson on 4 cruises (5th one leaves in 8 days!!!! on FOS!!!) We always do late dinner seating, after the first nite when AO isn't open he has no interest in sitting in the DR for dinner with us when there is so much fun stuff he'd be missing in AO. We also spend lots of time with him so it doesn't matter if he doesn't eat dinner with us, we usually snack with him where ever we get his dinner anyway so that's like our family sit down dinner.

 

A couple of other things we've done in the past, is pick him up about 9:30 and bring him to the DR for dessert, the waiters always do something special for him, like a huge plate of cookies that lasted all week or making animals out of the napkins...and if there was something on the menu that we know he likes we order it for him and the waiter will hold it till he comes down. Of course you have to order appetizers/soups when you order your dinner cause they clean up the kitchen once each course is served so you can't get them later.

 

Of course last year he found out about the late night party zone (pay $5.00/ per child / per hour from 10:00 PM - 1:00 AM) so I'm not sure we'll get him to leave and come to the dining room this cruise.

[PVDCruiser]

Slight correction - for 12-14 there is no extra charge for late night activities. Your kids will miss some stuff, but the big stuff is all after the late seating.

[KS17]

Thank you for the replies! :)

[Calicruisefamily]

What can we do to make sure we get sat with a family with kids ? Last year on Voyager we had late seating and it worked out great with the Adventure Ocean program, But we had to be seated with adults. I would love for our 9 year daughter to have someone to talk to too.

Thanks for any help :)

Voyager W. Caribbean 12/16/06 "Our First AFT"

Voyager E. Caribbean 11/05

S.S. Azure Seas Baja 11/90

[CaptData]

Calcruisefamily, there is no sure way but I would see the Mait'd on the first day (usually between 1-4). I would ask if the other people at the table have children too, If the answer is yes then great if no then request a change to a table with another child of his age if possible.

[Calicruisefamily]

Calcruisefamily, there is no sure way but I would see the Mait'd on the first day (usually between 1-4). I would ask if the other people at the table have children too, If the answer is yes then great if no then request a change to a table with another child of his age if possible.

 

 

 

 

Thanks ;) I will do that.

[mill231]

What kind of activities do the 12-14 year olds do? Our son will be 14 when we sail.

[Terpnut]

What can we do to make sure we get sat with a family with kids ? Last year on Voyager we had late seating and it worked out great with the Adventure Ocean program, But we had to be seated with adults. I would love for our 9 year daughter to have someone to talk to too.

 

 

Thanks for any help :)

 

 

Voyager W. Caribbean 12/16/06 "Our First AFT"

Voyager E. Caribbean 11/05

S.S. Azure Seas Baja 11/90

Check in with the Maitre D' as soon as you board and make the request.

[Calicruisefamily]

Check in with the Maitre D' as soon as you board and make the request.

 

 

 

Thanks ;) It looks like that is what we are going to have to do. It would be nice if RC would take care of requests like this before you board. I remember in 1990 on our honeymoon cruise we did not have to request anything and they sat us with all other couples on honeymoons there must have been 5 other tables all around us of nothing but couples married that month.

[masonpips]

I'm in total agreement with the other posters. This is our 5th cruise and we've done late seating on 4 of them. We all eat together the first night and then the kids usually opt for room service (they LOVE ordering this, what a riot) or we hit Windjammer w/them at 6 (we have some sushi for an early appetizer) and take them to the club while we go have a pre-dinner drink. They usually eat with us one-two other nights depending on what's going on in the club.

 

My DD was SO mad she missed the pirate night parade because it was DS's birthday and we "forced" them to eat with us. She's already told me she is NOT missing it this year.

 

We've had a table of 4 and have asked for another so that one of us can easily excuse ourselves between main course and dessert (you can ask for kids to be served their dessert early we've found), run the kids upstairs and then come back for a "couples only" dessert.

 

Our also beg to stay at the Late Night Party Zone (or whatever it's called). They get mad when we show up early (we're usually exhausted by the time we go there and they're running strong) and DS was especially mad he didn't get to stay until 1 a.m. the last night (oh my!) but we had an early flight the next day and needed to be up to get off the ship. This year we're spending the night in Miami post-cruise so we'll probably let him stay.

 

I am overjoyed that they enjoy the clubs, it allows all of us to have some things we get to pick and choose to do, either as an individual, a couple or a family. I love lounging by the pool. My son would rather be at the clubs. DD decides each day. Dh usually veges at the pool too. Sometimes we do spa stuff, sometimes we climb the rockwall or play golf. Works for me! :D

[sailor05]

We had the early seating, and my wife would just take my 5yr. old up to A.O. after the main course. I don't think it even took her 10 minutes to get there and back.

[MercedMike]

Here are some samples from Serenade of the Seas:

 

Kids programs

 

I would imagine they are pretty similar on most ships.

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

[MD VBMom]

Mike, Thanks for posting the activities list from the kids programs. I can't wait for my kids to take a look! There seems to be something scheduled continually during the day. We went on DCL a couple of years ago and my 2 DD were not impressed with the kids club. There was so much time when there were no directed activites---the kids were left to find something on their own to do. I think they're gonna love this!!

[mill231]

Here are some samples from Serenade of the Seas:

 

Kids programs

 

 

Thanks Mike!

[KS17]

Mike -

 

Thank you very much for posting the kids activities. That is exactly what I was hoping to see.

 

Much appreciated!

 

Kris

[andnickali]

As to the early vs late seating with kids- on all of our adult only cruises we have done late seating in order to make the most of our days in port or at sea. So, when we booked a cruise with the kids we also picked late seating (I think it was 8:15).

 

By the time the kids played in the sun all day or were on excursions they were exhausted and half falling asleep before dinner. One night at the past guest cocktail party my DD was sound asleep on a couch and we had to just hold her during dinner. Another night at the table my DS (who was 8 at the time) tipped his chair and hit the floor when he fell asleep at the table. Of course as soon as it happened we thought he had been goofing off (and I was prepared to properly rake him over the coals for such behavior) and that is what caused his chair to fall over. It was not until a passenger seated directly behind him turned to help him up did I realize he had dozed off!

 

We have learned our lesson and have booked an early seating for an upcoming cruise. The nice thing with RC is the early seating is at 6:30- on Carnival I believe it is 5:30- and I think we will have plenty of time to enjoy the day and not feel rushed into getting ready for dinner.

[Cape Cruiser 2007]

Can anyone help me??

DH is nervous- to say the least! ABout leaving DD14 and DS7 at any of these programs. I think they would enjoy getting away from family for awhile.

He's worried about safety/security.

Any help??

[SLH]

Can anyone help me??

DH is nervous- to say the least! ABout leaving DD14 and DS7 at any of these programs. I think they would enjoy getting away from family for awhile.

He's worried about safety/security.

Any help??

They are well supervised and the 7yr.old must be signed in and out. You can drop off and pick up the 14yr.old after the activities. My DD is 12yr. and loves the activities but is not running around the ship on her own.

[Cape Cruiser 2007]

I'm sure they'll be fine. I've been on M&M w/another family w/ kids same age, so was hoping they could all hang out.

Like I said- DH has issues. Man when she starts dating the fur will fly. I feel sorry for her. Very protective when it comes to her safety.

[Calicruisefamily]

Can anyone help me??

DH is nervous- to say the least! ABout leaving DD14 and DS7 at any of these programs. I think they would enjoy getting away from family for awhile.

He's worried about safety/security.

Any help??

 

 

 

 

We took our DD8 on her first cruise last year it was on Voyager. We did not know what to expect and was also a little nervous at first until we got onboard and met the Adventure Ocean staff. Our DD had so much fun we even let her go to the late night party zone. She made so many new friends in the 6-8 group, I'm sure your DS and DD will too :) They even had a night when the kids got to go to dinner at Johnny Rockets with the Adventure Ocean staff, Thats when you and DH should plan a little dinner of your own at Portofino ;). At Adventure Ocean the kids are very safe. Take the kids and have a great time on your cruise! :)

P.S. Our daughter loved Adventure Ocean so much we are taking her back again this year :D 9-11 group this cruise she can't wait.

Voyager W. Caribbean 12/16/06 "Our First AFT"

Voyager E. Caribbean 11/05

S.S. Azure Seas Baja 11/90

[zuscruiserz]

Just be aware - your 14 y/o DD will not be signed in or out of the teen activities, she will be able to come and go as she pleases. And if the "activity" is cancelled due to lack of interest, she will be free to do as she pleases. Most of the time the teen groups just "hung out" not doing much of anything organized. Since my DD (when she was 15) was not into this, she basically joined DH and I at the pool, etc. We had her check in with us whenever she wasn't in the teen area.

 

It depends on when you cruise as to how many teens will be involved in the 2 groups (12-14 and 15-17). Since we cruised in May and Dec (in the past), there were fewer kids, and thus fewer activities.

[Alaskanmax]

Hello,

 

This will be our first cruise and we will be traveling with our 2 sons ages 8 and 12. Are the kids pretty well supervised while they are there or can they sneak out and run around on the ship unsupervised? Just wondering how safe our kids will be. thanks.