Do your kids make friends in the kids clubs?

[candhmama]

We will be taking our first family cruise in May and all three of our kids will be in different age groups. On the cruise they will be 12, 8, and almost 4. My 8yo dd is the most concerned about not having her big sister with her. She is the one that is always more concerned about doing something where she doesn't know anyone. My oldest could care less and is usually very willing to join in anything. Usually in situations like this the two of them have been together and everything has been fine. Now my 8yo is nervous and my 12yo is excited that she won't have her little sister around. I have trying to encourage my 8yo that she will make friends, she usually does. She is usually fine once she goes to something and makes friends but I hate to see her get anxious about it before we go.

So, do your kids make friends that they hang out with the whole week in the kids clubs? I want to get some information to try to calm her nerves.

Thanks

[NanciRDH]

My kids make friends pretty easily and always enjoy their time in camp, the one thing I had heard is to make sure you attend the first session of the week, usually after dinner the first night, when everyone is new to each other. The kids seemed to stick with the first friends they made that night.

[Keith1010]

My kids are no longer young like yours are but they once were. We went on a cruise each year after our oldest turned nine and our son was five. They loved the kids clubs and made wonderful friends. For some they love it from the first moment but a few take an hour or two similar to taking them to school for the very first time but then almost all love the club. If your children area like mine were when the cruise comes to an end they will be asking when you will take them back for the next cruise.

 

Keith

[OneParticularHarbour 71]

My kids make friends pretty easily and always enjoy their time in camp, the one thing I had heard is to make sure you attend the first session of the week, usually after dinner the first night, when everyone is new to each other. The kids seemed to stick with the first friends they made that night.

 

I agree about attending the first night - all the kids are in the same boat (sorry for the pun) so to speak and don't know anyone yet so are all on equal footing with each other.

[ugen512]

People on here regularly have heard my story but on our NCL cruise there were only about 15-20 kids and my daughter was the oldest and only one in her age group. She actually assisted the staff with the younger kids so every time they saw her outside the Kids club they would say Hi to her. For the most part I think kids always seam to get along.

[2Cruise4Ever]

Every time we sail the Dawn our 2 kids (5yo DD and 10yo DS) always make friends right away. We were walking in port one time when we heard DD's name being shouted from a ways away from one of her friends from the Kids Crew. We ran into them quite a bit.

[FionaMG]

My daughter is quite shy and English isn't even her first language but she's never had any trouble making friends at the kids clubs. The structured activities in the younger age groups actually help the kids make friends and of course the staff are there to help them get to know each other. Perhaps it would help if you can get hold of a copy of your cruise line's activity programme for your daughter's age group so you can show her what sort of fun things she can expect to be doing.

[ecn81126]

We cruised a month ago and my children made wonderful friends. They are able to keep in touch online and my youngest has been getting/sending letters back and forth to his friends, as he's only 9 and isn't old enough for Facebook and all those sites.

[CanadianTwosome]

Our daughter has also made friends in the kids' clubs she's been in. The only drawback is that it makes for a sad girl on departure day when she knows she'll likely never see any of them again.

[crusinmama06]

My 8 year old has made friends on every ship we've ever been on. She continues to write to one that she met last year on Freedom. They exchanged webkinz ID's and everything...lol. ;)

 

We pick up post cards wherever we travel to now and we send them to her friend from Freedom. And she does the same. :)

[rebeccalouise]

I see you are planning to travel in May. There will be some kids but not too many school age kids at this time.

 

Encourage your daughter to go to the meet and greet, which is usually the first night. Parents can sometimes stay if that helps. She will likely meet children at the pool also.

 

I was on a cruise a few years ago and there was a 9 year old at my dining room table. She didn't go to the kids club until day 6 or 7 of our 10 night cruise. Her parents said she loved it and they practically never saw her again! Too bad she waited so long to give it a try. In fact, it was my then 5 year old son who encouraged her to go.

 

I was the type of kid who needed nudging. I was was the middle child- so I can relate to your daughter.

[napls2]

My kids have been cruising since they were 3 and 9 and are now 6 and going on 12. They have always made friends and the last two cruises my oldest daughter has kept up with a couple of friends through email. The first day they usually have had one of those "get to know you" papers where you have to find someone who is a twin, someone who has braces, someone who has had a broken bone. So you go around asking people stuff. Then they do hang out with the ones they met on the first day. But the last cruise my daughter hung out with a girl a little older than her as well as 3 other girls older and younger than her. The oldest girl ended up getting on the computer and used my daughters room number and birthdate to log on and it ran up a bill on her card. So, just remind your children not to give out too much information to their friends.

[wrangler4u]

I would definetly go to your roll call and see if there are any kids from the Roll Call. We did that for our cruise in October, and low and behold their was another 5 year old. His mom and I emailed and talked and ended up linking our dining room reservation. We exchanged pictures so the kids actually "knew" each other before we even met. It was great! They spent lots of time with each other as well as the other kids in the program. I also showed my girls pictures of the kids program online so they could see the ship and what it was going to look like. Hope this helps.