Somewhat disappointed with kids club (Royal Caribbean)

[gt95stang]

I originally posted this on the RCCI board, but thought it might be helpful here as well as I suspect many of my concerns may apply across different cruise lines. In reading the boards, I was expecting different from the kids club than what we actually experienced....

 

Just got off Navigator of the Seas this morning. I'll try to post somewhat of a review later with many of the positive experiences from the cruise, but I wanted to post my impressions of Adventure Ocean since they seem quite contrary to the majority of the reviews here.

 

First, let me say that this was my first cruise in 11 years and the first with a child. So my expectations may have been off base.

 

DD is 6 and prior to the cruise was looking forward to the kids club. She typically begs to to the "kids clubs" at hotels we visit, but we've been reluctant to let her because of safety concerns (or parental paranoia). A few times we've let her go to a hotel kids club to do a specific craft or something like that. I think both her and I were expecting the cruise kids club to be similar; with lots of crafts and projects. It seemed to be more games and chaos.

 

The overriding issue that I found with Adventure Ocean was the counselor to kid ratio. DD ended up going to kids club only twice. The first time there were 57 kids with 3 counselors, the second time it was 26 kids with 2 counselors. But realistically, one counselor spends most of their time just signing kids in and out of the club and doesn't really participate in the activities. So the ratio is even more extreme than it appears.

 

To me, this ridiculous ratio puts the counselors in a position where no matter how good they are, they are set up for failure. With 57 six to eight year olds, there are going to be a few that get "off tasks". When the counselors have to deal with those issues, it leads to chaos for everyone else.

 

Maybe ours was an unusual experience being over spring break (including teens, there were about 1,200 kids on the ship). But it seems that if you go at any time that the kids are out of school, you're going to have the same situation.

 

The insufficient staffing led to other "issues". For example, we waited in line for about 30 minutes (in the loud arcade) to sign her in, then had to wait in line for another 30 minutes (again, in the arcade) to check her out.

 

I was also expecting that the kids would have some flexibility in what they wanted to do - play a game, color a picture, watch the scheduled movie, etc. However, with such a small staff, all the kids are funneled into the same activity. I think it would be a lot more fun for the kids if they had at least some flexibility to choose alternative activities if they aren't particularly interested in the scheduled activity.

 

And that brings us to the schedule. The schedule that I'm not sure why they bother to distribute in the kids compass each day. The first trip to kids club, they did do the circus that was on the schedule. But what DD really wanted to do was to make a mask that they had scheduled for right after the circus. I explained to her that if she wanted to be there to do the mask, she'd have to be there for the circus because of the way things were scheduled. Then, when I went to pick her up, I found out that they never did the mask craft at all.

 

The second time she wanted to go was on the final night for Boys vs. Girls. But when we checked her in, they had decided to change the schedule and did a carnival night instead. Fortunately, that sounded fun to her as well so she still went.

 

The other problem with the schedule is that much of it is incomprehensible. Each day, DD would ask what they were doing in the various sessions of kids club and we'd go through the schedule. You'd have things like "gagaball" on there and neither her nor I had any idea what they heck that was so she wouldn't be interested in it. The gagaball is the one I remember, but I would estimate that at least 50% (probably more) of the daily schedule didn't really give me any indication as to what they were doing. The daily Compass would be much more helpful if they would do a better job of explaining what was actually going to be happening during the day (and then actually sticking to that schedule).

 

Overall, the 2 times she went to Adventure Ocean, she had a good time. But it was a far cry from many of the experiences I've read on here about kids begging to go to kids club and being so disappointed about the times they were unable to go. For DD, it seemed to have been kind of a "take it or leave" thing. It certainly wasn't a highlight of the cruise for her.

 

This isn't a slam on RCCL at all, because I suspect that the experience would be similar on any cruise line (except maybe Disney). But I thought it was important to post this here to give other parents a little more insight into how the Adventure Ocean program actually works beyond the "your kids will love it, my kids never want to leave" comments that are all to prevelant here.

[6rugrats]

But I thought it was important to post this here to give other parents a little more insight into how the Adventure Ocean program actually works beyond the "your kids will love it, my kids never want to leave" comments that are all to prevelant here.

 

I also don't find comments such as the bolded ones above helpful at all. They are right up there with, "Oh, don't worry about it, it won't be a problem." Of course, someone is sure to tell you, "a day on a bad cruise is better than a good day at home!" :)

 

It was great to read a concrete, factual review of your experiences. Hope your next cruise, or land vacation, is better!

[nothriver]

I agree thanks for the review!

 

I never travel over Easter, however. Our spring break is always 3rd week of March and when it coincides with Easter, we stay home. Everywhere is nuts over Easter, unfortunatley, so I'm guessing that is part of the issue OP faces last week. That said, the cruiseline had hard numbers of ages for all passangers. No reason for them not to beef up staffing for the kids clubs during times where the number of children on board is so high. 57 dids to 3 counselors is completely unsafe. Aside from normal kid behavior, in the event of an illness/injury, emergency such as a fire etc., 3 counselors CANNOT supervise 57 kids.

[Cruisin' Chick]

I hope you noted the counselor to kid ratio on your comment card. The ships do know how many kids (and how many per age) are going to be onboard. So they should be able to hire the appropriate number. The one question mark is how many kids will participate (on our last cruise which was a holiday sailing, there were 250 kids onboard, but this one group of kids -- about 10-15, if I'm remembering right -- from the same extended family didn't take part at all, according to my daughter. But I imagine they should err on the high side.

 

I have noticed that sometimes there is a deviation from the schedule (this is on Carnival and Princess), but maybe that's due to fewer kids showing up, so the activities are changed for that day. My daughter's one major disappointment on that holiday cruise was that there was a New year's party scheduled with the 8-12 and the teen group. Featuring a balloon drop in the pool area. It was supposed to be around 10 (there was free kidsitting on that night due to the holiday) so we kept her there and did our thing. After midnight, we went to get her, and she was so ticked off that she was stuck there as the party never took place. She would have rather stayed with us and checked out the various parties (she's used to "grown up music" by now so that wasn't a problem). If the counselors have told us that the party was tentative, we would have checked with her around 11.

[kldt]

I agree about the kids programs. My kids, 10 and 13, don't even bother with them anymore. This last cruise, on the Navigator 2 weeks ago, was no different. My boys are old enough to sign themselves in and out so I don't have to deal with the lines. My 10 yo always goes to see if he can meet kids to hang around with, but he said the 10-12 activities were "for babies" (not age appropriate) and refused to go back. Which worries me about booking a cruise on another cruiseline that doesn't offer the onboard facilities (rockwall, ice rink, HUGE arcade, putt-putt) since they have such a bad taste of RCL's clubs and utilize these to entertain themselves when we are on the ship.

[bunny]

We cruised on Disney twice. The first time my son was only 3 and he loved the club. The second time he was 8 and he didn't like it. He said there wasn't enough free time. He said they made them participate in whatever activity the club was doing and since he was on vacation he didn't want to do that. I think the clubs are better for the under age 5 crowd, since they don't realize they have a choice.

 

The one thing that was great about Disney, though, was that the club was always open. We took our children to dinner with us every night. The server brought their meal while we were eating our first course. When they were done, I took them to the club and came back just in time for our main course. During meal times the club basically lets the kids hang out, so they got to play video games while we ate dinner. We picked them up when we were done and went to the shows. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't want my kids sitting around all day on a cruise playing video games, but it is something they enjoy and is relaxing for them. So they got their fix and we got to finish dinner. It worked out really well.

 

The other thing I loved about Disney was that all of the shows and activities are family friendly.

[Julienatul]

I think it really depends on the child and the child's personality. Some kids probably LOVE whatever activity is going on, while others could take it or leave it. Some kids are self-directed while others require more help during some activities. The ones who are able to do it on their own probably enjoy it more than those waiting for a counseler to help them, especially if it's the ratio you describe. I could see how 57 children in one group would be too much to provide any sort of structure. However, I think if they had multiple activites going on it would be even more chaos than you already experienced unless more counselors were available to supervise.

[gt95stang]

However, I think if they had multiple activites going on it would be even more chaos than you already experienced unless more counselors were available to supervise.

That was kind of my point when I said that the counselors are "set up for failure". With only 3 adults (and only 2 actively participating) with 57 kids, the only option is to have all the kids doing the same thing.

 

Even if you let 4 or 5 kids just go to a table and color or something, you can't keep an eye on them while still keeping an eye on the other 50 kids.

 

Having more counselors and a lower ratio would solve most of the other issues.

[helenb]

The OP has hit on exactly the problem I have with Adventure Ocean. They never seem to be understanding if a child is not interested in the 'official' activity. If my child wants to sit in the corner and color or play with a toy instead of play an organized game, why can't they? It's THEIR vacation too! If they're not bothering anyone or causing a disturbance, they should be allowed to choose their own activity.

 

FWIW, I have found Princess to be much more reasonable about this, and Disney as well. It's only on RCCL that they have all of these strict guidelines. RCCL also seems to have the longest wait times to sign kids into and out of the kids' club. I had some terrible experiences on RCCL, and while I understand that this doesn't mean the entire line is bad, they were problematic enough for me to not want to cruise that line again.

[isk8]

Thanks OP! I appreciate your insight. We are going on our first RCCL cruise with our 4 year old in September, and we were going to use the daily schedule to plan when he would be in AO. We were going to pick activities that were appropriate/fun for him. Knowing that they may not follow the posted schedule will help set our expectations for AO.

[gt95stang]

Thanks OP! I appreciate your insight. We are going on our first RCCL cruise with our 4 year old in September, and we were going to use the daily schedule to plan when he would be in AO. We were going to pick activities that were appropriate/fun for him. Knowing that they may not follow the posted schedule will help set our expectations for AO.

Trying to pick specific activities will certainly be a challenge. DD wanted to do anything that sounded "crafty", but wasn't interested in the game-type things. But most of the crafty projects were scheduled for 20 minutes or less. So trying to hit the kids club for that specific 20 minutes - especially understanding that it'd be easy to get 10 minutes off schedule even if they are following that days schedule - is pretty challenging.

 

On sea days, the kids club is open for a morning, afternoon and evening session (don't remember what time they open, but they close from 12:00-2:00 and again from 5:00-7:00; then after 10:00 they have the late-night session that is more of a "free play" time with a $5.00/hr upcharge). I found that with the way the 6-8 year old group was scheduled, it really only made sense to go if you were planning to attend the full session. Real often they'd have "themes" that built upon themselves throughout the session. They usually had kind of a sign in period for the first half hour or so, but if you sign in 90 minutes into the session, it may be tough to pick up on where things are if they're using stuff from early in the session on what they're doing now. The 4 year old group may be a little different.

[PattyW]

That's interesting - thanks for the post. We traveled the week ahead of you on AOS (also Spring Break) and I was shocked at how few participated. We had one in 3-5 and the most ever registered for a single session was 8-10 children and for one in 6-8, the most names I ever saw on the sign in sheet was somewhere around 20 (Pirate night). There were something like 60 age 3-5 year olds on board and 80 age 6-8.

 

I did note that the 6-8 scheduled activities were much more physically directed (games) than the 3-5 year olds.

[crusinmama06]

You might want to try Disney next time. They allow the kids to pretty much do what they want while in camp. So if the child wants to go play dress up, they can. If they want computer time, then that's their choice as well.

 

I think Carnival gives the kids a little more wiggle room too. The kids can play a board game or color if they don't want to participate with the rest of the group.

 

I've had the same issue with Royal Caribbean with one of my children (when she was younger though). She is pretty strong willed and wanted to play on the slides, which she wasn't allowed when the rest of the group was doing an art project. So she became upset about it.

 

She didn't have the same issue in Feb though on Indepenedence. She stayed with the group.

 

Yes they should have increased the staff in AO for spring break. We traveled this same week in 2007 on Freedom and we didn't have that problem. I've never waited 30 minutes to check the kids in. So they should have added extra staff to your week, no doubt.

 

As far as GagaBall - it's a kid favorite. I have NO idea what it entails, but when my oldest sees it on the schedule, she is there.

[Paumavista]

My kids 3,4,8 & 9 don't seem to care what the cruise line as long as we do NOT travel during a holiday or busy time of year! We have always found that the facilities themselves (in addition to the counselors) become overwhelmed when there are too many kids! I've got to think that the rooms and equipment only accomodate a certain number before there is overload and it hardly matters the ship or line; of course some ships have larger facilities and so they can accomodate more....but the bottom line is that there is always the possbility of overload during peak periods so we try to be aware of the crowding possibilities.

[gt95stang]

My kids 3,4,8 & 9 don't seem to care what the cruise line as long as we do NOT travel during a holiday or busy time of year! We have always found that the facilities themselves (in addition to the counselors) become overwhelmed when there are too many kids! I've got to think that the rooms and equipment only accomodate a certain number before there is overload and it hardly matters the ship or line; of course some ships have larger facilities and so they can accomodate more....but the bottom line is that there is always the possbility of overload during peak periods so we try to be aware of the crowding possibilities.

I considered that when the crowds in kids club were big, but don't you run into that whenever the kids are out of school? Whether it be spring break, Christmas or summer?

 

It seems that we've only got 2 extremes to choose from. Go when DD is out of school and face crowds like we did last week. Or pull her out of school for a week and have her be one of the few kids on board. I can't imagine kids club is much fun with only 3 or 4 kids in there either.

[crusinmama06]

I considered that when the crowds in kids club were big, but don't you run into that whenever the kids are out of school? Whether it be spring break, Christmas or summer?

 

It seems that we've only got 2 extremes to choose from. Go when DD is out of school and face crowds like we did last week. Or pull her out of school for a week and have her be one of the few kids on board. I can't imagine kids club is much fun with only 3 or 4 kids in there either.

 

Unless you are traveling some exotic itinerary on some expensive exclusive line, your daughter won't be one of 3/4 kids.

 

We won't do Summer...because the crowds are just chaos. We have done the week AFTER Easter, which would be this week. We have done the week AFTER Thanksgiving. And our last cruise (RCCL Indy) was the week before Winter break, Feb 1. There were 250 kids on Indy that week. So although we were on the ship during a week that is traditionally a school week....there were still 250 kids onboard. BUt then, for Springbreak, there are over 1,000. I try to avoid those times like the plague. ;)

 

Our next cruise leaves the week my kids get out of school. They get out early in comparison with other kids. I know this because no one else can go with us because the kids are in school. So the kids get out June 2nd and we will be one a ship a few days later....hopefully, we won't have the same experience. But we haven't yet. So I am pretty hopeful we'll be fine. :)

[Paumavista]

Yes.....we don't travel during holidays/school breaks if we can help it. And if we do....I know my kids don't plan for much time in the club.

 

I don't mind pulling the kids out of school.....so far it hasn't been an issue. And as cruisinmama pointed out unless it is some exotic destination there are ALWAYS plenty of kids. We like the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas (great prices; smaller crowds; and not a peak study time for missing school) but we like the Southern Caribbean for the warmer weather during this period.

 

I also like the end of April/May if we can schedule around school testing. We're traveling to Alaska the last 2 weeks in May. Kids will be home for the last week of school (to show off their pictures). State testing is complete the week before we leave. I expect few kids on the trip....based on both the destination and timing....but I'm sure my kids will be fine and enjoy any activities available.

[2Cruise4Ever]

I think it also depends on the cruise line. Our kids are 6 and 11 now. We started cruising with them when they were 2 and 7. And, have sailed NCL the entire time (with the kids). Every time they have had a blast! They have never deviated from the schedule. And, the child to counselor ratio has always been right around 15 to 1 or so. But, we always sail the week after their school gets out which is usually the last week of school for most other students. For some reason, our county always lets out a week or so earlier than everyone else in MD.

 

Our kids do love it. And, we do have to drag them out of there. They get plenty of free time and lots of activities.

[Sky616]

I considered that when the crowds in kids club were big, but don't you run into that whenever the kids are out of school? Whether it be spring break, Christmas or summer?

 

It seems that we've only got 2 extremes to choose from. Go when DD is out of school and face crowds like we did last week. Or pull her out of school for a week and have her be one of the few kids on board. I can't imagine kids club is much fun with only 3 or 4 kids in there either.

Trust me there will be more than 3 or 4 kids on board during school. We were on the Jewel of the Seas the wk after Thanksgiving 2007 with 1/3 the ship full of Pied Pipers (gays and lesbians) and there were still I'd say 30 to 40 kids on board. Not as many as normally but good enough of a number for our DS. We now check thourougly to see if any big groups are sailing on our ship.

[junglejane]

The OP has hit on exactly the problem I have with Adventure Ocean. They never seem to be understanding if a child is not interested in the 'official' activity. If my child wants to sit in the corner and color or play with a toy instead of play an organized game, why can't they? It's THEIR vacation too! If they're not bothering anyone or causing a disturbance, they should be allowed to choose their own activity.

 

FWIW, I have found Princess to be much more reasonable about this, and Disney as well. It's only on RCCL that they have all of these strict guidelines. RCCL also seems to have the longest wait times to sign kids into and out of the kids' club. I had some terrible experiences on RCCL, and while I understand that this doesn't mean the entire line is bad, they were problematic enough for me to not want to cruise that line again.

 

This is why my older DD prefers Princess. We've never been on RCCL, but we have been on Celebrity twice, and Celebrity is owned by RCCL. DD says that in Celebrity's kids program they want everyone doing the same thing at the same time, but that with Princess they are more flexible and let you "opt out" and do something else. Our younger DD is fine with either program, but the older one likes the greater flexibility of Princess.

 

--Junglejane

[Onessa]

Unless you are traveling some exotic itinerary on some expensive exclusive line, your daughter won't be one of 3/4 kids.

 

We won't do Summer...because the crowds are just chaos. . . . for Springbreak, there are over 1,000. I try to avoid those times like the plague. . . .

 

Yes.....we don't travel during holidays/school breaks if we can help it. . . . I don't mind pulling the kids out of school.....so far it hasn't been an issue. And as cruisinmama pointed out unless it is some exotic destination there are ALWAYS plenty of kids.

 

We also cruise "off season" -- late May/first week of June (as soon as school ends), last week of August (b/f our school starts but after most schools start), or the week of Thanksgiving. Our school district does not "do" spring break. We also cruise off-season for the itinerary -- late fall for Med cruises or late spring for Canandian/AK -- we're from "up North" and temps in the 60's/70's in late November are balmy! There are always plenty of kids -- home schoolers, year-round schoolers, those of us who pull our kids from school :D.

 

------------

 

DD is now 13YO, but has at least 12 cruises (most RCCI). When she was pre-12YO and did the kids club, she preferred the RCCI (we've also done Disney - btw she HATED the "characters":), Princess, and NCL).

 

She was a day-care, pre-school child so was used to the structure that the kids clubs provided. The one "bad" experience she had was on an NCL cruise where the counselors pretty much let everyone do their own thing -- DD does NOT deal well with chaos, and that was what the "letting the kids do their own thing" was -- chaos!

 

I agree that the ratio of kids to counselors that the OP mentioned are not appropriate. I have generally found the counselors to be very open to modifying activities to allow for some diversity. My DD generally makes a few friends and as long as she is with them, she's happy doing whatever the group is doing, but really doesn't care for competitive games. By attending many sessions, the counselors got to know her personality and would suggest that she could keep score if she preferred, or maybe help someone else having a problem -- IOW they really "tailored" the activity to make it more enjoyable to her.

[xcomet]

We just came off of the RCCL Liberty, (spring break)with an 11yr,14, and 17 yr. old.

I must say we were shocked at how much different the adventure ocean activities were this time. We have been on 9 RCI cruises with the kids, and have come to expect the highest quality. We have been on the Liberty before and twice on the Freedom. This time, there werent very many activities for the kids, and what was planned never happened.

Because of this, there were many many many kids roaming the ship, unsupervised, the promenade especially. Thank heavens this ship has skating, climbing,golf, etc. The kids would go to the kids club, only to find out the activities werent going on that day. I complained at guest relations, and on the comment card, and I hope you all will too. Had we not travelled with friends this time( and how embarassed I was after raving over all the kids activities) , my kids would have been so bored.

I want to try NCL or Carnival, but havent seen or heard very many good things about the kids clubs.

[sarahcd]

I'm in the same boat (bad joke!). I, too, am tempted to try NCL but am wary of the things I've read about the kids clubs. We've done several Princess cruises without kids and sailed on RC's Mariner last year with the kids. Norwegian is so much less expensive...I'm tempted. Can't decide.

[aflynn3]

Gaga Ball - Moving the ball with your hands, ball stays on the ground so you are basically hunched over. If you fall to your knees you are out, sounds like a lot of fun...

 

My son loved it. The one thing he still talks about.

 

As for the rest of Adventure Ocean, he had no complaints and would go each night with his friends. We were on the IOS during spring break with a ton of kids!

[2Cruise4Ever]

We've sailed NCL 3 times with our kids (now 6 and 11) and have never had a bad experience with the Kids Crew. They absolutely LOVE it!!! They have never canceled an activity (maybe moved something to another day, but never canceled); the counselors are so energetic and they love kids; and we can't keep our kids out of there. They are actually disappointed they can't go to the Kids Crew when we go ashore!! That's one of the main reasons we love NCL (and, Freestyle; and the suite experience; and the level of service.........)