Sea princess xmas cruise 2009 with 12.9 yr old daughter

[Tricky Diggy]

We're on the Caribbean dream cruise 19 Dec 2009.

 

We hear they're strict with the age groupings in the kids' club, so our daughter, who will be 12 and 9 months, will not be able to socialise with the older kids.

 

Anyone else with a 11/12 yr old daughter who would like to meet up with our in-betweenee, on board.

 

Thanks,

 

TD:)

[Toto2Kansas]

We're on the Caribbean dream cruise 19 Dec 2009.

 

We hear they're strict with the age groupings in the kids' club, so our daughter, who will be 12 and 9 months, will not be able to socialise with the older kids.

 

Anyone else with a 11/12 yr old daughter who would like to meet up with our in-betweenee, on board.

 

Thanks,

 

TD:)

 

What ship are you sailing on? I can point you in the direction of your roll call, which is a great place to start looking for others your daughters age that belong to the Cruise Critic boards. ;)

 

Edited-I think you mentioned in your previous post it was the Sea Princess you will be sailing on? There is a small roll call for this December 19th Sea Princess cruise located here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=940528

[calliecat]

We had the same problem with our son at that age. Unfortunately there weren't any his age in this group and he ended up not participating in the

floor coloring, hopscotch and other games geared toward 8 and 9 yr olds rather than a near teenager. When I asked about letting him go into the video game area I was told absolutely not! I then explained that he had outgrown coloring and would not be coming up there with the younger children.

What he ended up doing was going into the teen center with another 13 yr old

he met and having a great time with the video games. They never checked his ID.

Had he not been able to "sneak" in, he would have had a miserable cruise since he's an only child and really looked forward to the kid's center. I realize there have to be age cutoffs, but there was no way that he was going to sit and color on the floor when he was a couple months away from being a teenager.

This is a tough age....your too old for one group but not old enough for the other.

[KKMKEM]

At Christmas there will be at least 150 kids and they will check ages. My DD was days away from 13 and they wouldn't let her in.

[happyholsssj]

We're on the Caribbean dream cruise 19 Dec 2009.

 

We hear they're strict with the age groupings in the kids' club, so our daughter, who will be 12 and 9 months, will not be able to socialise with the older kids.

 

Anyone else with a 11/12 yr old daughter who would like to meet up with our in-betweenee, on board.

 

Thanks,

 

TD:)

Hi,

 

There is a Roll Call for this cruise and although it is small it is linked to the 26th Dec 09. There are Teenagers already talking to each other.

 

Cheers

[Colo Cruiser]

They are very strict and will not put a 12 year old in with the teenagers.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Probably by the 19th, there may be some kids of all ages onboard, getting a couple days start on winter break.

 

I can certainly understand about keeping the age groups intact. If a few kids are allowed to move up, the poor counselors would be getting lots of requests along the lines of "my child is mature for his age." And think about the older kids thinking they're going to be with their age group and then finding younger kids in their room.

[kooljamming]

Go ahead and ask and pray they make an exception. On the Golden Princess I was told exceptions DO happen. I did ask specifically about this and trusted what they said was true. The program on each ship and sailing seem to be different, so asking won't hurt. If there are a lot of kids they may also change the groups to keep them more manageable. You could end up with a 12-14 group as happened on the Sapphire Princess, with my friend's sailing. Not to be a naysayer or disgruntled, but if the program on your cruise is similar (as bad) as the one I had on the Golden, it going to be a loooooooooong cruise for a almost 13 year coloring with 8 years olds. Go on-board with a back up plan if they won't budge:eek: I had my 13 year old in the teen program and was a bit worried since he was one of the youngest ones. He had a great time but I spent a bit of time checking.

 

Here are some of the activities for 8-12 on Golden Princess take directly from the planner. Maybe there was a good reason they would made exceptions:eek:

t-shirt coloring, draw the ship competition, learn to play spoons, ice cream social, make a art bag, play ps2, movies, puzzle race, Velvet art, make giant banner, caption and caricatures, make a Venetian mask, tattoos, disco princess kids Olympics (outside deck while viewing the glaciers) talent show practice (7 acts bothered to participate in the talent show at the end), yoga time, guitar hero, spinners, pictionary, solve it mysteries and feel the bag, PJ party plus more of the same.

 

There might be a slim to NO chance of you getting your request but for the sake of your child's vacation please ask. BTW observed a much better program on Sapphire Princess. Don't know about strict but far from consistent, so that could work in you favor.

Good Luck

[karatemom2]

We were on the Dawn Princess a couple of years ago which is the sister ship to the Sea Princess. It was our first Princess cruise and really got us hooked on Princess. We have also cruised with Princess over the last two Christmases and are doing so again this year. It is a wonderful way to spend a family holiday and I'm sure there will be many kids your daughters age for her to socialize with inside and outside of the club.

 

Now to your question. I will speak from real life experience here as I have twice been in the same situation with my daughter. Once she was within just a few weeks of being 8. Both times I spoke directly with the supervisor of the children's program to inquire about moving her up to the next group and both times the answer was no. It was clearly stated to me on both occasions that Princess has a firm policy on not allowing kids to move up to a higher age group, although they are flexible in allowing kids to move down.

 

That is not to say you cannot ask, but based on the reports from people here who have actually asked for their child to be moved up I would expect to be told no and prepare accordingly. It is very different to make an actual request to the supervisor for your child as opposed to making a casual inquiry to staff about the vague possibility. I'm not trying to discourage you from asking, but I believe you should have a realisitic expectation and Princess as you point out is known for being extremely strict about this. I would not want your daughter to have false hope and then be disappointed.

 

Now with that being said, the two cruises in question where my daughter didn't move up ended up being among her favorites. There are always other kids the same age in the group and they tend to band together. She made several girlfriends her age and they became a little "posse" in and out of the club.

 

And as far as the activities go, they generally have things that will appeal to all ages. I know KJ is very critical based on her one experience on the Golden, but looking at her list of activities I can see several things my daughter enjoys so I guess its all about perspective. My daughter is in that age group and she really enjoys the beading projects, art, music and dance activities, games, pj party and yes the talent show which in our experience is a highlight of the cruise. She will no doubt find some friends and have a great time putting an act together and you will love seeing it!

 

So, no matter what group she is in, she will make friends her age and you and your family will discover as we have that Christmas on Princess is a festive and memorable experience!