new NCL person, how is kids club?

Hi Everyone-

I am looking to try NCL this winter. Been on RCl, Celebrity, and Princess. We have a 4-yr old daughter. We would be doing a Haven suite. Anyone give me feedback on the kids clubs programs? I have been researching it and thought it would best to come to the board. We were leaning towards Disney, but for the cost of 3 of us in a balcony, we can stay in the Haven. I am pretty convinced, but need advice on the kids programming and of course safety.

Best!

My kids went to camp on NCL and love every minute of it. Never had any issues or concern regarding safety.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Thank you much!

My kids, though older than your daughter loved Splash Academy when we sailed. They are looking forward to the next trip because they know it has SA.

My daughter, age 12, has gone to Splash Academy since age 4. She's been on 7 cruises. She looks forward to it each trip. I've always been very happy with the program.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

We've taken our kiddos on a few different cruise lines, and this was the first time that they cried when they had to LEAVE kids club! They both loved it!! They are ages 9 and 11, and we also stayed in the Haven. You AND your children will have a wonderful time :)

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

My kids love the kids club, it's the highlight of their cruise. We've tried RCI, NCL and Holland. All were different, both in staff and activities, but my two kids loved them all. The most commonly asked thing on our cruises was, "when can we go to the kids club??". I think as long as the child is outgoing, or at least not afraid to be left with new people in a new place, she'll be fine. My 4 year old was a little nervous at first, then I just about couldn't get him out of there!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

My kids love splash academy! We've been on RCI also and I found it very similar. We had to pry them away against their will most days and they cried the last day. My now 10 year old usually isn't into organized activities and he loved it. My 6 year old loved it at age 4. I found the staff was amazing and the activities really engaging.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Our oldest (now 11) loves NCL, HAL and Princess kids clubs and he is shy/introverted. He actually prefers them to DCL which was more chaotic/less organized. Our kids (now 9 and 11) have been on NCL and Princess the most since they were 3 (NCL used to allow 3 year olds in kids club with pager for when diapers needed changing) - and they've loved every trip. We're about to go back on NCL to Bermuda next month so we'll see if they still like it now they're older. Last year we were on DCL.

Just off the gem and my daughter couldn't get enough of splash academy... she turned 5 on the cruise... literally didn't want to leave every time we came for her. And I must say... having that was a godsend... she would've been bored with just us adults.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

You will love the Haven! We have sailed many times in the Haven and it is awesome (although not in the last 3.5 years bc we had kids). We recently went concierge level on the Dream and it was wonderful but have decided that NCL and the Haven is a better choice for our family and way more bang for the buck. My 3.5 yo was intimidated in DCLs kids club as it was sort of a free for all and she was with kids that were much older. It was pretty chaotic. This surprised me bc she is in daycare and loves to play with other kids and is very social. On the last day she refused to go but went happily into their nursery. My 5 yo loved DCLs kids club though and wasn't intimidated. We have a cruise on NCL planned for October and they will both be in the 3-5 age group (my 5 yo will be just short of 6 yo so my only worry is that she will find the activities too babyish but I think they will do well being together). In the past we sailed with my brother and his kids and when they were 5 and 7 they LOVED the NCL kids club-could not get them out of there. I am really looking forward to seeing what my kids think of it - I think they are going to love it! I wouldn't hesitate to book NCL haven over Disney concierge and definitely over DCL regular balcony (unless you are a disney character fanatic).

Hi Everyone-

I am looking to try NCL this winter. Been on RCl, Celebrity, and Princess. We have a 4-yr old daughter. We would be doing a Haven suite. Anyone give me feedback on the kids clubs programs? I have been researching it and thought it would best to come to the board. We were leaning towards Disney, but for the cost of 3 of us in a balcony, we can stay in the Haven. I am pretty convinced, but need advice on the kids programming and of course safety.

Best!

My daughter loved NCL the best. We sailed Princess, Royal, and NCL when she was little, and she always enjoyed NCL the best.

My daughter has been on 8 cruises and loved splash academy and kids club through the years. Her saddest moment was turning 18 and not able to go anymore!

Thank you again! Starting full on planning mode. Excited to try NCL and the Haven experience.

We've taken our kiddos on a few different cruise lines, and this was the first time that they cried when they had to LEAVE kids club! They both loved it!! They are ages 9 and 11, and we also stayed in the Haven. You AND your children will have a wonderful time :)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Sent from my SM-G950U using Forums mobile app

Kids academy is great! My kids frequently cruise with me and LOVE the kids program on NCL. That being said just beware there are times on the cruise when kids academy will be FULL and you will be turned away. This is a huge disappointment to the kids who are looking forward to a certain activity that day and also to meeting up with their friends already inside kids academy. It is also frustrating to the parents who may already have a show or dinner reservations booked that now need to be changed.

I have sailed often with NCL and it is just recently that they have been limiting the number of kids allowed (probably not enough counselors). They will tell you it's for fire safety reasons blah blah blah but after speaking with the head of the child program on the Gem I was told they max out at 20 kids per age group (3-5 years, 10-12 years etc) which is ridiculous considering they have hundreds of kids on most sailings. My Gem cruise was frustrating as we were turned away many times over the week and had to wait in line sometimes as long as an hour to get in and get a spot. After that we switched exclusively to the Breakaway because they had a better kids club program and did not limit the amount of children they would just open another room up. Unfortunately the Breakaway now has also started to limit the kids capacity too :( We just got back on Sunday from the Bahamas and my children were turned away 3 different times because they were full. Children are ages 6 and 11 and both were turned away those times. They have a large sign at the kids club on the first day that states their "complimentary" kids program may not be available at times due to capacity/ fire code issues. This was never the case previously so they are definitely making some changes to the program/ not hiring enough counselors.

That being said when the kids do get into the program it is great and they love it! The counselors are great and they usually have a fun schedule for the kids including sports court time and scheduled wii time which the older ones really enjoy. Aside from not knowing if you will get a spot that day the program is an A++

Are they in separate groups at the Gem Splash Academy, we are leaving in ~30 days on the Gem out of NYC

 

Sent from my SM-G950U using Forums mobile app

9 and 11 year olds are in different groups.

does anyone have any of the lists of activities for 10-12 year old group? On the Jade if that's possible- but I'll take any schedule that might be out there.

Kids academy is great! My kids frequently cruise with me and LOVE the kids program on NCL. That being said just beware there are times on the cruise when kids academy will be FULL and you will be turned away. This is a huge disappointment to the kids who are looking forward to a certain activity that day and also to meeting up with their friends already inside kids academy. It is also frustrating to the parents who may already have a show or dinner reservations booked that now need to be changed.

 

This would be a big deal for us so if we see continued reports about this we will likely cancel our cruise and cruise with someone else. Part of the draw with cruising for us is that our 9 year son will have fun as well as my husband and I. Being an only child its nice for there to be other kids for him to play with. If he can't get in or we have to spend an HOUR (ridiculous) in line just to make sure he gets in, well there isn't a lot of value in that and I'd prefer not to have that frustration and hassle. :(

Our kids did not like NCLs club, but we still loved our NCL cruise. We were on the Epic and yes the few times we went to the club there were huge lines of people waiting to get their kids into the club (like people literally just stood in line hoping someone would come pick up a kid to open a spot). This would have been very frustrating to me if my kids had actually liked the club. I think it is bait and switch to say you have a kids club but then not accomodate all kids onboard. Our kids said NCLs kids club was "like school." They love DCLs club, but their favorite club is...... Carnival. Lol. Dcl and Carnival do not limit how many kids they take. We have felt comfortable with the safety in the kids club on all three lines. The couselors on CCL are the most attentive and enthusiastic of the three. I would describe the NCL counselors as professional, and DCL counselors as professional but dedatched with a forced friendliness. We have taken many DCL cruises, one CCL and one NCL. We have future cruises booked on all three but may cancel the NCL one because of the kids club issue, even though DH liked NCL the best. I like all three lines for different reasons. I would say of the three lines NCL is the least welcoming to kids.

Is this overcrowding only an issue on the newer larger ships? I've never had experience with overcrowding and we've typically cruised over spring break or Thanksgiving week when there were lots of kids. BUT we've only done Dawn, Star, and the jewel class, not the larger ships. The only time we had to wait was the first night of a couple of the spring break ones- maybe a half hour for the drop off.

Is this overcrowding only an issue on the newer larger ships? I've never had experience with overcrowding and we've typically cruised over spring break or Thanksgiving week when there were lots of kids. BUT we've only done Dawn, Star, and the jewel class, not the larger ships. The only time we had to wait was the first night of a couple of the spring break ones- maybe a half hour for the drop off.

I am not sure but another poster mentioned the GEM and that it is a recent phenomenon. I cannot imagine it is actually a space issue, because the space on the Epic looked larger than the space on the Carnival Vista and Carnival does not have a policy that turns kids away. And I am pretty sure there were more kids on the Vista too. I would imagine it is very difficult on kids to be turned away.

Is this overcrowding only an issue on the newer larger ships? I've never had experience with overcrowding and we've typically cruised over spring break or Thanksgiving week when there were lots of kids. BUT we've only done Dawn, Star, and the jewel class, not the larger ships. The only time we had to wait was the first night of a couple of the spring break ones- maybe a half hour for the drop off.

We've only sailed on the newer larger ships, and only during school vacation times when there are 1000 kids on board. We have NEVER run into this issue, or even heard of this issue, until right now. It's certainly not something I'd worry about if I were you.

Is this overcrowding only an issue on the newer larger ships? I've never had experience with overcrowding and we've typically cruised over spring break or Thanksgiving week when there were lots of kids. BUT we've only done Dawn, Star, and the jewel class, not the larger ships. The only time we had to wait was the first night of a couple of the spring break ones- maybe a half hour for the drop off.

Unfortunately it is not overcrowding due to larger ships It is NCL not putting much effort/ counselors into their kids club anymore. My worst kids club experience was on the Gem which is a smaller ship (2,000 passengers). We hardly got into the kids club at all that week and the times we did it was 1 hour + to drop off. The worst is waiting a good 30 minutes to get in and then oops sorry club is full maybe someone will leave if you want to wait. Ugh.

After that experience I took a solo cruise on the Breakaway and visited their kids club. Well oiled machine with all brand new big shiny kids spaces, super friendly counselors. I spoke with the head of the program and explained my experience on the Gem and my hesitation to sail with the children anymore. I was told must be a spacing issue on the Gem and that the Breakaway has more than enough room to accommodate all the children and that they would never turn children away. Great! Starting sailing Breakaway exclusively with the kids and we had a great run for several cruises with excellent experiences in the kids club and never being turned away...up until last week. For the first time ever on the Breakaway we saw a note the first day that said on occasion our "complimentary" kids program may be unavailable due to occupancy/fire code issues. After speaking with the head counselor he told me they were sailing with 700 children this cruise and they would not be able to accommodate all of them. I said that's funny because on several prior cruises this year you had 1500+ kids on this boat and you managed to accommodate them all! You never turned even one child away you always opened another room with more counselors. He had no answer or response to me. NCL is not hiring enough counselors and their kids program is suffering!

I hate being down on the kids club because I LOVE NCL and when they don't turn the kids away it's always a great cruise for me and the children. I find cruises to be the perfect family vacation, I get to spend alot of time doing fun stuff with the kids (we swam with the dolphins last week, pools, beaches, shows etc) and I get some fun "adult" me time to enjoy while knowing my kids are also having some fun "kid" time.

If NCL doesn't get their act together in relation to the kids club I will definitely need to switch cruise lines :(

Unfortunately it is not overcrowding due to larger ships It is NCL not putting much effort/ counselors into their kids club anymore. My worst kids club experience was on the Gem which is a smaller ship (2,000 passengers). We hardly got into the kids club at all that week and the times we did it was 1 hour + to drop off. The worst is waiting a good 30 minutes to get in and then oops sorry club is full maybe someone will leave if you want to wait. Ugh.

 

After that experience I took a solo cruise on the Breakaway and visited their kids club. Well oiled machine with all brand new big shiny kids spaces, super friendly counselors. I spoke with the head of the program and explained my experience on the Gem and my hesitation to sail with the children anymore. I was told must be a spacing issue on the Gem and that the Breakaway has more than enough room to accommodate all the children and that they would never turn children away. Great! Starting sailing Breakaway exclusively with the kids and we had a great run for several cruises with excellent experiences in the kids club and never being turned away...up until last week. For the first time ever on the Breakaway we saw a note the first day that said on occasion our "complimentary" kids program may be unavailable due to occupancy/fire code issues. After speaking with the head counselor he told me they were sailing with 700 children this cruise and they would not be able to accommodate all of them. I said that's funny because on several prior cruises this year you had 1500+ kids on this boat and you managed to accommodate them all! You never turned even one child away you always opened another room with more counselors. He had no answer or response to me. NCL is not hiring enough counselors and their kids program is suffering!

 

I hate being down on the kids club because I LOVE NCL and when they don't turn the kids away it's always a great cruise for me and the children. I find cruises to be the perfect family vacation, I get to spend alot of time doing fun stuff with the kids (we swam with the dolphins last week, pools, beaches, shows etc) and I get some fun "adult" me time to enjoy while knowing my kids are also having some fun "kid" time.

 

If NCL doesn't get their act together in relation to the kids club I will definitely need to switch cruise lines :(

thank you for such a detailed report. I agree that this would be a major issue for many families- and does not sound right. I wonder if there's a way to express this to the NCL authorities as a whole? It does sound more like a staffing issue than a space one, which makes it even more frustrating because it's easily fixable.