VicRock

47 minutes ago, drb116 said:

Royal use to have a 12-14 and 15-17 groups, but since Covid, they have been combined into one on every cruise that we have done (which is a decent number). It has been absolutely terrible for my two boys that are on the younger end of the range. They use to enjoy the kids club, but for the last year and a half they have hardly used it and complain anytime we ask them to give it a try.

 

Maybe some cruises still split it up, but we have not found one that has.

Last cruise we were on he loved it but he was 8 and it was his first cruise.  He loves being active with other kids so I hope it's 12. We won't to make him go but I'm sure he'll want to try.  

3 hours ago, mjkacmom said:

I think it’s 12. I’ve had 5 kids in teen clubs at different ages, what I’ve learned is #1, all of my kids hated tween clubs, #2 all of my kids loved teen clubs, #3, 15 - 17 year olds do not want to hang out with younger kids and 12 - 14 year olds don’t want to hang out with older kids, it really works out. On our last cruise my 14, 14, and 16 year olds had 3 different friend groups, as did my 19 and 20 year olds. I think it would be a shame to push the tween club without at least trying the teen club. When my kids were 12 on NCL we just let them go places and let us know where they were going, since they had no interest in the 10 - 12 after trying it.

Yea, if it's 12, he'll be with kids club or with us.  No way is he traipsing around a ship in the middle of the ocean alone.  

4 hours ago, Rothko1 said:

 

Yeah, a 12 year old and a 17 year old are like two different species.

Definitely.  lol

31 minutes ago, twinmommy08 said:

If your 12 year old  is not ready for teen club, just enroll them in the 9-11 group on board. It’s up to the manager, but I never had any trouble. 
 

Editing to add that my kids were paired with 12-14 year olds and the 15-17 were paired together. They seemed to do their activities within the young teen groups. 

That's good to know.  12-17 is a HUGE age gap in social expectations and maturity.  12-14 is a decent gap but not as concerning to me.  

34 minutes ago, gumshoe958 said:

From the Royal website: Voyagers (ages 9-12 years) will explore a range of activities that puts the "cool" back into learning.

Hmm, then it's listed two different places & one of them needs updated.  

I'm having trouble finding which kid club a newly 12-year-old will fit into on Anthem of the Seas.  I see ages 3-11 then I see teens club but I'm not keen on my newly 12-year-old hanging out with 15-17 year olds unsupervised or in all honesty, at all without us present.  Please tell me there is a group for him.  I see Explorers - 6-8; Voyagers 9-11; Adventure Ocean -3-11; Babies & tots; Aquanauts; Teen Lounge - no age range given, Adventure Science Lab - no age range given & looks like a drop in activity.   

20 hours ago, poocher said:

All you have to do is open your camera, it will read and open the QR code and then the menu.  No special reader needed.  Having said that, I’m not crazy about menus on my phone either.  I’d prefer a paper copy.

That's not true for all phones.  It was not the case with my phone before the update. Maybe now it is but I don't use them if there's another option.

23 hours ago, Tree_skier said:

Now I'm embarrassed.  I have always used a lanyard.  I had no idea how unfashionable I looked.  I'm going to have a lanyard burning party tonight!

Don't worry about what someone else thinks.  I don't care for the look myself, however, I also don't like digging in my purse for it in a hurry so I use it.  In fact, I carry my son's as well when he's with us, so I'm doubly unfashionable.  I also wear white after Labor Day so take that however you want.

On 7/12/2021 at 4:57 PM, bstel said:

Having a phone is sadly becoming a necessity.  Based on the June Adventure sailings, you needed your phone for making reservations and all the restaurants and bars has QR codes for the menus.  You still could request a hard copy menu, but they are definitely trying to get rid of paper.

 

I am also pretty sure on the 6/12 Adventure sailing you had to request a paper copy of the Ship Times thing that gave you the day's itinerary (cant remember the actual name), but by the 6/19 sailing they had gone back to putting a paper copy in your room each night, so there must have been some pushback.

I hope they have paper menus when we go.  Otherwise it will take us forever to order.  My husband has a terrible time reading the phone menus.  I'm not even sure his phone has a QR reader. & 1 of us will have to share with our son who takes FOREVER to decide. My phone made mine easier to find QR in a recent update but it'll still take me a few minutes to figure it out as I never use it.  I just know I've seen it more frequently.  Lol.

My phone won't hold anymore apps and we don't purchase wifi so I think some sort of seapass will still be needed for many people.  Not everyone even owns a cellphone.  

On 2/5/2020 at 7:09 AM, Ptroxx said:

My formal night attire and what I wore every night in the MDR.  
just looks neat and comfortable.   That’s all that matters.  
 

 

 

IMG_4966.MOV

My son used to have a tuxedo shirt he loved.  I should search  for one his size.

1 minute ago, Merion_Mom said:

Empress is no different from any other Royal Caribbean ship in  this regard.  Read any thread on CC on this topic - and there are many.

 

RC does not enforce any sort of standards for how people are dressed, on formal nights or any other.

 

Wear whatever makes you happy.

Thanks.  This will be our first Royal cruise so wasn't sure.

How formal are they?  We prefer dining in the MDR & do not mind getting dressed up but we're not formal people.  Husband hasn't worn a suit in 4 years.  Our son does not have a suit & I see no reason to buy him one for a cruise, especially since he's growing like a weed.  

obviously we'll eat in WJ if they're truly formal but if not we'll plan for MDR.

5 hours ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

30 seconds?  While it is a long time it's possible no one really noticed or thought he had a strong enough grip on her (if he had her in a bear hug even on top of the railing, I might think "that's not smart" but I don't know that I'd say anything *IF* I even noticed). 

Or they were afraid to startle him & cause him to drop her.

On 12/18/2019 at 10:22 AM, blackshirt said:

For someone with preschoolers or home schoolers are anyone just willing to take their kids out of school to take advantage of the sale, I’d say it’s not a joke to them.

Exactly.  I don't homeschool to get this type of perk but you can bet I take advantage of them. We were in Bermuda just before Thanksgiving.  I was a little concerned about there being no kids but there were plenty & my son had a blast in the kids club with them.

2 hours ago, latebloomer56 said:

We took our grandson when he was 8 to the BUEI just grabbed the trolley at the dock and he dropped us at the door. He liked the trip we walked part of the way back but grabbed the bus to the terminal then off to the Zoo another treat. We were there on a Monday so was a little different everything was open and running. Going back in June 2020 with the family if weather not great will go back here again :).

We didn't do buses for that trip (November) but we're going back in May & will definitely be utilizing the buses.  We'll be there during the week & for about 3 days.  But not at the dockyard.  We'll be doing Royal Empress.

On 11/30/2019 at 9:19 PM, Tapi said:

We did a short 4 night cruise on the Empress to Cuba. My kids are 10 and 7 years old and they’ve sailed 10 times across 5 different cruise lines. They usually love going to the kids club, but this was the first time in a long time that they begged not to to go. On this ship, Adventure Ocean is just one smallish, windowless room. It did look pretty depressing so I don’t blame my kids for not wanting to go. The only time that we absolutely forced them to go was when we had reservations at Chop’s Grille.

 

With that said, we did have a very enjoyable cruise. We just didn’t use the kids club. They enjoyed the pools and the rock climbing wall. They also participated in several family friendly activities throughout the ship, like the 70’s party and main theatre shows. That was enough to keep them happy.

 

Empress provides a nice experience, but you need to go with very realistic expectations. This ship is NOTHING like her bigger and younger sisters. Had this cruise been longer, I think that it would’ve been a bit more challenging to keep the kids entertained. 

I'm pretty sure NCL's Escape Splash Academy is windowless too.  I imagine some other kid's clubs are as well.

On 11/21/2019 at 2:59 PM, twangster said:

Here is an Empress Adventure Ocean and Teens Cruise Compass from a past cruise:

 

Empress AO and Teens CC Jul 21, 2019.pdf 875 kB · 9 downloads

 

I'm on her right now.  Fifty kids on this sailing, three hundred next week for Thanksgiving.  

 

My kids are all grown up so I have no direct experience with the children's programming on the ship. 

 

Empress provides a classic cruise experience.  Today ships have water slides, ice skating rinks, bumper cars, zip lines and all sort of activities.  Empress doesn't have all that.  If you are looking to spend time with your kids and leverage Adventure Ocean for some adult time she is a great ship.  If you are looking for a lot of activities and sports to entertain your kids so you don't have to you are not going to find that on Empress.  

 

 

I was worried about the kid's club.  Our recent cruise we hardly saw our kiddo as he wanted to spend the entire time in the kid's club.  Hoping there will be plenty of kids but this sound good so far.  

Thank you guys.  We just booked the cruise so I'm super excited.  I'm sure he'll be fine (he's unlikely to act out) with a group if it's not possible to get a table just for us.  He just might play shy & ignore someone who is talking directly to him.  But then other days, he'll talk your ear off.  My concern is we'll get stuck at a table with someone who thinks children should be seen & not heard & then I'll be the one acting out.  LOL.  

25 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

You can request your table size on Roysl and not be seated with others. 

Good to know.  I was trying to find that info & couldn 't so thanks.

Just got back from an NCL cruise & enjoyed the more intimate dining experience of just our family at the table over our Celebrity dining experience of dining with strangers at the same table.  With the Empress' Family Time dining, would it be smaller tables or would we be more likely to end up at a larger table with others.  My son did great on the Escape.  Not sure how a bigger table with strangers would go.

We ate at Taste after registering our guy for Splash Academy first thing.  Almost empty on embarkation day.

I don't know about the Joy, but we just got back from a cruise on the Escape.  We had over 5000 passengers (we asked for the count) & ate most meals around 5:30 in the MDR Savor.   I don't believe it ever took more than 45 minutes.  The longest would be the last night & might have been 1 hour.

I have a small stash of snacks to take on excursions.

I have a child so I always carry snacks.  

I also know people who get weak, lightheaded or get the shakes when they wait to long to eat.  I sometimes get a severe headache (akin to migraine) that often won't go away even after I eat, often not until the next day.  I bring snacks.  

24 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

When you check-in, get a Welcome Aboard sheet with a ship's map on it. 

 

Use the Welcome Aboard flyer to find the location of Entertainment reservations (usually the Escape Theater, Deck 7, Forward, Starboard Theater entrance,,, but they sometimes use the Supper Club (Deck 6)). Go and book your comedy shows (early shows family oriented, late show 18+), complimentary escape rooms, complimentary dinner shows in the Supper Club, Canvas by U painting (extra charge), Escape Cabaret dinner show (extra charge). Comedy shows are done in a small venue and sell out fast as to escape room sessions. 

 

If you have a conflict with dining reservations, go to Headliners (Deck 6 midship) to fix your dining. 

 

Then go to Taste or Savor (Deck 6) Main Dining Room for a lovely embarkation day lunch. 

The escape has an escape room?  Its not mentioned anywhere ive seen.

OP, we're on that sailing as well.  Celebrating my little ones 8th birthday.