Upcoming NCL Dawn

[MikeNJ1109]

I was searching the family thread but wasn't successful in finding a relevant post, please forgive me if this was posted before.

 

My wife and I will be traveling on the NCL Dawn starting this Sunday (May 9) to Bermuda, and will be taking our daughter, Olivia (3, but turning 4 in June). This will be Olivia's 2nd cruise (first was RCL's Liberty when she was 16 months old).

 

Of those that have children in the 3-5 range that have cruised NCL generally, and hopefully the Dawn specifically, how is the NCL kids club? Have your children enjoyed the club? We thought it'd be nice for Olivia to spend a few hours each morning in the club, make new friends and have some "vacation" time from mom and dad, and then have "family time" in the afternoon...and have anecdotally heard overall positive things but wanted some first hand opinions.

 

We'd appreciate everyone's input, thanks in advance.

 

Michael & Silke

[bbrme]

Im not sure how much this helps but I was on the NCL Jewel in Dec with DD6 and DS8. There werent many kids so they combined the 6-12 year olds in one group. DS LOVED the kids club since they did lots of games and activities. DD didnt like it as much since she is more into arts and crafts and lower key activities although she was more excited about it by the end of the week. One of the things she did like was the jungle gym they have which the 3-5 group gets to play on too. They also had some family time where you get to play with your child in the kids club - the one activity I remember was legos - it was mainly younger kids and our DD.

 

The one thing to keep in mind is that they charge a fee to use the kids club while in port so the kids are mainly there on sea days and at night. We mainly used the kids club at night so we could have a quiet dinner and some time alone.

 

Overall our kids had a great time on the cruise. They loved the main pool and the slide and they had a kiddy pool with a little slide that she also liked If your daughter is ok with daycare she will probably have a great time in the kids club.

[CeleBrat]

We've been on NCL too, and can concur with the previous poster. One note--we have found that the NCL Kids Clubs are much more themed than many of the other cruise lines, with indoor playground and space/pirate/jungle themes.

 

Have fun on your DAWN cruise. We are sailing on the Dawn later this year, so you'll have to tell us all about it when you return.

 

CeleBrat

[CanadianTwosome]

I can also confirm that the NCL kid's program and facilities are excellent. Our daughter loves going and while she's not in the 3-5 group, I've had plenty of opportunities to see the younger kids and can tell you that every single one has had a big smile on their face. :)

[Mercury]

Hi Mike

 

Just came across your post. We are thinking of booking NCL Gem to Bermuda next year. My DD will be 4 and my DS 2. How did your cruise go? How was the kids' club and would you recommend Bermuda with young children?

[lamolesky]

We have done 2 Bermuda cruises with the kids and highly recommend it. You are there for 3 days so you can really take your time and spend days at the beach or on excursions. It makes it less stressful with the kids if you aren't rushing around to see everything in one day in port.

[MikeNJ1109]

Hi Mike

 

Just came across your post. We are thinking of booking NCL Gem to Bermuda next year. My DD will be 4 and my DS 2. How did your cruise go? How was the kids' club and would you recommend Bermuda with young children?

 

Please forgive my delay in responding...

 

This was our 2nd cruise to Bermuda on the Dawn, but the first with our daughter (who turned 4 yesterday). She LOVED the cruise overall (it was her second cruise, having been on RCL's Liberty three years ago), and truly enjoyed the NCL Kids Club...there were plenty of organized age appropriate events and she made alot of friends on board. My wife and I felt very comfortable signing her in and letting her enjoy herself.

 

As for Bermuda, it's one of our favourite islands...beautiful island, very friendly people, lots to do. The beaches are to die for gorgeous, and we loved going to St. George this trip (as we went to Hamilton last year).

 

Bottom line ... we feel very comfortable in recommending this cruise and NCL.

 

Michael

[Mercury]

Thanks Mike and lamolesky. Bermuda sounds absolutely wonderful and I am very tempted to book this cruise!

[kailan]

We will be on the Dawn in August with our 5,3 , & 1 year olds. I'm so happy to hear that the kids' club is a good option for the older two. I just have a couple of questions if you don't mind...

Do they show child friendly movies in the cinema?

Are there any child friendly activities on board that aren't held in the kids' club?

Are there any shows the children would enjoy?

What destinations/excursions would you recommend in Bermuda?

I think I remember reading there is a play area that my 1 year old could play in, is that so?

Thank you!!

 

ETA: Lamolesky, I enjoyed reading your blog, thank you!!

[PottyMouth]

They do show some kid friendly movies in the cinema. Those movies are also available on your TV. They will have the movies for the day in your freestyle daily.

 

My son is five and he loved the magician and Bollywood shows. The kids club will take them to the shows if you want them to, and he actually loved doing that because he got to sit with one of his new friends.

 

The beach is obviously a great choice with the kids, and we also visited the aquarium and zoo. It's not a large facility, but if your children enjoy that sort of thing, they will have a great time. We also followed directions we found in the Bermuda thread to a local sea glass beach and had a great time looking for the "perfect" pieces - just make sure the kids have shoes on if you go there.

 

I'm sure others will let you know of other things to do - honestly, I don't think we did even half of what there is to do there. Which means we'll just have to go back!! Enjoy!

[dmr19]

We will be on the Dawn in August with our 5,3 , & 1 year olds. I'm so happy to hear that the kids' club is a good option for the older two. I just have a couple of questions if you don't mind...

Do they show child friendly movies in the cinema?

Are there any child friendly activities on board that aren't held in the kids' club?

Are there any shows the children would enjoy?

What destinations/excursions would you recommend in Bermuda?

I think I remember reading there is a play area that my 1 year old could play in, is that so?

 

Just finished our Dawn cruise to Bermuda (June 27 - July 4). Our kids are 10, 7, 4, and 2. We did not use the kids club.

 

There was one kid-friendly movie in the cinema -- Chipmunks Squeakquel. It was also shown on TV at the same time. On another night we saw Madagascar 2 on the TV while we were dressing for dinner.

 

There were many kid-friendly activities. The kids enjoyed building with legos, bingo, video arcade, the card room, the Under-Two Zoo playroom, the pool, the close-up magic show, the memory seminar, Kareoke, Teppanyaki, the gift shop, and looking at the photos in the photo gallery. Many of the activities were very crowded, so go early. I also brought a blow-up wading pool for the little ones that we kept on the balcony. There were many other activities that the kids would have liked to have seen, but they have got to sleep some time. We missed putt-putt golf, towel folding, ballroom dancing, family gunk challenge, and many more I'm sure.

 

My husband and I took turns staying in with the little kids, while the other went to the shows with the rest of the family. The comedian was extraordinarily clean by modern comedy standards, but he still managed to offend my 10 year old Catholic School daughter (a lot of gross fat jokes and a few swear words). The best show was the magician -- amazing! Bollywood was also great. Second City was fun, and clean enough for kids (all the dirty jokes are well hidden and go over kids' heads). The crew show was gross, but kid-friendly.

 

The kids loved the buffet, including the kid's buffet, where we had lunch every day. Favorites were pasta, hot-dogs, fries, mac-chees, pizza, cookies, ice cream. For dinners, we went to the specialty restaurants (there was no up-charge for kids), and the main dining rooms. The kids did great and rarely had to resort to the kids menu.

 

Interestingly, the kids did not like the dinosaur pool. The big kids thought it was too baby-ish. My 4 year old was scared. My baby would have loved it, but she's in diapers so she was not allowed.

 

In Bermuda, we did the glass bottom boat and beach excursion, which is a great multi-generational trip (Grandparents & grandkids loved it.) You can't see much through the glass bottom, but the boat ride is beautiful and the little beach they bring you to had great snorkeling and just enough sand to keep the little ones happy, plus lots of sea glass to collect.

 

There wasn't much for kids in Hamilton, even during the Wed. night street festival. There were bounce houses, but that wasn't what we were there for. St. George looked better, but we had to skip it (the rest of our family went and enjoyed it). We did Helmet Diving which was an amazing experience, but your kids may be too little. We had one rainy day which washed out our Horseshoe Beach day. The sun came back just as we got back to the dockyard, so we went to Snorkel park and had a lot of fun.

 

Have a great trip. We would love to go back some day (any day).

[kailan]

Thank you dmr19 and pottymouth for all of the great info!! I can't wait!!!

 

Dmr19, do you remember the name of the beach you traveled to on the glass bottom boat? The one with the sea glass.

[dmr19]

Thank you dmr19 and pottymouth for all of the great info!! I can't wait!!!

 

Dmr19, do you remember the name of the beach you traveled to on the glass bottom boat? The one with the sea glass.

 

It was something like Spaniard's Cove, or Spaniard's Point. We booked the Glassbottom Boat & Beach excursion through the Dawn and that's where the took us. It was great.

 

Have fun!