Adventure Ocean age 5 and 8

[Jo and Rob]

I'm interested in what the facilities are like in the two rooms. Do they have laptops? Are all the activities in the same room? Do they go out and about in the ship at all? Do they have an outdoor area as part of the club? What do they need to take to club? How much are the activities structured and how much independence do the children have to do what they fancy? Do the 5 year olds do the same activities as the 3 year olds? Does either room have any competitions or chances to win certificates or medals?

[gingerpeaches]

IIRC, in the Aquanauts Room (3-5) there are computers along one wall, a TV and DVD player, mats to lay on when watching films, a ball pool, books, stuff for colouring and crafts, etc. My son was in the 3-5 group and they all did stuff together as a group. He tended to only want to go in the mornings, but he did have lunch in the WJ with the group a couple of times. The sessions were divided into mornings, afternoons and evenings. Sometimes they would book Johnny Rockets for the kids, and one night there was a pirate party when they took all the kids on stage before the evening show in the main theatre. The activities are very structured and the kids are kept busy with very little downtime. At the welcome meeting for parents (held in Studio B on the first day), they made a point of saying what educational qualifications the staff had (they are all teachers) and how activities are led and structured. My son enjoyed it; my daughter (who was 12) not so much. She went mostly to meet people but didn't really enjoy the activities, so only went to specific events.

[cclarke12]

IIRC, in the Aquanauts Room (3-5) there are computers along one wall, a TV and DVD player, mats to lay on when watching films, a ball pool, books, stuff for colouring and crafts, etc. My son was in the 3-5 group and they all did stuff together as a group. He tended to only want to go in the mornings, but he did have lunch in the WJ with the group a couple of times. The sessions were divided into mornings, afternoons and evenings. Sometimes they would book Johnny Rockets for the kids, and one night there was a pirate party when they took all the kids on stage before the evening show in the main theatre. The activities are very structured and the kids are kept busy with very little downtime. At the welcome meeting for parents (held in Studio B on the first day), they made a point of saying what educational qualifications the staff had (they are all teachers) and how activities are led and structured. My son enjoyed it; my daughter (who was 12) not so much. She went mostly to meet people but didn't really enjoy the activities, so only went to specific events.

 

So is the expectation that the children take part in all the activities while they are there, or is it more a case of free play with activities happening alongside if they want to get involved. My 4 year old son would hate the former as he likes to join in things as and when he pleases. We have just been on P&O and other than a few activities where they took the kids out, e.g. a beat hunt and a magic show, they were allowed to just play or join in the as they pleased, just like a normal nursery. We are off on Adventure of the Seas next month for a short break and I don't think I'll bother putting him in if it is too structured because if he hates it I know he will refuse to go back to the children's club when we go on P&O again later in the summer.

 

Also can you take your kids in and settle them in? (again parents were allowed to bring their kids in and play with them on P&O). He is fine once he feels happy and confident in a new environment but he does need to be settled in.

 

Thanks

[crusinmama06]

The schedules are here...

http://s204.photobucket.com/albums/bb196/cruisinmama06/Royal%20Caribean%20AO%20Compass/?start=all

 

For the 3-5, no computers. For the 6 - 8, yes they have computers. Yes, they are in separate rooms, however, they can SEE each other because the rooms are divided by a big net. So when my youngest wanted to talk to my oldest they could speak through the net.

 

The older ones leave the rooms much more than the younger ones do. Yes they have competitions -- once again, moreso for the older ones. The only times the younger ones (3-5) leave are for the kid dinners and for the Pirate Parade/Talent Show -- that's it.

 

No, the parents are NOT ALLOWED in the Adventure Ocean room. You won't make it past the front gate. Its to protect the other children. Its a safety precaution that only people with the proper safety checks have access to the children. If they allowed any Tom, Henry and Frank into the kids club just because they said their child needed them, then the safety protocol would go out the window. :eek:

 

You can see into Adventure Ocean but you cannot walk into Adventure Ocean. This is one safety rule that Carnival and Royal Caribbean follows that I am perfectly happy with.

 

Structured? YES, VERY and this is one problem that we have had with AO with my youngest. My youngest (when she was 3) wanted to continue to slide on the slide when it was "time for a craft". She didn't want to do a craft, she wanted to slide. They wanted her to do the craft. She wanted to slide. They called me about it. :rolleyes:

 

In the 6-8 year old group, there was a young boy who wanted to play on the computer and the counselors wanted him to participate with the group, he wanted to be on the computer playing games. The mother was called and asked to remove the boy because he wouldn't join the group.

 

This is one thing that AO needs to work on -- flexibility.

[cclarke12]

The schedules are here...

http://s204.photobucket.com/albums/bb196/cruisinmama06/Royal%20Caribean%20AO%20Compass/?start=all

 

For the 3-5, no computers. For the 6 - 8, yes they have computers. Yes, they are in separate rooms, however, they can SEE each other because the rooms are divided by a big net. So when my youngest wanted to talk to my oldest they could speak through the net.

 

The older ones leave the rooms much more than the younger ones do. Yes they have competitions -- once again, moreso for the older ones. The only times the younger ones (3-5) leave are for the kid dinners and for the Pirate Parade/Talent Show -- that's it.

 

No, the parents are NOT ALLOWED in the Adventure Ocean room. You won't make it past the front gate. Its to protect the other children. Its a safety precaution that only people with the proper safety checks have access to the children. If they allowed any Tom, Henry and Frank into the kids club just because they said their child needed them, then the safety protocol would go out the window. :eek:

 

You can see into Adventure Ocean but you cannot walk into Adventure Ocean. This is one safety rule that Carnival and Royal Caribbean follows that I am perfectly happy with.

 

Structured? YES, VERY and this is one problem that we have had with AO with my youngest. My youngest (when she was 3) wanted to continue to slide on the slide when it was "time for a craft". She didn't want to do a craft, she wanted to slide. They wanted her to do the craft. She wanted to slide. They called me about it. :rolleyes:

 

In the 6-8 year old group, there was a young boy who wanted to play on the computer and the counselors wanted him to participate with the group, he wanted to be on the computer playing games. The mother was called and asked to remove the boy because he wouldn't join the group.

 

This is one thing that AO needs to work on -- flexibility.

 

Ok thanks for this. That's Adventure Ocean out for us - my son will hate it. The structure is quite interesting as it seems to go against UK practice in early years settings about child-led play, although it is of course and American ship (but I understood good practice in childcare settings in the USA was also to be child-led with lots of free play).

 

Just a personal opinion but it is a nonsense not to let parents in, and other (albeit UK) cruise lines allow this because they make a point of getting to know the parent and child. My son is shy and I am not going to just dump him at the gate, so it looks like this is out for us. If there are sufficient youth staff on hand it should never be an issue with parents coming in. Your child should be in no more danger than they would be from stangers anywhere else on the ship. The rule for childcare here (UK) is that no-one should be alone with children in a daycare/school setting without have criminal records bureau clearance. My experience of children's clubs on ships has been plenty of staff and no opportunities for adults to find themselves alone with a child.

 

Sorry just a bit of rant :o. I am not looking open a can of worms as I am sure others will disagree with me.

 

I accept RCI's policy and practice, and am pleased we are just doing 4 days in the circumstances. We'll have a brilliant time I'm sure - my son is already excited about going back on the ice-skating boat.

[MnAsMom]

Ok thanks for this. That's Adventure Ocean out for us - my son will hate it. The structure is quite interesting as it seems to go against UK practice in early years settings about child-led play, although it is of course and American ship (but I understood good practice in childcare settings in the USA was also to be child-led with lots of free play).

 

Just a personal opinion but it is a nonsense not to let parents in, and other (albeit UK) cruise lines allow this because they make a point of getting to know the parent and child. My son is shy and I am not going to just dump him at the gate, so it looks like this is out for us. If there are sufficient youth staff on hand it should never be an issue with parents coming in. Your child should be in no more danger than they would be from stangers anywhere else on the ship. The rule for childcare here (UK) is that no-one should be alone with children in a daycare/school setting without have criminal records bureau clearance. My experience of children's clubs on ships has been plenty of staff and no opportunities for adults to find themselves alone with a child.

 

Sorry just a bit of rant :o. I am not looking open a can of worms as I am sure others will disagree with me.

 

I accept RCI's policy and practice, and am pleased we are just doing 4 days in the circumstances. We'll have a brilliant time I'm sure - my son is already excited about going back on the ice-skating boat.

 

We had a different experience on our RCCL cruises on the Mariner. The first night you are allowed to go with your child to meet the counselors and let your child get aquainted with the room and potentially meet some of the kids who will be in the program with them. My 4 year old had never been in day care or preschool and he was hesitant at first... once he went in, he didn't want to leave at the end of the night and was asking when he could go to the "kids club" when he opened his eyes in the morning!

 

We stopped by to have a peek at him one evening and the room was very quiet. Apparently they all started playing a nice quiet game... cuddling their stuffed animals etc and the counselors decided to let the kids continue playing since it was going so nicely rather than moving to the next "Structured" activity. I guess it isn't always this way. We could ALWAYS go to the door and check in on our son. He would come over, give us a quick kiss or hug and then run off telling us he wasn't done and to come back later. You can also go with your child... let him observe from the door for a bit and see if he wants to take part in the activities that are running during that slot (rock star or camp-out or under the sea etc) and if he wants to go in... fine if not then you turn around and walk away. You can always drop him and tell him you'll be back in an hour to see how it's going.... if he wants to leave then he can. RCCL does have activities scheduled at some point during the day for parents to come with their children ... this is geared for the under 3 set though. I believe they have a craft time and a story time maybe.

 

Our 4 year old only left the AO room once on our most recent cruise... for the Pirate Parade. They take the kids down to the Promenade and then through the dining room. Our older son 8, left twice for the pirate parade and for a Circus on the High Seas again at the Promenade ... he was the ring master... it was adorable.

 

I felt very secure with my child in the program and actually like and completely understand why they keep the parents at the door and monitor the coming and goings carefully that way.

 

I hope your child doesn't miss out on the opportunity to enjoy Adventure Ocean. He may like it a lot and surprise you!!!! Try it, at least once and check back on him... you can always sign him out and keep him with you for the duration of your cruise. The childrens program is what my boys liked best about cruising. Meals with family, swimming after lunch with us and then they could get out of the long dinner once they had finished their meal and get back to playing with the kids in camp.

 

Hope you have a great cruise either way!

[MnAsMom]

In AO on the Mariner our almost 5 year old had no issues with doing things with the 3 year olds in the room. I wonder that too the first cruise we took... thinking he might be too big and feel like he was stuck with "babies". So not the case!

 

They had a few computers in the 3-5 room but they were not functioning. The 6-8 year old room had computers with Lego Indiana Jones, Wall-e and other games. My 8 year old loved it!

 

On our recent cruise they took the 6-8 kids outside on a deck space adjacent to the kids rooms. They had WET play games and such. Kids had a blast. They also have a couple of sessions where they take them up to the sports deck and play basketball and have relay races etc.

 

Both of our boys (5 and 8) participated in the Pirate Parade around the ship and our older on did the Circus on the High Seas.

 

Our 8 year old came out with a medal one night... he was the Dancing King apparently. Then after the talent show my little guy got a medal for participating. They also came out with certificates for participating in Adventure Science. On our nick cruise our older son colored a pillowcase and on this cruise the boys each colored a bandana for the pirate parade/night. They get lots of little "bonuses"

[cclarke12]

Thanks everyone for the great advice :) We'll play it by ear. As it's only 4 nights we are not too bothered whether he goes or not as this is a short break with the grandparents so more about having some family-time.

[Onessa]

The kids clubs offer structured, supervised activities. If that does not appeal to your kids there are other options. But for my child, she appreciated a safe environment, where she could play with other kids her age, and where the counselors gave them good ideas of cool stuff to do.

 

Over the years she was able to tour the bridge and the galley and backstage on-board through the kids club. Entertainers and artists came in and helped them put on plays or taught them to play "air guitars". They had circuses, pirate parades, and alien hunts. They dissected a squid. They met glassblowers, captains, chefs, etc. IOW, by DD has been able to do a lot of stuff because of the kids club that she otherwise would not have been able to do -- stuff that I was not able to do. At different age levels the experiences are different.

 

AO is not nursery school, nor daycare, nor babysitting -- it is part of the "entertainment"

[Onessa]

Thanks everyone for the great advice :) We'll play it by ear. As it's only 4 nights we are not too bothered whether he goes or not as this is a short break with the grandparents so more about having some family-time.

 

Just to work through the issue with not allowing parents to come-and-go as they please in and out of AO facilitiy. So in your case you could have four adults "looking in" on one child? I certainly don't expect any of the counselors to get to know by sight four or more adults per child and figure out which adults are OK to attend to any one child (particularly on a four day cruise).

 

Plus if every kid in AO had one or more adult hovering about, the area would get very crowded, very quickly.

 

When our DD was in AO age group we were perfectly fine with saying our good byes at the gate by the admit desk. We were welcome to "check in" whenever we felt it appropriate.

[Onessa]

Structured? YES, VERY and this is one problem that we have had with AO with my youngest. My youngest (when she was 3) wanted to continue to slide on the slide when it was "time for a craft". She didn't want to do a craft, she wanted to slide. They wanted her to do the craft. She wanted to slide. They called me about it. :rolleyes:

 

In the 6-8 year old group, there was a young boy who wanted to play on the computer and the counselors wanted him to participate with the group, he wanted to be on the computer playing games. The mother was called and asked to remove the boy because he wouldn't join the group.

 

This is one thing that AO needs to work on -- flexibility.

 

I've always been a bit perplex about these scenarios.

 

Insurance guidelines dictate what amount of freedom the couselors can give any one child -- if the activities are moving away from one area to an area where a loner child could not be easily supervised, sometimes the counselors will need to move that "loner" into the group activity and it may not be what that child wishes to do at that moment.

 

I can't blame counselors responsible for the well being of 15 3-5YOs needing to move #16, a 4YO from a playground type activity to a coloring table -- should counselor #1 need to deal with 15 kids because one kid wants to continue in another area and counselor #2 then needs to stay with just that one kid? Or should both conselors move to the color table and let #16 4YO unsupervised?

 

If the counselors need to deal with one child who continually wants to do his "own thing" they cannot deal with their other charges.

 

Most of the time the counselors find a creative way to deal with these types of issues. One of my DD's friends hated playing ga-ga ball -- everyone else LOVED, LOVED, LOVED ga-ga ball (don't ask, I have NO idea what gaga ball is). So while everyone else played ga-ga ball, Dizzy (the counselor) appointed this little girl the "official score keeper" -- which seemed to please her very much.

 

BTW "Dizzy" was a counselor on three different cruises we took on RCCI (three different years, three different itineraries, two different ships!) - he was amazingly good with dealing with kids.

[Jo and Rob]

The kids clubs offer structured, supervised activities. If that does not appeal to your kids there are other options. But for my child, she appreciated a safe environment, where she could play with other kids her age, and where the counselors gave them good ideas of cool stuff to do.

 

Over the years she was able to tour the bridge and the galley and backstage on-board through the kids club. Entertainers and artists came in and helped them put on plays or taught them to play "air guitars". They had circuses, pirate parades, and alien hunts. They dissected a squid. They met glassblowers, captains, chefs, etc. IOW, by DD has been able to do a lot of stuff because of the kids club that she otherwise would not have been able to do -- stuff that I was not able to do. At different age levels the experiences are different.

 

AO is not nursery school, nor daycare, nor babysitting -- it is part of the "entertainment"

So will they go out and about in the kids' club? I thought they stayed in the area. Do you know if they go out and about as you may need to pick them up mid session. Don't get me wrong I'd love them to have the opportunity of going on the bridge, do they do that on Indy?

[crusinmama06]

So will they go out and about in the kids' club? I thought they stayed in the area. Do you know if they go out and about as you may need to pick them up mid session. Don't get me wrong I'd love them to have the opportunity of going on the bridge, do they do that on Indy?

 

Jo and Rob -- click on the link to the posted schedules and you will see where they will go.

 

As I said in one of the above threads, the 3-5s go out less than the 6-8's. The 3-5's will leave for the pirate parade and be out for the talent show. I've been on Indy. And my kids were in these age groups.

 

You can pick them up mid session but you cannot sign in/out during the pirate parade.

 

I think Onessa's child may have been older for the bridge tour because mine haven't done that yet, or haven't told me about it.

 

The 6-8's will leave for many more things. They go to shows. They have a circus (in the promenade). They go out to the sports courts and have athletic competitions. They "raid" the teen clubs.

 

So your youngest will stick close to the 3-5 room.

 

Your oldest will have different activities in different areas. Either way, you will have a schedule and will know where they are at all times. And the only times you can't sign them out is during the pirate parent and during "transition" which means when they are moving from one activity venue to another

[Jo and Rob]

Thank you, that sounds good. I want it to be a holiday club and great fun for the children where they can meet other children their age. This is a toe in the water for us before we go on Celebrity next year and it is really important they if they do Adventure Ocean they enjoy it.

[Onessa]

Sorry Jo and Rob - I'm not on much on weekends.

 

As Cruisin Mama 06 indicated my DD was in the older groups for most of the "field trips" -- even when they do get to the ages where they may go out exploring, since they can't always do all of the outings, they are not that well publicized. But the counselors will warn you that they may be out for a bit between x and y when you drop off -- they will also post it on the door.

 

On our last cruise (Celebrity Solsitice) the kids club (all the kids) had a publicized outing to the Hot Glass Show, but it was in the kid's daily and there was a big crew to kid ratio.

[stormyitaly]

Just got back from Navigator of the seas. The clubs are very structure, but in a good way. ALL of the children would cry when the parents would come to pick them up. They had a blast!! Couldn't have been better.