NCL Kids Club Age Group Strictness

[Mom2B&Z]

We're cruising over Thanksgiving on the Pearl. This will be our son's second cruise. Last year we cruised on the Spirit when he was 7. He absolutely LOVED the kids club! This year he will be 8 when we sail and will turn 9 while on the cruise. Does anyone know what the actual age breakdown is? I think I would like for him to stay in the same group for the entire cruise. Looking very forward to some fun in the sun!:D

 

Ncl's group for that age is 6-9 yrs.

[crusinmama06]

Ncl's group for that age is 6-9 yrs.

 

Yep this. So no concern about having to move him mid cruise :)

[MartiK]

We have not taken a cruise on NCL in many years but we booked for a Thanksgiving trip, 2014 on the Sun. We have taken cruises with my kids including a Disney Cruise in November 2011 and Regent in August 2006. During the Disney Cruise, my youngest son was too young for the "tween" group but too mature for the kids club. He was also close to the cut off age (his birthday is in December). Disney allowed him in the Tween group because he was more mature and often hangs out and socializes with his older brother's friends (his older brother is 3 grades ahead of him). The exact same thing happened on the Regent cruise in 2006. When I told the gal that ran the program at the end of the cruise that my son was only 4 3/4 at the time of the cruise (he needed to be 5), she said she knew already. But because he was more mature than many of the 6-7 year olds, she allowed him to stay. So at least with my 2 experiences, the folks that run the clubs can use some discretion on whether or not to let a child stay or not.

[bambilin]

Last month I went on a ship tour on NCL Jewel and I took a list of questions with me. The top of the list was THIS ONE. So I marched off to the kids club and went off to find out. The kids crew counselors told me that they have a ZERO TOLERANCE for MOVING. :eek::eek::eek:

 

ZERO! ZIP! NOT A CHANCE!

 

They said it was a company wide policy for NCL.

 

Of course you can't lie on the forms. You are talking about travel documents. :eek: They can deny boarding if they don't match. Don't mess with that.

 

Just warn the kids in advance that they won't be in the same groups. You MIGHT get lucky and get a very understanding counselor -- but the ones I talked to said no way. Its just not done on NCL. And that was the first time I had ever been told by a kids club counselor "no, never" -- usually they tell me "maybe" ;)

 

 

We sailed on the Breakaway last July. My younger son was three weeks shy of turning 6. He was about to enter first grade, is very big for his age, was reading at third grade level. He has always been more comfortable with older kids. My older son was 8, and all of the other kids in our group were in the 6-8 age group.

 

We had prepared him pre-cruise that he would be in a different group. He asked if we could at least ask about moving him up so we did. The counselor signing us in said normally she would say no right away but just by looking at him she would never believe he was only 5 so she called her supervisor. He came over to speak it us and to my son. He said that he had seen a lot of big 5 year olds but not as big as my little guy, and it was clear he was pretty mature. He said if it were up to him he would move him up. He could even see it as a safety issue with some of the very tiny three year olds in the group. But, he had to check with Miami. He said for at least the first night he would need to go to the younger group. Then he said he would be back in touch.

 

My son went to the younger group. When we picked him up we asked him how it was. He said one of the counselors let him be his "helper" for all of the little kids and it was ok but kind of boring. The next day the supervisor told us Miami said sorry, no exceptions. We thanked him for trying.

 

We had reservations with the rest of the adults in our group for Moderno that night. My kids knew this and went to the club. When we picked them up the little guy said, "Mom, do I have to keep going back there? It is really boring just helping the little kids and a lot of them are crying all the time. ". Of course we did not make him go back.

 

We ran into another counselor at one of the Nick family functions and he asked my son where he had been, he missed his help. He said he was too old for those kids. The counselor said, "He really should have been moved up to the other age group several of us suggested it but we were told headquarters said no"

 

So, at least on full sailings, they are pretty strict!!!

 

Good luck!

 

 

 

 

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