Can anyone tell me about Costa kids clubs?

[Jo and Rob]

We are looking at a Costa cruise in Oct sailing out of Venice with our 8 and 6 year olds. It will be half term in England but I am not sure whether it will coincide with other European holidays.

[RoadTripFanatic]

When we went in February there were a fair amount of children on the ship. (More than I thought there would be at that time of year.) The kids club was always hopping. DD was 9 and there were girls in her age group. Her only problem was that only 4 kids who were registered spoke any English. (One other boy from the States and two from Taiwan.)The camp counselors were great about including her in the activities and making sure she had a movie in English to watch when the other kids were watching in Italian . If they didn't have an English version they came up with things for DD to do if she didn't want to watch the movie in a foreign language. There was also always a counselor in the center who spoke English.

 

I felt the center was well organized and had a lot of different activities for the kids. Paris really enjoyed it even though she didn't have a lot of people to talk to! She could still dance, play games and participate in the activities.

[Jo and Rob]

When we went in February there were a fair amount of children on the ship. (More than I thought there would be at that time of year.) The kids club was always hopping. DD was 9 and there were girls in her age group. Her only problem was that only 4 kids who were registered spoke any English. (One other boy from the States and two from Taiwan.)The camp counselors were great about including her in the activities and making sure she had a movie in English to watch when the other kids were watching in Italian . If they didn't have an English version they came up with things for DD to do if she didn't want to watch the movie in a foreign language. There was also always a counselor in the center who spoke English.

 

I felt the center was well organized and had a lot of different activities for the kids. Paris really enjoyed it even though she didn't have a lot of people to talk to! She could still dance, play games and participate in the activities.

 

Are the children given lanyards for their cruise cards? They were on Indy and it made a nice keepsake.

[RoadTripFanatic]

No, they didn't receive an lanyard. Sorry. I remember they earned "squok" bucks through out the cruise. (Squok was the name of the kids club) At the end of the cruise they turned in their fake money for Costa prizes. I don't know if a lanyard was one of the choices. DD brought home a billfold, frisbee and a few odds and ends. :)

[Jo and Rob]

Please could you tell me whether you can drop children off mid-session? Also I would like to know about the gala night, is that when they have their special meal session? We would probably like to eat as a family, can the children go to club after? Is there a meet and greet? Can you just turn up and do the paper work there and then the next day?

[RoadTripFanatic]

Please could you tell me whether you can drop children off mid-session? Also I would like to know about the gala night, is that when they have their special meal session? We would probably like to eat as a family, can the children go to club after? Is there a meet and greet? Can you just turn up and do the paper work there and then the next day?

 

You can drop off kids mid-session and you can pick them up. Just pay close attention to the information paper that will tell you where they are during the session. Ours liked to go dance in the disco late at night! LOL! We always ate together as a family on our Costa cruise. If she wanted to go play we would take her to the kids center. There is a meet and greet. In fact it's the first night you are on the ship. The funny thing was the meet and greet is in Italian. Me? I had my own little mtg. They handed me the form to fill out. They told me a few things. I asked one or two questions and then I was done. I was out way before the mtg was over. I'd been on enough cruises I didn't have any big questions. There were only two of us in the "special" room filling out the forms! I would be surprised if you couldn't just fill out the form the 2nd day of the cruise and hand them your children. Most cruise lines are very flexible like that.

[Jo and Rob]

You can drop off kids mid-session and you can pick them up. Just pay close attention to the information paper that will tell you where they are during the session. Ours liked to go dance in the disco late at night! LOL! We always ate together as a family on our Costa cruise. If she wanted to go play we would take her to the kids center. There is a meet and greet. In fact it's the first night you are on the ship. The funny thing was the meet and greet is in Italian. Me? I had my own little mtg. They handed me the form to fill out. They told me a few things. I asked one or two questions and then I was done. I was out way before the mtg was over. I'd been on enough cruises I didn't have any big questions. There were only two of us in the "special" room filling out the forms! I would be surprised if you couldn't just fill out the form the 2nd day of the cruise and hand them your children. Most cruise lines are very flexible like that.

 

Thank you. As always you have been very informative. :) Do you remember what sort of activities they did, and what time the kids' disco was? What did Paris enjoy most about the club?

The squok money - did they earn some automatically by going to club or did they have to win competitions etc (I can see my two very keen on the idea of getting freebies at the end!! you know what children are like) How long was your holiday? Did Paris go for one session a day? What time did she prefer going to the most?

[RoadTripFanatic]

Thank you. As always you have been very informative. :) Do you remember what sort of activities they did, and what time the kids' disco was? What did Paris enjoy most about the club?

The squok money - did they earn some automatically by going to club or did they have to win competitions etc (I can see my two very keen on the idea of getting freebies at the end!! you know what children are like) How long was your holiday? Did Paris go for one session a day? What time did she prefer going to the most?

 

I just found her paper from the cruise. Her age group was 7-12. Here are a few of the activites. Animal face painting. WWF fashion show, cartoon game, baby fussball tournament, pirates snack. (Pirate theme day) Pirates attack the ship, mystery object hunt, paint your mysterious t-shirt, nutella party, ping pong tournement and on and on. Each day had a theme. WWF, Cartoonia, Pirates of the Caribbean, Arabian Day (Port of call was Egypt), High Squok Musical, Dream day, Music Day, Mystery Day and Sportland were the themes.

 

The disco appeared to just show up occasionally on the schedule. It was usually at night. I don't remember what she enjoyed the most. Typically she would just sit down and circle the activities that she wanted to go to. If we were 'free' then we would take her there.

 

The thing about the kids club is that when it's open it's open all.day.long. 9a- 11:30p.m. If you want your kids to stay during lunch they can. It says from 12-3p Assistance and games are available.

 

They earned the squok money for participating in games. DD didn't spend a ton of time there and she had plenty of bucks. She would usually go in the evenings. Most of our days were in port. Two of those port days were literally spend the entire day on land come back to the ship, eat dinner and go to bed. 12 hr excursions are rough!! :) We only had two days at sea. We had an 11 day cruise. After we hopped off the boat we spent 5 days in Italy. It was wonderful!