How much time do your kids spend in the kid's programs/camps?

[GatorTide]

We are taking DD (4) on her first cruise in September. DH and I are used to having a lot of down time when we cruise - I'm happy to sit at the pool all day with a book - and we certainly want to have some adult chill-out time on this trip as well. However, we definitely want to spend time with DD, especially since this is our first Disney cruise and I know she'll want to do a lot of the activities such as the character meet n' greets. Just wondering what most people do in terms of balancing their "me time" with family activities, especially on sea days (port days she will be coming on excursions with us).

[cb at sea]

It varies! Some kids WANT to stay all the time....others can only take a few hours (or less) at a time!

 

Cruising as a family is certainly different than cruising as a couple....so just play it by ear. Take her and see how she likes it! She may give you all the "adult chill time" you want....but she may not!

 

I think most folks just take it as it comes. You don't want to be dragging your child out if they're having a good time....and you don't want to force them into something they don't enjoy, either!

[andiloveu]

In 2010 we took our two boys on the Enchantment of the Seas. They were 8 and 10 at the time. They loved the kids area. The first time we took them we told them if they didn't like it they didn't have to go back. After the first time they couldn't wait to go back. Most of the time they didn't even want to eat dinner with us because there was something fun scheduled at night for the kids. I'm sure Disney has even more fun things to do with kids. Being that she is only 4 yrs old I'm not sure if she will be like my boys who can't wait to do things away from mom and dad. Hopefully she will like it and you can have some adult time. Enjoy your cruise!

[crusinmama06]

I probably shouldn't tell you this but I got the LEAST "me time" on our Disney cruises. So good luck ;)

[Mom2B&Z]

It varies! Some kids WANT to stay all the time....others can only take a few hours (or less) at a time!

 

Cruising as a family is certainly different than cruising as a couple....so just play it by ear. Take her and see how she likes it! She may give you all the "adult chill time" you want....but she may not!

 

I think most folks just take it as it comes. You don't want to be dragging your child out if they're having a good time....and you don't want to force them into something they don't enjoy, either!

I couldn't agree more. Our oldest is the can't-drag-me-out-of-kids-club kind of kid, while our youngest goes only if he can watch movies ;)

I look at it from the perspective that it is their vacation too, so they should also have the choice as to how they spend their time. I won't force them to do anything they don't want to, even if it means sacrificing "me" or "couple" time. There is always time at night when the kids are sleeping for "couple" time...

[Cruisin' Chick]

I couldn't agree more. Our oldest is the can't-drag-me-out-of-kids-club kind of kid' date=' while our youngest goes only if he can watch movies ;)

I look at it from the perspective that it is their vacation too, so they should also have the choice as to how they spend their time. I won't force them to do anything they don't want to, even if it means sacrificing "me" or "couple" time. There is always time at night when the kids are sleeping for "couple" time...[/quote']

 

Our girl was always asking if the "ship's school" was open yet. The one time she really wasn't into it was our last cruise, her first time in the teen group. At age 13, any thing "invented" by the adults was lame. She would go to the teen area to meet up with the girls her age and they would hang out at the pool.

 

I also agree it's their vacation too. And when they start school, with homework just about every day and projects during vacations:eek:, I just can't see begrudging them being able to enjoy whatever time off they get. Hubby and I get our alone time and our girl has the chance to decide what she wants to do (even for the ports, I gave her the brochures and some post-it notes and told her to mark what she wanted to see...then we had a family meeting and came up with a plan so that all of us got our choices).

[bluesharpie]

In addition to the comments above, I think it's going to depend on your child's personality.

 

On our first cruise 2 years ago, my then 4YO was shy and wanted nothing to do with the kids camp on RCI (the entrance was in the middle of the arcade so that was more fun). Now that he's in school and used to being more independent and confident, he's accepting of the idea of spending 'kids time' on our cruise next week. We are also going on the same cruise so he knows what to expect and has been rattling off his agenda of things he wants to try and he'll be in the same age group as my 8YO this cruise.

We plan to read through the Compass and let them decide what they'd like to participate in but now they are 6&8 instead of 4&6 so slightly different :-)

We didn't get much couple time on our last cruise except one evening hanging with our little guy while our older son participated in a pirate parade so DH and I have decided that if they don't like the kids camp, we'll arrange for a few hours of babysitting. You might look into whether that's available as a Plan B.

Enjoy!

[ansadler]

This is great feedback for me too. We are doing our first family cruise with three boys, 12, 10 and 9. I have no doubt my 9 year old will LOVE the kids area, but not sure about the older two. What do you think about letting kids walk around by themselves. (I'm mainly talking about my 12 and 10 year old). My oldest is super responsible and my 10 year old does whatever he says.. I'm thinking of giving them a walkie talkie and letting them roam some on a very restricted basis. Anyone done that before?

[mjkacmom]

This is great feedback for me too. We are doing our first family cruise with three boys, 12, 10 and 9. I have no doubt my 9 year old will LOVE the kids area, but not sure about the older two. What do you think about letting kids walk around by themselves. (I'm mainly talking about my 12 and 10 year old). My oldest is super responsible and my 10 year old does whatever he says.. I'm thinking of giving them a walkie talkie and letting them roam some on a very restricted basis. Anyone done that before?

 

My ds was 12 on our last cruise, and he just had to check in with us here and there. He didn't like the kids club (10 -12).

[queenL]

There is a lot of variation. My best advice is to go with low expectations and hopefully you will be surprised. My 5 yr old sails with us all the time. We were on MSC a few years ago and I pushed her to go to the kids club so that I could have some "me' time. I went by the window a few hours later and saw her sitting by herself with her hands in her lap looking around. She looked so pitiful, I felt bad. I didn't take her back again that cruise. Compare that to our last voyage on Carnival. She woke up in the morning and asked could we take her to the kids club. She made a little friend and she wanted to be there all the time. When we came to pick her up she didn't want to leave. The amount of time they want to spend there not only depends on the child but the kid's club, the type activities scheduled and probably how many friends they make.

 

When she likes it she goes for longer periods. I always take her with us when we leave the ship. We also try to have all of our meals together. Beyond that I let her go for a few hours once or twice a day.

 

Some tips I have learned is to go tour the kids facility when you first board. We hype it up to our daughter, let her see all the toys and give her examples of the activities they have planned. We also try and take her to the first camp session. Sometimes after the kids form their "clicks" its not as easy for her to make friends. Finally, I make her try it for a few hours every cruise. I tell her if she really doesn't like it, she doesn't have to go back. Usually she does and everybody is happy. :)

[CC Help Jenn]

I have done two Disney Cruises, a 3 night and a 4 night on the Dream. We will be sailing Disney again in Sept - are you on our sailing ? Sept 1 on the Fantasy.

 

Anywho ... Our first cruise was a 3 night, my dd was turning 11 and my ds just turned 2. Obviously ds was too young for the club, but we did send him to the nursery mid dinner so that he wasn't sitting too long. DD was also a little trepidatious of the freedom we were allowing her and did not take full advantage of hanging out in Edge until the last day.

 

Fast forward a bit to our next cruise, a 4 night on the Dream. Our son was turning 3 during the cruise - and he was potty trained - so they let him move up into the club. I thought he wouldn't want to stay at all. I have to say he wanted to go there quite often. Some times he would only stay an hour before having us called to pick him up, other times we had to drag him out after 10 pm :) He loved it there and the cast members loved him as well. I think with him we had a good balance of adult time and family time. He usually went to the club after dinner (we had early seating) and stayed a few hours. During the day sometimes he would ask to go drop in for a bit as well - so this afforded us the opportunity to do a wine tasting and have a palo brunch.

 

My dd was almost 12 on this last cruise and I think we gave her too much free time. She had dinner with us each night but otherwise was with friends in Edge or Aquaduck. This time we plan to limit that slightly so that we get in some more fam time with her as well.

 

So that is my experience. I think you will have a great cruise :)

[Warm Breezes]

We are taking DD (4) on her first cruise in September. DH and I are used to having a lot of down time when we cruise - I'm happy to sit at the pool all day with a book - and we certainly want to have some adult chill-out time on this trip as well. However, we definitely want to spend time with DD, especially since this is our first Disney cruise and I know she'll want to do a lot of the activities such as the character meet n' greets. Just wondering what most people do in terms of balancing their "me time" with family activities, especially on sea days (port days she will be coming on excursions with us).

 

Depends on the child. My kids have spent less than 10 hours total in kids/teen clubs on their 9 cruises over the last 11 years. The just didn't like to go. I will have to say that the majority of that time was on their first couple of cruises on Disney...mostly because we had gone with friends who had kids their ages. In terms of balancing...go with the flow. If your child likes the club then let her go more. If she doesn't, you may get a page like I did on our first Disney cruise when DD was 4....she was only there a couple of hours and she was with a friend from home, but she was crying uncontrollably because she though we had left her there "forever":rolleyes:.

[ansadler]

I just watched a show called :Disney Parks: Disney Cruise Line that I found on Instant Netflix. It may be other places. It's a great show that gives you a close look at the children's programs on board. They are TOP NOTCH..

[boulders]

I just watched a show called :Disney Parks: Disney Cruise Line that I found on Instant Netflix. It may be other places. It's a great show that gives you a close look at the children's programs on board. They are TOP NOTCH..

 

I would disagree that DCL's kids club is top notch. Out of the 5 cruise lines I've sailed, it's the one at the bottom of my list in terms of quality. This is not to say it's terrible, but I would put the other 4 cruise lines in my signature above DCL.

[crusinmama06]

I would disagree that DCL's kids club is top notch. Out of the 5 cruise lines I've sailed, it's the one at the bottom of my list in terms of quality. This is not to say it's terrible, but I would put the other 4 cruise lines in my signature above DCL.

 

^^^^Ditto^^^^ that

 

I get tired of dispelling the Disney "being the best" myth.

[sharktums]

I find it so interesting reading threads like this, and I've seen quite a few.

 

My daughter has been cruising since she was nine months old and ADORES the Adventure Ocean Royal Caribbean program and liked Camp Carnival as well. She loves everything Disney so we went ahead and booked the Fantasy for this Fall. I hope she likes the kids club there as much as on the other lines, but I'm beginning to worry a bit!

 

Oh well, she'll have several appointments at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique if she hates it!

[Bear2006]

I would disagree that DCL's kids club is top notch. Out of the 5 cruise lines I've sailed, it's the one at the bottom of my list in terms of quality. This is not to say it's terrible, but I would put the other 4 cruise lines in my signature above DCL.

 

Can you explain why? I looked into Disney but went with Celebrity because I thought there would be way too many kids in the Disney kids club. My 3 and 5 year old don't like it if there are too many kids they don't know. They loved Celebrity Fun Factory. There were two counselors for the 3 to 5 year old group and around 5 to 12 kids including my two at any one time in their group. I loved all the fun projects they did that went along with the theme of the day.

[boulders]

Can you explain why? I looked into Disney but went with Celebrity because I thought there would be way too many kids in the Disney kids club. My 3 and 5 year old don't like it if there are too many kids they don't know. They loved Celebrity Fun Factory. There were two counselors for the 3 to 5 year old group and around 5 to 12 kids including my two at any one time in their group. I loved all the fun projects they did that went along with the theme of the day.

 

Your hunch that there would be too many kids was right. I was on a Med cruise in May with Disney. There were "only" about 400 kids on board. It seemed like they were all in the kids club. The 2 or 3 counselors were all busy just checking kids in and out. There did not seem to be any organized activities or any chance of the counselors knowing who ds4 was. It was a free for all.

 

On the last night of the cruise, dd11 and I went to pick ds4 from the kids club for dinner. Their procedure, which I think has changed, is that you enter, find your kid, and then check them out. Now, dd had been ill that day, but insisted she wanted to go to dinner. As soon as we found ds, we started to walk out of the kids club, and she fainted to the floor. No one noticed. I picked her up and frog walked her to the front desk when she fainted dead away. They DID notice when she fainted right in front of them. If she had been alone in that club when she fainted the first time, it would have been quite a while before anyone noticed something was wrong.

 

Currently I'm on HAL. Just like any other cruise we've been on, including Disney, ds begs to go as soon as it opens and complains when he's picked up. Yesterday was a port day, and there were less than 10 kids in the 3-7 age group during the day. The night time did not have many more kids and they did some imaginative activities which they called Spy Camp. This consisted of taking the kids out on deck and "training" them to be spies. Some of their training consisted of contests of who could do jumping jacks the longest, who could stand on one foot the longest. It sounds kind of boring when I type it but the kids loved it and were exhausted (in a good way) when I picked ds up at 10 pm. The counselors have known who ds was from day 1, figured out that he loves to do math problems and had him do them for the talent show, made him a huge birthday card for his birthday, etc. None of that would have happened on Disney.

[crusinmama06]

Again - I agree 100% ^^^

 

The clubs were chaos. My kids don't have a problem with chaos - *I* had the problem.

 

When we are on other cruise lines my kids can be 1 of 400 - but the counselors will see my kids and say "Hey (insert name here)"

 

On Disney - it is like one huge playroom. Like I just dropped them off at an unsupervised playground and no one is really watching them.

 

Parents coming in and out of the rooms.

[sns1009]

My shy little guy just loved his first cruise as a 4 yr old last winter. We never thought he'd stay in kids club but he loved it and bagged to go each day. The NCL kids staff was wonderful with him!

 

We brought him each night after dinner and he'd stay a few hours. He spent most of his days with us but there was one sea day he went to kids club for a few hours and it was so nice for me to just relax by the pool :)

 

You never know with kids! Just be ready to go with the flow!

[GatorTide]

Thanks for all the feedback. Our DD has been in daycare/preschool since she was 1 so she is used to group settings. I think we'll just see how she does there and hopefully she'll like it. Do they have Disney-type activities that involve the characters? She is madly in love with all things princess and if there is anything princess-related, she will happily stay there all day. But I'm thinking the character meet n greets are going to be things we will need to take her to, right?

[crusinmama06]

Yes there are character meet n greets all over the ship. You get in line at a designated time printed in their newsletter and you meet the character.

 

And there are certain activities in the kids club with the Princesses - so be on the lookout for those and make sure she is there at those times.

[CC Help Jenn]

Thanks for all the feedback. Our DD has been in daycare/preschool since she was 1 so she is used to group settings. I think we'll just see how she does there and hopefully she'll like it. Do they have Disney-type activities that involve the characters? She is madly in love with all things princess and if there is anything princess-related, she will happily stay there all day. But I'm thinking the character meet n greets are going to be things we will need to take her to, right?

 

Aside from scheduled meets and activities I also noticed that every so often a princess or character would "drop in" to the club - that was always fun :)