Kids program

[Mowiteem]

I am a mom of a 7 year old and 14 year old. What should I expect from the youth program. I'm a little nervous about letting my kids go off on there own on a big ship, especially my 7 year old. I am a bit of an overprotective mother.

 

 

 

Vicki....

Proud to be a Jersey Girl

[Clarea]

I am a mom of a 7 year old and 14 year old. What should I expect from the youth program. I'm a little nervous about letting my kids go off on there own on a big ship, especially my 7 year old. I am a bit of an overprotective mother.

 

 

 

Vicki....

Proud to be a Jersey Girl

Some info from Royal's website:

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/experiencetypes/category.do?pagename=onboard_cat_kids_teens_and_families

[kelleigh229]

Vicki - you should check out the family board. There is tons of great information on there about the kids programs and folks that have used it. It will be my first time traveling with a child, so I was clueless a couple months ago, but that board helped :)

[Mowiteem]

Thank you, will do.

 

 

Vicki....

Proud to be a Jersey Girl

[Jimnbigd]

Set it up so your 7-year-old needs to be checked in and checked out of Adventure Ocean so he/she cannot leave on her own. I think you can also set it up so your 14-year-old can check the 7-year-old in and out if you want. All of you should go to Adventure Ocean when you first board (either before or after lunch) to sign up the 7-year-old. The 14-year-old will always have run-of-the-ship (but a 1am cerfew).

[xxHadleyxx]

I have two teens. On most port days the club is open, but unsupervised until mid to late afternoon if they want a place just to hang out without adults around.

 

Games (scavenger hunts, break the ice games, foosball tourneys, mild versions of the quest, etc), free times in the arcade, pizza parties or a group dinner, etc tend to be scheduled in the late afternoon and the evening (or all day, from about 11:00 on sea days). These are all hosted by 1-2 youth staff.

 

Later in the night is generally a dance party of some kind.

 

As mentioned above, they can come and go as they please and no one is checking them in and out. The ship has a 1:00 a.m. curfew for them.

 

The teens can be broken up into two age groups (12-14 and 15-17) but on every one of our cruises (all in the Med) there have not been that many teens so they have kept them all together.

[ljt56]

My daughter will be 12 on August 12th and we are cruising from August 3-August 10th. Will they let her go with the 12 year olds?

 

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[jpolm]

I too was concerned leaving my 5 yr old and 10 yr old at the kids club and letting my 12 ur old wander or go to teens club. But having since returned off the oasis all I can say was it was fantastic and my children were fine. They loved every bit of it and my 12 yr old got to hang on his own and checked in when we asked and found some good friends. The others we had to check them in and out. Dad and I had some actual alone time which was great too and we were comfortable in doing so while kids never stayed past 10 at the club they could have for additional cost. My kids also wanted to go back every night.

[Travel R]

We took our DDs 8 & 13. The 8yo (after the first day), loved it and continued wanting to go back there any time we were not in port. Do not worry, as someone above mentioned, you have to check them in and only you (or someone on your list) can check them out.

 

My DD13 had run of the ship. The teen lounge is supervised by a crew member until 1 am (then there is a 1 am curfew for guests under 18). She met other kids during the meet-up on the first night, and met up with other kids every evening (and some afternoons). At first my DW and I were apprehensive about letter her stay out so late (she did not come back until almost 12 midnight the first night, and after 12 the remaining evenings). Although we did some secret reconiassance (SP?) the first two nights to check up on her, we let her have her independence and my DW and I learned to deal with it. Although, I stayed up every night on the balcony until she came back to the room (and it became our ritual to go down to the Park Cafe for a "midnight" snack). Just note, wour instructions were that she needs to stay in the area in and around the teen lounge and to call or leave a message if she went somewhere else. She was also given a soda package and told if she ever lost sight of her drink to not drink it again and just get another one.

[CruzieSue]

Our son was 13 (4 months shy of 14) when he took his first cruise this year. Once we all toured the ship together and showed him the main areas, we allowed him to pretty much come and go as he wanted. We chose to text each other only as necessary to keep up with whereabouts, change in plans, etc. He LOVED the arcade and the teens' "living room" areas the most. He went to a couple of the movies in the theater with new friends. Spent very little time, if any, at the pool. Seems the "cool teens" :rolleyes: enjoyed just sitting and talking and sharing music. There were special "parties" and events for specific age groups at different times. Usually he did not stay the entire time. The ship curfew is 1:00 a.m. but we had him back to the room and reporting in by midnight all except the last night so he could visit with his friends longer. He proved to us that he could be responsible and follow our guidelines and we all had a great cruise. :)

[Irish Lads Mom]

My son was 13 and we did the occasional check on him in the teen club. All was fine. The curfew was hard for my husband and me; we don't stay up that late. You might be able to do it for one night, but if you need your sleep, then you're relying on your child's good judgement and the ship's curfew.

 

Speaking of good judgement, the cruise after ours last year had a bunch of teens throw a life preserver overboard, tripping the ship's protocol on a man overboard. This caused the ship (the Oasis) to turn around and circle while they figured out the issue. There are cameras everywhere and they figured out through face recognition who was responsible.

 

The families of the trouble makers were charged something like $30K for lost fuel and kicked off the ship at the next port, apparently permanently blacklisted from RCL.

 

If you let your kids go off on their own, just tell them this story (you can probably search for it from last August on these boards, it was well discussed). If they are concerned at all about the behavior of their peers, tell them to come up with an excuse to leave, just like the can at home.

 

My other son was 10 and he had some freedom on the ship, able to check himself in and out of the kids club. We got him the onboard iPhones to use to stay in touch. A bit expensive, but it gave him the confidence he needed to go do something, then find us.

 

Good luck and enjoy your cruise.