Kids club question

[mayesq]

We are sailing on the Getaway on June 7 with another family. My son will be exactly 1 month from his 13th birthday. His best friend, who we are sailing with, will already be 13. Will they allow my son to go to the teen club with his friend? If not, I'm going to have two majorly disappointed boys on my hands. I'm not sure what I can do in advance about this or if there is somebody on the ship that I will need to talk to about it.

[SissasMomE]

We are sailing on the Getaway on June 7 with another family. My son will be exactly 1 month from his 13th birthday. His best friend, who we are sailing with, will already be 13. Will they allow my son to go to the teen club with his friend? If not, I'm going to have two majorly disappointed boys on my hands. I'm not sure what I can do in advance about this or if there is somebody on the ship that I will need to talk to about it.

 

No. There is no one you can speak to about it. It is not allowed.

[mayesq]

That is really disappointing. I'm starting to rethink NCL. Ridiculous. At least Disney has a tween program for kids 11-13. I can't see my almost 13 year old hanging out with the 10 year olds. And I have heard that they mix them with the even younger group.

 

This must be why NCL gets such bad reviews for the kids clubs.

[SissasMomE]

That is really disappointing. I'm starting to rethink NCL. Ridiculous. At least Disney has a tween program for kids 11-13. I can't see my almost 13 year old hanging out with the 10 year olds. And I have heard that they mix them with the even younger group.

 

This must be why NCL gets such bad reviews for the kids clubs.

 

NCL has fantastic reviews for the kids club. Cancel and go back to Disney :)

[mayesq]

Well that was incredibly rude. This is something that could potentially ruin this trip if he is travelling with a friend that he won't be able to hang out with. I've been reading a ton and all of the reviews for NCL are great except the kids clubs. Why so defensive?

[SissasMomE]

Well that was incredibly rude. This is something that could potentially ruin this trip if he is travelling with a friend that he won't be able to hang out with. I've been reading a ton and all of the reviews for NCL are great except the kids clubs. Why so defensive?

 

Oh no - I didn't mean it like that at all!! I meant that you should go back to Disney if they will split the kids like you wanted!

[SissasMomE]

Also, I never heard of them putting the 10 - 12 year olds with the younger kids. They will split the older ones though if there are a lot of kids. As a rule, it's 13 - 17 ... but when there's a lot of kids onboard (like spring break, Christmas, etc) they will spilt them up into 2 groups - 13 to 15, and then 16 and 17 year olds.

 

We've been on Princess, RCCL, NCL, and once on Carnival. I can't comment on Carnival because my daughter didn't go to the kids club there, but RCCL, NCL, and Princess were all basically the same. She loved them all.

[garnet115]

That is really disappointing. I'm starting to rethink NCL. Ridiculous. At least Disney has a tween program for kids 11-13. I can't see my almost 13 year old hanging out with the 10 year olds. And I have heard that they mix them with the even younger group.

 

This must be why NCL gets such bad reviews for the kids clubs.

 

And if they had a group of 11 to 13 year olds, someone would complain that their 13 year old should be able to go to the teen club with the 14 year olds. I believe NCL is pretty strict about their age guidelines, because otherwise there would be a barage of these requests to handle on every sailing.

[mayesq]

Disney actually gave my son a choice last year. He was 12 but could either hang in the kid club or the tween club with his younger brother. I just thought that they all did this............

[A1SusieQ]

That is really disappointing. I'm starting to rethink NCL. Ridiculous. At least Disney has a tween program for kids 11-13. I can't see my almost 13 year old hanging out with the 10 year olds. And I have heard that they mix them with the even younger group.

 

This must be why NCL gets such bad reviews for the kids clubs.

 

Have him go to the club with an open mind.

 

 

My daughter will be 13 in May and we sail in 2 weeks from today.

 

She too will be in the 10-12 group. There will be plenty of other 7th graders for her to connect with. (as there always are)

 

Her last cruise she made a great group of friends and they all went for sushi together on the last Sea Day.

 

Your son can go to his Group and his friend can go to the other group. They can both meet a nice mix of other boys around their age. They usually all agree to meet at the sports court at a certain time to play ball or hang out.

 

Again, you need to tell them both to go the first night and have an open mind.:)

 

Your 12 year old can sign himself out after the first 2 hours if he chooses.

 

The Kids Club on NCL is excellent as per my children. They have also done Disney and prefer NCL.

[SissasMomE]

Have him go to the club with an open mind.

 

 

My daughter will be 13 in May and we sail in 2 weeks from today.

 

She too will be in the 10-12 group. There will be plenty of other 7th graders for her to connect with. (as there always are)

 

Her last cruise she made a great group of friends and they all went for sushi together on the last Sea Day.

 

Your son can go to his Group and his friend can go to the other group. They can both meet a nice mix of other boys around their age. They usually all agree to meet at the sports court at a certain time to play ball or hang out.

 

Again, you need to tell them both to go the first night and have an open mind.:)

 

Your 12 year old can sign himself out after the first 2 hours if he chooses.

 

The Kids Club on NCL is excellent as per my children. They have also done Disney and prefer NCL.

 

Susie - are you sure it's 2 hours? I thought it was only 1 hour?

[SissasMomE]

Disney actually gave my son a choice last year. He was 12 but could either hang in the kid club or the tween club with his younger brother. I just thought that they all did this............

 

I'm not sure why NCL doesn't allow this when they are that close in age - I just know they are strict. Many people have asked, and they really stick to the age groups. I've never heard anyone say they were successful in getting their child into a different age group - even if the birthday was literally right around the corner.

Edited April 2, 2014 by SissasMomE

[A1SusieQ]

Susie - are you sure it's 2 hours? I thought it was only 1 hour?

 

Yes I am 99.9 percent sure its 2 hours.

[russianmom]

That is really disappointing. I'm starting to rethink NCL. Ridiculous. At least Disney has a tween program for kids 11-13. I can't see my almost 13 year old hanging out with the 10 year olds. And I have heard that they mix them with the even younger group.

 

This must be why NCL gets such bad reviews for the kids clubs.

 

There's nothing ridiculous about it. It's an insurance liability issue. My kids have been on 7 NCL cruises in separate groups and have loved it each and every time. Can you share some links to the bad reviews you've read?

 

If you're going to base your entire cruise experience on the disappointment of 2 kids maybe NCL isn't the line for you... There's tons of other stuff they can do together outisde of the club

Edited April 2, 2014 by russianmom

[mayesq]

If you're going to base your entire cruise experience on the disappointment of 2 kids maybe NCL isn't the line for you...

 

But these two kids are the ones cruising with us. They are best friends and will be unable to be together in the clubs. I'm so regretting this. The point of this cruise was that they would have each other in the clubs. They are in the same grade. My son will be one month from his birthday. If we sailed a month later it wouldn't be an issue. Ugh.

 

My 9 year old, on the other hand, will have a ball.....

[mayesq]

And he has to wait 2 hours to sign himself out?

[SissasMomE]

But these two kids are the ones cruising with us. They are best friends and will be unable to be together in the clubs. I'm so regretting this. The point of this cruise was that they would have each other in the clubs. They are in the same grade. My son will be one month from his birthday. If we sailed a month later it wouldn't be an issue. Ugh.

 

My 9 year old, on the other hand, will have a ball.....

 

I understand what you are saying. We often bring my daughter's best friend with us on vacation, and it would be an issue if they couldn't be in the same group. I know it's a pain, but can you cancel and re-book with a cruise line that allows them to be together?

[russianmom]

But these two kids are the ones cruising with us. They are best friends and will be unable to be together in the clubs. I'm so regretting this. The point of this cruise was that they would have each other in the clubs. They are in the same grade. My son will be one month from his birthday. If we sailed a month later it wouldn't be an issue. Ugh.

 

My 9 year old, on the other hand, will have a ball.....

 

Well maybe you should have investigated this before you booked the cruise. My advice at this point is to cancel if you can, it sounds like you've already set yourself and the kids up for a terrible miserable time...

[A1SusieQ]

And he has to wait 2 hours to sign himself out?

 

Wow you really are being a "Glass half empty" type of person.

 

Yes he has to wait the ENTIRE 2 hours during which time the counselors will be shoving bamboo under his fingernails.

[mayesq]

You all are right. I should have investigated. Now we have paid in full and can't get our money back. It is what it is. I'll have to explain to the boys that they won't be in the clubs together, but I won't have a problem with them hanging out on their own if they'd like, and I'm sure they will still meet tons of kids that way.

 

I'm not trying to be a downer here, people, but this was just a huge disappointment when I realized that the ages were different from the last cruise that we went on (Disney Dream). Haven't any of you been disappointed about something before?

 

I'm sure the boys will still have fun, but I doubt they will spend much time in the clubs (other than my 9 year old, who is really looking forward to the clubs).

 

The 2 hour thing is really weird. Why is that?

 

To all of you that were helpful, I really appreciate it.

[mayesq]

Wow you really are being a "Glass half empty" type of person.

 

Yes he has to wait the ENTIRE 2 hours during which time the counselors will be shoving bamboo under his fingernails.

 

What's with the attitude?

 

So not helpful.

 

I've had a really bad year and we finally made a decision to do something fun to get away from all of the bad stuff, and then I am let down by something. I'm sure I'll be over it by my cruise, but geez. You all are a rough crowd. I'll refrain from asking any more questions..............All I did was ask a question.:eek:

[SissasMomE]

They wont have any problems finding things to do, or meeting other kids. They really should each go on night one to their respective groups - even if it's just for a little while - just to meet people. After that, they will both know other kids and can hang out in a group outside of the kids club.

[mayesq]

Have him go to the club with an open mind.

 

 

My daughter will be 13 in May and we sail in 2 weeks from today.

 

She too will be in the 10-12 group. There will be plenty of other 7th graders for her to connect with. (as there always are)

 

Her last cruise she made a great group of friends and they all went for sushi together on the last Sea Day.

 

Your son can go to his Group and his friend can go to the other group. They can both meet a nice mix of other boys around their age. They usually all agree to meet at the sports court at a certain time to play ball or hang out.

 

Again, you need to tell them both to go the first night and have an open mind.:)

 

Your 12 year old can sign himself out after the first 2 hours if he chooses.

 

The Kids Club on NCL is excellent as per my children. They have also done Disney and prefer NCL.

 

I just wanted to thank you for this. You've been the most helpful.

 

Until the snarky comment about bamboo under his fingernails.

Edited April 2, 2014 by mayesq
Cause I had to.

[Cruiser Who Knows Nothing]

OP, I feel your pain. My kids are 12 and 13. DS12 will be fine, he can make friends with anyone. My 13 yo dd is a teen girl and not a mingler. I do envision the 2 of them in the sports courts and pools/slides together. They're good kids, and they will have some freedom from us whether in the clubs or not.

 

 

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[MCAT48]

there is a lot they can do outside of the kids club...ropes, slides bungee things, mini golf, sports...