Allure - Adventure Ocean

[Tammy296]

Hi All,

 

First time cruising on the allure in three weeks. Question:

 

I have two children aged 15 and 6. How much time did your kids spend or WANT to spend at Adventure Ocean while on board? Did they enjoy it? Did you like it as a parent?

 

I want to spend quality time with the kids but I have a feeling they'll want to be near the other kids their age... lol

 

Tammy

[ksawyercruiser]

First off ... you are going to have an amazing time. The Allure is absolutely breathtaking and truly one of a kind.

 

Your 15 year old will be in the teen club. Many parents report that their kids LOVED the teen club and met many new friends there. That wasn't the case with us. Our 15 yo son didn't set foot in there. He is a bit of a loner. But that didn't mean he didn't have a blast. He loved the rock wall, exploring the ship, sneaking a forbidden coffee and trying the different eateries. He also went to quite a few movies.

 

So it really depends on the teen. If they are the social sort, they will most likely love the club. :)

 

Our 9 yo daughter thought AO was average. She prefers kids' clubs with lots of options ... like Disney. In our experience, AO tended to have structured activities (like relay races) but not many other options. I will say, though, that the facilities are impressive and we felt very safe leaving our daughter there. She just tends to like quieter activities ... so we limited her time in the club to a couple hours after dinner.

 

I did see several little boys begging their parents to let them stay longer. So again, depends on the child.

 

Have a WONDERFUL cruise. :D

[jticarruthers]

Our son has been using AO on various ships since he was 6-7. First time he was a little nervous but quickly grew into the idea of playing with other kids.

 

Up until about 9/10 we had to drag him kicking and screaming (not literally) out of AO at night.

 

He is now 11 and the last couple of cruises he has asked us to get him out of AO, he says the games are stale and the activities are too constricting now ....

[mar915]

My 15 year old was always with his new friends in the teen rooms. He loved it. When they were younger they always wanted to go all day, my 10 year old just wanted to go I. The evening but always wanted to stay at night. Always depends on your child

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[debbs0723]

I think each ship is different and can have a very different Adventure Ocean vibe. I have not been on the Allure yet but have an upcoming trip. We were on the Navigator last year. The advice I have gotten for my soon to be 13 and 10 year olds is that it is best to take them at the beginning for any orientation or mixer type things they have so they don't feel left out later. My older daughter would usually rather hang out with us. She has a small amount of freedom once we all get acclimated to the ship and she enjoys that. My younger daughter would live in kids clubs as she is very competitive and loves all the games they play. I was not overly impressed with AO on Navigator but the youngest did like it.

 

If you need your 6 year old to be in there so you can have some kidless time, I would build it up before hand on how great it will be and set up some times on the first day or each morning when they will participate and let them know when you will be back. If you are more concerned about making sure you get that quality time with your kids I think you can have a good mix of both with the same option of doing preset times for certain activities in there then times they will be with you.

 

To be honest, there is just no way to tell whether they will love it so much they won't want to leave or they will hate it. I think the vibe can change in there depending on what other kids/teens are sailing at that time as well. You are going to have an absolute blast no matter what as will they. There is just so much to do on the Allure that they will also want to do rather than just be in the kids clubs.

 

Debbie