Childrens Programs on Celebrity?

[sherry1]

Can anyone tell me how the children's programs on Celebrity compare to other Cruise lines?

Sherry

Mother, mother ocean, I have heard you call,
Wanted to sail upon your waters
since I was three feet tall.

[42trvl]

We can't compare to many other cruises, but our kids really enjoyed the kids' (9 & 11) programs on Celebrity Summit. The younger kids also seemed quite happy. The staff was very kind and they enjoyed the various activities. Our only other cruise experience was with Disney, and they actually enjoyed Celebrity more.

[rundogrun]

My kids (now 5 and 7) preferred Celebrity (millie) to Disney. They've also been in NCL.

The program on Celebrity was well structured, with plenty to do including free play. The only charges were in the evening after 10 PM. Counselors were great and the program wasn't overcrowded, even though it was a holiday week.

Disney has it down to a science...lots of space devoted to kids, because they GET lots of kids. Hence the program can be crowded. But there's always plenty to do and never any charge to do it.

NCL was OK..BUT...it's only open on sea days or in the evening after the ship sails from port. If you want to put your kids in the club while in port, you'll pay an hourly fee for "Group Babysitting", a more or less unstructured program held in the kids area. Basically, by calling it "Group Babysitting" and offering no real activities, NCL feels justified in charging a fee. Their literature is really unclear on this and there was a huge stink on the NCL board a few months back. But the DAWN does have an enormous ball pit whcih my kids thought was great.

Edge of the three to Celebrity, for a better run program than NCL and less crowding than Disney.

[NotADude]

Would you happen to know about teen programs? My kids are 13 and 14 ... I don't want them 'running wild'(neither would anyone else, lol) and they don't want to feel like babies. They did ask me if there were any teen dances. Anyone know? Thanks for any help.

- Terry

[b] Double Occupancy stinks for Singles!!! [/b] >[img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_redface.gif[/img]

07/20/03 RCI Nordic Empress
10/19/03 Norwegian Sea
02/03/04 Carnival Spirit
07/10/04 Celebrity Horizon


07/10/04 Celebrity Horizon
[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=ff00ff&cdt=2004;7;10;16;0;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]

[cruisebunny32]

I have heard from other folks that the teen programs are good. It keeps them busy and they meet others their age to hang out with. The kids had a blast and didn't even want to hang out with us adults.

Celebrity Constellation 3/05
Carnival Victory "Cruise to Nowhere" 10/04
Carnival Glory 2/04
Celebrity Millie 4/03
Celebrity Zenith 3/02
Celebrity Century 3/00, 3/01
Celebrity Zenith 6/99
Celebrity Galaxy 3/98
Celebrity Century, 1/97
NCL Dreamward 7/95

[42trvl]

Celebrity does have a separate program for 13 & up. However, on our last cruise, not being a busy time, they combned th 10-12 with the teens. They had a good amount of freedom to sign themselves in and out, and most seemed to find similar age kids to spend time with.

[SEPyle]

We don't have any children however on the Century the entrance to the kids club was by the elevator on our floor. One little girl ran off the elevator and ran to the front of the entrance, spread out her arms and said: "I love Kids Club!" (I forgot the official name) On our last cruise on the Mercury our stateroom was directly across for the entrance. I was more than a little bit worried about the noise, however the only time we noticed any was around 10pm when the parents were picking up the kids. I must also say, it wasn't the kids...it was the adults making the noise!

OK, back to the topic. We did speak to several parents and all had great things to say. One parent said her only complaint was that their child didn't want to spend any time with them! I would say that says it all! I also observed the counselors since we were so close. I was very impressed with the calaber of the group. They really seemed like they loved what they did!

Hope this helps!
Sharon

[sherry1]

Thanks to all for the info on the childrens program. I just want to be sure our boys will have something to do. I'm still a little concerned because someone told me depending on the time of year and the amount of kids on board will determine whether they have the childrens program. I find that a little hard to believe since I went to Celebrity website and looked at the Century. They have a great big room especially set up for the kids. I know on our last cruise with RC, there were not alot of kids so they combined the age groups, but I couldn't get my kids out of that program and that's what I would like for them with Celebrity. Thanks again to all!

Granduer of the Sea 5-1-04

[Guest]

sherry,

depending on the time of year, Celebrity may run the [B]full[/B] kids program. During the off peak kids seasons, Celebrity may merge age groups and drop certain activities. We have gone during those light time (e.g. early Feb) and our kids have always had a blast with Celebrity's childrens program.

Jubilee 1991 Solar Eclipse
Century FO 1996 E Carib
Mercury FO 1998 W Carib
Galaxy SS 2000 Alaska IP
Infinity FV 2002 S Carib
Horizon HS 3/05 W Carib

[sherry1]

Mahdnc thank you for the info on the childrens program. It looks like you have cruised Celetrity a couple times. I tried posting this question in another spot but it seems everyone kinda ignored me so I'll ask you if you don't mind. When we were on RC, they had alot of games such as Quest in the evening for the adults and pool games (belly flop, etc.) do they do these things on Celebrity?

Granduer of the Sea 5-1-04

[kitty9]

On our Summit sailing in January, they didn't have a kid's program because there were only 4 school age kids on board. If you're sailing during a real off season time for kids, just know that the program could be seriously curtailed.

Darcie

[nealberk]

I have an extensive writeup of the kid programs on the Century at my web site [url="http://www.celebrity-century.com"]www.celebrity-century.com[/url] including a few of the daily information for the various age groups and picutres of some of the kids' areas. The program is virtually identical on all the Century ships. The biggest differences in the programs occur during the times when families are more inclined to travel and there are more kids. During these times Celebrity adds more people to the program and adds even more activities.

On our ship (during a really off season) we had less than a dozen kids active in the program. They still seemed to have fun. The poor directors mentioned that with the high staff to kid ratio, most of the staff was getting a bit bored and were working hard at finding things to do.

[sherry1]

For those of you who had a positive experience with the childrens program, what time of year did you cruise? We are planning a 1/15/05 cruise and I'm starting to wonder about that now

Granduer of the Sea 5-1-04

[42trvl]

We cruised the last week of April. There were a handful of kids in the program. The way they explained it to us, is that the program is always offered. The only issue is whether or not they combine the age groups, as they did on our cruise. Even then, they still had the kids separated enough so that the 13 year olds were not with the 6 year olds. There is a core staff that is there, and they rotate the counselors among the different age groups. During busy times, they add more seasonal employees.

Also, there were plenty of activities the kids could do whether or not they were in the program. There was ping-pong, shuffleboard, basketball, chess, backgammon and plenty of other board games. There was also an arcade (you pay separately) - didn't look huge, but kids seemed to be enjoying it.

So, as far as programs and activities for kids, there are plenty offered year round. The bigger question is how many kids will be on board when you go, and obviously, at holiday and school break times there will be many more. Personally, we liked the fact that there were fewer kids. On the one hand, it can be kind of limiting for the kids, but on the other, it's a lot easier for them to get to know each other. It was a lot easier for them to partake in activities and games without too many people. And even when it was just a couple with the counselor they had a great time just hanging out.

[Guest]

We and the kids have been very satisfied with the kids programs on all 4 of our Celebrity cruises.

We have gone during:

Feb 2 on the Infinity to the S Carib where there were only 20 kids enrolled in the kids program.

Apr 27 on the Century to the E Carib where there were very few kids.

Apr 25 on the Mercury to the W Carib where there were very few kids.

Jun 16 on the Galaxy to Alaska where there were a bunch of kids (40+).

None of the cruises were during the heavy kids seasons (the Jun cruise comes close) and each time there was a very decent kids program. During the 3 Carib cruises, the age groups were merged so that there were only 3-4 groups split among the counselors.

When I have talked to the counselors about the low season, they said that they always run some sort of program for the kids. But I guess according to kitty, it can happen where they don't have a kids program but I would think that it would be pretty rare (not counting Celebrity adult-only cruises).

[url="http://www.cruise-forums.com/gallery/view.php?id=295"]Infinity Fun Factory[/url]

[url="http://www.cruise-forums.com/gallery/view.php?id=469"]Mercury Fun Factory[/url]

Sherry,

in regards to your other question regarding Quest and pool games for adults, there wasn't any Quest for adults and I believe fairly few pool games as well (some can correct me here if I am wrong). Overall I don't think you will find the same level of game entertainment that you found your RC cruise.

Jubilee 1991 Solar Eclipse
Century FO 1996 E Carib
Mercury FO 1998 W Carib
Galaxy SS 2000 Alaska IP
Infinity FV 2002 S Carib
Horizon HS 3/05 W Carib

[cpzcruisenewbie]

We just got off the Summit on Saturday. We were on a 14-day Panama Canal cruise. We knew there would be very few kids but we took our 4 yr old daughter anyway, knowing we would have a good time. She was one of 5 children on the entire ship between 3-6 yrs old. There was one 9 yr old and 2 13-yr old girls.

The 3-6 yr olds had a full program, excluding the optional 5-7 dinner hour. All of the kids showed up every sea day and had an absolute blast together because they got lots of attention from the counselors and they quickly learned each other's names.

The 9 yr old came occasionally and was grouped with the young kids. He seemed to come whenever he wanted, i.e. his parents didn't force him, and he enjoyed it and was very good with the younger kids.

The 13 yr old was pretty bored on the trip, although she did spend some time with the younger kids when she just couldn't bear to be around her parents any longer [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_razz.gif[/img]

The Summit Fun Factory was terrific and our daughter literally begged us to go every morning after breakfast. We picked her up for lunch, took her swimming, and then she (and her dad!) took a nap. She would go back if she woke up before dinner, or she would hang out with us. We had early dinner so by 7pm, she was checking my DH's watch and begging to go back to the kids club. He would take her, then come back for dessert and coffee. She was very upset when we picked her up before the slumber party so we just decided she was happy and enjoyed ourselves!

It was a fantastic program, we were very happy with all of the counselors. I hope you have a great time on your cruise!

Cheers everyone,
Carol

[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=800000&cdt=2004;5;7;17;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500[/img]
Summit - May 7 2004 - S. America Panama Canal

[sherry1]

Carol,
Thanks for the update. After hearing from all of you and looking around in these posts plus a few others, we decided to go ahead with our cruise in Jan. I agree with one of our friends from our last cruise "A cruise is what you make of it". Thanks to all!

Granduer of the Sea 5-1-04

[nealberk]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by mahdnc:
We and the kids have been very satisfied with the kids programs on all 4 of our Celebrity cruises.

We have gone during:

Feb 2 on the Infinity to the S Carib where there were only 20 kids enrolled in the kids program.

Apr 27 on the Century to the E Carib where there were very few kids.

Apr 25 on the Mercury to the W Carib where there were very few kids.

Jun 16 on the Galaxy to Alaska where there were a bunch of kids (40+).

None of the cruises were during the heavy kids seasons (the Jun cruise comes close) and each time there was a very decent kids program. During the 3 Carib cruises, the age groups were merged so that there were only 3-4 groups split among the counselors.

When I have talked to the counselors about the low season, they said that they always run some sort of program for the kids. But I guess according to kitty, it can happen where they don't have a kids program but I would think that it would be pretty rare (not counting Celebrity adult-only cruises).

[url="http://www.cruise-forums.com/gallery/view.php?id=295"]http://www.cruise-forums.com/gallery/view.php?id=295[/url]

[url="http://www.cruise-forums.com/gallery/view.php?id=469"]http://www.cruise-forums.com/gallery/view.php?id=469[/url]

Sherry,
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Sherry,
Do you mind if I put links to your fun factory pages on my web site? Thanks!

Neal

[url="http://www.celebrity-century.com"]www.celebrity-century.com[/url]

[sherry1]

Don't mind a bit. The website is great, thanks for the tour

Century 1-15-05
Granduer of the Sea 5-1-04

[BaliChic]

we are booked on january 8th, the week after the new years cruise. would there be much people booked, teens etc??

[katyjac]

We are going on the 12/17 cruise on Spirit. Does anyone know about the childrens program? I have a 12 year old and a 10 year old. Please respond!

Celia

[BCHappyGal]

Took my 2 Grandson's on the Infinity in May (ages 6 & 8) (+ our neighbour went too with her 8 yr old daughter) abd the kids loved the Fun Factory as their kids program is called. We liked it too as we were able to enjoy the evening show "sans kids" and had time off during the day. One afternoon i went to pick the kids up to take them swimming and none of the 3 wanted to leave the program they were having so much fun they all wanted 5 more mins.

to me that says it all and we did not pay any extra for this.

Of course they liked all the other parts of cruiseing too - like ordering pizza from room service for their bedtime snack!!!

[JeanMachine]

Took my 2 grandchildren 9 and 11 on Century. They had a blast! My granddaughter cried when she had to leave! Very well run! We signed her in and out of program which was a safety precaution

[brillohead]

[b][color=darkorchid][/color][/b][b][color=darkorchid]Let me start by saying that this is *only* for the Horizon program -- I have no knowledge of the others, and by the other reviews here it sounds like it's an excellent program on the newer/bigger ships. Here are some of my observations:[/color][/b]
[b][color=#9932cc][/color][/b]
[b][color=#9932cc]Horizon is an older, smaller ship, and I believe the kids club was an afterthought. It appears that they removed a wall from between two inside staterooms -- that's all the bigger it is. (It's also on the lowest level, not near ANYthing at all.) [/color][/b]
[b][color=#9932cc][/color][/b]
[b][color=#9932cc]The toilet is the standard "way high up on the wall" type, and the staff are not allowed to help smaller children on/off the toilet. (My son was fully potty trained, but at only 3yo he was scared to get on and off a really high toilet on a rocking boat, even with the little step-stool.)[/color][/b]
[b][color=#9932cc][/color][/b]
[b][color=#9932cc]One of the counselors was Australian, and when my son made a comment about how he sounded like "The Wiggles", the counselor didn't know who the Wiggles were. I have to question how someone who supposedly has lots of experience working with small children could possibly NOT know who The Wiggles are, esp. having an Australian accent.[/color][/b]
[b][color=#9932cc][/color][/b]
[b][color=#9932cc]Probably because the kids club room is so very tiny, very little of the programming was actually done in the kids club room. The door was closed and locked many times even during program hours -- the counselors would take the kids to another part of the ship to do their activities. So if you weren't there within the first few minutes of the time specified, your child couldn't join the group, and if you wanted to pick up your child prior to the end of that particular activity, you had to roam the ship hoping to happen upon the group of kids. You also couldn't use the kiddie room on a "drop-in" basis just to play with the toys, like I've noticed some of the other lines allow -- either they were in the room doing something (like a craft project) that they didn't want you interrupting, or else the door was closed and locked. [/color][/b]
[b][color=#9932cc][/color][/b]
[b][color=#9932cc]Again, these observations were ONLY for the Horizon's program, and from January 2003 -- I don't know if anything has changed since then, and it does sound like the other ships do a splendid job of it.[/color][/b]

[Shangrilq]

Hi

If you are concerned about your kids having others onboard to play with just book when you know there will be other kids onboard so they will have a good time. Like holidays, summers, spring break.etc.. So many times to choose from now when many kids will be onboard and people like my hubby and I choose NOT to cruise when kids are onboard so we try to choose real offbeat times. Unfortunately, that is not really possible anymore as so many people take their kids out of school for whatever reason?