Kids Programs for 5 & 7 year old daughters

[attyaz9]

I currently have the Disney Fantasy booked for June and my PIF date is approaching. I am starting to second guess my decision. I think my husband and I would have more fun on the Allure and I am confident the kids would love it. However how likely is it that they will let my 5 year old go to the 6-8 kids club? Is it a firm age cutoff or is it at the discretion of RCL? Is it based on number of kids on the boat? They would be so upset if they couldn't be together and this could steer me to the Fantasy. For those that have sailed both I'm open to all types of advice! Help me decide! :)

 

 

 

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[Redsfan]

My two youngest daughters are 5 and 7 and I am pretty sure they would not let you switch them up. Mind you we didn't really pursue it far but we did ask and were told they need to be separated.

 

For our own piece of mind we actually preferred it this way as they need time away from each other as you know LOL. I have not sailed Disney.

[Russ Lomas]

I currently have the Disney Fantasy booked for June and my PIF date is approaching. I am starting to second guess my decision. I think my husband and I would have more fun on the Allure and I am confident the kids would love it. However how likely is it that they will let my 5 year old go to the 6-8 kids club? Is it a firm age cutoff or is it at the discretion of RCL? Is it based on number of kids on the boat? They would be so upset if they couldn't be together and this could steer me to the Fantasy. For those that have sailed both I'm open to all types of advice! Help me decide! :)

 

 

 

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We sailed on the Independence last year. I had 5 year old twins at the time who wanted to be in the 6-8 program with their cousins. I contacted RCCL ahead of time at AGoldstein@rccl.com and asked if this was ok. They said it would be ok and I got this in writing via an e-mail so I would not have an issue when on the ship. When boarding we went to them immediately and they said they had gotten an email from head office and it was fine as long as they appeared mature enough for the older program.

 

Hope this helps. Long answer short...they let us move our 5 year olds into the 6-8 program to be with their cousins. They would LOVE the Allure. We sailed the Oasis two years ago and they loved it. We sail the Allure in 9 weeks and I am sure they will love it.

[happymanitee]

We took our first cruise last summer when my kids were 9, 8, and 5. I didn't ask for them to be put together, but I wondered how the youngest one would handle it since the older two were together. They all LOVED it. They all met friends their own age and kept begging to go back to the kids club every chance they got. So, you never know, they might not even care about being separated. After all, they get plenty of together-time on the rest of the trip.

[cb at sea]

The kid's clubs are VERY "age specific"...the older one will be bored with the younger age group. Let them go to the correct age groups! They are that way for a reason! Most folks (kids specifically) LOVE RCI's club.....it's not as "loose" as Disney...and kids really do like organization....really, they do! They will not be "so upset"....I guarantee they will not!

Edited January 11, 2015 by cb at sea

[attyaz9]

You guys have given me a lot to think about! I bet that once they each make a friend it won't be a big deal!

 

 

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[Sky616]

We tried to move our 5 year old up in December on our Oasis cruise. He turns 6 in February. The first night we asked and they said wait for a day or two and see how it goes. Well we never really pushed it after that but wish we did. He never seemed to enjoy it, I think the activities were too babyish for him. I think we only took him 3 times for maybe 90 minutes at a time. The6-8 group would have been better.

[spazzyjanet]

Sky616, I appreciate your comments. When we cruise next year my 5-year-old son will be two months shy of 6. He has two older sisters and is used to hanging out with older kids. I've been concerned about him having fun in an age group that also has to cater to 3-year-olds. I think he would have more fun in the 6-8 group with my middle child, who will turn 8 on the cruise.

 

I'd also like to hear from any other parents of older 5's who have cruised.

 

HappyManitee- was your 5-year old a young five or an older one? Also, how did you get the 8&9 year-old in the same group? Doesn't it go 6-8, then 9-11? I expect that my 8&10-year-old will be in different groups. That, I think I'm okay with since the middle child will be a young 8 and never has trouble playing with kids slightly younger.

Edited January 11, 2015 by spazzyjanet

[RSLeesburg]

Sky616, I appreciate your comments. When we cruise next year my 5-year-old son will be two months shy of 6. He has two older sisters and is used to hanging out with older kids. I've been concerned about him having fun in an age group that also has to cater to 3-year-olds. I think he would have more fun in the 6-8 group with my middle child, who will turn 8 on the cruise.

 

I'd also like to hear from any other parents of older 5's who have cruised.

 

HappyManitee- was your 5-year old a young five or an older one? Also, how did you get the 8&9 year-old in the same group? Doesn't it go 6-8, then 9-11? I expect that my 8&10-year-old will be in different groups. That, I think I'm okay with since the middle child will be a young 8 and never has trouble playing with kids slightly younger.

 

 

We just sailed this past Nov with our son, who was 5. He had no problems with the younger program - He did make friends with one or two other 4 and 5 year olds, so it was not like he was only 5 y/o in the club. He begged to go back everyday. But, our son is only child, so he is happy just to be with other kids - no matter the age.

 

 

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[Veectoor]

We've done the Fantasy before (kids were 6 and 8) and the Oasis (kids were 8 and 10).

 

From a kids club point of view, there is no comparison. While they both loved the kids clubs on Fantasy, they were very reluctant to go on the Oasis after their first time. We left them there for an hour to try it out, and when we picked them up, it was chaos. The staff basically just told them to play dodgeball for an hour, and the kids had worked themselves into quite a frenzy.

 

that theme continued on for the whole week. They'd see an activity in the Navigator, and want to go to it, only to find out it was some form of dodgeball, or another activity that had nothing to do with the title.

 

they also had little science experiments that could be done...short 20 minute experiments for the whole family. We went to three of them. The staff member told the woman sitting next to me how much he hated doing these because he didn't like science.

 

Oasis wasn't all bad, but when you leave the ship and both your kids say they don't want to go on another cruise with them...

[happymanitee]

Sky616, I appreciate your comments. When we cruise next year my 5-year-old son will be two months shy of 6. He has two older sisters and is used to hanging out with older kids. I've been concerned about him having fun in an age group that also has to cater to 3-year-olds. I think he would have more fun in the 6-8 group with my middle child, who will turn 8 on the cruise.

 

I'd also like to hear from any other parents of older 5's who have cruised.

 

HappyManitee- was your 5-year old a young five or an older one? Also, how did you get the 8&9 year-old in the same group? Doesn't it go 6-8, then 9-11? I expect that my 8&10-year-old will be in different groups. That, I think I'm okay with since the middle child will be a young 8 and never has trouble playing with kids slightly younger.

 

We sailed in June and my youngest daughter turned 6 in August, so she was an older 5. She is also used to playing with older kids, but she likes younger kids too. There were some 3-year olds in her room, but she didn't seem to mind. Her favorite night was when they had a super- hero theme. They made capes and masks and played games.

As for the older 2, they didn't have very many kids on board so they combined the older 2 groups. I never asked how many kids they had, but it didn't seem like it was very many. We were on Majesty on June 9th, so maybe it was so early in the summer, parents and kids weren't traveling yet? My friend went on Oasis the same week and said the kids club was full. I guess there are probably more kids on the larger boats because they are more family-friendly.

My oldest is a girl and middle is a boy, so even though they were in the same room, they split up and played with their own gender. The counselors didn't split them up or anything, I think it just naturally happens at their age.

It was funny to me because by day 3, they seemed to know every kid on the boat. But, then again, That was our first cruise and Majesty is a smaller ship. I'm curious to see if we have the same experience this summer on Adventure.

[LuCruise]

Subscribing as our two kids will be in different groups too on the Allure. The above comment though is the first negative comment I've read about as many say how great RCL kids club is with organized activities.

 

 

 

Let us know what you decide.

[spookwife]

I currently have the Disney Fantasy booked for June and my PIF date is approaching. I am starting to second guess my decision. I think my husband and I would have more fun on the Allure and I am confident the kids would love it. However how likely is it that they will let my 5 year old go to the 6-8 kids club? Is it a firm age cutoff or is it at the discretion of RCL? Is it based on number of kids on the boat? They would be so upset if they couldn't be together and this could steer me to the Fantasy. For those that have sailed both I'm open to all types of advice! Help me decide! :)

 

 

 

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moving up is pretty much never allowed. moving down MIGHT be if the club is not otherwise full.

[RSLeesburg]

Subscribing as our two kids will be in different groups too on the Allure. The above comment though is the first negative comment I've read about as many say how great RCL kids club is with organized activities.

 

 

 

Let us know what you decide.

 

 

All kids are different. If you spend long enough on these boards, you will hear about kids who loved Disney kids club and hated RCI kids club, and kids who hated Disney kids club and loved RCI kids club. The only real way to find out which your children enjoy more is to take them on both :). I do think that, like everything else, the experience is highly influenced by the councilors (as some are better than others) and whether or not the kids make friends. A child who makes friends and has a great counselor is going to enjoy the kids club on any line.

 

 

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[dogsambam]

We will be sailing in March over Spring Break on the Oasis with our 6 year old and 9 year old. We have already inquired with a Diamond rep who said they will move the older to the younger group, but it is a one time change. They cannot go back and forth. So in turn she said to leave our kids alone with their age groups for a day and see how it goes. If our 9 year old really wants to be with her brother, do the switch then and make sure she realizes she can't go back.

 

We were on the Fantasy last year, and while our kids were there together, they did their own thing not with each other.

 

Our hope is that they will just spend at least a little time in the kids club, not only to give us a little alone time, but also to meet other kids and make their cruise even better.

 

Last time on the allure, our little one was too young for the kids club. Our daughter avoided it for the first 4 days, and then she actually was sorry she didn't go more.

 

We were actually very impressed with both Disney and Rccl program. Advantage Disney is the kids have so much variety to choose from. Advantage Rccl is that the kids actually do leave the club for sports on the sports court and parade participation.

[attyaz9]

I can't thank everyone enough for the feedback. I think we are going to stick with Disney for now. My husband pointed out that we mine as well try disney now while the kids are little. We have years to sail RCCL!

 

 

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[Russ Lomas]

moving up is pretty much never allowed. moving down MIGHT be if the club is not otherwise full.

Just thought I would share here the email response I got when I asked for my daughters to be moved up a level (they were 3 weeks short of being in the 6-8 bracket when we sailed). I have blanked out the actual names in the email for privacy reasons. It is permitted and in our case was allowed. Our daughters said it was their favourite cruise ever because they were allowed to be with their cousins and the barely ever left the program. They LOVED it.

 

Thanks for the below information. This will not be a problem. We can accommodate both ******** and ******** in the Adventure Ocean Explorer's Age group (ages 6-8) with their cousins. I will pass this information along to the ship's Adventure Ocean Manager ******* as well as her assistant ******* who will make certain the kids are all placed in the same age group no problem.

Thanks again for reaching out - enjoy your upcoming cruise onboard the Independence of the Seas!

 

Kind Regards,

*********

Consultant, Activity Operations