New ncl kids camp policy (Live from the GEM)

[1stTimeRoyal]

I'm hoping this won't be a big issue on the BA in a couple weeks. The kids club on that ship is substantially larger, so I'm guessing that will make a big difference. I'm just surprised we aren't hearing more of this. If people are constantly getting turned away from the kids club, from a policy that has been in place for a couple months, I would think that would be the first thing on my mind when I would review the cruise. However, we aren't hearing a lot about those types of complaints. Maybe the Gem just has a particularly strict kids club, I don't know.

 

If I have to wait in line for 30 minutes...forget it. With Carnival, I have to say, the kids club was always really easy. It never seemed that busy for whatever reason, and we always sailed in the middle of summer. We are sailing in early

June out of NYC, most schools are still in session so I'm interested to see how many kids will be on this cruise. My guess some, but probably not as many as in July/August.

[knight2096]

Ugh all the other changes I've been hearing about are fine, but not this... Will monitor this closely and if it true on the escape I'm prob going to cancel... I don't spend my vacation $$ to wait in line

 

I hear you there.

[LMaxwell]

This could cause a real problem. 5 kids across 3 families. Different age ranges but all new to NCL. Kids Sail Free and NCL ads and videos on kids amenities was a big point in choosing.

 

I am sure by the time we sail they will just charge for the kids club

[CavalierX]

Kids in the kids club don't spend money, kids not in the kids club has the potential to spend money :p

 

That, plus fewer kids equals fewer staff watching them. Forget nickle-and-diming; Del Rio is cutting every single penny he can, isn't he?

[3XX1XY]

Ah well. This could be a deal breaker for us. We sail next week on the gem with two kids ages 7 and 5. If they can't spend some time in the kids club we will literally lose our minds. If that happens I will happily cancel my future ncl bookings and spend my money elsewhere. Easy peasy. I seriously hope this is a little overblown. 76 is not a lot,but it would still seem to make more sense to me to have it be first come first serve rather than wait for a ticket. I mean in the end it is sort of the same minus the wait for a ticket, that just seems silly. They absolutely need to have a maximum number, but 76? That means they have only like 3-4 staff members. I'm hoping there won't be loads of kids because school isntn out yet in much of the country and its not the larger ship out of new york. We sailed rccl last year the same week and there were seriously no children on that ship.

 

Oh well on the flip side if it is that bad no one with kids will want to sail ncl and it will have fewer screaming children on board which some will love!!

[aquarianne11]

Ugh all the other changes I've been hearing about are fine, but not this... Will monitor this closely and if it true on the escape I'm prob going to cancel... I don't spend my vacation $$ to wait in line

 

 

I agree 100%!

This is the biggest deal breaker for us. My daughter loves interacting with other kids in the kids club, she'll be disappointed if she can't join because of this.

[Kingofwylietx]

Bravo and well said, I have cruised many cruise lines and have never ever seen a kids club closed or restricted due to capacity. I have even cruised on three Disney Christmas cruises with full capacity and no kids were turned away. Same with Royal and Carnival I have never seen or heard of any kids club closed or restricted because of too many kids, and I have sailed them many times on sold out cruises. Sounds to me like the cheerleaders are making up their typical BS.

 

I'm not a cheerleader and I've always seen maximum capacities for the kids club on Princess and Disney. We've done POA on NCL with the kids, but it was port intensive and we didn't use the kids club at all.

 

It would be incredibly unsafe to have 800 kids in any kids club on any ship.

 

There is a practical limit to any room. Plus, they need staff to oversee them. I don't know if they have set it too low, but certainly common sense says it was always there. Maybe they cut back on staff? I have no idea. I'm really speaking to the fact that there was always some limit.

 

We had to stand in line to drop off my daughter and son on Disney. They didn't hand out tickets. You just show up and drop them off. If they are at capacity, you literally stand there waiting for a kid to leave so yours can enter.

 

Consider yourself lucky if you've never encountered this.

 

***In reality, if they lowered the limit....it was probably due to parents complaints that there were too many kids in there.

[kcwiak]

76 kids when they average 400-600 every sailing

 

You can no longer call this a family friendly cruise line if they can only accommodate 76 kids for events.

 

And there is no attempt to find other spaces. 76 hits, rope is up, your on your own.

 

I don't see any scenario where this makes things run more smoothly.

 

As someone pointed out earlier, people will just start camping out for tickets, this will get ugly fast. The line was already crazy this morning on day one

 

I now have to just make sure I have alternate plans for the kids since the can no longer come and go as they wish. They want to sleep in a little, nope sorry., You must get to camp by 9am or you won't be allowed in later and I have to get up early to get a place in line and do it 3 times a day. Fantastic vacation. Thanks ncl.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Well this is complete BS! We sail with NCL because we got the best of both worlds. Great kids programs and time for us to enjoy everything else. I would change cruise lines if this is going to be policy. We usually sail off season so we may not run into this BUT that does not make it right. Complete BS

 

Sorry you are running into this and I hope you get answers!

[kcwiak]

If the cruise line and governing agency audit found they were beyond capacity, yes, they will enforce the new restrictions immediately, at least until the audit is done.

 

Not a fan of NCL, in fact, I have yet to cruise with them, but I'm at Gold with DCL, again, arguably the most kid-friendly cruise line in the market, and I have seen first hand turning kids away due to capacity. Due to personnel-to-kid ratio and safety concerns there _is_ a max capacity in all boats from all cruise lines. I'm betting what happened is that they were not enforcing that limit before, and they might have gotten dinged/wrist slapped when the audit result came about.

 

We have not yet done DCL but unless they get serious about the outrageous prices, it won't happen. I know people say it is well worth it but if I can stay at the GF for the same price as I can for an OV cabin, I'm taking GF (which we would never do - we are POFQ people).

[SJ]

Perhaps this is a precursor to kids club passes for sale like the vibe and spa passes. With only 76 available, brtter be the first ones to board so you can purchase before they run out. Good luck NCL with that venture. Don't market yourself as a family friendly cruise line if you don't actually want families with kids and don't run the KSF for 5 months straight if you want to discourage families from bringing their kids.

 

If word gets out and this is truly the new policy, NCL will be missing out on the peak season of any vacation, summer. Maybe not this summer as it is too late to cancel most of the summer sailings. Can NCL management really be this foolish? Time will tell. ..

[kcwiak]

I disagree. It most certainly is a safety issue.

 

Even though it was not a kid's club activity, when a child drowns on a ship there will be a STRONG push to enforce capacity and safety rules...whether people like it or not. Based on recent events, its hardly surprising that that these policies are being enforced on the Gem.

 

 

LOTS of drama in this thread :rolleyes:...amazing how upset some people get when faced with the fact that their own children might have to spend time with them on their "family vacation". Gone are the days when you could just dump your kids off and let someone else worry about them while you're out having fun.

 

If NCL was truly concerned about safety and capacity, there would be lifeguards to prevent a child's death recently due to no supervision or capacity. They are not making changes to that policy.

 

It has nothing to do with not wanting to spend time with your kids on a family vacation. Everyone would like to have time for themselves. We spend all day with the kids, dinner and then they LIKE to go to the KC and we LIKE for them to so we can have adult time. We are certainly with our kids on our family vacation.

Edited May 25, 2015 by kcwiak
Forgot to address ignorant comment

[DrNora]

I disagree. It most certainly is a safety issue.

 

 

 

Even though it was not a kid's club activity, when a child drowns on a ship there will be a STRONG push to enforce capacity and safety rules...whether people like it or not. Based on recent events, its hardly surprising that that these policies are being enforced on the Gem.

 

 

 

 

 

LOTS of drama in this thread :rolleyes:...amazing how upset some people get when faced with the fact that their own children might have to spend time with them on their "family vacation". Gone are the days when you could just dump your kids off and let someone else worry about them while you're out having fun.

 

 

Our kids loved camp on the ship until they were 11 or so.

Going to camp, the pirate parade and shows that they participated I were part of the fun

The kids programs were a treat for them.

I wouldn't go on a cruise with kids if there were not kids activities.

 

The sarcasm and judgement adds nothing to this discussion .

 

Letting your kids attend a group activity so that the adults can do adult stuff together for a few hours each day does not one a bad parent make.

[Kingofwylietx]

Our experience has been that the kids clubs are a treat for the kids. They love them!

Yes, even on vacation, it's nice to have some time alone with my wife. The kids love their time with us and love their time in the kids club.....no judgment needed.

[kcwiak]

they can meet other kids while swimming, they can meet other kids while eating or they can meet other kids at the certain shows

 

You obviously have no children. How exactly does that work? Do I let my kids swim in the pool alone? Do I let them troll dinner tables looking for friends?

[theloo]

The waiting in line 30 minutes ahead of time is worrisome, especially since it would probably be 2x per day for us. I hope this isn't on the ships during off season, when we prefer to cruise.

[LrgPizza]

I said that the 18 to 35 party crowd and usually the party crowds tend to be single or in a relationship without kids

 

 

For an 18 year old to have a kid old enough for the club (NOT the friggin' camp, by the way. This isn't Carnival.), they'd have to have had that baby at age 15. Lol!!

[SissasMomE]

I have sailed during spring break, easter, and new year's since 2005 on Royal, Princess, and NCL, and have never, ever been turned away from the kids' club on any ship. This is appalling!

Edited May 25, 2015 by SissasMomE

[SissasMomE]

I normally defend Ncl a lot, but I agree I hope this fails. I cruise to get away from the little brats, I've always said I should extend the hours of the kids club to keep them away from the rest of us lol

 

You clearly have picked the wrong vacation since cruising is a huge draw for family vacations.

[youngatheart]

What a disappointment. My kiddo is a 12 year old who has cruised on NCL since he was 2 years old (over 15 NCL cruises). In these last 10 years we have have seen a number of changes in kids club, some good, some bad. During the busier times, they have converted a conference room into a extra kid's area, or they have used the sports court or other areas of the ship more, so the kids area is not as crowded. Never have we been turned away or waited in line for a number. We have cruised a few times on DCL, and Princess, and never have run into this nonsense. If my kiddo wasn't aging up this would really impact our decision to cruise with NCL. NCL really needs to be more upfront about these changes.

 

My big concern is what the kids do if they can't go to kids club, the number of children now hanging around the pool or other areas will dramatically increase, leading to much greater safety issues. I can sadly see more drownings, and dangerous behavior. Unfortunately, sometimes the kids club does provide better supervision than some parents will provide.

[Starflyr3]

I have to come back to say, on our Jewel Spring Break cruise this past March, the Dolphins were in a conference room near the Stardust Theater for the entire cruise.

 

Perhaps that is why we didnt run into any issues.

 

We did have lines, though, but our cabin was 1 whole floor down, literally below the kids club, so no biggie.

 

There was also a port day that we stayed on the ship and the kids wanted to go to the club. We ended up seeing them in O'Sheehans at lunch, and I was surprised there werent more - only about 10 kids were there, 2 of whom were mine.

 

Im glad that on this next cruise, we will be in the Haven, as well as having my parents and brother on board. Our oldest (who will be 22) may also come, if she can find a friend or 2 to go in for an inside cabin with her (she has her own apt and own job, plus we have paid/are paying for her school, so she can pay for her own vacation! :) )

 

Regardless, we will have more help with the kids next year. And they will be older, which will be good.

Edited May 25, 2015 by Starflyr3

[amarvel]

Wow now that makes sense why on the jewel last week they had a sign that said occupancy 76. But being may sailing to alaska I just thought that maybe that was the total number of the kids signed up for that age group. But that same sign did hang at the entrance to the kids area.

 

We did not have this problem last week on the jewel although there were several children on board they probably were nowhere close to full capacity at any time.

 

I would have been pissed had we been turned away at the kids area especially since we booked our cruise a year out as well. And if this is a new policy going forward it will change the way we would book a cruise with ncl.

Edited May 25, 2015 by amarvel

[motleyfan]

You obviously have no children. How exactly does that work? Do I let my kids swim in the pool alone? Do I let them troll dinner tables looking for friends?

 

No I mean if you happen to be swimming in the pool with them and there are other kids they may talk to them

[motleyfan]

You clearly have picked the wrong vacation since cruising is a huge draw for family vacations.

 

It's also a huge draw for drinkers, remember that's where the cruise line makes the most money

[wimsikl]

Following... Sick to my stomach. Boarding the pearl in June with two kids who are obsessed with the kids club. Its the reason we cruise now instead of Hawaii resort. I thought noro was scary but for a single parent with kids club now a giant maybe, its worse. I will hit the roof if we get turned away even once.

[motleyfan]

Following... Sick to my stomach. Boarding the pearl in June with two kids who are obsessed with the kids club. Its the reason we cruise now instead of Hawaii resort. I thought noro was scary but for a single parent with kids club now a giant maybe, its worse. I will hit the roof if we get turned away even once.

 

Why would you hit the roof? Just get there early enough now you know the rules, if it is a capacity issue then there's nothing they can do about it.