first time on a Disney Cruise - Question for my 10 year old

[Ex techie]

Generally, yes, they will allow a 10 year old in Edge - as long as there is space. If the cruise has a lot of kids in the acceptable 11-14 age group so that the total number of slots available in Edge are full, a 10 year old will not be allowed to "age up".

 

FWIW, I believe that this is correct, Schmoo. My 10 year old was allowed in the Edge and the lab on the WBTA last year. I did not sign a waiver, but IIRC it was conditioned on the YACS agreeing he was mature enough, AND also the fact there was plenty of space (as there are so fewer kids on the TAs).

 

What are these slots or spaces available in the YA clubs?

I'm not familiar with them?

 

AFAIK and could be wrong, when you look for availability on a cruise, you enter your party size. Example, 2 adults, 3 children, and only when you proceed to book and make your deposit are you asked to enter the age of those in your family or party group?

 

Could or do they then decline your booking if there are too many 5-8, 10-12 or 14-17 year olds that fit in a slot or space allocation for the club/lab/tween or teen spaces?

You know, just so there aren't too many kids that "could" want to attend Edge when all of their "slots" are "full"?

 

Does it really work like that?

 

ex techie

[Ex techie]

Obviously there are maximum occupancy levels for every venue aboard, monitored by the crew members, but I've not read of anyone being turned away apart from when they have had very popular entertainers performing in the lounges and decided to open overflow venues to that performance with a video and audio relay in the other venue?

 

ex techie

[GatorMomInNC]

What are these slots or spaces available in the YA clubs?

I'm not familiar with them?

 

AFAIK and could be wrong, when you look for availability on a cruise, you enter your party size. Example, 2 adults, 3 children, and only when you proceed to book and make your deposit are you asked to enter the age of those in your family or party group?

 

Could or do they then decline your booking if there are too many 5-8, 10-12 or 14-17 year olds that fit in a slot or space allocation for the club/lab/tween or teen spaces?

You know, just so there aren't too many kids that "could" want to attend Edge when all of their "slots" are "full"?

 

Does it really work like that?

 

ex techie

 

As soon as you put in "2 kids" or whatever, you ARE asked their age before you see which cruises are available. Anecdotally, other cruisers on this board have stated they have been unable to book a cruise because max in a child's age group had been reached, although I cannot say personally if that is true. When we checked in at port, the YA person said, we don't have a lot of kids in the edge (implying that this "hurdle" had been passed), but that the YA supervisor would have to approve it and we had to talk to her. I can't remember the phraseology used, but the implication was she would have to see if he was mature enough, or ready, to be with slightly older kids.

[moki'smommy]

Space available on a DCL ship is based on age of kids (as well as cabins and muster station spaces). As above, the computer will ask for kid ages before telling you if a cruise is available. Each age group is slotted for a given number of kids. If that number is reached, they will not allow any more children of that age to be booked on the cruise. This is designed to prevent kids being turned away from the space while on board because the adult:kid ratio has been reached.

 

I have seen people turned away from lounges when there were no more seats or standing spaces. I've also seen very popular acts scheduled in the WDT for adult only shows.

 

Back to kids...the problem with allowing kids to move up is that the kids at the top of the age appropriate range don't want to hang with the younger ones. In the Edge and Vibe, they just don't come. In the same way some 10 year old kids declare the Lab to be "too young," the 13s and 14s in the Edge don't want to hang with 10 year olds. I have seen parents advocating to allow 9s into the Edge. When the 10s enter, the 13s declare it to be a "baby program" and leave.

 

I just got off a cruise on another line where they are strict with ages. NO moving up at all is allowed. If a family desires siblings to be together, the older child is allowed to move down to be with the younger. OK, there were a lot fewer kids than on a typical DCL cruise (800 on Thanksgiving week compared to 1200 on the Magic), but the policy worked beautifully. There was no "dumbing down" of the programming, which has been a DCL problem since day 1 AND families were still allowed to place siblings together. It was up to the family whether the older kid needed/wanted to be in the younger program level.

 

DCL in general does a good job, but there are things they could learn!

Edited December 8, 2015 by moki'smommy

[Ex techie]

Shmoo, Gatormom and moki'smommy, you are all correct and I am wrong.

My apologies for incorrect information and questioning the process.

 

Was the requirement to enter ages added when checking availability and pricing with the new website, or is my memory planing tricks on me?

 

Again, please accept my apologies.

 

ex techie

[ljandgb]

The requirement to enter ages has been around at least 18 mos, as that's how long I've been dreaming of DCL cruises. And entering my 4 kids in.

 

FWIW, on the Baltic Cruise, my dd who was 1 mon shy of 13 was emphatically NOT allowed to move up to Vibe. Which was fine, she really liked Edge, but initially had thought she'd want to be with her sisters. Not sure if that is a Vibe rule (due to teens not wanting to hang out with younger kids) or a number of kids on the cruise issue.

[moki'smommy]

We just got off Fantasy. They allow 10 year olds in Edge you just have to sign a waiver to allow them to go. My 10 year old spent about 80/20 time between Edge and the Lab with Edge being favored. She met more kids that were 10 in Edge and they had a great time hanging out together.

 

Not always! Most of the time they allow a 10 year old into the Edge, but it depends on the number of kids who are on board and are "age appropriate" for the Edge. This varies from week to week.

 

As to 13s in the Vibe, that has been pretty strictly prohibited for the last couple of years. The teen group used to be 13-17 and that was found to be not as functional a group as DCL might have wished.

[lorddunlow]

Space available on a DCL ship is based on age of kids (as well as cabins and muster station spaces). As above' date=' the computer will ask for kid ages before telling you if a cruise is available. Each age group is slotted for a given number of kids. If that number is reached, they will not allow any more children of that age to be booked on the cruise. This is designed to prevent kids being turned away from the space while on board because the adult:kid ratio has been reached.

 

I have seen people turned away from lounges when there were no more seats or standing spaces. I've also seen very popular acts scheduled in the WDT for adult only shows.

 

Back to kids...the problem with allowing kids to move up is that the kids at the top of the age appropriate range don't want to hang with the younger ones. In the Edge and Vibe, they just don't come. In the same way some 10 year old kids declare the Lab to be "too young," the 13s and 14s in the Edge don't want to hang with 10 year olds. I have seen parents advocating to allow 9s into the Edge. When the 10s enter, the 13s declare it to be a "baby program" and leave.

 

I just got off a cruise on another line where they are strict with ages. NO moving up at all is allowed. If a family desires siblings to be together, the older child is allowed to move down to be with the younger. OK, there were a lot fewer kids than on a typical DCL cruise (800 on Thanksgiving week compared to 1200 on the Magic), but the policy worked beautifully. There was no "dumbing down" of the programming, which has been a DCL problem since day 1 AND families were still allowed to place siblings together. It was up to the family whether the older kid needed/wanted to be in the younger program level.

 

DCL in general does a good job, but there are things they could learn![/quote']

While I understand your point, I think strict cutoffs ignore that all children develop differently - both emotionally and mentally/physically. If the decision is indeed based on the assessment by a youth activities counseling supervisor, then I would say that is the best system that could exist. If it's just "your parents sign a form and whined a lot", then not so much.

 

If you lined up every 10, 11, and 12 year old on the ship, I guarantee that no one could sort them correctly by their chronologic age. But I'm sure if Disney is hiring counselors who are good at their jobs, that they could group the ones that would match up mentally and emotionally the best.

 

 

 

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[moki'smommy]

While I understand your point, I think strict cutoffs ignore that all children develop differently - both emotionally and mentally/physically. If the decision is indeed based on the assessment by a youth activities counseling supervisor, then I would say that is the best system that could exist. If it's just "your parents sign a form and whined a lot", then not so much.

 

If you lined up every 10, 11, and 12 year old on the ship, I guarantee that no one could sort them correctly by their chronologic age. But I'm sure if Disney is hiring counselors who are good at their jobs, that they could group the ones that would match up mentally and emotionally the best.

 

 

 

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On the one hand, I basically agree with you. On the other hand, unfortunately, it becomes a matter of which parent whined enough.

 

The age overlaps were built into the program to allow for differences in maturity. 11/12s have 2 programs to choose from, as do 14s. It is a rare 10 year old who is TRULY mature enough for an 11-14 program; the idea is that most 11s are not really ready for all the activities (although they might enjoy the extra computer games, they are possibly not ready for video scavenger hunt or "make a commercial." My biggest problem is that when the 10 year olds come in, the 13-14s bail.

 

I'm the parent of one of those "special" kids. At age 10, she was enrolled in one class at a local university. She was fully academically prepared; she was not at the social level of a college student. I parked the car, walked her in, saw that she was seated in the room, and met her outside the door after class. But, she had been raised around adults and was more comfortable in an adult setting than with kids. In fact, I had attempted to hire the professor to tutor her privately; the teacher suggested that class enrollment was appropriate. I have not a clue what the regular college students thought; I met a couple of them. The usual reaction was, "You study with Professor Byrne???" The one interesting problem we discovered was what was going on in the bathroom. She emerged totally wide eyed once; after that we used a restroom on another floor before going to the classroom!

 

Because this was a controlled situation, it worked well. However, there is no way I would have placed her in a less regulated situation with 13-14 year olds. I totally trusted MY kid; it was the others I couldn't depend on.

 

In a similar way, placing underage kids in the tween group is not a problem when sitting in The Edge under the supervision of the CM. My concern for the underage child is the "around the ship" activities which are far less supervised and the issue of losing those kids at the upper end of the age group.