Kids club ages - how strict?

[Iluvcruising2]

On the cruises that I have been on, they were very strict.

[Mom.to.2]

During spring break, it's HIGHLY unlikely that Adventure Ocean will bend their age group rules. There's just too many children on board to start making exceptions.

 

Assure your son that he'll have plenty of cousin time outside of Adventure Ocean. You mentioned that the whole point of this cruise was for family to be together, so it doesn't sound like you planned keep the kids in Adventure Ocean all day, every day. They'll swim, rock climb, boogie board, skate and eat meals together. You'll likely spend port days together. No need to be devastated!

[cindivan]

EXTREMELY strict.

 

 

 

aging DOWN is SOMETIMES allowed. aging UP NEVER is.

 

the only time they combine the clubs is if very few children overall are on board.

 

 

Do you know all kids on all RC cruises where you can say UP NEVER? I think not.

 

We have 3 teen boys and cruised RC quite often the last 6-7 years and I can remember off hand at least 4 times where our kids were allowed into the older age group. They have to be reasonably close in age, in our experience maybe 3-4 months. They are usually told they have to stay in their age group activities for one day. And if they choose to "age up" they cannot change their decision and go back down.

 

Lots of good advice here about maturity and activities related to kids ages. But just strictly answering your question, it's possible. Spring break they might be more strict however. It is totally up to the workers at the kids club.

 

 

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[cant_w8_2_cruise]

Ugh. So many people just KNOW they are right about this across ALL RCCL ships... As you can see, it depends. I can only speak from my experience. Last year (during SPRING BREAK!!) on Freedom, my daughter, who was less than a month away from her 9th birthday, was immediately allowed to go to the 9-11 year old group to be with her brother. So, it can happen. Will they let your son? Who knows. But it can't hurt to ask, and it can't hurt to prepare him for if they don't let him. Good luck. No matter what, he will have a blast. So much fun stuff to do outside of the kids clubs on Freedom. (In fact, too much for our family to even have our kids spend much time there. They preferred the other on board activities!)

[Lerin]

Wow, what a range of different answers! I guess we'll just politely ask (and hope they say yes) when we get on. He will be devastated if he can't be with his cousins and may not want to go at all.

 

The range of answers is because it depends on how many kids are on the ship during your sailing.

Unfortunately you are cruising during spring break; it will be packed.

The chances that they let the kids in the wrong group are slim to none regardless of how polite you ask. If your cruise was tomorrow, a month ago or the 3rd week of September, it probably would not have been a problem. The trip will still be fun and there are other family activities outside of the kid clubs.

[reallyitsmema]

EXTREMELY strict.

 

aging DOWN is SOMETIMES allowed. aging UP NEVER is.

the only time they combine the clubs is if very few children overall are on board.

 

Wrong, requests are handled on a case by case basis. Kids can age up or down depending on many variables. You are also incorrect on combing of clubs, some ships combine the clubs even if there are many kids.

 

Which ships did they deny your request to age up your kids? Your experiences seem to be very different than other people who have sailed with their kids.

[dcgrumpy]

And he may be fine in the kids club with his own age. On our last cruise my older daughter had just turned 12 and my 10yo was upset that they wouldn't be together. But after one morning in the kids club she made friends and wanted to go back every session. She hung out with her sister at other times during the day.

[brillohead]

This makes me slightly nervous as there is a big difference between 6 year olds and 12 year olds. We are sailing with my daughter who is turning seven. We'll be aboard Grandeur on March 30 and I'm not sure I want her hanging out with the "big kids". Just my opinion...

 

This is only done on cruises with low numbers of kids, and the group is fully supervised at all times -- it's not like the teen program where they're just "hanging out" with little structure or supervision.

 

They will have activities and programs going on the whole time... nothing at all to be nervous about.

[ljmandelbaum]

This is only done on cruises with low numbers of kids, and the group is fully supervised at all times -- it's not like the teen program where they're just "hanging out" with little structure or supervision.

 

They will have activities and programs going on the whole time... nothing at all to be nervous about.

 

Not true on grandeur. We were just on president's week on grandeur. Over 400 kids and they combined ages 6-12.

[RSLeesburg]

Not true on grandeur. We were just on president's week on grandeur. Over 400 kids and they combined ages 6-12.

 

Yes. On Grandeur, Explorers (6-8) and Voyagers (9-11) are always combined because they only have two spaces - one is dedicated for Aquanauts (3-5) and the other room is dedicated for the other two groups. I have not seen the layout for the other Vision class ships, but I would imagine that they also have only two spaces, and therefore, also combine the two groups.

[SthrnCruiser]

DS will turn 14 on Day 2. DD will be less than 1 month from turning 12. I am hoping they let her age up.

[jana616]

Any more recent experiences? We cruise 10/9 with two other families. My daughter will turn 6 on 10/21, so I am hoping she will be allowed to move up to the 6-8 group since she will be less than two weeks from that age, and I know she'd be bored silly with the preschool group.

 

The friends we are traveling with have boys that turned 12 a few days ago and the day before we leave. My son turns 12 on 11/19, and will obviously be incredibly bummed if he isn't allowed to be with them. He is incredibly mature and well-behaved (well, as mature as a tween boy can be!). I'm going to prepare him now for the possibility that he won't be able to move up, but man, that would really stink if his friends get the freedom of the older group and he misses out by 5 weeks.

 

I had had our TA ask when we booked and she was told that it was on a case by case basis but because they were so close to the cut offs, it would probably be okay. Sounds like not everyone has had luck.

[Jenjer]

Royal is somewhat flexible in ages. NCL not at all.

 

Its done on a case by case basis. On the first day go talk to the AO works they will most likely direct you to the "Manager". Here is the thing, be nice ask for your child to be moved up or down do not demand it.

 

So many factors outside of your control play into this decision. How many kids do they have. How many workers? what are the age demographics your talking about? They know on embarkation day exactly how many kids of what age to expect. They actually know a couple of weeks out because they have to have staff to accommodate them.

 

If you want to move your child you can try but do not allow it to ruin your vacation, no matter what decision the cruise ship makes I guarantee it won't ruin your cruise either way.

[3XX1XY]

Nope. They stick to the age groupings because otherwise everyone becomes a special snowflake. Pretty much every family with kids asks this question. If they make an exception for one, they'd have to do it for all. The only instance of ageing up or down I've ever seen involved special needs kids.

[mollyeilis]

My daughter will turn 6 on 10/21, so I am hoping she will be allowed to move up to the 6-8 group since she will be less than two weeks from that age, and I know she'd be bored silly with the preschool group.

 

The friends we are traveling with have boys that turned 12 a few days ago and the day before we leave. My son turns 12 on 11/19, and will obviously be incredibly bummed if he isn't allowed to be with them. He is incredibly mature and well-behaved (well, as mature as a tween boy can be!). I'm going to prepare him now for the possibility that he won't be able to move up, but man, that would really stink if his friends get the freedom of the older group and he misses out by 5 weeks.

 

If this cruise is one of the stricter ones (if there are lots of kids, etc), they won't let them age up.

 

And if they don't, then your 5 year old will be in the club with other 5 year olds. And the 5 year olds can play. Since she IS 5, it feels like you're insulting her age group to say that appropriate things for her age are going to bore her. The counselors do tend to be very good.

 

If it's not a ship FULL of kids, they might clump the 6-8 and 9-11s together. If they age her up at the same time, that means your 5 year old will be in the room playing ball games with day-before-their-12th-birthday kids. Is that comfy for you?

 

 

As for the 11 year old in the "teen" group...ask a local 14 year old if they want an 11 year old in their group. Most would be iffy about it.

 

Nope. They stick to the age groupings because otherwise everyone becomes a special snowflake. Pretty much every family with kids asks this question. If they make an exception for one, they'd have to do it for all. The only instance of ageing up or down I've ever seen involved special needs kids.

 

As you can see in this very thread, your experiences aren't that of others. Others HAVE seen aging up, and not just of special needs kids.

[dcgrumpy]

Nope. They stick to the age groupings because otherwise everyone becomes a special snowflake. Pretty much every family with kids asks this question. If they make an exception for one, they'd have to do it for all. The only instance of ageing up or down I've ever seen involved special needs kids.

 

That's not necessarily true. On our last IOS cruise a few kids were moved up of down to be with siblings.

[LeesSummitCruiser1]

We will be going on Freedom of the Seas in less than a month now. I just checked the kids club ages and they are broken down 6-8 and 9-11. We are traveling with my sister's family... Our son is 8 and her twins are 10. The whole point of this cruise is for the family to be together! Will they let my 8 year old son be with his 10 year old cousins????

 

The kids club are very accommodating. When my daughter attended and was near the age break, she was allowed to move up. She had been to kids club several times in the 6-8 year old range and was board and was only 2 months away from being 9 so they moved her up at her request, not ours and she was then very happy. AO Staff asked us when we picked her up if it was ok and we were very ok with it.

[3XX1XY]

 

 

 

As you can see in this very thread, your experiences aren't that of others. Others HAVE seen aging up, and not just of special needs kids.

 

That's not necessarily true. On our last IOS cruise a few kids were moved up of down to be with siblings.

 

I sure wouldn't count on it though. I bet it relies on it being a very child light cruise which is increasingly rare.

[jana616]

If this cruise is one of the stricter ones (if there are lots of kids, etc), they won't let them age up.

 

And if they don't, then your 5 year old will be in the club with other 5 year olds. And the 5 year olds can play. Since she IS 5, it feels like you're insulting her age group to say that appropriate things for her age are going to bore her. The counselors do tend to be very good.

 

If it's not a ship FULL of kids, they might clump the 6-8 and 9-11s together. If they age her up at the same time, that means your 5 year old will be in the room playing ball games with day-before-their-12th-birthday kids. Is that comfy for you?

 

 

As for the 11 year old in the "teen" group...ask a local 14 year old if they want an 11 year old in their group. Most would be iffy about it.

 

 

 

As you can see in this very thread, your experiences aren't that of others. Others HAVE seen aging up, and not just of special needs kids.

 

Wow. Given that she will turn 6 four days after the cruise ends, I definitely DO prefer her to be in a room with 6 to almost 12 year olds, especially since she has a 9 and almost 12 year old brother. She will DEFINITELY be bored if the bulk of the kids in that group are 3 and 4 and the activities are designed for a preschool set. And again, I don't know any 14 year old boy who would say they are uncomfortable with a kid less than a month from turning 12 joining their group. It's not like he's 6 or 7, he'd legitimately be in that group a month from now and his friends we are sailing with will be. Obviously we will just wait and see what happens, and none of it will make or break our trip.

[DisneyDatknee]

On our Radiance Alaska Cruise, my 16 year old teens said that an 11 year old was permitted to be in the teen club, he had two older siblings in the teen club, but the groups were combined as the Radiance Teen Club is super small and there were low attendance numbers. All they did was make the parents sign a form for permission.

 

Now... They did say the boy was very immature and really didn't understand any of the older kids' humour, but I'm sure this won't be a problem in Adventure Ocean. :p

Edited October 6, 2016 by DisneyDatknee

[flhokie]

This makes me slightly nervous as there is a big difference between 6 year olds and 12 year olds. We are sailing with my daughter who is turning seven. We'll be aboard Grandeur on March 30 and I'm not sure I want her hanging out with the "big kids". Just my opinion...

 

I completely understand your concern! We sailed Disney when DD was 4. On Disney, the kid's club is for ages 3-12. Yes, they put 3 year olds with 12 year olds. There were programs geared to certain ages, but the open hours were completely free play with all those ages. DD went twice, but would not go back because of fear of the big kids.

 

I will say, from what I've seen of RCCL's programs, the activities are more organized/structured which should help.

[jticarruthers]

I sure wouldn't count on it though. I bet it relies on it being a very child light cruise which is increasingly rare.

 

And you would be wrong, both of our move ups were on springbreak cruises with a good size kid crowd.

 

The fact of the matter is there is no hard and fast rule, it depends on the ship, the kids club staff, your approach to the question, etc.

 

The best bet is too plan on being told no, but ask politely and hope to get what you would like.

[Grandma Dazzles]

Any more recent experiences? We cruise 10/9 with two other families. My daughter will turn 6 on 10/21, so I am hoping she will be allowed to move up to the 6-8 group since she will be less than two weeks from that age, and I know she'd be bored silly with the preschool group.

 

The friends we are traveling with have boys that turned 12 a few days ago and the day before we leave. My son turns 12 on 11/19, and will obviously be incredibly bummed if he isn't allowed to be with them. He is incredibly mature and well-behaved (well, as mature as a tween boy can be!). I'm going to prepare him now for the possibility that he won't be able to move up, but man, that would really stink if his friends get the freedom of the older group and he misses out by 5 weeks.

 

I had had our TA ask when we booked and she was told that it was on a case by case basis but because they were so close to the cut offs, it would probably be okay. Sounds like not everyone has had luck.

 

Noticed that this is an old thread that has been resurrected.

 

I agree with the others about not really knowing until you get on board. They seem to make these decisions on a week-to-week basis.

 

One thing you didn't actually ask, but wanted to give you a heads up to avoid disappointment to the kids. They may fudge on AO aged, but they are very specific on ages for activities. My granddaughter was 6 days before our cruise. When she went to do the rock climbing wall the attendant remarked that she was lucky to be 6 - otherwise she couldn't participate. A lot of activities have age/height/weight rules, and because of insurance they won't bend. Just wanted to let you know so there wouldn't be disappointment for your almost 6 year-old won't be disappointed.

[jana616]

Yes, I noticed when I did the online check in that it didn't even give me the option of filling one out for her for that one! Which is just fine, I completely understand rules based on safety and liability. We've discussed with my almost 12 year old that he may be separated from his friends, and he understands. Now we're just hoping we can actually get on the ship since we're supposed to leave out of PC on Sunday!

 

 

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[ewenix]

FYI - Two years ago over spring break on the Adventure the teen groups had very low attendance. So low they combined the 12-14 and 15-17 groups.

The second day they sent the kids out in groups to comb the ship and try to recruit other teens to come to the club.