Kids Club on the Coral Princess

[Tapi]

Hello:

 

We just booked a 10 day Panama Canal cruise on the Coral. We will be traveling with our 8 and 6 year old kids. They have sailed on 6 cruises (Royal, Holland, MSC and Carnival) and they have attended the kids club on each one.

 

I'm a bit concerned about the kids club on the Coral though since I haven't been able to locate any information that is ship specific about the facilities. Also, because it's a longer cruise, (which will probably translate into less kids), I'm wondering if this will affect the activities offered (I read somewhere that if the number of kids on the ship is minimal, activities won't be offered).

 

Anybody with information about the kids club on the Coral? It's not a deal breaker if the facilities and activities are not as elaborate, but I just wish to know what to expect.

 

Thanks for any input that anyone can provide!

 

 

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[shredie]

There is only one ship where they don't have kids' facilities if there are fewer than 20 children, and that is the Pacific Princess. It is small and has no dedicated spaces for that. There may be only a few kids in the club when yours are there, but they will be open and things will go on as planned. I was on a Panama cruise several years ago where there were only 9 kids total on the ship. They still had their kids's club, but I think in that case they combined some age groups.

[TriumphGuy]

We were on the Coral for a 10 day partial transit last February. The kids' club/youth center was located aft, just a few doors down from ours on Aloha deck, so we took a stroll through there one day. There was a young woman on duty but we saw no kids. She told us there were only about 6 children on the cruise and they only came in a few times. The facilities looked fine.

This is not typically a cruise with a lot of kids unless maybe it's over a holiday or school break. Most likely the kid's club gets a lot more use when Coral switches to the Alaska venues in the Spring/Summer.

Edited January 6, 2017 by TriumphGuy

[nattie]

Hi, Tapi!

 

Any chance you are on 4/7/17 cruise? We are booked on that one with 7 yo :)

I am actually hoping they will combine Shockwaves and Pelicans, since my DS would prefer to be in Shockwaves (he will be less than a month shy of 8yo).

 

You can see layout of club on the deck plans

http://www.princess.com/deckPlans.do?shipCode=CO&version=6

 

We have not sailed this class of ships before (always did Grand Class like Ruby and Caribbean), so layout and space looks different. It is a bit odd that it is next to Sanctuary.

[Tapi]

Hi, Tapi!

 

 

 

Any chance you are on 4/7/17 cruise? We are booked on that one with 7 yo.

 

 

No, sorry [emoji53]. We don't cruise until the spring of 2018. I'm hoping that there will be more kids onboard when we sail since it's over the kids Spring Break!

 

 

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[Cruisin' Chick]

Hi, Tapi!

 

Any chance you are on 4/7/17 cruise? We are booked on that one with 7 yo :)

I am actually hoping they will combine Shockwaves and Pelicans, since my DS would prefer to be in Shockwaves (he will be less than a month shy of 8yo).

 

You can see layout of club on the deck plans

http://www.princess.com/deckPlans.do?shipCode=CO&version=6

 

We have not sailed this class of ships before (always did Grand Class like Ruby and Caribbean), so layout and space looks different. It is a bit odd that it is next to Sanctuary.

 

if they don't combine the groups (or shift the ages), your son will still be in the Pelicans...it's based on the age at the time the cruise starts, not a month later. My daughter became 7 a week before our Alaskan cruise some years ago, and was put in Pirateers (the former name for Shockwaves) so apparently that was the minimum age for that group for that sailing.

[Travelbug1978]

Has anyone had experience where there child was places in the group above. My daughter turns 8 2 weeks after our cruise. Her brother and cousins are over 8 so will be in that group. She won't go on her own

[beanerab]

Following - my daughter turns 8 nine days after we get off the ship and wants to be with her brother.

[Travelbug1978]

Following - my daughter turns 8 nine days after we get off the ship and wants to be with her brother.

When are you cruising. We are going on July 8

[beanerab]

When are you cruising. We are going on July 8

THAT'S US!! We will have an (almost) 8 DD and 9.5 DS

[kitkat343]

We were on the partial transit 10 day on the coral princess 4 years ago. It was during the school year, so there were only 11 children total on the whole ship. There were always 3 counselors on duty, even though I never saw more than 4 kids present in the kids club. Hours were not reduced at all. The staff was outstanding, and helped my 2 year old son play with whatever he wanted. All ages were combined due to the small numbers. We sailed 4 years ago so some info could be a bit out of date.

 

It was an amazing cruise for kids, and my son loved it very much. There's some info on ports with kids in my review on this cruise in my signature line below.

[Travelbug1978]

We will have a 13 year old boy

11 year old boy

9 and 9.5 year old boy

And dd who is 7 soon to be 8...and we are Canadians

[capriccio]

Kids' Club enforcement of age groups was the discussion on a thread a year ago: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2384388&. From that - and other postings I've seen over the years - it seems that on a cruise with lots of kids (i.e., Alaska in the summer), the age restrictions are strictly enforced. There may be more leeway on cruises with much smaller numbers of kids where they combine groups.

[Travelbug1978]

I think they should allow the 7 years olds to move up if they are turning 8 that month. My 7 year old doesnt want to hang out with 3 year olds in the kids club and do younger kids activities

[tamsocal]

we have found Princess cruises in the past to be very rigid with age ranges. not even within a week of the age change would they allow flexibility. the 3-7 group is the one I have the hardest time with over the years. we have 13 & 9 yr olds and the kids are all platinum. about 4 of the cruises involved times where we would have preferred moving the kids up