youth center - costs? / Questions

[MissAppleBear]

Is there any daily cost for these programs? I think i heard 3 and potty trained was a requirement. Any one else bring 3 or 4 year olds and what was your experience? was there many kids in the "off season"?

[biochemgrl02]

Free and potty trained was what the staff told me.

 

 

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[piescruises]

there are no cost I think unless it's late at night.

[MissAppleBear]

That's great news that the child care during the day is included!

[piescruises]

Maybe fees on port days when docked.

[ceilidh1]

Free and potty trained was what the staff told me.

 

 

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It used to be that they didn't have to be potty trained (but did have to be over 3 to be dropped off) BUT staff will not change diapers so if needed you would be called back to the centre. This may have changed - both my kids were trained long before they reached 3 so it never applied to me. Kids under 3 are welcome in the kids club but an adult must stay with them at all times.

[fishywood]

If you have not seen the official literature on the kids programming:

https://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/Onboard_Experience/Youth_Guidelines_Registration.pdf

(above info for the 3-7 and 8-12 groups).

 

Only fees are for the late night kid-sitting. Not for daytime activities, whether at sea or in port. The link above doesn't go into detail about the late night sessions but on one line I have heard that it is for sleeping children only, if yours awakens and does not wish to go back to sleep you will be quickly paged to pick them up. Would confirm that before signing up if you choose.

 

And perhaps this is simply a difference of regional idioms but I would not classify the group activities offered by Princess as "child care" as if any "care" issues arise you would be called to attend to such issues for your child yourself.

[SadieN]

We’ve seen the clubs operating with as few as 7 kids onboard. They might combine ages at this point.

 

 

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[Seashellmama]

Only fees are for the late night kid-sitting. Not for daytime activities, whether at sea or in port. The link above doesn't go into detail about the late night sessions but on one line I have heard that it is for sleeping children only, if yours awakens and does not wish to go back to sleep you will be quickly paged to pick them up. Would confirm that before signing up if you choose.

 

I've never heard that kids have to sleep!

 

Princess website says at https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/onboard-experience/kids-and-teens/

 

 

Late-night group kidsitting

 

For your convenience, group kidsitting is offered in the Youth Centers. Kids can relax and watch movies or play games with their friends while mom and dad have a relaxing night out.

 

• For children ages 3 to 12 years.
  
• From 10:00 pm to 1:00 am.
  
• Charge of $5.00 per hour per child.
  

[nalakitty]

First cruise my daughter was 4 on old Crown Princess. there were 2 girls in her group. She had a ball. 2 counselors, kept them busy. She returned with princess hats, pencil boxes, rulers, all sorts of goodies.Looking at photo gallery we found a picture of her on the bridge steering the ship with officers hat on . This was 1993, things different now.Most lines have activiities few hours morning, then afternoon and again after dinner. Princess and Celebrity had best, NCL and Holland America not so much. Our. experience anyway

[CruisinFinsUp]

In addition to everything above:

 

Just be aware that port days must be signed up for in advance (ie day before - check info on board for deadlines).

If you come back on board without pre-booking and decide that you want to drop the kids off, they will not take them if they don't have enough staff, or they might be closed if they were not expecting any kids.

 

There are times that the club is open / closed. They are in the daily kids schedules that you receive on board in your cabin. Usually closed over lunch and again over dinner. A couple nights there is a "kids dinner".

 

They leave out tipping envelopes the last day. Youth centre staff are not part of the tipping pool.

We tipped if we felt the kids had received a great experience - similar to what we'd tip a babysitter at home. Its been quite a few years (kids are now 18&15) so I will not advise on dollars as I'm sure rates vary now.

 

We used to cruise more in "off season" before they were in school or when we could pull them out of school (Canada - not as restrictive). There were usually about a dozen or two kids on board - especially younger ones not in school. Our kids preferred the smaller numbers as everyone got to know one another better. School holidays are chaos!

 

If you check the "family cruising" board here you will see a lot more info as well. Also search the Princess board for youth center or kids club for other threads.

[MissAppleBear]

Awesome info! Thank you!!