Princess Kids’ Club

[serenity27]

Hi Princess Cruisers! I would love to hear feedback and experiences on the Princess Kids’ Clubs. We are cruising on the Emerald in December and I’m hoping my little ones enjoy their time in the KC. Thank you in advance!

[flutprop]

My DS10 did not like the club last month. He loved the video games they had, but had no interest in the organized activities (arts and crafts mostly it seemed) so he did not spend much time there, as you must participate and can not play xbox during activites.

 

Most people say their children love the clubs. I guess DS got spoiled with the free for all that is a Disney kids club

[MGillie]

Our DS3 absolutely loved the kids club. He didn’t go all the time as we did stuff as a family & it was port intensive but when he did go he loved it. On port days the two rooms were joined together and it was free play but on sea days and in the evenings it was structured in specific rooms. They had a theme (pirate, Timmy turtle, whale, bear etc) for each day in the 3-7 room and it was educational too. He came back with loads of stuff to take home. In the 3-7 room there is also a secure outdoor area which he loved. For the smaller ones, they have a pager system so if there is a problem they will page you (they never did). It doesn’t work if you go off ship. Feel free to ask me anything else as before we went I couldn’t find much about the kids clubs on here!

[OzCanuck]

Hi Princess Cruisers! I would love to hear feedback and experiences on the Princess Kids’ Clubs. We are cruising on the Emerald in December and I’m hoping my little ones enjoy their time in the KC. Thank you in advance!

 

How old are they?

[serenity27]

How old are they?

 

They are 5 & 3. I’m primarily asking for the 5 year old.

[ceilidh1]

My kids have been going to the clubs on Princess for the past 10 years and love them. They are now 11 and 7 and have done everything they offer multiple times so don't go all day, every day (as they used to) but pick and choose their activities. At 5, they both begged to be there every hour it was open. The club is very structured with set activities and free time outside of these activities. The room for this age group has a soft play/climber area, tv area, and then arts/crafts, games, lego, etc as well as the outside play area with bikes and things. When you get to your room there will be a schedule for the club of all that is on offer so it is easy to plan what they would be interested in doing. I would recommend going to the open house/registration on embarkation day - even if you registered online. This allows you and the child to look around the room - adults are not allowed to hang out in there at other times, just drop off and pick up. It also gets the child excited for all the things that they will do as they can see them. I also recommend going the first night as lots of friendships are formed then!

 

 

 

As well as activities, there are ice cream parties, kids dinner on formal nights, pajama party, and usually one afternoon when the club is closed for a "family" event - usually called a family fun fair where the kid staff run the activities but parents need to supervise/participate. Most evenings they play a movie for the last hour or so. Generally the hours at sea are 9-12 / 2-5 / 7-10 and they offer late night sitting for $5 per child per hour from 10-1am. Port days are usually whatever hours are in port and they will also take kids for lunch - you will need to sign up ahead of time. My younger child loves going on port days as he gets to hang in the big kids room and they play video games in there! As someone else pointed out, you will be given a pager. You will also need to show picture ID at pick up - I usually just snap a pick of my license on my phone and show that so I don't have to carry my ID around with me!

 

 

Anything specific, feel free to ask - we just got off 2 weeks on Star so have pretty recent experience as well as the many other cruises we've done with Princess!

[ceilidh1]

My DS10 did not like the club last month. He loved the video games they had, but had no interest in the organized activities (arts and crafts mostly it seemed) so he did not spend much time there, as you must participate and can not play xbox during activites.

 

Most people say their children love the clubs. I guess DS got spoiled with the free for all that is a Disney kids club

 

This is funny - my kids had the opposite reaction. After 10 cruises with only Princess clubs, we tried Disney and they hated it. They just couldn't handle the fact that it was so unstructured. They went on day one and both refused to return after that!

[Number6]

My kid is 10. He’s been cruising since he was 5, and he loves the kids club. He’d go every day, including port days, if we let him.

 

 

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[serenity27]

This is all great info! I appreciate all of you taking the time to respond. I’m really hoping my kids love it like most of yours did.

[hm9912]

Hi Princess Cruisers! I would love to hear feedback and experiences on the Princess Kids’ Clubs. We are cruising on the Emerald in December and I’m hoping my little ones enjoy their time in the KC. Thank you in advance!

 

We were on the Regal with our three under 6 grandchildren and they loved it. In fact one day we asked would they like to go to the pool or the kids club and all three shouted "kids club"

 

Three of the best

 

Made at Camp Discovery

 

Howard

[Itchy&Scratchy]

while my own DS does not go to kid's club by his choice, our friends' kids have loved Princess kid's club above all other kid's clubs. They have cruised since they were 3 and are now 11 and 9, and still love going to the kid's club.

[OzCanuck]

My experience mirrors the other posters. My son has now done 14 cruises and is turning 7 next week. It has only been on his last 4-5, however, that he has been interested in the clubs (and he too hated Disney). Now - we can't pry him away from them.

 

We just got off the Royal on a British Isles cruise and he was there every moment that it was open and we were not off the ship. Always fetched him around 8:30pm or so because on that cruise you have to be up every morning super early and we wanted to keep some structure.

 

We always left specific instructions to limit video game time to 30 minutes, however on the one port day we did not venture out (long story), they didn't follow that request. We did take advantage of the kids' club dinner a couple of times as well (where they meet in the buffet and choose their own food from a limited selection area.) Gave us some time for a nice dinner without him.

 

I did have my doubts about this one because I knew there would be a lot of kids on the ship and he's not a big fan of crowds. Our previous two sailings (HAL Panama Canal) and (Princess Papua New Guinea) there were less than 15 children on the ship and in the clubs. That suited him perfectly. This sailing had 55 kids in the 3-7 group but the club was never that crowded.

[phabric]

Does anybody have a copy of the kid’s daily activities schedule for a 9 yr?

Edited August 26, 2018 by phabric

[cabin4three]

Hi Does anyone have any feedback about the club for older children? Our son will be 12 next summer, returning to cruising after years of DisneyWorld. Our only experience of kids clubs were when he was aged 3 and younger (P&O were amazing for toddlers).

He would happily spend all day on an xbox if we let him :rolleyes:

[moki'smommy]

My experience mirrors the other posters. My son has now done 14 cruises and is turning 7 next week. It has only been on his last 4-5, however, that he has been interested in the clubs (and he too hated Disney). Now - we can't pry him away from them.

 

The DCL kid programming is very different from that on Princess and many kids prefer Princess. Princess has defined age groups and scheduled activities where kids are encouraged to participate. DCL has 2 large areas where kids from 3-12 can participate although their activities have a "suggested" age range and the spaces are designed for younger and the other for older kids. Free play is always available and a child has to take the initiative to join a scheduled activity. The staff won't ask a kid whether they want to join in.

 

Princess gives a lot more individual attention to the kids; DCL is often a situation of managing the masses. It takes a pretty confident kid to navigate the Disney system; that's often far beyond what most young kids can handle. Princess is a lot more like dropping a little one at a day care or a party where the teacher or hostess welcomes them and shepherds them around till they are comfortable.

[ceilidh1]

Hi Does anyone have any feedback about the club for older children? Our son will be 12 next summer, returning to cruising after years of DisneyWorld. Our only experience of kids clubs were when he was aged 3 and younger (P&O were amazing for toddlers).

He would happily spend all day on an xbox if we let him :rolleyes:

 

My 11 year old is still happy to go, though she likes to pick and choose when and for which activities. She loves the fact that she is able to sign herself in and out as it gives her some freedom and independence - she is not permitted to wander the ship, we use the app to check in and she will let me know she is leaving, etc. At 12, your son will be at the top end of the age range - this is fine if there are other older kids, too, but tough if the majority of them are on the younger end. They get to play video games, air hockey, skee ball, etc. Weather permitting, they will use the outside secure area for basketball and other games. If offered, I highly recommend the chefs at sea program (if he is into that kind of thing). They get to decorate a cake in the galley, with the head chef and pastry chef guiding them, and then you can have it delivered to your table at dinner. My daughter loved the program and a parent gets to go, too, so I had a blast as well!

[cabin4three]

My 11 year old is still happy to go, though she likes to pick and choose when and for which activities. She loves the fact that she is able to sign herself in and out as it gives her some freedom and independence - she is not permitted to wander the ship, we use the app to check in and she will let me know she is leaving, etc. At 12, your son will be at the top end of the age range - this is fine if there are other older kids, too, but tough if the majority of them are on the younger end. They get to play video games, air hockey, skee ball, etc. Weather permitting, they will use the outside secure area for basketball and other games. If offered, I highly recommend the chefs at sea program (if he is into that kind of thing). They get to decorate a cake in the galley, with the head chef and pastry chef guiding them, and then you can have it delivered to your table at dinner. My daughter loved the program and a parent gets to go, too, so I had a blast as well!

 

 

Thank you so much for your reply, he will be very happy to play video games and air hockey and he loves cake :) I was in two minds about allowing him to sign out of the club, forgot about the app and him being able to just send us a quick text - so will do that.

[OSUZorba]

DW and I started looking at Princess, all of our previous cruses have been on RCL or DCL.

 

DD will be 3.5 for the cruise we are looking at and DW is concerned about the large age range of 3-7. We just had a bad experience on a playground at WDW (at Dumbo for those familiar) a few weeks ago where an older kid pushed her off a climbing thing (she is 2.5 now), so I think DW is afraid the older kids will play too rough. She is also concerned about how activities could appeal to a 3 and 7 yo at the same time.

 

So does anyone have experience with a 3-4 yo in the kid's clubs? If you could compare it to RCL that would be great too.

 

TIA

[Roatanfans]

My kids started at 3 1/2 and loved the kids clubs- at 11 and 7 1/2 my three still do- they have even asked in the past if they had to get off in Hawaii because they would rather stay in the kids club!

[thegoaliegirl]

DW and I started looking at Princess, all of our previous cruses have been on RCL or DCL.

 

DD will be 3.5 for the cruise we are looking at and DW is concerned about the large age range of 3-7. We just had a bad experience on a playground at WDW (at Dumbo for those familiar) a few weeks ago where an older kid pushed her off a climbing thing (she is 2.5 now), so I think DW is afraid the older kids will play too rough. She is also concerned about how activities could appeal to a 3 and 7 yo at the same time.

 

So does anyone have experience with a 3-4 yo in the kid's clubs? If you could compare it to RCL that would be great too.

 

TIA

 

Not quite the right ages you were looking for, but we just got back from a short cruise on the Emerald. Youngest had just turned 5, big sister had just turned 7. They did a lot of art, youngest played on the indoor climbing structure more than the oldest. The staff did a magic show, which both loved. In the free time my older one did more of the video/computer games, youngest more playing (like climbing in the play structure) and art. They had structured times where they did a specific craft, magic show, etc and time for free play.

[AbigailRose060517]

my husband and I are going on the majestic Princess in September this year, our daughter will be 2 years and 4 months old, does anyone know if they are strict with their age requirements for the kids club and on the website it says there is a nominal charge is that just for the late night baby sitting or in general

[hm9912]

6 hours ago, AbigailRose060517 said:

my husband and I are going on the majestic Princess in September this year, our daughter will be 2 years and 4 months old, does anyone know if they are strict with their age requirements for the kids club and on the website it says there is a nominal charge is that just for the late night baby sitting or in general

You will not be able to leave a child under 3 in the kids club. Children must be three or older and be toilet trained.

Bring a book with you as you must remain in the kids club if your daughter is under three.

Howard

[GottaLuvCruising]

We booked the Regal Princess for spring break next year with our granddaughters who will be 10 and 7 at the time.  Because it is school vacation here in Florida, I am concerned that there will be more children on board than usual.  Does Princess have limits on the number of children who can participate in their programming?  Does anyone have experience cruising over spring break to ease my concerns?  

 

I expect the girls will prefer a lot of time with us, in the pool and going to the shows and we are not looking for babysitters.  We just hope to enhance their experience by including fun activities with other youngsters.  

 

We, too, have sailed Disney (3X) and there are just too many kids on board for us.  

[Simple_Travels4578]

13 minutes ago, GottaLuvCruising said:

We booked the Regal Princess for spring break next year with our granddaughters who will be 10 and 7 at the time.  Because it is school vacation here in Florida, I am concerned that there will be more children on board than usual.  Does Princess have limits on the number of children who can participate in their programming?  Does anyone have experience cruising over spring break to ease my concerns? 

 

 

Hi. We just got off the Caribbean Princess for a Christmas/New Year's cruise. So of course there will be more kids on that kind of cruise than a transatlantic in the middle of January, for example.

 

A few years ago, we were attempting to book a cruise on Princess with our child and we were unable. Apparently there are safety rules for the maximum number of kids in certain age groups that can be on board. So there is a limit. But it's probably pretty big.

 

On sea days, there wasn't a cap on kids going to kid's club. But there might be a cap on port day programming. You have to sign them up for that the night before, and there is a limit. There are also limits on certain special activities such as Junior Chef, where they are taken into the Galley and taught how to decorate cakes. (And your kid's creation will be served to you in the MDR that night!)

 

Frankly, most of the kids on this cruise were well behaved and we didn't have any problems. But that's really luck of the draw. It only takes a few to ruin it. It's hard to generalize and say "Yes, it will be fine" or "No, it will be awful".

 

 

[GottaLuvCruising]

22 minutes ago, Simple_Travels4578 said:

 

Hi. We just got off the Caribbean Princess for a Christmas/New Year's cruise. So of course there will be more kids on that kind of cruise than a transatlantic in the middle of January, for example.

 

A few years ago, we were attempting to book a cruise on Princess with our child and we were unable. Apparently there are safety rules for the maximum number of kids in certain age groups that can be on board. So there is a limit. But it's probably pretty big.

 

On sea days, there wasn't a cap on kids going to kid's club. But there might be a cap on port day programming. You have to sign them up for that the night before, and there is a limit. There are also limits on certain special activities such as Junior Chef, where they are taken into the Galley and taught how to decorate cakes. (And your kid's creation will be served to you in the MDR that night!)

 

Frankly, most of the kids on this cruise were well behaved and we didn't have any problems. But that's really luck of the draw. It only takes a few to ruin it. It's hard to generalize and say "Yes, it will be fine" or "No, it will be awful".

 

 

Very helpful info.  Thank you!