Club 02 Experience

[Allura_317]

I am going on the Breeze this Saturday (yay!) with my fifteen year old.  I was wondering if any of you had/have teens in the 15-17 age range who have used Club 02.  What did they do?  How did it work?  What did they like/not like about it?  General information about it? DD has not used the kids/tween/teen club since she was 8 on any line, but decided she wanted to do it this time so she can make friends on the ship.  Anything about it will be helpful!  Thanks in advance! 

[tw67]

8 minutes ago, Allura_317 said:

I am going on the Breeze this Saturday (yay!) with my fifteen year old.  I was wondering if any of you had/have teens in the 15-17 age range who have used Club 02.  What did they do?  How did it work?  What did they like/not like about it?  General information about it? DD has not used the kids/tween/teen club since she was 8 on any line, but decided she wanted to do it this time so she can make friends on the ship.  Anything about it will be helpful!  Thanks in advance! 

My son has been in Club 02 twice, and next week will be the third time.  My older son was in Club 02 maybe once or twice.  Both enjoyed it.  They tend to use it as a "meet up" and then go from there.  They may stay and do an activity on with the group, but sometimes they would make friends and hang at the pool together.  It was a great place to meet kids their own age.  My older one missed it when he turned 18, there was just no place for him to go at 18, and hung out with us.  

 

We do put in rules about hanging around the ship, and need to know where he will be once leaving Club 02.  There is no going into anyones rooms, etc.  

[Allura_317]

3 minutes ago, tw67 said:

My son has been in Club 02 twice, and next week will be the third time.  My older son was in Club 02 maybe once or twice.  Both enjoyed it.  They tend to use it as a "meet up" and then go from there.  They may stay and do an activity on with the group, but sometimes they would make friends and hang at the pool together.  It was a great place to meet kids their own age.  My older one missed it when he turned 18, there was just no place for him to go at 18, and hung out with us.  

 

We do put in rules about hanging around the ship, and need to know where he will be once leaving Club 02.  There is no going into anyones rooms, etc.  

Thanks so much for the information!  As they use it as a "meet up," I will definitely be sure to put similar rules in place, thanks again!  On another note, what are examples of the activities?  Does anyone have pictures of the schedule for Club 02?

[Domergirl]

Make sure your daughter goes to the meet and greet on the first night.  The kids tend to group up on that night, and then start hanging out.  You'll probably want to get her the texting plan on the Hub app ($5 for the whole cruise), so that she can communicate with her new friends.  Overall, I'd give it a somewhat mixed review.  My kids (16, 14, and 8  ) usually love camp.  However, on the last cruise, the girls my oldest daughter met up with at O2 were just not the type she wanted to hang out with, once she got to know them a little better.   Typical teen stuff - That's all I'll say about that!    Soooo....it kind of depends.    The events themselves will be loosely organized, so meeting people is the real goal.   It's definitely worth a try!!!

[tw67]

5 minutes ago, Allura_317 said:

Thanks so much for the information!  As they use it as a "meet up," I will definitely be sure to put similar rules in place, thanks again!  On another note, what are examples of the activities?  Does anyone have pictures of the schedule for Club 02?

Activites, they seem to have a lot of night dance parties...not that my son actually tells us, but we have passed by and heard the music, and have seen him dancing.  I think that I have seen them on the ship taking pictures of things, and I realized they are doing a scavenger hunt.  They take pictures on their phones, and then they go back to Club 02 with their list and pictures.  

 

4 minutes ago, Domergirl said:

Make sure your daughter goes to the meet and greet on the first night.  The kids tend to group up on that night, and then start hanging out.  You'll probably want to get her the texting plan on the Hub app ($5 for the whole cruise), so that she can communicate with her new friends.  Overall, I'd give it a somewhat mixed review.  My kids (16, 14, and 8  ) usually love camp.  However, on the last cruise, the girls my oldest daughter met up with at O2 were just not the type she wanted to hang out with, once she got to know them a little better.   Typical teen stuff - That's all I'll say about that!    Soooo....it kind of depends.    The events themselves will be loosely organized, so meeting people is the real goal.   It's definitely worth a try!!!

THIS IS IMPORTANT!!!  First night is where they all start to group up.  We have actually switched from late dining to anytime dining, not just for this reason, but to give more flexibility.  It seemed that their first night was always right during our late dinner. 

[lennythenose]

We always get early dining for the reasons above. Our sons always love Club O2.  While the do usually just meet up and hang with friends there are activities. They usually go to at least one of the shows together and go to the deck parties. Maybe even one of the movies?  Dodgeball tournament , water slide time. 

[CheckersMidwest]

My daughter always loved O2. She made friends there. Sometimes participated in the events.....guitar hero .....late night pizza party.....etc. There are organized events - they have their own 'Fun Times' schedule. A lot of the time, my daughter would use O2 as a meet up point with her friends and then they'd go wander around & do stuff on their own.

[Allura_317]

2 hours ago, Domergirl said:

Make sure your daughter goes to the meet and greet on the first night.  The kids tend to group up on that night, and then start hanging out.  You'll probably want to get her the texting plan on the Hub app ($5 for the whole cruise), so that she can communicate with her new friends.  Overall, I'd give it a somewhat mixed review.  My kids (16, 14, and 8  ) usually love camp.  However, on the last cruise, the girls my oldest daughter met up with at O2 were just not the type she wanted to hang out with, once she got to know them a little better.   Typical teen stuff - That's all I'll say about that!    Soooo....it kind of depends.    The events themselves will be loosely organized, so meeting people is the real goal.   It's definitely worth a try!!!

Yes, we have done the texting feature before and thought it wasn't that great, but are still planning on doing it so we can all communicate.  Totally understand about how your daughter felt (it's why mine stopped doing it), hopefully mine will find the right people this time!  

 

2 hours ago, tw67 said:

THIS IS IMPORTANT!!!  First night is where they all start to group up.  We have actually switched from late dining to anytime dining, not just for this reason, but to give more flexibility.  It seemed that their first night was always right during our late dinner.

We have late dining and enjoy the set timed dining.  Will this be a large issue the first night?  Could we have DD join us at dinner later, or will that be too much of an issue and annoying for the waitstaff.  Probably the latter?

 

Thanks to everyone for all the information!  It is much appreciated! 

 

[tw67]

16 minutes ago, Allura_317 said:

Yes, we have done the texting feature before and thought it wasn't that great, but are still planning on doing it so we can all communicate.  Totally understand about how your daughter felt (it's why mine stopped doing it), hopefully mine will find the right people this time!  

 

We have late dining and enjoy the set timed dining.  Will this be a large issue the first night?  Could we have DD join us at dinner later, or will that be too much of an issue and annoying for the waitstaff.  Probably the latter?

 

Thanks to everyone for all the information!  It is much appreciated! 

 

 

When we had late seating, every cruise the first night my son would come to the table, we would introduce him to the waitstaff, maybe eat something quickly, and then he would run off to the meet up.  Now the first night we eat earlier, then he can run off.  We actually worried the first time we did anytime, but it worked out well for us on the last 7 day we did at Christmas.  It was nice to not be tied to a certain time.  Early in the day we kind of come up with an idea of when we want to eat, and then change it if we need to.  I used to worry since my oldest son has celiac disease and has to eat gluten free.  I used to worry about different waitstaff.  On our Christmas cruise, we really liked who we had the first night, and we could request them almost every night.  It has made our cruising more relaxed.  

 

[lennythenose]

The teen club evening activities start every night during late dining. The times we have had late our sons would come to dinner but leave before dessert to go to the activity. Since we all enjoy set time dinner together we switched to early set dining. 

[NebraskaSatellite]

Here's the Club O2 flyer from the Vista for our July 27 sailing.  We had YTD but almost always got to the dining room between 6 and 6:30 - this let our kids be done in time to meet their friends between 7:30 and 8.  It worked better for our kids to eat early and meet their friends after, but it's probably not impossible to make late dining work.

 

Our kids only did a handful of the activities.  Most of the time they just used the club as a place to meet.  They actually spent more time in the Family Harbor lounge as one of their friends had a cabin in that area.  

[Marauder40]

I know the Club 02 experience can change cruise to cruise but my 15 year old daughter's experience was different from most on here.  We just got off the Magic on Saturday.  My daughter is energetic but shy at the same time.  She tried the mixer on the first night and came back to the cabin crying because everyone ignored her and most of the people were very rude and she said they played all rap music (definitely not her favorite.)

 

We told her to give it a second chance during the day and she said it was a TOTALLY different environment during the day.  In her words, "All the nice people seem to do the daytime activities and they skip the evening activities."

[tw67]

11 minutes ago, Marauder40 said:

I know the Club 02 experience can change cruise to cruise but my 15 year old daughter's experience was different from most on here.  We just got off the Magic on Saturday.  My daughter is energetic but shy at the same time.  She tried the mixer on the first night and came back to the cabin crying because everyone ignored her and most of the people were very rude and she said they played all rap music (definitely not her favorite.)

 

We told her to give it a second chance during the day and she said it was a TOTALLY different environment during the day.  In her words, "All the nice people seem to do the daytime activities and they skip the evening activities."

I am so glad that she gave it a second chance and found kids to do things with during the cruise.  You are very correct that each cruise will be different!!

[cdm289]

My sons love Club 02.  They have moved up from "camp" and "Circle C" over the years.  They use Club 02 to meet new friends.  I would probably make sure that she goes on the first night as sometimes that is when friendships are started.  Then later in the cruise you get to see all the new little packs of teens walking around the ship.  Sometimes if I am lucky, one of my boys are in those packs and I get a "hello nod".  The teens are not unruly and I have enjoyed meeting so many of the friends my sons have made.  Many have kept in touch over the years with my boys.  My oldest has only one cruise left at Club 02 and then he will be too old.  I am sad because at 18 he will still want to make friends.  He will still have his younger brother in the club so I am hoping he will be able to meet the kids in the hallway out front.  It is sad that at 18 he is too old for the kids programs and too young for the bars (where we live the drinking age is 18). 

 

Anyway, hopefully your daughter clicks with some new friends.  If she doesn't, she should speak with the Youth Director and perhaps he or she can hook your daughter up with some like minded kids.   

[jbethel11]

Will be headed to Club02 in less than a week's time, will report back on how I felt about it.

[Allura_317]

My daughter unfortunately did not have a good experience with Club O2.  Many of the teens were not the kind of person she "clicks" with, and she mentioned they were "too invested in their phones and social media to actually do anything with."   She also did not enjoy the ambiance of the club as it was playing music that she did not enjoy and was very loud.  However, this was just her and others can have totally different experiences.  Luckily, she happened to meet one girl her age, not through the club, who she had common interests with and enjoyed hanging out with.  

[Allura_317]

On 8/19/2019 at 10:29 AM, Marauder40 said:

I know the Club 02 experience can change cruise to cruise but my 15 year old daughter's experience was different from most on here.  We just got off the Magic on Saturday.  My daughter is energetic but shy at the same time.  She tried the mixer on the first night and came back to the cabin crying because everyone ignored her and most of the people were very rude and she said they played all rap music (definitely not her favorite.)

 

We told her to give it a second chance during the day and she said it was a TOTALLY different environment during the day.  In her words, "All the nice people seem to do the daytime activities and they skip the evening activities."

This was pretty much my daughters experience too. However, after the first night where it was all rap and teens ignoring her, she tried a scavenger hunt during the day where the experience was the same.  Glad yours was able to enjoy it during the day!

[jbethel11]

3 hours ago, Allura_317 said:

This was pretty much my daughters experience too. However, after the first night where it was all rap and teens ignoring her, she tried a scavenger hunt during the day where the experience was the same.  Glad yours was able to enjoy it during the day!

I totally agree! I miss Circle C, as their activities are more structured!

[desiree741]

I am glad to see this post. My daughter will be 15 on our next sailing and I’m trying to get her to check this out. She’s very shy and probably won’t take the initiative to engage with other teens,however, if they engage her she will loosen up. My fear is there may not be very many teens on a December 7th cruise.