Siblings in 2 different Teen Groups: Circle C & Club O2 HELP

[SweetCinNY]

I'm booked on a cruise on the Venezia this summer and my kids will be in 2 separate teen age groups for the clubs; would they allow both kids to be in one of the groups or are they strict with the ages, etc? Thanks so much. 

[staceyglow]

My experience is from quite awhile back, but my son was only a few weeks from being old enough for the next level, and they let him "age up".

 

Why the concern about your two kids being in different groups?  My kids were in that situation and it worked out fine.  They both really enjoyed their experiences.

[Essiesmom]

First:  please use the default font when posting.  Those of us on tablets cannot read the font you are using…comic sans?  It shows as very small script and the color is very pale.  I had to enlarge it on my iPad, on phone or mini I would just have passed it by.

Second, you don’t say how far apart in age your children are.  That would make a difference, how much older than Club O2 the older one is.  EM

Edited December 15, 2022 by Essiesmom

[SweetCinNY]

My children are 14 & daughter will turn 16 on cruise.

 

Sorry about font; haven’t been on these boards in forever.

[Sailin_Pirate]

No one here can give you a definite answer. Some will say if they are close aged they will be moved and some will say they are strict about age groups.

 

Best bet is to talk to them on board and explain things.

[lazydayz]

While they have shown some discretion at the kids' club for younger kids, I doubt they will let your children go to the same club.  The age difference is too big, and the older kids are not supervised at all. 

 

I doubt it matters too much, though.  Usually the kids go on the first night and form a friends group, who they hang with the rest of the cruise.  

 

My advise would be to have all of the kids go to the welcome party for their age group, to see if they click with anyone.  If not, they can always do stuff as siblings rather than through the clubs. 

[Elaine5715]

13 hours ago, SweetCinNY said:

My children are 14 & daughter will turn 16 on cruise.

 

Sorry about font; haven’t been on these boards in forever.

Unlikely to be in same group since Club 02 is 15 to 17 yrs and they don't want to be with 14 yrs.

[momof3cruisers]

My boys were in the same situation and they did not let them switch. Which was fine because they ended up just hanging out together and not going to the clubs. My kids have never been huge fans of the kids clubs at any age level. 

[RockHoundTX]

During the school year when there are not a lot of teens, they sometimes combine them but probably not during the summer. I have teen kids that have been on about 30 cruises. Pretty much everyone shows up the first night and splits off into about 4 groups (2 Circle C and 2 Club O2). In each age group there will be kids that stick strictly to the program and then a second group that splinters off and does nothing program related. By the second day, these groups tend to subdivide even further into groups of 4-6 kids that then hang out together for the rest of the cruise. As a general rule, the older kids tend to not like hanging out with the younger ones (you will see this even within Club 02 where the 16/17 year olds tend to shy away from the 15 year olds). Interestingly enough, my experience is that it is the younger groups that tend to cause the most problems (the older groups tend to stay to themselves and spend 50%+ of their time just hanging out either in someone's cabin or at one of the lounge areas). Circle C tends to have a lot more "activities" (such as making  bracelets, trivia, etc.) so no need to rush up the Club 02.  

[Jamesatgsu]

My sons are always in different age groups, due to being 2.5 years apart, and we don't cruise in the time where there is a 2 year gap instead of 3. The first time they actually ended up being combined because the cruise combined the Sharks and Stingrays, which worked out great. Since then my oldest has been in Circle C and my younger son a shark. We board Sunday for the first time having the Circle C and O2 split as they are 12 & 15. To me it has been a non-issue as both kids make their own friends onboard and don't need to socialize with each other most of the time. And I find that they actually spend most of their time outside the clubs doing other things onboard.

[NebraskaSatellite]

I was in a similar spot as you, with my daughter turning 16 during the cruise and my son having just turned 14.  We went to the Club O2 manager the afternoon we boarded to see about allowing my 14yo be in Club O2.  Since he is tall for his age and no one would really question whether he belonged in Club O2, they let him in on the understanding that if he misbehaved at all he'd be 'demoted' to Circle C.  This was for a late July 2019 cruise.

 

On both of their cruises, the clubs were just a place to meet and go do other things - occasionally they would play games there, but not so much for the organized activities.  The clubs served as a way to bring similar-aged kids together early on as an ice-breaker, but then they typically self-select into groups of about 8 to hang out the rest of the cruise.

[mjkacmom]

15 hours ago, momof3cruisers said:

My boys were in the same situation and they did not let them switch. Which was fine because they ended up just hanging out together and not going to the clubs. My kids have never been huge fans of the kids clubs at any age level. 

My kids loved the teen clubs - to meet other teens to hang out with for the week. 

[jsglow]

My adult daughter's very last cruise was 2 weeks before she was to age out of her beloved Club O2 (they're pretty strict about that 18 thing for liability reasons).  She's very excited to be going on a 7 night cruise with her boyfriend (both in their 30s) here in January.  I was just commenting to my wife that she's never seen a Guy's Burger or anything 2.0 related.  We can certainly get jaded around here can't we?  They'll have a great time.