Kids Club activities and questions? (Seascape)

[skittl1321]

What are the typical schedules for kids club like? Is it free for all? Are there planned games or crafts? Is it mostly screen time?  Is there a paper schedule given out? Do you need to sign up for sessions ahead of time?  Are they very strict about which age group kids go into, or can siblings stay together?

 

My kids will be 4 and 6.  

 

Edited January 31, 2023 by skittl1321

[linz98144]

Following because I was about to post an almost identical question. 

[Sthrncrusr]

I’m not sure if this will help you, but a few years ago we went on the seaside when it first started sailing in the US. Out of all the cruises we have done, and we have done a lot, my kids still talk about how much fun they had in the MSC kids club.  It was definitely organized down to the hour with what activities were going on. I think that is because MSC often times will take the kids out of the club to do activities around the ship. One time, my husband and I were having drinks and happened to see our kids performing on a stage out by the pool ha ha. My kids also enjoyed the fact that the staff would take them to a roped off area for dinner versus bringing in dinner to the kids club. I think it made them feel a little more grown-up. We found the staff to be so much fun. They did tons of singing and dance performance stuff  which was really cool. They also did a fun haunted house type thing one night. That was the cruise our kids were begging to go to the club everyday. Water park and kids club all day, every day! I think my kids prefer a more scheduled type of kids club activity versus a free-for-all with video games and no structure. MSC definitely has it planned down to the hour which as parents we really appreciated. We will be on the Seascape in April and my kids are now 10 and 11. I’ll be interested to see what they think!

[peder]

The Seascape kids club seems to be very structured. There was always a big game or dance party they were doing, except when they'd be off to the buffet for a meal.

 

FYI: the daily program might say something like: "MINI CLUB: 10am-5pm" but when you get there, they'll say "10am-12:45pm and 3pm-5pm". This mismatch between the daily planner and the actual kids club schedule wasn't an issue for us, but you'll want to drop by the day beforehand and confirm their schedule depending on your needs. In general, if you're booking advanced reservations somewhere during kids club times, you may want to assume there are 3 typical blocks of programming each day in the kids club (lunchtime, afternoon, and evening) and not try to book something during the overlap of those times (this can make it kinda hard trying to book something far in advance, because you won't know the exact time until the day beforehand).

 

One other logistical thing: we never needed reservations, even though we had a completely full cruise with lots of kids onboard. In fact, I have never read of anyone ever needing reservations at the kids club on any MSC ship (though obviously they do have some capacity limit, it doesn't ever seem to be an issue for families traveling aboard an MSC ship).

 

On a separate note: our kids (ages 4, 5, and 7) prefer more unstructured playtime, so I don't think they particularly enjoyed the kids club. When you'd see the kids out and about the ship on their "field trips", you'd see some kids looking really bored, and the rest having the time of their lives. So your mileage may vary. Even though I think your kids will probably like the kids club, I'd have some fallback options in mind in case they don't like it.

 

Bottom line: it's a large, very well run kids club, with lots of activities, and even though I've only sailed with MSC, it might even be the best kids club in the industry (I've read lots of negative reviews of the Disney kids clubs geared much more toward toddlers, for instance, and NCL reviewers complain that they were often full).

[skittl1321]

Thank you both! I guess I won't know if my kids like it until I get there, but this has at least alleviated my fears that the kids club isn't well run.