How segregated by ages is the kids club really? Will my 8yo get to play with her 11yo cousins?

[Aurianna]

The family is taking an Alaskan cruise next fall. We are very likely going with Princess but doing some last sanity checks.

 

My daughter will be 8 and her cousins will be 11. I see that the age group break down is 7-9 and 10-12.

The kids get to see each other once a year generally so we want them together and I'm not comfortable leaving dropping her off in a strange place without her cousins with her.

She's very big for her age and will be unhappy playing with 7 year olds instead of her cousins.

 

I see this in the FAQ:

• Will children of other ages be able to play together during program hours?
• Yes, if they choose to. Children 3-12 are able to choose the activities they want to participate in by themselves or with other children. Splash Academy offers flexible program options where children can choose games and activities from four different stations: Dynamic (5-12yrs), Creative & Chill, Gaming, and Younger Ones’ Choice. The Younger Ones’ Choice offers a variety of interest-based and age-appropriate activities for the younger cruisers designed to keep them active, engaged, and safe.

 

So what's the real situation? Is the age ranges really just the official numbers for ratios but she could actually be with her cousins the whole time? Or is there more differentiation at certain times than the FAQ leads me to believe?

 

Also, anyone had experience with both Norwegian and Princess' kid club and have any input on one vs the other?

 

Edited August 14, 2023 by Aurianna
Didn't finish a thought

[kitkat343]

On sailings with fewer children, children across different ages are more likely to be together.  When there are lots of kids, it is more likely that the age groups are separated.  There were so few kids on my last princess cruise (11) that all the children were grouped together.  There will be a lot more on an Alaskan cruise over the summer.

 

Princess has historically done a very strong job in Alaska, and they have excellent kids clubs.  They also used to bring puppies on board in Alaska, and they had naturalists give presentations (both to the adults and kids in the kids club, but all that was precovid and I don't know about now.)

 

My kids personally liked Princess and RCs kids clubs better than Norwegian since they said they did more sports and arts and crafts on the other cruise lines and played more xbox on NCL (but the other children on NCL all seemed really happy with the kids club and we always got arts and crafts projects when we picked the kids up from NCL) 

 

Cruise lines sometimes allow children to move up or down an age group, but usually only within a year.  Disney has the widest band of age groups specifically because a lot of family reunions happen on their cruises, but their prices are higher and my family has never sailed them because the other cruise lines tended to have better itineraries - more port stops and longer time in port - than the disney cruises we looked at, although everyone we know who has sailed with Disney really loved them. 

 

Edited August 14, 2023 by kitkat343

[Aurianna]

3 minutes ago, kitkat343 said:

On sailings with fewer children, children across different ages are more likely to be together.  When there are lots of kids, it is more likely that the age groups are separated.  There were so few kids on my last princess cruise (11) that all the children were grouped together.  There will be a lot more on an Alaskan cruise over the summer.

 

 

I was spacing when I said we were going in the fall. We're totally going in the summer.

Yeah, I was very happy with what I've read about Princess, and our kiddos all fall in the same age group on that line. We'd all but ruled out NCL because they might not be together and it sounds like that's still a possibility.

[mjkacmom]

None of my kids liked tween clubs, awkward age. Tried DCL and NCL and wouldn’t go back. They liked the younger groups and teen clubs. Maybe the older kids won’t even want to go.

[kitkat343]

1 hour ago, mjkacmom said:

None of my kids liked tween clubs, awkward age. Tried DCL and NCL and wouldn’t go back. They liked the younger groups and teen clubs. Maybe the older kids won’t even want to go.

That's possible but do make them go on the first night so they make friends they can meet up with all over the ship.  My son loved going to casual restaurants with his friends.  The family should consider if they would be comfortable with the 11 year olds going places without their parents on the ship, and if you are comfortable with your 8 year old joining them.

[Travelling2Some]

In our experience NCL was very rigid regarding age groups.  Our kids were close in age, 2 of them very close (born in the same year) and they would not let them stay in the same group.  Result was a "domino effect" where nobody wanted to leave anybody alone so they all opted out.  This was quite awhile ago but NCL does seem to be less accommodating in general than other cruise lines.