Leaving kids in Oceaneer's club

[cmacf1]

We're thinking of doing a Disney cruise (if I can convince DH that it's a good idea!) When we go, our kids will be 3 and 5 and I know you can leave kids in the kids' club while you're on the ship. What about on port days? Can you leave them there if you want to go off the ship? We would want to do a Mayan ruin excursion and this isn't exactly the best thing for little kids (but my DH and I have a big interest in it.) In fact, I think you may not even be allowed to take kids as young as ours on it. Thanks for the help!

[609annh]

You can make arrangements to do this, but keep in mind, you will be unavailable should your children have an emergency. It's fine to leave them on the ship if you want to look around the port, not straying out of beeper range. Wait a few years to explore the ruins - it's worth the wait, and you won't feel guilty or worry about leaving your children.

[KKB]

We left our children on one port day, and they had no complaints about it.

When is the next time you will have this opportunity? The children will be very well cared for, and having the time of their lives!

 

We found that our children--particularly the 6 year old--basically either wanted to be at the kid's club or the pool. As soon as he had finished his dinner, he was ready to head straight to the club! Luckily I wasn't terribly impressed w/ dining room food on Disney, so didn't mind leaving mine!

 

You have to decide what you are comfortable with. Many do not leave their kids in kids club ever. Others, like us, let the kids decide when they want to be there...but a couple of times (St. Maarten...PALO:p ) we told them that they would have to go. They NEVER complained.

 

You will regret not seeing the ruins--they are amazing!

 

Happy cruising!

Kris

PS We did the Magic last year over Xmas!!! Your children will be entranced!

[Tupelo Honey]

We went last year and our daugther was 5. She loved the kids club.. she'd cry when we picked her up.. she only ate dinner with us once.. we went on a 4 day cruise then.. and then our day in nassau we asked her if she wanted to go or stay.. she found out we were just going to shop and "stuff" and she said, "we can shop when we get home".. "i'd rather stay on the ship".. so off we went.. with NO WORRIES..

 

you will be amazed at the security...the children aren't aware of them.. but, they are evident.. they are very strict about the password/who has permission to pick your child up policy, very polite but strict.. we loved that.. cause, she is our most precious person in our lives. She has never been babysat.. she did go to a montessori and she was in kindergarten.. but never with strangers.. always a familiar face or several.. She thrived.. she voted for another longer cruise this year... You know your children and their personalities.. do not worry.. Disney will not fail you.. from the moment they go in.. they have to wash their hands immediately.. it's extremely clean and safe.. you will have a schedule of all of their activities for the day.. you will be very informed.. Our daughter never once paged us.. and yes, the other poster is correct.. the pagers do not work off ship. If it was us and our child.. we'd go to the ruins.. hope this helps..

[OceanLiner]

My wife is very protective of our sons and Disney was able to totaly avail all her fears about the kids being safe. The security is amazing, and we really liked every aspect of the protection of all the kids. Here are the issues for which I would be concerned:

 

1 - if there was a medical emergency, is there any chance that the child would be removed from the ship? This could mean that your child was leaving the ship without you and going to a foreign country.

 

2 - if there was a ship emergency, how would Disney handle the situation in regards to the responsibility and protection of the children when you are not present should they need to leave the ship?

 

3 - what would happen if your tour group is delayed and the ship sails on without you? Opps! I would be very careful to only book your tour with DCL, because if a whole big bunch of you are late coming back to the ship you have a much better chance of the ship waiting for your return. If its just the two of you the odds are pretty low that the ship will wait. These Myan tours are really cool, but they make for a very long trek and could be very difficult for kids.

 

Hope this helps.

[scottishwee35]

We went last year and our daugther was 5. She loved the kids club.. she'd cry when we picked her up.. she only ate dinner with us once.. we went on a 4 day cruise then.. and then our day in nassau we asked her if she wanted to go or stay.. she found out we were just going to shop and "stuff" and she said, "we can shop when we get home".. "i'd rather stay on the ship".. so off we went.. with NO WORRIES..

 

you will be amazed at the security...the children aren't aware of them.. but, they are evident.. they are very strict about the password/who has permission to pick your child up policy, very polite but strict.. we loved that.. cause, she is our most precious person in our lives. She has never been babysat.. she did go to a montessori and she was in kindergarten.. but never with strangers.. always a familiar face or several.. She thrived.. she voted for another longer cruise this year... You know your children and their personalities.. do not worry.. Disney will not fail you.. from the moment they go in.. they have to wash their hands immediately.. it's extremely clean and safe.. you will have a schedule of all of their activities for the day.. you will be very informed.. Our daughter never once paged us.. and yes, the other poster is correct.. the pagers do not work off ship. If it was us and our child.. we'd go to the ruins.. hope this helps..

 

That same with our childrens. They loved the club and we went out for shopping and I was nervous. When I came back and one of my son don't want to leave for meals so they told us that they will take the children to snack. I find to difficult to take my son out of the club at night time!! As my husband, mother in law could not get him out so I had to get him out of the club as he loved it!!

 

Next holiday that we are going to Med. Cruise and I have to work out about excursion as my son want to stay in club while we go on excursion. Maybe find which one suitable for him to excursion and another place he might stay in club. My daughter is not bother as she like the club and get out of club to have meals with us.

 

I think everybody have different views of mind.

 

Scottishwee35

[Host Mick]

My wife is very protective of our sons and Disney was able to totaly avail all her fears about the kids being safe. The security is amazing, and we really liked every aspect of the protection of all the kids. Here are the issues for which I would be concerned:

 

1 - if there was a medical emergency, is there any chance that the child would be removed from the ship? This could mean that your child was leaving the ship without you and going to a foreign country.

 

2 - if there was a ship emergency, how would Disney handle the situation in regards to the responsibility and protection of the children when you are not present should they need to leave the ship?

 

3 - what would happen if your tour group is delayed and the ship sails on without you? Opps! I would be very careful to only book your tour with DCL, because if a whole big bunch of you are late coming back to the ship you have a much better chance of the ship waiting for your return. If its just the two of you the odds are pretty low that the ship will wait. These Myan tours are really cool, but they make for a very long trek and could be very difficult for kids.

 

Hope this helps.

 

I can't imagine a medical emergency situation where they would want to take the kid off of the ship. The shipboard hospital is extremely well equipped and is staffed with MDs and nurses available around the clock. Where the local hospitals may not be as well equipped or staffed.

I don't know about the procedures first hand but I can guess that it would be standard to have an evacuation procedure that doesn't involve calling the parents to come pick up the kids. The parents might simply not be available for whatever reason. You can call the shoreside Guest Services and ask. It might be interesting to see how many times you get transferred becore someone can answer the question.

I'd stick with the Disney excursions. If the group is delayed, they WILL wait. It's happened and they did wait. CMs on the tour have phones or radios and are in contact with the ship. While you're on the phone, that might be another interesting question to ask. Who takes responsibility for a child if the parent misses the ship? I'll guess that infants go to sick bay with an RN and older ones end up with a ship's officer at the direction of the Master. Someone's going to have to crack open the big book of emergency procedures to look-up that one.

[Turtletyson]

Hi!

 

I am considering Wonder in early March, and I have a 4 year-old. The counselor to kid ratio of 15:1 concerned me a bit -- did any of you have a problem with that? She has been in day care / pre-school, but the ratios are lower than that.

 

Laurie

[Texas Ranger]

We just got off the Wonder 11-22 to 11-26. We had our son and 2 nephews in the Oceaneers Club. They all seemed to have a very good time and always wanted to go back. There are few problems that I had with this. They expect every child to be perfectly trained little robots. If your child needs any extra attention in the play area DON'T choose Disney. My sister in law got paged 3-4 times for the 3 year old because he needed some comfort and I got paged once because my son got scared when the Characters came to visit. When I showed up to see what the problem was he was running around and having a good time. In all our cases just a little extra comfort would have been all that was needed. All he needed was some re-assurance and to be removed from the area where the characters were but instead they page the parents. Also they WILL NOT help if your child needs assistance with the potty. They will help them get to the potty but will not touch them. So if your child is potty trained but needs help wiping well that is too bad they will have a sore tush and some poop marks on the underpants. My sister in law was on a Carnival cruise and she said there people will help kids with the potty and had a similar style camp for them.

The counselors were very nice and they always knew where our kids were. The kids go back and forth between the Oceaneers club and Oceaneers lounge at scheduled times and various field trips on the ship and there always seemed to be enough counselors on the field trips. Be sure to ask if there is any time you will not be able to check your child back in to the camp. On the last nite during our dinner about 6:30 my son was getting antsy and like each nite about the same time I took him to the camp but they wouldn’t let me check him in because they had taken the kids to eat at the buffet. It is hard to explain to a 4 year old that wants to play that he has to wait when you are standing in front of the play area.