Do Children's Programs Actually do the Planned Activities?

[PattyW]

For those with experience, how regularly do the kids’ programs alter the schedule? We are cruising RCCL is a few weeks and it will be the first time my oldest is eligible for AO.

I just read a post (which might be from a troll) on the RCCL board that said he took his child to AO for a specific activity he was interested in, but the AO staff did not do the activity, rather they set up a movie for the kids to watch and told them to play.

 

The responses to the post did not dwell on this point, rather they brushed it off as “not a problem”.

 

While I’m sure that my daughter would enjoy watching the Incredibles, I have looked at AO Compasses and it looks like they have a lot of fun activities for the kids. I’m not so sure I want her watching the Incredibles on vacation in lieu of spending time with us.

 

Am I setting her and myself up for disappointment if I go over the AO activities with her for the next day on the cruise? How often do they switch?

 

I should mention, this is a repositioning cruise (from San Diego to Vancouver) during the school year. I expect some kids, but not a ton. Does that affect whether the scheduled activities will take place?

[VikkiGarcia]

We have sailed RC plenty with the kids. I find the activities listed are done each day. They may have been done earlier than the time listed (mostly because the item listed before went quickly). The key is to come to the whole 3 hour session (morning,afternoon,night) not drop them off half way. When you sail the off season there is a chance things get changed up a bit more. My kids liked this because they would be asked more often to vote or they pick what happened next. If something really sparked my daughters interest I would make sure to mention it to the staff when I picked her up from an earlier session. "Corrie is really excited that tonight is 'Survivor Night'. I have never had AO skip the entire theme of the days activities and put them in front of a movie. That may be the "cool down" done AFTER activities while waiting for pick up.

[sas80]

The kids on our RCCL cruises are always

 

pretending to be pirates and "taking over the dining room"

being put into sleds to travel around on the ice as part of the ice show

running around asking travelers for random items while on a scavenger hunt

participating in the parade on the promenade deck

etc.,

etc.,

etc.

[BethCarp]

that guy was a troll. I don't think anyone took him seriously.

[Terpnut]

AO has done their scheduled activities every time during my two cruise experiences where we used them.

[Ga_Crusin]

Forgive me, but what the heck is a troll? I mean, I know about the trolls that live under bridges, but in this context, what's a troll? :confused:

[crusinmama06]

Forgive me, but what the heck is a troll? I mean, I know about the trolls that live under bridges, but in this context, what's a troll? :confused:

 

A "troll" in the context of a message board is someone who comes to a board JUST to post something inflamatory then they run away, never to be heard from again. I think that words gets tossed around too much. I got accused of being one when I first joined because I did not enjoy our NCL cruise. :rolleyes:

 

So to answer the original question. I agree with the others who said about staying the entire 3 hour span of time. You child *may* miss an activity if it is done earlier than expected.

 

But I have never ever know any blatant abuses of it.

[Ga_Crusin]

thanks! :)

[Cruisin' Chick]

If there are many kids, there should be a full schedule. Sometimes we have dropped off our girl (we've only gone on Carnival and Princess) and they're in the middle of a craft or doing something other than what's listed in the kids' program passed out at the beginning of the cruise. It seemed to depend on how many kids actually showed up for that session. There's not going to be Kid Olympics, if only three kids are there at the time. If there are few kids onboard (our girl was on a cruise in February while in kindergarten and was one of only three 5-yr-olds), you have to be prepared for a pared down program.

[1alexcartermom]

On our Carnival cruise, Camp Carnival seemed to follow the activities to within 15 min, so we made our plans as to when to drop our kids off accordingly. This was not the case with the RCCL cruise we just went on. They always did the activities but at completely different times than stated in the sheet. I did not read the guy's post to whom you are referring, but on our 8 night cruise on the Jewel this month, gagaball (sp?) was listed on the activities, and they watched the Incredibles instead because they had already finished gagaball. One time I dropped my oldest son off to do the science experiment with eggs and they had done it an hour earlier. When I voiced my disappointment that he missed the experiment, they pulled out a kit and sent a counselor over to help him, while the rest did something else. The lack of following the schedule was most of the time not a big deal to me as they always had something fun going on (except for the one movie). The only problems the schedule presented for me was that my younger one is allergic to face paint, and since they seemed to do face painting all the time and not when it was just on the schedule I had to make sure each shift that everyone knew not to paint his face. They were very good about this. The other inconvenience is when the schedule listed Carnival night and we showed up and no one was there. There was a sign on the door that said "Closed as we are doing an activity elsewhere." For an hour we had no idea where they were. Well an hour later they showed up and did Carnival night. By this time it was 9:15pm (Carnival night was listed at 8pm) and so my son only had 45 min at AO, a fact he was not happy about. It turned out they were in a lounge doing a hip-hop dancing class, something that was on the schedule for 10am. This whole problem could have been alleviated by a sticky on the door telling where they had gone to.

 

All in all, we would do either Camp Carnival or AO again in a heartbeat as my kids loved both and whatever inconvenience AO caused by not adhering to the schedule was minor and usually no big deal as there was still plenty of fun to be had.

[1alexcartermom]

dreaded double post, sorry!