Nervous about Kids clubs - 1st timer

[Oshkosh]

Hi

I have cruised a few times with my husband; we will go on our first cruise with a 5 year old in spring 2009 on RCCL; I am nervous about the ship and his safety; you know falling overboard, the kids clubs,etc; anyone have any tips? advice? experience? We love to cruise so we want this to happen. thanks OSHKOSH:o

[crusinmama06]

There never has (that I know of) a child falling overboard accidentally. The kids clubs are not near open decks. They are enclosed rooms. Even if you have a balcony, the glass walls are high on them. And even at the pool deck, there is no open deck, there is a glass wall. The upper walking/jogging track will be open...but once again, the railing (glass wall(is high)

 

But I guess a picture is worth a thousand words...so I always take a picture of my kids on each ship near the balcony railing so the parents back here can see the heights.

 

So here is a picture last year on RCCL Freedom when my kids were 3 and 7. My 7 year old was 48" tall at the time. So you know how tall your 5 year old is and how tall the railings will be to him.

 

[rebeccalouise]

My son LOVES the kids programs. Adventure Ocean is fun for them and your child will be happy to go, unless he is painfully shy.

 

Don't worry about their safety. They are well supervised onboard and there is no way they will fall overboard.

[cb at sea]

Most kids that age LOVE AO!!!! You may find it hard to get him out of there! And, children that young will NEVER be allowed to wander on their own--either by the staff or you! No way to "fall off!"

[Oshkosh]

Thanks for the posts - and the photo! we did get a balcony; do the doors to the balcony have locks up high (out of reach)...?

 

I forgot about the glass around the pool area, it is coming back to me...he will probably be shy the first few minutes but currently he asks to go to school so I am sure he will have fun...

 

we have been on 3 cruises (NCL/just ok, Carnival/fun, and Princess/nice; we are trying RCL for the kids club) hopefully this will become an annual vacation for us.. THANKS:D

[ugen512]

I can't find it on their website and we don't deal with this very often but what is the age that kids can sign them selves in and out? Oh BTW RCL.

[crusinmama06]

Thanks for the posts - and the photo! we did get a balcony; do the doors to the balcony have locks up high (out of reach)...?

 

Yes the locks are up high. And you have to turn the door handle a certain way before you slide the door open. The pressure it takes to open up the door is pretty strong. So I won't say a kid "cannot possibly ever in a million years open it"....but, I would be pretty surprised if my kids could. ;)

 

I can't find it on their website and we don't deal with this very often but what is the age that kids can sign them selves in and out? Oh BTW RCL.

 

When they are in the 9-11 group, you can choose to give them signing in/out privledges. Once they hit the 12-14 group (and of course, above that), they can come and go as they please.

[reedstephstuff]

Based on our 5 yr old's experience with Camp Carnival, no worries! Now, he does and has been in preschool for sometime, but he LOVED the Camp. In fact, he couldn't stop talking about going back to play with his new friends and "teachers" everytime we picked him up. I've heard GREAT things about the RCI caregivers. As for the balcony, if it's anything like our cabin on Glory... the locks were up high. Yes, the door is heavy and difficult to open, but the 5 yo COULD open the door. We have a 2 yr old and this made me nervous, but prior to boarding the ship we made it VERY clear that there were rules pertaining to the balcony:

#1 - NO boys allowed on the balcony w/o an adult.

#2 - Absolutely NO standing on the chairs or table on the balcony. This was my only fear... should a child stand on a chair near the railing, falling over would definitely be possible!

#3 - Rule for adults: no holding children in arms along the railing... images of Michael Jackson & his infant kept haunting me!

#4 - Rule for adults: ALWAYS lock the balcony & cabin/ hallway doors!!!!

#4 - Rule for everyone: Relax and ENJOY!

[Quilcruisers]

My son was 4 yrs old in Aug 08 when we went on the Carnival Conquest:

 

We went to the 715pm Camp Carnival orientation and were very excited to meet the staff there. I knew that my son would be participating all week in the camp, but I had to convince my family that he would be happy there. We are all very protective of him and want to make sure that he is well taken care of. He is a very lucky little boy and so precious to us so I understood their resistence. I had been doing my research on camp prior to the trip so I was satisfied that it would be safe and a nice retreat for him. I knew he would enjoy camp, my family was reluctant to not have him with us for the entire trip, I wasn’t planning to shuffle him off there the whole trip, but for some well-deserved separation from us adults. This also gave us some time in the evenings to do some adult things and still be able to know that he was taken care of. My son is 4 years old and loves going to daycare, he loves making friends and playing with other kids and I knew that he would not want to hang with us all week. The Camp Carnival schedule was very well planned and we were excited to be able to take him and let him enjoy his vacation too.

Camp Carnival is another area that I want to comment on. My son enjoyed it immensely. He was excited to go to camp and I had the week planned out according to the activities that I knew he would enjoy. I took him with me when I left the ship but he spent time in camp 6 days out of the 7. I also paid for babysitting 5 nights out of the 7 and was very happy with the activities and the way that they were really strict on the safety and security of the children. After about the 5th night in the dining room, we let our son go to camp to eat with his friends. We watched them from afar and were very impressed at how they handled the kids. They served them food in the dining room and the kids were truly happy to be among their peers. I know that my son got tired of the “fufu” sit down dinners so this worked for us. We also thought ahead and brought a small DVD player with some movies. This was a lifesaver. Even at 1 in the morning, after picking my son up from camp, he would fall asleep watching a movie. It was his vacation too so we let him do it. We also took the DVD player to lunch with us on the lido deck and that kept him entertained while we sat around and digested our food. We have a “secret” hiding place that we go to relax and get away from the crowds, we took the DVD player there too. Its off the side of the ship by the shore desk and it is virtually empty all the time. They do have chairs out there and we have claimed that as our official relaxation spot. We spend time there sleeping, reading, talking, taking pics, etc. The lifeboats hang above our head and gives some shelter to the sun.

My son is going with us in 2009 on another 7 day cruise and anxiously awaiting "camp" again. He did have an underlying fear of "funship freddy" but tried to be a good sport about it. He will be 5 yrs old by that time.

Angela