When do your kids use the kids club??

[kaf7878]

I was wondering for those families that have kids that can make their own decisions--when do your kids use the kids club??

 

I guess I'm curious why they would rather be in the club instead of out at the pool.

 

This is our first time cruising with our kids and I'm getting nervous that they may never want to give us alone time:p

[crusinmama06]

I can't explain the draw of the club. Personally I would rather be at the pool. ;) But for my kids, it seems to come down to being there at these times...

 

Sea Days

--We go to breakfast, they beg to go to the club

--I pick them up for lunch, they beg to go back to the club when it reopens. I ask them to stay with us and go to the pool. They say ok.

--By about 3pm, they are asking to dry off and go back to the club

--I tell them to wait till after dinner.

--All through dinner I hear "Is the club open? Is it time to go? How about now? Now?" :rolleyes:

--They barely make it through dinner because they want to leave to go to the club, which doesn't usually open until 6:45pm or later.

--I tell them I will be back at 10pm to get them. They whine and say they want to stay later. I say no, see you at 10pm. ;)

 

Port Days

--Since we are usually gone all day, the kids don't make it to the club until after dinner.

 

Not everyone has the same experience. Your kids may hate it there. You just never know.

[honeywell]

They do close AO a few hours each day so that is when I grab my kids and head to the pool - or in the case of my next cruise, the H2o zone! Otherwise, they are in the club most every hour it is open! My 9 year old daughter's favorite time is when she is allowed to eat dinner with other club kids and the AO workers. She LOVES that!

[ncmomof2]

Seems to me that a big part of the draw is the other kids. My 8yo DD (9 now) was not very interested in the kids club on our last cruise and really just wanted to hang out at the pool or elsewhere. I'm pretty sure it was because we were cruising with a friend of hers, so no matter what she was doing, she was with another kid who was not her sibling! :rolleyes: The kids counselors on that ship were also not that good, so the activities lacked energy (to say the least). It's quite possible that the girls would have wanted to spend more time together in the club if the activities had had more pizzazz (the descriptions of the activities sounded great, but when they would go it just seemed like the counselors were going through the motions, which the kids picked up on and so the whole thing just became a boring ordeal rather than a fun time) and I'm pretty sure my DD would have been more into it (lackluster as it was) if that was her only source of peer time. My DS (not quite 3 at the time) liked the club a little better -- it was a good source of toys -- but even he didn't enjoy it as much as I expected, I think because that club space was cramped and windowless (the bigger kids usually met in various lounges around the ship) and again, the counselors were not as energetic and "out there" as I've experienced previously.

 

As to when my kids go, during the day when the activities look interesting or when mom and dad are planning something the kids think is uber boring (or there's something in particular mom and dad want to do together sans kids :P ) and usually for a while after dinner (when the pool isn't an option anyway).

 

Sorry for the long rambling answer to a short question...

[SelectSys]

I was wondering for those families that have kids that can make their own decisions--when do your kids use the kids club??

 

I guess I'm curious why they would rather be in the club instead of out at the pool.

 

This is our first time cruising with our kids and I'm getting nervous that they may never want to give us alone time:p

 

First night to meet other kids and it tails off dramatically from there. When my kids were younger, under 11-12, they would like to hang out in the kids club. Now it seems that they manage their own activities with the exception of a few events (e.g., sports tournament).

 

Our kids tend to be on deck with there friends quite a bit on sea days. When we are in port we still spend most time as a family off of the ship.

[CanadianTwosome]

I think it really all depends on how much your kids like the club and the other children. On my daughter's first cruise, at the age of 8, we met a nice family on our roll call with a daughter a year older than her, and we met them the day before the cruise. The two girls went to the first night at Kid's Crew to check it out, but ended up preferring to spend their time just hanging out by themselves.

 

On her second cruise, granted she didn't have a 'friend' when she boarded, the Kid's Crew area was much better (newer ship designed with kid/family areas), there were more kids, and she went every day. She cried the last morning because she couldn't go back.

 

Now we're anticipating her third cruise, on an even bigger ship. I've got a 'wait and see' attitude about the Kid's Crew. She'll go on the first night (which I always recommend because that's when most of the other kids will be there so even if they don't like it, they have the best opportunity to make a friend to hang out with), and if she likes it, she'll go back. I'm hoping she likes it but maybe not quite as much as the last one... I didn't get to spend as much 'alone' time with HER as I might have liked... I get a lot more chances to be alone with my husband at home than I do with her. :)

[sunandseagirl617]

I can't explain the draw of the club. Personally I would rather be at the pool. ;) But for my kids, it seems to come down to being there at these times...

 

Sea Days

--We go to breakfast, they beg to go to the club

--I pick them up for lunch, they beg to go back to the club when it reopens. I ask them to stay with us and go to the pool. They say ok.

--By about 3pm, they are asking to dry off and go back to the club

--I tell them to wait till after dinner.

--All through dinner I hear "Is the club open? Is it time to go? How about now? Now?" :rolleyes:

--They barely make it through dinner because they want to leave to go to the club, which doesn't usually open until 6:45pm or later.

--I tell them I will be back at 10pm to get them. They whine and say they want to stay later. I say no, see you at 10pm. ;)

 

Port Days

--Since we are usually gone all day, the kids don't make it to the club until after dinner.

 

Not everyone has the same experience. Your kids may hate it there. You just never know.

This is the exact experience I have with my kids! This time, my daughter was so exhausted with flowrider and the H20 zone, she took a nap in the afternoon! She has not done that since she was four (she is eight now!)

 

She actually was able to stay in the late night party until about 11:00pm a couple of nights! Sometimes during the day she would only go in for 2 hours in the morning and two in the afternoon!

[dolphinwyo]

My kids personally don't like the pools because of the salt water - they enjoy the water slide, but that only lasts for a couple of hours a day before they are ready for camp again. They love the activities, time away from mom and dad, and in my kids case - different age groups - so time away from each other and with kids their own ages for a while. My 7 y.o. loved it more than my 3 y.o., but they are both looking forward to our next cruise and we got a room near camp this time for less running back and forth.

[abitaturbodog]

My boys aren't really into the kids club. (They've been cruising since they were 8 and 9.)

We get the club schedule on the first night and they pick which activities that they want to do throughout the week. Mostly it's the scavenger hunts! They show up for their chosen activities and then leave afterward.

 

They prefer to spend most of their time with new friends at the pool, on the slide and in the arcade. On Carnival they always have done the "All Night Party." This is a highlight of their cruise!

 

Yours may be different, but don't be surprised if they just want to show up at the kids club for particular activities.

[junglejane]

Our kids have been on 6 cruises, starting when they were 4 and 8 years old. They're now 8 and 12. The younger one has always loved the kids programs and will stay there all day if possible. She will turn down the chance to go to the pool in order to stay in the kids' club. She begs to stay for the late night slumber party even when the rest of us are ready to call it quits and go to bed. We have to drag her off the ship when we visit the ports.

 

The older one will go to the kids program for a while, but she has never been as crazy about it as her younger sister. As she has gotten older, she spends less and less time there. She'll read the program and go for certain activities like the scavenger hunt, but the rest of the time she'd rather hang out with us. She likes activities like trivia, cooking demonstrations, some shows, etc. We do allow her to sign herself out of the program but if she does she has to report to us and is only allowed to go certain places on her own (e.g., to the buffet for a snack, then back to the room or to wherever we are).

 

So I think it really depends on your kid, and whether he or she hits it off with some of the other kids. And it can change as they get older.

 

--Junglejane

[Felizcruiser08]

Hi,

I have to agree , the big draw are the other children and the staff, most children usually love the kids clubs. I did see a few children who were shy about being in a new group, but usually by the 2nd or 3rd day, they are over it and want to go.

My DH, DS, and my husband's grandmother and I went on the Carib Princess last year, it was DS first cruise. He was almost 5 y/o at the time, since it was October , the club was not too crowded. He absolutely loved it, the staff was wonderful to him and he adored them as well. Some boys his age were not keen on attending the activities, so a few of the "older" 7-9 year old girls adopted him. They always wanted to meet him at the pool or to watch the movie under the stars together.

 

He loved visiting the ports so between a few hours a day and at night, I think we hit a good balance. This year, since he has started kindergarten, I hope he will want to spend time us, I miss him!! I am not sure about CCL but Princess offered night time activities past the normal hours - at a rate of 10/hour but that is what I would pay at home. HAL will be 5/hour so check with them at orienation.

 

I am sure they will have a great time and you and DH can have some alone time, have a wonderful cruise !

[FiggyWig]

Hi All

 

We are getting ever excited, with still 8 months to go before our 1st ever cruise on Celebrity Solstice - Eastern Med.

 

Question is - we will be with our 12 year old son - no other kids. I'm kind of keen to think he will want to join in with the kids club, and am aware that he should make an appearance there early on. But am wondering what the procedure is the 1st time ?

 

We sail at 6pm, then the next day is a sea day, followed by 10 port intensive days, so we will be ashore by day most of the time, but I'm thinking we should try to get him involved in the clubs for some of the evenings.

 

Obviously he's not such a youngster that will want constant supervision from the 1st minute as perhaps a 2/3 year old might. I can imagine him being a bit shy at the outset, but usually finds a friend at some time. But is it the norm that we all turn up the 1st day, take a look around together, then parents wander off and leave him there. Or do the supervisors kind of get him 'involved' as soon as he walks in ?

 

Any advice ?

[Wavesprite]

They should have a time during embarkation where you can go sign up, in the afternoon and evening. I think that our program started that night with kids club starting from 7-10. On NCL when you sign them up, you get the schedule for the week for your age group, and it was packed with fun. Both of our kids (7 and 3) got to "drive the ship" with the Captain. Pretty impressive.

[m1ckey]

OMG!!!

I wish my kids would use it!!!

we went last SB and tons of kids. We went to all the openers, I danced and played with all the kids , I was like hi my daughter is 11 how old are you... my son is....!

I backed off let them talk, got the agenda for the next day. OK kids what do you want to do...... we want to be with you !!

so I had them all cruise, Its a good thing I brought cards, games, crayons.

One really great thing is the movies in the room are so upto date. Order cookies and milk let them watch a movie. gives you a moment by yourself to just stare at the sea!

[NanciRDH]

My kids are like Michelle's, if it's open they're in. :) On our Alaska cruise a few years ago we decided to do family time in port and our then youngest DD was being a pest. I threatened her with going back to the ship and into camp if she couldn't behave, and little miss smart a** said "Good, that's where I want to be anyway!" LOL...it's their vacation too. When they were younger they always went to camp after dinner so we could have a grownup evening, now it's their choice to see the show or not. Our next cruise should prove interesting, I'll have 2 in the teen group, since our middle one will be 12. She's a young 12, and says she'd still like to go to camp, hanging with mom and dad until the teen stuff starts is too boring!