Cheating the "Kids Crew" question

[lisid]

:(I'm embarerased to even ask...but I have to...Does anyone know if I will be able to "sneak" my 12.5 year old into the "teen" group?...He's very tall & very mature, and even at home all of his friends are 13 & up?????? His older brother (16) would also like him to be in the older group.?????

Thanks

[Luckyroot]

No cheating. Their age is set at time of boarding by the info provided in your pre-cruise documentation, so they know his "real" age.

 

Wanted to try and do the same thing with my niece and daughter, and it was a no-go so they wound up not even going to kids club.

[newmexicoNita]

:(I'm embarerased to even ask...but I have to...Does anyone know if I will be able to "sneak" my 12.5 year old into the "teen" group?...He's very tall & very mature, and even at home all of his friends are 13 & up?????? His older brother (16) would also like him to be in the older group.?????

Thanks

 

Don't be embarrassed, this question is asked all the time, the answer, it won't work. Their cards are coordinated with their age..this can be a rough time for kids about to age up, but he will be with others in the same boat and I will add one more thing: his 16 brother will more than likely spend a good part of his time with friends he meets, but not really in the Kids camp..Usually the older teens as soon as they get acquainted hang out together..

 

Nita

[Vyhanek]

I did it one time a few years ago. It requires pre- planning.

 

When you book the cruise you need to adjust his age. So if he was born on July 4, 1997 you would say he was born on July 4, 1996. Then when you pre-register you put that same date in.

 

Then when you arrive use a birth certificate (not a passport because I think they might be encoded somehow). When you check in, the lines are long, they want to get you on quick and they don't even LOOK at a kids age.

 

If you get caught act like you are just confused and you put in the date wrong. They won't deny boarding for a one digit inaccuracy. Just like they won't deny boarding if your name is misspelled by one character. Just act like you made a mistake.

 

It worked fine for me but required pre-planning.

[lisid]

Don't be embarrassed, this question is asked all the time, the answer, it won't work. Their cards are coordinated with their age..this can be a rough time for kids about to age up, but he will be with others in the same boat and I will add one more thing: his 16 brother will more than likely spend a good part of his time with friends he meets, but not really in the Kids camp..Usually the older teens as soon as they get acquainted hang out together..

 

Nita

Should I still send the older one...at least the first day???He's already complaining, but I'd like him to make some friends on board?????

[Dukegirl5577]

My cousin snuck into the teen group when he was 10. Albeit, it was 20 years ago, and I'm sure their policies have changed and they're more strict these days.

 

But he looked older and he felt like the tween group stuff was babyish. The kids' counselors knew he was technically breaking the rules, but nobody cared.

[newmexicoNita]

Should I still send the older one...at least the first day???He's already complaining, but I'd like him to make some friends on board?????

 

absolutely, that is when he will meet all his new friends...they may hang out somewhat in the teen club area, but they will probably find some of the teen activities too young for him,

 

Dukesgirl: yep the policy and the way of checking has changed quite a bit. I think 20 years ago kids programs were so new that no one paid much attention. In fact, if I remember when our granddaughter was 10, her first cruise, they didn't even check ages. That was about 12 years ago.

 

Lisid, it is up to you if you want to try and create a fake age. If it were me, I would not, obviously some feel differently.

 

Have a great cruise and the boys will I am sure. One thing that I think is so cool about freestyle, the boys can choose to eat with you or go into the dining room on their own, or they can eat with you and go back later for dessert..

 

 

 

Nita

[VikkiGarcia]

We tried to get our 12.5 year old into the teen program. We signed her up, signed the waiver that she was 13. She participated the first night. The second day of the cruise we were notified that they ran all the sign up sheets against the passorts and she would have to go to the kids club. With passengers now needing passports I do not know how you can fake this info. We had told her before the cruise that this would probably happen so she was prepared for it.

[lisid]

Thanks everyone...I'm not going to "cheat"...it's true there may be other 12.5ers also, and they'll probably bond. I just hope they can always find eachother & hang when they're not in the program (listen to me...acting like they like one another or something!!!lol!):D Thanks for the suggestions...any other KID tid bits would be great!!!! WE'RE NEWBIES!!:p

[9illi9an]

We just got off the Pearl on Sunday, and our 12.5-year-old (actually, he's only six weeks away from 13) attended the first night's Kid's Club and decided he didn't want to go back. A lot of the activities they do are, quite frankly, insulting to a 12-year-old (marching around the ship dressed as pirates or wearing "Blue's Clues" ears, for example), and they often mix the ages, so that 2-to-12's play in the same group.

 

Our 12-year-old is a big kid, and he's also very mature for his age, so he just looked ridiculous playing with all the younger kids. We tried to "force" him to attend another night, just so we could have some time to ourselves, but when we dropped him off, he just looked SO ridiculous standing in that room with all the elementary schoolers, we signed him out immediately. He hung out with us the entire week.

 

I really don't understand NCL's policy in not allowing parents to decide which group is best suited for our children. Our 12-year-old probably would've had a blast in the 13-to-15 group. He would've made some friends and had some fun, and my wife and I would've had some alone time.

[newmexicoNita]

Being at the top of the age group is always hard. the programs are dealing with a 3 year or so age span, what works for one age may not for another.

Lisid, It appears you will be sailing during spring break and there should be lots of other kids in the same situation.

 

 

9illi9an,

 

Don't blame NCL, every single line works the same way, the age is based on the day a child starts the cruise.

 

I totally disagree with you on this, can you imagine what would happen if parents were allowed to decide, you would have 12 year olds with 15 year olds, 5 year olds with 9 year olds and so on. Many parents think their kids are more mature than others their age, and many times they are, but often they are not. This is like saying my kids are very well behaved, others may see it differently.Were you given the choice to decide when your child started school or is it up to parents to decide if their 16 year old is old enough to go to a bar? Our granddaughter when she was 17 had to decide if the teen program on Celebrity was right for her or if she wanted to hang out with her 21 sister. the same child cruised with us and her parents when she was about 12, she choose not to take part in the kids program so she spent her time with us and her parents, even playing bingo and trivia, You know what, she had a blast and so did we..

 

It is too bad you couldn't have persuaded you son to give it another try, but I am sure he had a good cruise and you survived a week with him.

 

Nita

[9illi9an]

Nita, I'm not advocating 5-year-olds playing in the same group as 9-year-olds, or 16-year-olds drinking in bars. But I think that when the age difference is less than six months, there should be some discretionary wiggle room. I'd like to think I know my child better than the cruiseline.

 

There weren't a lot of other 12's on this particular cruise (at least, there weren't a lot that attended the Kid's Crew), so maybe the experience would be different for others.

[VikkiGarcia]

We sailed NCL once knowing this would be a problem. This is why Royal Caribbean has been our choice for the 6 other cruises we have taken. I did like everything else about NCL but will not get any of our business until we are kid-less.

[newmexicoNita]

Nita, I'm not advocating 5-year-olds playing in the same group as 9-year-olds, or 16-year-olds drinking in bars. But I think that when the age difference is less than six months, there should be some discretionary wiggle room. I'd like to think I know my child better than the cruiseline.

 

There weren't a lot of other 12's on this particular cruise (at least, there weren't a lot that attended the Kid's Crew), so maybe the experience would be different for others.

 

First of all, it probably would have been different had it been a spring break, Christmas, Thanksgiving or summer cruise and of course I know you are not advocting allowing a 16 to drink, I was just making a point. There has to be guide lines and cut offs. You may know your child, you make think you know you child, but don't you think most parents think that. If you say OK, my child is 12 1/2 so he wants to be with 13 year old, the next thing you know, a parent will decide, my little girl will be 12 1/2 next Thursday why can't she go? do you see what I am getting at?

 

Nita

[newmexicoNita]

We sailed NCL once knowing this would be a problem. This is why Royal Caribbean has been our choice for the 6 other cruises we have taken. I did like everything else about NCL but will not get any of our business until we are kid-less.

 

are you saying RCI does not have a cut off?

 

Nita

[lisid]

Being at the top of the age group is always hard. the programs are dealing with a 3 year or so age span, what works for one age may not for another.

Lisid, It appears you will be sailing during spring break and there should be lots of other kids in the same situation.

 

........Actually it's a summer cruise...not SPRING BREAK:eek:..I don't think I'd ever do that!

[iheartbda]

There has to be guide lines and cut offs. You may know your child, you make think you know you child, but don't you think most parents think that. If you say OK, my child is 12 1/2 so he wants to be with 13 year old, the next thing you know, a parent will decide, my little girl will be 12 1/2 next Thursday why can't she go? do you see what I am getting at?

Nita

Nita,

You are sooooo right.

 

For a number of years I worked in an area that had age guidelines and I dealt with parents pushing the limits constantly. Unfortunately, the company bowed to the pressures and set an age limit even lower but even that was not "good enough".

 

Parents were not just knocking off a few months, they were knocking off as much as two years. Funny although not in a humurous way, if a parent said the child was x number of years and the child pipped up to say, I'm only x, the parents didn't seem to be embarrassed by their "mis-calculation" at all.:rolleyes:

 

I'm not saying any of the posters would so such a thing, I'm just echoing what you say that there are guideline with cutoffs and they need to be followed.

[VikkiGarcia]

RCI has age groups that put preteens in one group, teens in another, even a young adult group. This has always been a much better fit for our family.

[newmexicoNita]

RCI has age groups that put preteens in one group, teens in another, even a young adult group. This has always been a much better fit for our family.

ok, that is what I thought. The way you worded it I thought you were saying RCI didn't enforce the age guidelines. I do agree many lines, not just NCL but Princess for one, need to re-do the age break downs. I realize they only have so many councilors and NCL does require the councelors to be certified. I think they have to have degrees, I am not sure about that. anyway it is costly to hire enough staff to handle the age groups but I do think 9 year old and 12 year olds are two totally different groups..9 year olds are still in elementary school, 12 year old middle school. that alone does make a big difference.

 

Nita

[eargal]

There is just no way to keep everyone happy! I remember being thrilled with NCL accepting my 2 (almost 3) year old into kids crew and now, it just about kills me to know that our next cruise the same kid will be in the same age group three years later. She will be 2 months from her 6th birthday and still grouped with tots in diapers.

 

I'm just telling her to remember it's her last time in the little kid group and to try and be a good "helper". She'll live. She won't be happy to not be with her brother and cousins but it is policy, plain and simple.

[VikkiGarcia]

When we sailed NCL Sun this summer to Alaska they combined the groups even more than they do on Caribbean sailings. My daughter was put in the 7-12 . She babysits kids on the weekends that were in the same age group. I do not know many 7th graders that want to "hang out" with 3rd graders. I was willing to try to bend the system because I do not understand why they would not let junior high students be part of a group more their maturity level.

[steveaaaaa]

I really don't understand NCL's policy in not allowing parents to decide which group is best suited for our children. Our 12-year-old probably would've had a blast in the 13-to-15 group. He would've made some friends and had some fun, and my wife and I would've had some alone time.

 

Would a parent of a 12 1/2 year old (Lets use the word mature for her age)

Be happy with their daughter in with a bunch of 16 year old boys?

Steve

[VikkiGarcia]

I have no problem with my daughter being in the SUPERVISED teen room with boys significantly older than her. If the ship sticks to the rules there must be 1 or more staff members present all all times. She would not be allowed to "hang out" with them anywhere else on the ship. I walk her to the teen room and pick her up every night. I make contact with the staff to find out who is assigned that room each evening. She is not allowed to leave on her own (our family rule). The staff has very strict rules as to what is allowed to go on in the teen room. Royal Caribbean has a one strike policy to throw unruly kids out of the teen program. When our son first moved into the teen room I would constantly "spy" on the teen program and have never seen anything that would make me uneasy now that my daughter has moved into the teen program.

[silkhair1]

I thought you meant cheat like to not tip them at the end of the cruise. LOL I was wrong. LOL