current age breakdown in kid's club?

[ciraulo887]

I understand that you don't have older kids. But, an interesting thing we just learned on our cruise last week. If your teenager is in The Vibe 14-17 and they turn 18 on the ship they will not be allowed in. So, if your on a cruise from Saturday to Friday and they turn 18 on Wednesday, they are OUT. My daughter is only 16. But it limited my option for 2014 cruise.

[bumbershoot]

Originally Posted by PrincessShmoo

A 12 year old can be in either the Lab or in Edge. The ages on either end of each group are the overlaps that DCL has built in for whatever adjustments that parents want to make for what club to put their kids in.

The overlap between the nursery and Club/Lab is age 3. Between Club/Lab and Edge age 11 & 12. Between Edge and Vibe age 14.

So an 11 year old can be in Edge or the Club/Lab, also.

Thanks for laying it out there for me! I think I had gone by what someone told me in person, and I never looked at the upper edges of the ages before. Thank you! And thanks OP for the thread!

[lanejudy]

Originally Posted by ciraulo887

I understand that you don't have older kids. But, an interesting thing we just learned on our cruise last week. If your teenager is in The Vibe 14-17 and they turn 18 on the ship they will not be allowed in. So, if your on a cruise from Saturday to Friday and they turn 18 on Wednesday, they are OUT. My daughter is only 16. But it limited my option for 2014 cruise.

Correct, once they turn 18 they are considered an adult and no longer allowed in the teen club. That means they can attend Vibe for the days leading up to the birthday, but once the birthday hits it's a no-go. However, they will then be allowed in any "adult only" areas including Palo/Remy (nice 18th birthday dinner?), the spa, the fitness club and the nightclubs (not sure that last one would make parents happy though no drinking allowed). No adults in any of the kids spaces except during Open House.

[lbgraves]

Originally Posted by ciraulo887

I understand that you don't have older kids. But, an interesting thing we just learned on our cruise last week. If your teenager is in The Vibe 14-17 and they turn 18 on the ship they will not be allowed in. So, if your on a cruise from Saturday to Friday and they turn 18 on Wednesday, they are OUT. My daughter is only 16. But it limited my option for 2014 cruise.

This is actually better than when the first changed the policy in December 2011. At first anyone turning 18 during the cruise couldn't go to the Vibe the entire time. They weren't allowed to go to the adult areas until the were 18. Parents complained that these kids needed to be able to go somewhere onboard so the change was made.

[justmestace]

Originally Posted by Melissa S

OP my cousin had the same problem on Carnival last year. It was their first cruise. She and her husband brought their two daughters and niece; all preteens. If they were on DCL they would have been in the same club, on Carnival they were in all different clubs. Needless to say the girls were miserable, spent no time in the clubs, and the parents who hoped to get some adult time had to entertain bummed out kids. They have sworn off cruising all together.

What ages? Carnival's clubs are divided into the same age groups as Disney's are.

[justmestace]

Am I the only one who thinks it's odd that they have ages 3-12 all together?
That's a huge difference....12 is awfully old to be in the same area with little 3 year olds.
I know it's the same on other cruise lines,too, so I'm just thinking in general.....
But Carnival does divide to some extent...ages 3-5, 6-7, 8-10, etc. with the activities, but they also still share the same areas.

I just picture a bigger 11 or 12 year old accidentally trampling a 3 or 4 year old if they get rambunctious.

[PrincessShmoo]

Originally Posted by justmestace

Am I the only one who thinks it's odd that they have ages 3-12 all together?
That's a huge difference....12 is awfully old to be in the same area with little 3 year olds.
I know it's the same on other cruise lines,too, so I'm just thinking in general.....
But Carnival does divide to some extent...ages 3-5, 6-7, 8-10, etc. with the activities, but they also still share the same areas.

I just picture a bigger 11 or 12 year old accidentally trampling a 3 or 4 year old if they get rambunctious.

DCL used to split the ages. Oceaneers Club used to be 3-7, and Oceaneers Lab was age 8-12. There were many parents who wanted their younger kids to be able to be in the club with their older siblings (maybe thinking that the older ones would able to "protect" and help the younger ones while in there?).

DCL listened and combined the Club/Lab. The Club activities are still aimed at the younger ages, while the Lab activites are aimed at the older ones. But any child in the Club/Lab can participate in whatever activities appeal to them, regardless of age.

[justmestace]

Originally Posted by PrincessShmoo

DCL used to split the ages. Oceaneers Club used to be 3-7, and Oceaneers Lab was age 8-12. There were many parents who wanted their younger kids to be able to be in the club with their older siblings (maybe thinking that the older ones would able to "protect" and help the younger ones while in there?).

DCL listened and combined the Club/Lab. The Club activities are still aimed at the younger ages, while the Lab activites are aimed at the older ones. But any child in the Club/Lab can participate in whatever activities appeal to them, regardless of age.

My kids are much, much older now....I have two grandsons who we hope to take on a cruise at some point. They're 2 and 3 right now, and I'd like for them to be a little older...but anyway.....I'd seen that they have activities divided up, that's what they do on the other lines too....but I just don't think I'd like knowing the boys (my grandsons) were in the same room with "big" kids.

I don't know how I'd feel about wanting my younger kids with my own older ones....like you said, I remember when all that happened, allowing siblings to be together. Ours were already 8 and 11 on our first cruise, and at that point, they wanted to be as far away from each other as they could possibly get!

[lbgraves]

Juststace has kids who cruised with the more defined age groups, so she knows what it use to be. I think that is why she is expressing her concern. I remember them actually being divided even more with 3-4, 5-7, 8-9 and 10-12 within each club. I am glad that when my kids were younger the clubs did have that clear division because I would have been worried about them being kept pushed or bossed around by the older kids, or simply being intimidated by having kids so much bigger than them in the same area. There wasn't a need to "protect" any kids when they did the ages like that because they were with other kids the same age.

[PrincessShmoo]

Originally Posted by lbgraves

Juststace has kids who cruised with the more defined age groups, so she knows what it use to be. I think that is why she is expressing her concern. I remember them actually being divided even more with 3-4, 5-7, 8-9 and 10-12 within each club. I am glad that when my kids were younger the clubs did have that clear division because I would have been worried about them being kept pushed or bossed around by the older kids, or simply being intimidated by having kids so much bigger than them in the same area. There wasn't a need to "protect" any kids when they did the ages like that because they were with other kids the same age.

I agree. I don't have kids in any of the groups, but, based on my volunteer work at my kids elementary school when they were young, I think the range is really too wide.

[bumbershoot]

Well, I figure that not *all* 11 and 12 year olds are going to want to be in there. It'll be the kids with little siblings that want to be together, and maybe the older kids who are younger in interests and maturity levels.

In a totally selfish way, I'm glad for it, because it means that if we cruise again with family we can still have the cousins all in the same space for another nearly 2 years. For this cruise it was 5, 8, and 10, and this allows another bit of time before the older cousin *has to* go anywhere. I don't anticipate him feeling pre-teen enough to want to go to the pre-teen club even once he's that age, so it's really nice for him that he can stay in that level.


When DS was 3 he was indeed slammed into and knocked to the ground *at Disneyland* by a much older boy being wild, so I definitely get that concern. But I have to imagine that the CMs working in the club try to help keep it calmer than a random play area at Disneyland can get (and, in fact, a CM had been keeping an eye on the older boy, but was just too late to get to him).

[lilpooh108]

Sometimes the secured area is only in the Lab, so that there isn't much separation between 3 - 12 YO at all. This bothered me a lot on our last cruise and my 3YO was unhappy because the Lab was mostly computers and lacked dress up/make belief play areas.

[lilpooh108]

Oops double post.

[lbgraves]

Originally Posted by lilpooh108

Sometimes the secured area is only in the Lab, so that there isn't much separation between 3 - 12 YO at all. This bothered me a lot on our last cruise and my 3YO was unhappy because the Lab was mostly computers and lacked dress up/make belief play areas.

Imagine how bored the older kids are in the club area when that is the only secured area. DCL needs to do something about this programing IMO.

[Pwac]

I'm not really sure what anyone expects them to do. Some parents want all their children in the same area. Other parents want the ages separated. Finally, some parents don't want to leave their children in the clubs at all but want access for their children while other parents don't want any unknown adults around their children. How do you make all of these parents happy at the same time?