Looking for tweens reviews of 'Ocean Quest'.....has it improved?

[KaitlinsMom]

We are looking into booking a Disney Cruise. We have gone on Disney cruises before, but our last cruise was RCCL - RCCL really keeps their tweens busy, great programs - and looking into the Ocean Quest (that wasn't around on our last cruise) just curious as to what those in that age group thought of it -

Thanks!

Karen

[Tinkerbell.RN]

I'm not the tween - just her mother! We were on the Magic in October. My daughter Megan LOVED Ocean Quest. She says our next cruise has to be before she turns 14 - the teen area looked boring to her but Ocean Quest was great!

Ocean Quest was a great idea. It gives those tweens a place to hang out and have fun. I would be happier with her there if we do go when she is 13 than I would hanging out with the older teens. There were activities planned all day (with some free time to just hang out.) When we weren't on excurisions during the day and after dinner in the evenings, we hardly saw them! (My other daughter was in the Oceaneer's Lab)

[Silly Little Pixie]

We just got off the 11/7 Eastern, and my DD LOVED Ocean Quest. We hardly saw her!! She loved the activities and felt that they were "just right". In fact, she is sad that on next year's Wonder trip there is no Ocean Quest. They seemed to really keep them busy, and a couple times I walked down there to see a friend on deck 2- all I heard was laughter coming from OQ. I didn't embarrass her by actually going in and peeking, "like all those paranoid parents mom, you wouldn't believe it. Their kids are so embarrassed!"

When I brought her down to "check it out" the first night, the counselor immediately said to her, "Ocean Quest is all about responsibility. You get the chance to prove to us and to your parents that will handle yourself responsibly, and be where you say you will be, on time." That made me feel at ease, at first I was uneasy with no pager.

And you know she was never late? She was out till midnight at least most nights. She made several good friends that I think she will continue to keep in touch with. They are texting each other all the time now.

[poohs4me]

Our DD loved Ocean Quest in July. However, we did not. The organized activities were often canceled for lack of interest, so the kids ended up sitting around hanging out or roaming the ship. Of course we had rules stating you can only go here and there and if we come to OQ you better be there. We found out when we were getting on the plane that DD and her friends got kicked out of OQ for being too loud on either the last night or second to last night - of course no one told us at the time. I found this frustrating!!

[Pooh_Friend#1]

We went in May and my DD's (12) did not like Ocean Quest as they found it boring. I do think they probably would have changed their minds if the friend they met onboard was the same age and they could have all gone in there together. Instead they had a blast hanging out at the pool and in the rooms playing around.

[jkinak]

We just got off the 11/7 Eastern, and my DD LOVED Ocean Quest. We hardly saw her!! She loved the activities and felt that they were "just right". In fact, she is sad that on next year's Wonder trip there is no Ocean Quest. They seemed to really keep them busy, and a couple times I walked down there to see a friend on deck 2- all I heard was laughter coming from OQ. I didn't embarrass her by actually going in and peeking, "like all those paranoid parents mom, you wouldn't believe it. Their kids are so embarrassed!"

We were also on the 11.7 eastern and my DD loved Ocean Quest! She spent most of her time there and loved the freedom of hanging out until midnight. The had lots of activites planned as well as "hang out" time in Ocean Quest to play on computers and video games.
I wonder if your daughter is one of the girls my daughter is texting!

[mousemom11]

We were on the 11/14 Western and my DD11 just loved OQ! She spent most of her time there. There were lots of fun activities to do and she also just hung out there and played on the computer with her friends. One night they had a pool party at the Mickey pool followed by a pajama party on deck. She had a blast.

We set down rules about where she could go on the ship, with whom, and what she could and could not do. DH and I made it clear that if she did not follow the rules, she would lose her OQ privileges. It was a great test for her to be responsible and she did so well. I am really proud of her. She followed the rules, was where she said she would be when I checked on her, and was back at the stateroom at the appointed time.

From the responses here, it seems like DCL may have tweaked the OQ program to make it more interesting to the tweens.

[hgon76]

Last January when we went it was us (family of 4) and our friends (another family of 4) Our DS was 13 @ the time and their DD was 14. She could go to the stack, he was OQ age. So they said it would be best to move the girl (14) down to OQ with my son. They HATED it. They went maybe 3 times and ended up just spending their time in the stateroom watching tv and listening to their ipods. After a few days of this, I requested they move up to the stack. My son, even at 13, was about 5'10" and just didn't look like he fit into the OQ group and was more comfortable in the Stack. However, they still didn't spend much time there either due to the 14y/o girls shyness. But, hey, you ask either one of them if they had fun and they both say they LOVED the cruise. I guess everyone has their own idea of "fun" We are going again in January this year and I think it'll be hard to get my DS(now 14) out of the stack.

[goingsouth]

Does anyone know if any of the changes in the age groups affected the Ocean Quest?
I know my DD would like the flexibility of going to the Lab. She's shy and the OC was too much for her the last cruise. It has little to no supervion and from what I remember, no restroom.

joanne

[cindy18]

I think that even if you're old enough to go to OQ, you can be in the Lab instead if you want. On our last cruise, there were a few girls who had younger sisters and moved from OQ to the Lab.

For what it's worth, my two DDs, who were 11 and 13 on that cruise, absolutely loved OQ. They went to the party every evening, really liked meeting kids their ages from all over the country and still, almost a year later, keep in touch regularly (usually texting and Facebook) with the friends they made during that 7-night cruise. They liked it much more than the Lab.