Oceaneer Club

[NDFAN89]

I have a Daughter, 4, with Childhood apraxia of speech. It is a motor planning speech disorder (brain doesn't tell the mouth to move ) . However, she understands everything you are saying to her. So we have just learned to say the word "potty" and we are doing great at potty training. I am worried about her in ocean were club. I have read if she has an accident she won't be allowed back into the club. so they can't wear pull-ups at all? We are going to cruise 9/12.

Thanks so much for any information you might have!

 

[DISNEY FANTASY]

Send a medical needs form to DCL I think they could help you and her on it. They say they cant offer one to one care but this seems easy to accommodate and maybe you can drop by regularly to ask.

 

[Weedy]

Idea?? Someone posted once who had a child with speech issues they gave the child a few note cards to show to the Youth Counsler: a blue one says I need to go to the bathroom, a pink one says please call my mom to come get me. And maybe one or two others with questions she may have.

Have a great cruise

 

[DLgal]

If she has an accident, they will call you to come deal with it. I think they eliminated the potty training requirement to go to the secure programming. I am pretty sure I recently read that on the boards here. My son has apraxia. He did NOT like the club at all because there was a misunderstanding with a counselor while he was coloring and he just lost it and had a huge meltdown (he was 6 at the time). The lack of ability to communicate effectively really bothered him and he never wanted to go back alone after that. IMO, the counselors there are not good at all with dealing with kids with communication issues. My other son has Autism and liked the computer games in there, so we would drop him off with a paper in his pocket that said "I am ready to go now, can you please call my parents to come get me?" He can speak just fine but tends to sort of freeze when he has to communicate his needs to strangers, so this worked for us. However, he was 9 years old at the time. You may want to rethink leaving a 4 year old with apraxia alone there during the secure programming. Plan to enjoy the open house hours and maybe leave her for a VERY short time if you decide to, and check on her often. Those phones do NOT always work. That was our biggest issue...my son was hysterical and I had NO idea because they called the wave phones but we never got the message. I got the message an hour AFTER I picked him up. I spent 45 minutes consoling him in our room. It left a really bad impression on him and he is scarred for life now, it seems. He is 9 and he still freaks out when I mention going on another cruise and him going to the kids club. He says "I don't want to go there!"

 

[NDFAN89]

Thanks for the input...congrats on your son saying " I don't want to go there". Sounds like he has made great progress. By chance have you flown with him? We are thinking of flying to the cruise and I am concerned about the airport and the flight.

 

[Christypl]

My son has Autism and was 11 the last time we cruised. He is very verbal now but struggles with using his words to explain what he needs or wants. He get angry easily when this happens. He went to the kids club. When I registered him I made note of his needs. When we went to the club to get his band I spoke to the counselor and she went and got the lead counselor. She was very helpful. She asked what they could do to make his experience the best it can be. I feel like tthey went out of their way to make him comfortable and feel included. My son has a phone that we were able to load the Disney Cruise App to and we had one as well. It works on the ships Wi-fi so it doesn't cost you to use the app onboard. We practiced him sending me a message if he wanted me to come get him. I thought that would be easier than the wave phones. He only sent me a message once -asking for me not to come get him because he wanted to do a science project.


We have been "doing Disney" since my son was very small. I think there is something magical that happens at Disney and I believe that much of his progress is from these experiences.
Have fun on your cruise. Your daughter will love it.

 

[DLgal]

Thanks for the input...congrats on your son saying " I don't want to go there". Sounds like he has made great progress. By chance have you flown with him? We are thinking of flying to the cruise and I am concerned about the airport and the flight.

Yes, we have flown numerous times with him. It was really rough between the ages of 1-3 but we kept exposing him to it and doing it, even when we could have driven, just to get him accustomed to flying, since we like to travel. He actually loves flying nowadays. We made use of earplugs, headphones, video games, tablets, candy...really anything we could to keep him happy. He brought his lovey (a stuffed dog) and his blankie from home and he still does that to this day on planes.

And yes, he has made amazing progress. He didn't even speak his first word until he was 3, and at 6 (during our cruise), was only speaking 2-3 word phrases at MOST, and often only one or two word utterances. So it made it very scary for him in the kids club with no one to sort of speak for him.

We did encounter some great counselors, but not until the very end of our SECOND DCL cruise. Overall, I was unimpressed with the effort put forth by the counselors and their knowledge of special needs kids and how to interact with them. When my son was crying hysterically (in major meltdown mode), no one was even trying to console him. He was literally sitting in a corner beside himself when I walked up to the Club to check on my kids. He saw me and came flying out to me and almost broke right through the gate. It was utter chaos as I tried to prove my identity to get him and he was fighting tooth and nail to get OUT of there. No one was the least bit sympathetic. I think they honestly thought I had ignored their call to me on the wave phone and were kind of snippy with me about it, even after I showed them my phone had received NO messages. Left a bad taste in my mouth, to be honest. All I had read about here were how wonderful the kids club counselors were with special needs. I did not find that to be the case at all.

 

[Tiffylv]

.

 

[bumbershoot]

OP, I think they ended the "no pullups" rule. She can't say she wants to go, but can she just go on her own? I don't think you have to ask to go to the bathroom (though I've only been on Dream where the bathrooms are inside the club/lab so maybe other ships do it differently?. I wonder if teaching her a really obvious sort of "sign language" to indicate she has to go could help? Or...just make sure she goes before you take her, and come by regularly to see how she's doing.

He is 9 and he still freaks out when I mention going on another cruise and him going to the kids club. He says "I don't want to go there!"

The nice thing is that now they have the Navigator app. If you're on a ship that has the texting option (can't remember if Wonder and Magic have it yet) you can send him with a mobile device that gets wifi. Phone, ipod, kindle, even an old phone without a SIM but that gets wifi. Load the app onto everyone's devices, launch in onboard before sailaway, get everyone all set up. It's MUCH better than the Wave phones (though still not perfect, so turn on your phone and launch the app and go in to check for messages regularly because it doesn't always notifiy you) and he doesn't have to talk to anyone to get you called.

No one was the least bit sympathetic.

The counselors aren't really very animated, ever, in our experience. And really, at that moment, if she had taken the time for empathy it might have made you and your child more anxious. Our young cousin decided he was done, got my son to go along with it, and they both had parents called. We got the message. His parents did not and we hadn't put each other on the list to check kids out. He was losing his mind while waiting at the gate, but the CMs have jobs to do. They know their gate won't break and if someone tries to launch over it that will be taken care of, so they just wanted to get their jobs done. When my aunt finally came (the other cousin was napping and she couldn't leave her, and for some reason my adult cousins just weren't getting the message about their son) they wasted no time, just got him OUT of there. I'm sure they have turned off the button of "do I care if the Wave phone worked" within their first week there. They aren't in charge of the tech and can do nothing about it.

 

[DLgal]

The counselors aren't really very animated, ever, in our experience. And really, at that moment, if she had taken the time for empathy it might have made you and your child more anxious. Our young cousin decided he was done, got my son to go along with it, and they both had parents called. We got the message. His parents did not and we hadn't put each other on the list to check kids out. He was losing his mind while waiting at the gate, but the CMs have jobs to do. They know their gate won't break and if someone tries to launch over it that will be taken care of, so they just wanted to get their jobs done. When my aunt finally came (the other cousin was napping and she couldn't leave her, and for some reason my adult cousins just weren't getting the message about their son) they wasted no time, just got him OUT of there. I'm sure they have turned off the button of "do I care if the Wave phone worked" within their first week there. They aren't in charge of the tech and can do nothing about it.

I understand what you are saying. However, I had TWO kids in there and I had some time to hang around while they located my other son so that I could leave. Once my son was out and with me, he calmed down somewhat, but was still crying. It's not so much that the counselors weren't sympathetic, they were downright nasty to me. One kept saying over and over again "we paged you 20 minutes ago." That is why I had to break out the wave phone and prove that I had not received a message. She continued to be snippy with me, saying stuff like "well, the phones are reliable, I know we sent the message to the correct number, I don't understand how you didn't get it." On and on. I ended up going to guest services the next day and asking about the reliability of the phones, and was told, point blank "Oh, that happens all the time. They are not reliable at all and I'm sorry that happened to you, but you should always check in on your kids periodically just in case."

Bottom line, no matter how many people have glowing things to say about the counselors in the clubs, OUR experience was mediocre to poor on that front. We continued to enjoy Open House hours for the remainder of our cruise, but I could never leave my younger son in there again after that incident (which, unfortunately for us was on day 2 of a 5 day cruise). A couple other times when I went to pick up my older son, I saw VERY young kids (3-4 age range) just standing in the middle of the room sobbing and not one counselor did a thing about it. They were more concerned with hanging out in a corner, talking amongst themselves. Broke my heart to see.

These clubs are simply large playrooms with some adults present. The utter lack of engagement by the counselors was definitely NOT what I expected to see. Our experience on two different cruises was almost identical.

 

[Thumper's Mom 06]

I have a Daughter, 4, with Childhood apraxia of speech. It is a motor planning speech disorder (brain doesn't tell the mouth to move ) . However, she understands everything you are saying to her. So we have just learned to say the word "potty" and we are doing great at potty training. I am worried about her in ocean were club. I have read if she has an accident she won't be allowed back into the club. so they can't wear pull-ups at all? We are going to cruise 9/12.

Thanks so much for any information you might have!

Thanks for asking the question! I've been wondering about the pull-up situation. My 6 year old son has apraxia & mild CP. He's "almost" potty trained & can put himself on the toilet, but due to fine motor delays needs assistance wiping & pulling his pants back up. So, even if he's out of pull-ups by the time we cruise in August, I'm worried about the situation. We certainly don't mind coming to take him to the bathroom, & my parents will be with us to help. If he wanders out of the bathroom with his pants down, what happens? Could he be banned???

To the OP with the poor experience, I'm so sorry! It's so hard on kids who can't communicate easily. And hard for the parents, too. My son is non-verbal & I constantly wonder/worry about what's going on with him when I'm not around. You have to have a lot of trust in those who care for someone who can't tell you what they've done all day!

 

[hanscarlet]

My DD is 6 and on the Autism spectrum and also has a speech disorder (MERLD). Make sure you call the SN line and get it in her file that she has apraxia and they will talk to you about it the day you register. Flying with DD at as a newly turned 5 year old (birthday in July, sailed Aug) was really tough towards the end because her ears were killing her and on the way back she was overtired. Recently this past April, as a "seasoned" 6 year old she did not cry at all either way. We had nasal spray that I would spray before the flight so I am not sure if that helped or what. I also noticed the flight wasn't as painful on my own years flying into Miami but Orlando (first cruise) was rough.

GL and your DD will have a great time! Just check on her every hour.

 

[bumbershoot]

One kept saying over and over again "we paged you 20 minutes ago." That is why I had to break out the wave phone and prove that I had not received a message. She continued to be snippy with me, saying stuff like "well, the phones are reliable, I know we sent the message to the correct number, I don't understand how you didn't get it."

Ick. Maybe that was her first week, before she realized the truth of the matter. I really hope you mentioned her by name at Guest Services.

no matter how many people have glowing things to say about the counselors in the clubs

Ever since DS experienced Royal Caribbean, I don't praise the CMs at all. Not sure I did before, because DS never said much about them, though.

These clubs are simply large playrooms with some adults present.

Yes. You want personal interaction, go on royal on a lower-number-of-kids sailing. They play WITH the kids, they get to know them, they greet them by name outside of the kid's club.

 

[MunFam]

FWIW, we were on the WBPC cruise with only 300 children (under 18) on board. The clubs seemed a bit chaotic at times with only 300 kids, so I cannot imagine what it is like when the normal 1000 kids are there. Something I learned on our cruise is that we needed to have realistic expectations and not "Magical Disney" expectations. If your child has special needs and requires special attention, they may not get it...not because they do not care, or do not want to, but because there are simply too many other kids to tend to as a group, that assigning one counselor to one kid, even for a few minutes is just too much time. Your kid may have to wait 5-10 minutes to get a counselor to call/page you when they are done because there are other kids waiting for the same call too...or that counselor is also doing check-ins/outs. Please make sure you have realistic expectations going in so you are not disappointed.

In the end, we feel we paid for "Magical Disney" and got a typical cruise vacation. I could have lowered my expectations, but I am not sure I would have felt that the cost of the cruise was worth it to begin with after we lowered expectations. We placed a very high perceived value on the DCL services (esp for special needs/food allergies), so the price we paid felt fair...but on board, the services rendered were just average, and the fare was definitely not average.

 

[houseofduck]

Our experiences in the Club and Lab on our Disney cruises have been the opposite of the negative experiences that have been described on this thread.

In our experience, the counselors did engage the children in the clubs. When I went to pick them up, I saw the counselors playing with the children. Sometimes, they were leading a game for a large group. At other times, I would find a counselor sitting on the floor with two or three children playing cards.

The counselors got to know my children. They recognized them outside of the clubs and called them by name. Some counselors even recognized them from cruise to cruise. I have written many complimentary comments on the comment cards about the counselors in the Club and Lab.

We do cruise at off-peak times when fewer children are cruising and that may have something to do with it. But, we have had great experiences with the clubs.

 

[bumbershoot]

In our experience, the counselors did engage the children in the clubs. When I went to pick them up, I saw the counselors playing with the children. Sometimes, they were leading a game for a large group. At other times, I would find a counselor sitting on the floor with two or three children playing cards.

How old were the kids?

And yes, *leading* a group is normal, like the dance floor time or Get The Hook with a CM standing there is normal.



DS has been recognized from one cruise to the next once on Disney. His red hair helps that.

And one CM in the clubs engaged him in conversation more than once on A cruise, but that's because DS dances and so does the CM. So they had something in common. And they left a Magical Moments certificate on our door saying he was the Most Talented Kid in Oceaneer's Club, which was nice, of course.

Other than that, not much CM true interaction.

 

[RedStars]

Add me to the "less than impressed with the kids club" group. I've reset my expectations for our next cruise and will be using it as a limited resource. I'll drop the kids off for specific activities and not at meal times.

It really is just a big play space with counselors on the fringe. I joked to others that they just needed to keep my kids alive and I really think that's all they do. No real interaction.

 

[bethy]

Add me to the "less than impressed with the kids club" group. I've reset my expectations for our next cruise and will be using it as a limited resource. I'll drop the kids off for specific activities and not at meal times.

It really is just a big play space with counselors on the fringe. I joked to others that they just needed to keep my kids alive and I really think that's all they do. No real interaction.

Ugh - this is disappointing to read. We are doing our first cruise this fall and it sounds like my expectations need to be in line with what we often typically experience with sitters, daycares, schools, camps, etc. They are fine and even fun for many/most kids, but not great and likely not overly engaging for my kids. Really Disneyland itself is the only classic "kid" experience that my kids have enjoyed every bit as much if not more so than their peers.

I will be very pleasantly surprised if we have the experience that everyone talks about with their kids never wanting to leave the clubs. And before I sound like an awful parent we will have had 1.5 weeks in Florida of family vacation right before our cruise. My DH and I don't have anyone we can leave our three kids with and so we were hoping that a Disney cruise would be our answer for a little couple time. I haven't had a break personally in over 5 years. Sorry for the sob story!

 

[GatorMomInNC]

Ugh - this is disappointing to read. We are doing our first cruise this fall and it sounds like my expectations need to be in line with what we often typically experience with sitters, daycares, schools, camps, etc. They are fine and even fun for many/most kids, but not great and likely not overly engaging for my kids. Really Disneyland itself is the only classic "kid" experience that my kids have enjoyed every bit as much if not more so than their peers.

I will be very pleasantly surprised if we have the experience that everyone talks about with their kids never wanting to leave the clubs. And before I sound like an awful parent we will have had 1.5 weeks in Florida of family vacation right before our cruise. My DH and I don't have anyone we can leave our three kids with and so we were hoping that a Disney cruise would be our answer for a little couple time. I haven't had a break personally in over 5 years. Sorry for the sob story!

May I ask what ship you will be on and the ages of your children?

My youngest had to be dragged out of the kids club. My oldest is more shy and we have had mixed results, but I believe that is more owing to his social awkwardness than the clubs.

But as a mom I find cruising the most relaxing and least stressful of any vacation. Not just because of the kids clubs, but overall I get real time off from all the daily decisions and mundane responsibilities and focus on fun.

 

[RedStars]

Don't get me wrong, my kids really liked the kids club. What kid wouldn't like to sit in front of a computer or tv screen all day? Lol
I was more bothered by it than them. I just ASSumed the kids club staff would be more interactive so I was disappointed when they weren't. But as long as you are aware there isn't a lot of 1-on-1 attention and activity guidance then you'll be ok.

I would just make sure to feed them before they go (and make sure they're fully hydrated).