Parents of Special Needs Children, does DCL have a bad rap?

[Scillycruisers]

Is there something my TA can put on our reservation to note my DS's diagnoses? I plan to tell the CMs in the kids club but would like it noted elsewhere if that would help. TIA!

Also, when you register for the kids club online, there is space to put any information you think they should know about your child. DS does not actually have a diagnosis, but has autistic traits, so I let them know that it is "normal" for him to over-react on occasions and he gets over it very quickly. Just meant that we didn't get called to him each time he over-reacted, only to find he was fine and forgotten about it by the time we even got there. Obviously they would have called if he hadn't calmed down, but that was never the case.

 

[ALCooper3]

I wasn't impressed with the kids clubs when we went two years ago. My daughter is hearing impaired and has a severe language delay. She was also very small for her age (4) at the time. The CMs just didn't seem interested in doing more than watching the kids play. I was hoping for more organized activities and just a little bit of structure. There was just too much chaos and not enough real supervision for me to feel comfortable leaving my DD in the club alone. I am hoping from other people's posts that we just ended up with a bad bunch of CMs last time. We will give the club a try this time and see how it goes.
On a positive note, we had a great time on our cruise and all the CMs outside the club were wonderful when they interacted with our daughter.

 

[ilovepooh]

This is exactly my concern with DD8. He is nonverbal and I am afraid he will be lost in the chaos of the club. I would feel better knowing that there was structure and not just kids running room to room where injuries are more likely. I don't expect one-on-one assistance, but hate to think of him lost/alone. I will have to feel it out to see if I feel comfortable letting him visit by himself for a bit.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

This is exactly my concern with DD8. He is nonverbal and I am afraid he will be lost in the chaos of the club. I would feel better knowing that there was structure and not just kids running room to room where injuries are more likely. I don't expect one-on-one assistance, but hate to think of him lost/alone. I will have to feel it out to see if I feel comfortable letting him visit by himself for a bit.

You have to option of taking him to the Club/Lab yourself during the Open House hours. Once or twice every day, for 1 or 2 hours, either the Club side or the Lab side will have Open House where kids can participate with their parents in the activities, if you feel that he won't get the proper attention.

 

[lanejudy]

The CMs do not really "engage" the children into structured activities - there are a variety of unstructured activities available at all times and then the scheduled activities which are noted in the Navigator. For anyone wishing to have their child participate in one of the planned activities - plan to drop-off around that time and mention the child wants to do it. The CMs will then ask, but if your child has gotten interested in something else in the meantime and doesn't wish to join the activity they won't make him/her do so.

So if you are only dropping off for an hour or so, just plan it to be around a structured activity your child would enjoy.

 

[lbgraves]

Again, another change that was made due to complaints. When my kids were in the club/lab the CMs did stick to a schedule and the kids were not allowed to play on the pirate ship structure except when planned. Parents complained that their kid didn't get to do what they wanted to while in the club, so the structure was changed.

 

[ladyleslie]

This is exactly my concern with DD8. He is nonverbal and I am afraid he will be lost in the chaos of the club. I would feel better knowing that there was structure and not just kids running room to room where injuries are more likely. I don't expect one-on-one assistance, but hate to think of him lost/alone. I will have to feel it out to see if I feel comfortable letting him visit by himself for a bit.

Start off by sending your 8 year old during a scheduled activity during kids club... my daughter made gloop, cookies, and there was some goofy dance off (off the top of my head) .... if If your 8 year old does well then drop off a little bit before the activity starts and picking him up a little bit after it ends to see how he tolerates it...

Small steps... to big fun

 

[TDC Nala]

I thought it was full knowledge that DCL was for the most part unable to provide one-on-one or specialized care for special needs children in the children's clubs. This is one reason why they now have open houses, to give opportunities for children who must be accompanied by parents or caretakers, because at this time adults who are not employed by DCL are not permitted in the secured programming.

If you want to know something about how the club might work for a child who might not need specialized care but would benefit from more structure, etc. you can also visit during the open house, observe and ask questions. I realize that won't help anyone who wants to know ahead of time. But if the parents are expecting to leave the child in the club, they should know that the kind of care their child needs may not be available.

 

[KarenR122]

Our DD is high functioning autistic with high anxiety. We cruised on the fantasy last year and are actually going again this weekend. We were not comfortable leaving her in the Kids Club. We went during the first open house and spoke to the CMs and they really did not seem to care. She is fine on her own but make need a little redirection here and there. We really just wanted them to be aware of her issues and if they say her sitting alone to redirect her to an activity. They seemed very indifferent about doing that so we did not take the chance. The open houses during the week were always at the worst times, during shore excursions or dinner/lunch time so we never went back for that either.

The rest of the cruise though was fantastic. The servers were super nice and accommodating to her little quirks and the characters were wonderful with her. We thoroughly enjoyed the cruise and so did she, hence why we are going again on Saturday.

Now on the flip side, we just cruised the new NCL ship out of New York. They went above and beyond for my DD, more so than Disney. They let us stay in the room during muster because she is nervous around that many people and the horns. The wait staff and room stewards always had little toys to give her whenever she was around. She did attend the kids club for a few hours a couple of days and loved it. The head counselor took her and introduced her to all the counselors working in her area, they showed her all the different stations and made sure that she was having a good time. They would see her around the boat constantly and were always giving her high fives and remembered her name. While that cruise was a totally different experience from Disney, we enjoyed that as well and booked another for next year.

 

[jjje]

I'm sure they will let you go into the bathroom and help wash their hands. They have an genius way to make sure they wash their hands. As soon as they enter they squirt soap in their hands and than they have to walk to the washing station to wash it off. That way they don't just enter and run off.

I'm not sure they will let an adult in to help with hand washing. I tried looking in the bathrooms once to find my daughter when I went to pick her up and a cast member stopped me before I got to the door and said "Sorry, no adults in the bathroom!" There was always a cast member right by the door keeping a lookout.

My son has Asperger's and anxiety and we told them about it at the Edge but they didn't really seem to do much for him above and beyond the usual. He could have used a little help participating in some of the activities but no one really provided that. I don't know if they didn't have enough staff to allow that or the staff there just didn't really take a lot of initiative. One time a cast member did a scavenger hunt with him when a big group of kids wouldn't allow my son to join up with them. (There was a big group of really mean kids on our cruise I'm sad to say.) Other than that he was pretty much on his own and left to fend for himself. I wonder if they might have paid more attention to him or helped him out more if his needs were more severe. He still enjoyed the Edge and looks forward to going back.

 

[3mmm]

I have two kids with special needs, one more so than the other. We've always had good experiences in the clubs, but my kids have also always been fully included in school and other sport/social activities. I will say that I was least impressed with the Fantasy as opposed to the magic or wonder. I think the biggest factor is just the size and volume rather than any degree of CM care or interest.

Our best cruise experience as far as my DD with Down syndrome was NCL Pearl. I think the biggest difference was the number of kids and size of the space. And I think that's the problem between the classic ships and the new ones. I will say that NCL has a very strict age level policy and I was told multiple times they absolutely would not change that. I did ask to speak to a supervisor and after a couple of minutes of interacting with DD they let her move back an age group. I have never had that hassle with DCL

I have to edit to say that our best kid club experience was NCL. Overall, DCL is wonderful with her and the characters are incredible as are the wait staff, but as for a personal, engaging kid club, NCL's small size was the best. We also sailed to Alaska early in June so there were not a lot of kids. Our experience may not be typical just as Spring Break on the Fantasy may not be the best representation of the Fantasy.

 

[lbgraves]

When is the last time you cruised on DCL? I am asking because since the new age change in the clubs in late 2011 they have not allowed any kids to move down to the previous age group.

 

[Nini05]

Our grands, 5-9' did not like kids klub. Too chaotic and noisy. Cool hand washing apparatus tho

 

[ALCooper3]

Our DD is high functioning autistic with high anxiety. We cruised on the fantasy last year and are actually going again this weekend. We were not comfortable leaving her in the Kids Club. We went during the first open house and spoke to the CMs and they really did not seem to care. She is fine on her own but make need a little redirection here and there. We really just wanted them to be aware of her issues and if they say her sitting alone to redirect her to an activity. They seemed very indifferent about doing that so we did not take the chance. The open houses during the week were always at the worst times, during shore excursions or dinner/lunch time so we never went back for that either.

The rest of the cruise though was fantastic. The servers were super nice and accommodating to her little quirks and the characters were wonderful with her. We thoroughly enjoyed the cruise and so did she, hence why we are going again on Saturday.

.

I got the same feel for the Kids club CM's. They were really indifferent. While I completely understand that DCL doesn't have the ability to offer one on one support, I would expect that people who are working in a Kids club would at the very least be expected to interact with the kids and enjoy working with them. My daughter really doesn't need any "specialized" treatment. She is very well behaved and enjoys playing with other children. She has been in an all inclusive classroom environment since she was 3 years old and went to a home daycare with 5 other children (all typical) before that. Is it really too much to expect to have the CM 's talk, play and make a real effort to "engage" in activities with the kids rather than just stand around?

 

[lanejudy]

...I will say that NCL has a very strict age level policy and I was told multiple times they absolutely would not change that. I did ask to speak to a supervisor and after a couple of minutes of interacting with DD they let her move back an age group. I have never had that hassle with DCL....

You don't say when your DCL experience was, but as of late 2011 DCL is VERY strict on age groups - especially about NOT allowing kids to move down an age group. They do have overlapping ages (3 for nursery or Club/Lab, 11-12 for Club/Lab and Edge, 14 for Edge and Vibe) to try and accommodate that need. But if not in the overlap age group, a child will not be allowed to move down regardless of special needs, developmental or cognitive level. They now offer "open house" times when an adult can accompany the child. Plus, the Club/Lab is a very broad age group to begin with, unlike some other cruise lines which may split that into 2 or 3 age groups.

 

[3mmm]

sorry, I havent' been on here for a bit. The age group I was talking about was between the club and the lab. I know they have changed that recently and now the kids get to choose between the two. In the past they were assigned to either the club or the lab based on age (and then into age groups within those two areas) and we were able to move her back without any trouble. I know they have tightened up the age thing between the lab and edge and vibe, but with everything I'm hearing about being able to move kids that are actually too young up, I am still hopeful that if someone takes the time to interact with DD that they will place her in the appropriate group. she spent most of this last cruise in the club programming despite being 'lab' age. My 6 yo spent most of his time in the lab despite his young age. Anyway, I'm not excited about our next cruise where she may age out of the club/lab as she will definitely not be ready for Edge!

 

[lanejudy]

sorry, I havent' been on here for a bit. The age group I was talking about was between the club and the lab. I know they have changed that recently and now the kids get to choose between the two. In the past they were assigned to either the club or the lab based on age (and then into age groups within those two areas) and we were able to move her back without any trouble. I know they have tightened up the age thing between the lab and edge and vibe, but with everything I'm hearing about being able to move kids that are actually too young up, I am still hopeful that if someone takes the time to interact with DD that they will place her in the appropriate group. she spent most of this last cruise in the club programming despite being 'lab' age. My 6 yo spent most of his time in the lab despite his young age. Anyway, I'm not excited about our next cruise where she may age out of the club/lab as she will definitely not be ready for Edge!

If you can't squeeze in the next cruise before she turns 13, you should start to prepare her for Edge. She can still attend the Club/Lab during open house times, but not unaccompanied. Unfortunately, I have not read of a single family who's special needs child was allowed to move DOWN an age group since the tighter restrictions started in late 2011. I hear you, because I don't expect my DD to be Edge material even once she's 13, so I completely understand. But DCL has been very firm on this. It might end up being a year that you do more family activities outside of the club, or maybe a special excursion for her to make up for "loss" of kids club time if you find she can't manage it at all.

And as clarification for others reading this -- all kids age 3-12 are allowed to attend both Oceaneers Club and Oceaneers Lab, they do not have to choose. On the newer ships, these areas are directly connected allowed for easy back-and-forth. On the classic ships, a CM will walk anyone between the 2 on request.

 

[bobbi565]

My DS is pdd-nos. I found the staff at the Lab were very responsive to his needs. I spoke to the staffers when I dropped him off, and they were very helpful in discussing his issues with wearing the big, bulky bracelet. They worked with us to find an option that would work for him. This was just June 2013.

 

[KarenR122]

We just returned on the 17th from a week on the Fantasy. I am happy to say that the kids club was MUCH better this time with my daughter. The CMs came out to introduce themselves to her and asked me her likes and dislikes and what they can do to make her happy. She went once for about an hour and then they called us to pick her up. She had fun but it was just too loud in there for her with all the kids yelling and screaming. The CMs did a great job though noticing her starting to hold her ears and directed her to the computer room to see if it was quieter for her. A CM stayed and played with her but by then she just wanted to get away from the noise. Someone stayed with her until we got there (literally 3 minutes after we got the text lol).

Even though she did not enjoy it, I am so glad they are finally being a little bit more responsive and I left them a great note on my comment card!

Another thing....they were piloting a Princess Tea for an extra charge that we signed up for. It was expensive but totally worth it. She got a bunch of gifts and 3 princesses were there and read stories to them and stayed and talked to each child for at least 10 minutes each. It was nice because later in the cruise all the princesses knew my daughter and went up to her and called her by name. Cinderella actually have her a little gift after she lost her tooth the last day of the cruise. Her face was priceless when she did that lol. If your child has a hard time with lines, this is a great alternative even though it is a bit costly.

 

[Wadekind]

Talk to the experts on Special Needs children and cruising. This group works with most of the major cruise lines. I know they work with Disney in both the Cruise Lines and Parks. Last time I seen a post about them on the DISboard the people that used them and talked to them really liked them. My understanding is they have both paid and non paid help.

http://www.autismontheseas.com/

Another perspective on your recommendation. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2818404