1/24 eastern part 4

[mariamard]

im trying to get this report done asap for those who need any info that i can give.......

kids clubs---
this makes me sad typing about this....my 4 year old ciara asks every morning to go back and play with her "mickey boat teachers". she had the most incredible time there. the staff was the most caring, sweet, and special group of counselors that exist. im working on a detailed letter to dcl to let them know how special i think they are.......even though there was about 30-40 3/4 year olds, they met each childs needs and made them feel as if they were the only child in the room. my dd would beg each night to stay when its time to be picked up. they hugged the kids when they cried. they cut food up and wiped the food off their clothes when they messed. they made my little girl feel special!
the programing was fun! heres a sea day program--
9-10 activity time
10-11 mousketeers in training-mickey comes and sings and dances while the kids train to be a mouseketeer!
11:30-12:15- lunch at animators palate
12:30-2-quiet time movie /little mermaid
2-3 ariels underwater bubble adventure-"an underwater playground of bubblefun sets the stage for ocean craft time"
3:15-5:15- all about animals "face painting, coloring , masks, -alot of things to choose from and they are all about animals!"
5:30-6:15-dinner-topsiders
6:30-7:15-free time fun
7:15-8- pictue this-take a pic with a disney friend and make a frame to take home!
8-10-sailing the seven seas-make rainbow glitter fish and story time!
10-1am- movies and captains closet fun!-tarzan and pocahontas

they also made pillowcases for the characters to sign, puppets, paintings, and a few others that i cant think of. snow white came and danced and told stories, had slumber parties, played on the computers.....its a little kids dream. if your little one doesnt like it, go with them and stay for a bit! im sure that they will forget you were even there.

shows--
they were great! we only saw the golden mickeys and dreams....they were so good! i had no idea dreams got the award for best show on ANY cruise line-thats impressive!my dd was interviewed by the "reporter" outside the theater. it was soooo cool while they were interviewing her, they shown her on the big screen inside!she felt like a star!do NOT miss these shows!!!!

more in a bit....also if you have any questions, let me know.
--maria

 

[sbatty]

Maria,
Thanks for the great trip report. You'll have to share your secret to success with the rest of us. I am nervously preparing for our trip (2 more days) and it seems over the last couple weeks there have been more and more reports of kids that didn't like the clubs. My DD will turn 4 on the cruise and my DS is almost 6. I was sure they would love the clubs until I started reading some of the recent threads. Did your 4 year old attend the first night or did you wait until Sunday when things settled down a bit? Did she enjoy the scheduled activites or the free time more? And my biggest question - how did you manage to get your child to sleep enough?
Thanks again, Susan

 

[Scratch42]

Susan, it's the younger children that have a blast at the clubs!

It's the 10-12 yr. old that seem to be left out of any real structured fun time! I realize that this is a difficult age but DCL should address this problem. Also, for the Teen group, there is a big age difference and metantality between a 13 year old and a 17 year old!

DCL should really rethink for the older ones.

The younger crowds have a blast!

m2cw

Scratch

 

[mariamard]

hi! we put ciara in the club at 7pm the first night and stayed for a while. after 20 minutes, we went to find her(she took off with a male counselor nick from usa and maria jose from argentina and 2 little boys). we found her a bit later and she looked up at us and said"you can go now". this is coming from a kid who never has been babysat by anyone other than our parents and my brothers. we couldnt believe it. she goes to preschool 2 days a week for 2 hours and the only reason why she can tolerate it, is because its 2 hours and thats about when shell start to miss us.she loved the scheduled activities the most. look at the day at sea plan......i would love to do those myself and im in my early 30's!! i would go with her the first night and do as we did, stay a bit. she will forget you are there. when you want to leave, let her know and i will be suprised if she cares , please trust me. the counselors will go out of there way to make your child comfy and cozy!!! there are 13 counselors for the 3-4 year olds and if your child gets scared or upset, they will comfort them and try to distract them. one day, ciara was crabby and wanted mommy(so they paged me, i happened to be at the tresure ketch store right below the club) and maria jose picked her up, hugged her and sat with her one on one and told her a story. when the story was over, she asked if she still wanted mommy she said"later" and stayed. i watched this from 25 feet away amazed. they are wonderful!!!
ciara got her sleep by sleeping every morning until 9-9:30, when here in chicago she sleeps till 7-ish. we never kept her there later than 11:30 execpt the night we went to 80's night.in the afternoon and later at night, cots are pulled out(with clean linen) and movies are put on with the lights lovered. my dd took a nap about 75% of the time on her own, just because she was so pooped. i hope things work out for you....let us know! i think that youll be pleasantly suprised!!!have a great cruise!--maria

 

[Princess Michelle]

Man! I want to go in the kids clubs! I don't have any kids so I can't even sneak in for a look around. I'm gonna have to steal somebody's kid so I can go play! LOL