Aloft/The Stack

[lotsofboys]

Think that's the point really- our teens did have great fun, they made friends and found their own entertainment which didn't include Aloft as much as it should have done.
I felt prompted to post having read lots of accounts of teens "all over the ship" on the EB repo and wondered whether it was simply a case of the cruise being overlong or whether the Stack wasn't as attractive a proposition as it could be, as we have recently found with Aloft.

DS and DD have often talked about their last cruises as teenagers (bit of and )- hope yours is fabulous

And this too is what happened with my teens. They found a group (and there were 3 or 4 distinct groups of 10 or so teens) and hung out swimming and movies and talking with that group outside of the Stack and had a great time.

I think the problem on the EB repo was twofold. First, the amount of kids, kids being 0 - 17, was at the max the ship will allow. I know from previous cruises we have taken in February as opposed to summertime that the number of kids is significantly lower in the off season so cruisers tend not to notice when a few kids are hanging out around the ship. On the repo cruise just due to the shear numbers you could not help but notice the large groups of unsupervised kids. I think (and this is just my humble opinion ) that the tweens, which on this cruise remember were 11 - 13 because 13yo were not allowed in the Stack, were just as guilty as the "teens causing problems" on this trip. I have 15 year olds and a 12yo. The 12yo is nearly as big as his brothers and many of the other kids in the age group 11 - 13 could easily have been mistaken for teenagers. I believe that many people who comment on the behavior of the teenagers on the cruise either have small children or no children and may have catagorized the tweens as teenagers.

DCL does the best they can with the kids who participate in the programs. The problem on the EB repo was the vast number of unsupervised kids not participating in the programs. JMHO

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

I'm not a teen anymore so I haven't been to the stack since 2005, but my friend went this summer on her first disney cruise she is 14 and went on a 4 day cruise and loved it. She met a bunch of friends and she said it was one of the greatest trips ever. She said there wasn't much activities, but they all found other stuff to do like go to the pool and swim during the day, go to movies, and then she said they would just walk around the ship and talk at night

that is the point some are making- that there wasn't much activities and they wandered the ship doing other things... some of us parents (and the kids) aren't really interested in doing that and expected more activities in the stack/with the stack group of teens rather than finding things to do on their own with friends made on the cruise.

We just returned from the EB repo too (Hi BIP ) and my 15yo twin DSs were really excited to be able to go to the Stack for the first time. Their biggest complaint when I asked halfway through the cruise why they weren't going much was there was nothing going on but sitting around. They also did not like that if there was an activity it didn't start until midnight and got over around 2:00am. They were usually tired from the day's activities and wanted to go to bed by midnight.

It in no way affected our or their enjoyment of the cruise but I think the boys were disappointed because after six years of cruising DCL and finally being able to go to the Stack it wasn't what they had built it up to be.

And truth be told, I really thought they would be out so late that they would need to sleep in and we would only see them at dinner time so I was secretly happy it didn't work out because we spent more time as a family than I thought we would.

I could not agree more with every word you wrote!
Oh my daughter enjoyed the stack- because she kept wandering the ship with friends doing other stuff! that is not what *I* had in mind for my 14yr old though... and had been assured that there were plenty of activities for the kids in the stack- but it wasn't the case. They primarily had fun things to do in the late hours only.. although we didn't spend more family time with our eldest due to this- we just ended up trying to find her constantly becuase she wasn't in the stack and was running around during the day doing other things (primarily the sports deck and pool)

As i teen reading this i have to disagree with the lack of things to do in The Stack or Aloft. I've been on 3 cruises with disney each one i was a teen. There has never been a time that i felt "left out" or "Bord" I had things to do every hour of the day and when hanging in the stack was on the navigator a bunch of people and sometimes a councler would go shoot some hoops or do a scavanger hunt or we would all go swimming or even go grab a bit to eat. There were times when i couldn't do every activity becouse of dinner. The teens have plenty to do.

Now about the late hours. Disney does this to allow the parents some "night time" ... Some parents will agree that this is needed. As a teen staying out late is our little step into becoming independent from the parents. Remember were on the water theres not many places a teen can go. (you as a parent won't loose us at the mall or we won't drive off to cuba) its our freedom on the seas. My first cruise i had a curfue with my parents requiring me to be in my stateroom by 11:30 each night but i still had that little freedom that made the cruise so much fun. just a sugeston it may help..
Once again DISNEY does an amzing job with every age group and that sucks that your experience with the stack counclers wasn't the best. I'm sure that its just a blip. Don't give up on disney just yet.

Remember it's magic

I do have the navigators from our cruise if you'd like me to show you what is available for them to do now. It's primarily "hanging in the stack" with a few activities either uninteresting to the teens or repetitive (and rare during the day) with the FUN things late at night.
And that's great to give them fun things to do late at night- except there isn't much for the adults to be doing that late except staying up waiting for their teens to get to bed. LOL

Agree with everything you said - that's exactly why our teens have always loved the Stack or Aloft, but also exactly what was missing this time, sadly. "Hanging" meant just that while counsellors on duty did paperwork or were just there without any of the extras. Remember that on a 4 night cruise you probably wouldn't make friends quickly enough to really enjoy just hanging without the activities that fast-track integration.

You are also right about the late night freedom a well run Stack or Aloft offers- it's great to be able to offer this to our teens, though I have to say that it would be easier to bear if the ship weren't so dead for adults after midnight!

Right- that is exactly what was missing this time. Hanging meant just laying around (and in some cases girls/boys laying around with or ON each other- don't get me started on the bean bag "sharing" and all that...) and totally agree it might be great that they did the fun stuff late at night except there really isn't much for adults to do -atleast not until 2:30am like the teen stack had activities till that late! Like you said- pretty much after midnight (or 1am at the latest for movies in the theatre or something) there isn't a thing for adults to do besides sitting up waiting on their teens to get back to their room.

Hi people,
I have been reading DIS for some time, and after reading this I felt I must reply. I worked with DCL for a couple of years - leaving the ship about a year ago. I worked in Youth Activities, and worked in every age grouping (from nursery - teen).

The reason there would be alot of time 'hangin' is because it was asked for. We have all the comment card comments by 3pm on the day you leave the ship, and discuss them in our departmental meeting (which is during your drill). One comment we kept getting from teens (and lab-aged kids) was that there were too many activities! DCL does a great job of responding to comment cards, and this is what has happened.

If you want more activities/ an activity at a certain time put it on the comment card (or fire off an email to DCL). If enough people agree - it will happen.

I think one of the huge problem with kids is... they are all unique. They want differing things from a vacation - you try to please them all, but it cant be done... gosh, darn it... why do kids have to be so awkward

Hope you guys had an awesome vacation all the same. Can you tell I miss ship life? lol

Personally I'd rather they listen to the PARENTS' wishes over the childrens. Sure the kids want to just hang out- and then end up wandering the ship... but that's probably not what most of the parents want their kids doing! (and ahem, the parents are paying for the cruise, not the kids!) I don't mean to be sound rude about that- but I'm the one paying and I'm not paying for my kid to be laying around with older teens and boys and/or wandering the ship trying to find something to do when bored "hanging" in the stack. That is NOT what I'm paying a premium on Disney for. If I wanted that- I can do that at home or leave my teen at home instead!
(and to address the lab age comment too- I'm also not paying for the disney cruise for my lab aged children to be bored simply because some lab aged children on previous cruises thought there were too many activities. which btw that comment probably came from many because they wanted to play on the computers-which isn't allowed when there is an activity going on in the lab. Atleast that is from my own experience with my lab-aged children in the past LOL)

I agree all children are unique- I don't think the answer is to make less activities though. If some kids think there are too many activities- they can just NOT participate in all the activities! But taking away the activities because "some" feel there are too many really leaves no choice for the ones that LIKE having activities...KWIM? Having the activities available leaves an option for those that don't want to participate- they can just not participate. Taking the activities away is not the answer- because that does not leave an option for those that want the activities... besides wandering the ship trying to find things to do! (which I'm pretty sure is why we had so many tweens and teens wandering the ship so much on our last cruise)

I guess every experience is diffrent for every cruiser be it a teen or an adult. I know every cruise i went on i've made friends right off the bat. Some kids just don't make friends that easy. To appease everyone disney bends backwards trying to offer time for people to get to know each other. "hang time" Some teens who don't like hang time or don't use it to make friends seem to dislike the Stack or Aloft. Its just a matter of what you make it. DCL staff members/ counclers are trained to try to make every cruiser's vacation fun. And thats alot to ask. So teens who aren't haveing fun in the Stack or Aloft shouldn't give up, keep trying Disney was made for kids by an adult-kid. I understand every cruiser is diffrent but if you have the will to make your cruise fun, I promise it will be.
For future teen cruisers "if theres somthing you don't like right off the bat with the Stack or Aloft tell a councler, find a friend, find something you like about cruising" I promise if you give it a chance Disney will provide.

JUST THROWING MY CENTS IN THE HAT...

Remember its magic

I'm not sure but I think you are missing the point some of us are trying to make. My daughter made friends quickly and was perfectly fine with the stack being "boring" and perfectly fine with finding things to do (outside the stack) with her friends- it's ME, the parent, that isn't happy about that. I wish they had things for them to do in the stack so they weren't left with the only option being making friends and wandering the ship with those friends finding things to do on their own. What you're describing is pretty much how it is now- that the stack is just a "hang" place to make friends there.. then run off to find things to do with those friends. I thought the stack was supposed to be more than that..... I don't think the stack should be just a place to "meet" kids their same age... and then if you make friends run off trying to find things to do with those friends and if you don't make friends then have nothing to do. I think the stack should be more than just a meeting place for teens.

What we personally experienced with the stack this time (proven by navigators saved) is that the stack opened late, closed really late, with barely any activities planned at all- mostly "hanging in the stack, optional dining time, hanging in the stack, etc- with some activities... that the kids WERE wanting to do and apparently most, if not all, really wanted to be there during those hours- only late at night as late as 2:30am... which is even later than they have things for the adults to do... so the adults just waiting up for the kids to get back to their rooms. During the day it was mostly just hanging in the stack (which meant for our daughter and many others who made friends- just leaving the stack repeatedly with friends to do other things... and meant we couldn't find our daughter during the day either) and then all the teens wanting to be in the stack during the really late hours when fun activities were planned for those hours. It's not what I expected or planned on- and I'd be very leary about cruising on DCL again with a young teen if it stays this way. Probably won't.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

And this too is what happened with my teens. They found a group (and there were 3 or 4 distinct groups of 10 or so teens) and hung out swimming and movies and talking with that group outside of the Stack and had a great time.

I think the problem on the EB repo was twofold. First, the amount of kids, kids being 0 - 17, was at the max the ship will allow. I know from previous cruises we have taken in February as opposed to summertime that the number of kids is significantly lower in the off season so cruisers tend not to notice when a few kids are hanging out around the ship. On the repo cruise just due to the shear numbers you could not help but notice the large groups of unsupervised kids. I think (and this is just my humble opinion ) that the tweens, which on this cruise remember were 11 - 13 because 13yo were not allowed in the Stack, were just as guilty as the "teens causing problems" on this trip. I have 15 year olds and a 12yo. The 12yo is nearly as big as his brothers and many of the other kids in the age group 11 - 13 could easily have been mistaken for teenagers. I believe that many people who comment on the behavior of the teenagers on the cruise either have small children or no children and may have catagorized the tweens as teenagers.

DCL does the best they can with the kids who participate in the programs. The problem on the EB repo was the vast number of unsupervised kids not participating in the programs. JMHO

I totally agree with everything you said... except maybe for the part about "not participating in the programs"- atleast for the teen stack there wasn't really much for them to participate in except late at night.
But I mostly agree wholeheartedly with your analysis (hehe) of why it was more noticable and I sure know how kids look more mature nowadays -so that's why I've tried to mention (when commenting about this issue) tweens and not just teens. I do believe a lot of the 11+ aged kids may have been mistaken for the teen aged group of kids.. (I am sometimes SHOCKED at how kids in 6-8th grade or even 5th grade at times- look so much older than I think they should look. I'm like whoa... kids didn't look like that when *I* was that age! LOL I think kids mature physically earlier nowadays for some reason... tweens can easily be mistaken for teens nowadays! I thought a ton of the girls in the OQ looked the same age as my 14yr old daughter- physically, the way they dressed, makeup they wore, etc. I could totally see people mistaken the younger kids as being teenagers- totally!)

I think the number of kids had a lot to do with how many were wandering around AND how much it was noticed! Because A) more kids means more crowded in the stack and in the OQ if they were all to stay in there- so they don't.. and B) on a cruise with less kids obviously a few wandering around the ship wouldn't be noticed as much as on a cruise with a ton of kids with an equal % of kids- based on kids population on the cruise- wandering around the ship. Totally agree with you!

(and still bummed I didn't see you on the cruise btw. Did you see my post about that on the other thread? LOL)

 

[DMMarla07860]

that is the point some are making- that there wasn't much activities and they wandered the ship doing other things... some of us parents (and the kids) aren't really interested in doing that and expected more activities in the stack/with the stack group of teens rather than finding things to do on their own with friends made on the cruise.

oh ok, I hear you about that and totally understand, me being 20 I remember how my friends parents were about wandering the ship. They couldn't wandered around much when they were 14 and me on the other hand when I was 14 could wandered around the ship. I mean I had a watch so I was never late so it was all good back then and we all just liked the wandering part the most, but all parents and kids are different. So I can totally understand what you are all saying

 

[lotsofboys]

I totally agree with everything you said... except maybe for the part about "not participating in the programs"- atleast for the teen stack there wasn't really much for them to participate in except late at night.
But I mostly agree wholeheartedly with your analysis (hehe) of why it was more noticable and I sure know how kids look more mature nowadays -so that's why I've tried to mention (when commenting about this issue) tweens and not just teens. I do believe a lot of the 11+ aged kids may have been mistaken for the teen aged group of kids.. (I am sometimes SHOCKED at how kids in 6-8th grade or even 5th grade at times- look so much older than I think they should look. I'm like whoa... kids didn't look like that when *I* was that age! LOL I think kids mature physically earlier nowadays for some reason... tweens can easily be mistaken for teens nowadays! I thought a ton of the girls in the OQ looked the same age as my 14yr old daughter- physically, the way they dressed, makeup they wore, etc. I could totally see people mistaken the younger kids as being teenagers- totally!)

I think the number of kids had a lot to do with how many were wandering around AND how much it was noticed! Because A) more kids means more crowded in the stack and in the OQ if they were all to stay in there- so they don't.. and B) on a cruise with less kids obviously a few wandering around the ship wouldn't be noticed as much as on a cruise with a ton of kids with an equal % of kids- based on kids population on the cruise- wandering around the ship. Totally agree with you!

(and still bummed I didn't see you on the cruise btw. Did you see my post about that on the other thread? LOL)

You are completely right, I just didn't word it correctly and was mostly still referring to the tweens and younger kids. If there were programs of interest at any age there would be less unsupervised kids.

I saw your post and am sorry we never actually met either. I read where you cancelled Las Americas which explains why I couldn't find you there! AND thank you so much for the magnets although one of them was stolen from our door, but we still had the one on the kids door. I think you may have put them out before Wednesday the 20th which was my DS birthday and I made a bday sign with the same exact Mickey picture. Great minds think alike

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

oh ok, I hear you about that and totally understand, me being 20 I remember how my friends parents were about wandering the ship. They couldn't wandered around much when they were 14 and me on the other hand when I was 14 could wandered around the ship. I mean I had a watch so I was never late so it was all good back then and we all just liked the wandering part the most, but all parents and kids are different. So I can totally understand what you are all saying

I wouldn't have minded her leaving the stack, with friends, so much except that I couldn't find her when I needed her- and then heard she wasn't behaving in a manner we wished her to behave (she wasn't behaving poorly towards others or anything like that- it was more of a "hanging out with a boy all the time" type thing that we didn't like..)
We had to hunt her down a few times, saw her with the boy all over the place, heard about her being with him all the time, AND heard about her behaving with him in a manner we don't approve of at her age (apparently they became enamored with one another rather quickly in the cruise and she became boy crazy all the sudden which was kind of a shock for us... it's totally unlike her!), and LIED to us a few times as well (saying she'd be in the stack or page us if she left the stack- and then caught her outside of the stack)... it wasn't that we just wanted her to stay in the stack the entire time. She just didn't do a very good job (in our opinion) with her newfound freedom on the ship and we, personally, would have preferred they had more activities to take up her time so she wouldn't have found so much free time to go running around with the boy all over the ship!

You are completely right, I just didn't word it correctly and was mostly still referring to the tweens and younger kids. If there were programs of interest at any age there would be less unsupervised kids.

I saw your post and am sorry we never actually met either. I read where you cancelled Las Americas which explains why I couldn't find you there! AND thank you so much for the magnets although one of them was stolen from our door, but we still had the one on the kids door. I think you may have put them out before Wednesday the 20th which was my DS birthday and I made a bday sign with the same exact Mickey picture. Great minds think alike

Oh no.... I wish I had known it disappeared. I even went around adding more magnets on DIS'ers doors, ship of fools doors (ones with usernames on the door that I recognized) and then started putting them randomly all over doors (people who don't even know me but their door looked bare LOL). AND I still had many left- and guess what.. I forgot and left them in the drawer in my stateroom. I had like atleast 50 of the swirly mickey ones left and probably about 30 or so of the black ones...
I put them out the first 2 nights (late at night both times) and then later in the cruise started putting them out randomly. I wonder why someone would want it bad enough to take it! LOL

I noticed mine, and other magnets obviously made at vistaprint and the same size as mine/etc., started to act really weird- like not sticking to the door on the entire magnet/curling up on the edges/sides. Did you notice that at all?

Anyway, I would have given you all those rather than leave them in the drawer. *sigh*

Yep, cancelled the Los Americas... I don't remember posting about it LOL but I did cancel it... so very sorry we never got to meet. That stinks.

Oh and I once again agree completely to your post (about the kiddos and the programs/activities)

 

[mom23boyz]

I am very concerned by what I'm reading here. Our oldest son and two of his friends (one boy and one girl) will get to be in the Stack for the first time this cruise. I hate the idea of not being able to track them down, especially after 1 in the morning! We will have to have a talk about checking in and wearing his watch so he knows when to do so. Are walkie talkies a good option? I am not sure he'll think it's cool to carry that around.

Has anyone discussed these concerns directly with DCL? I'd like to see some changes made and more organized activities planned before we cruise at Thanksgiving!

 

[MEGADAN]

We were just on the Wonder and we experienced similar concerns. We went to watch one of the activities on the sports deck and later asked my son who was the Cast Member and he said that the Cast Member had been there but left. During a supervised activity? I was also not happy with the lack of CM presence on the 10th Deck. These are kids that are running around up there. I wrote a letter to DCL yesterday because we rebooked on-board and I want to make sure some changes are made before we sail them again next year.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

I am very concerned by what I'm reading here. Our oldest son and two of his friends (one boy and one girl) will get to be in the Stack for the first time this cruise. I hate the idea of not being able to track them down, especially after 1 in the morning! We will have to have a talk about checking in and wearing his watch so he knows when to do so. Are walkie talkies a good option? I am not sure he'll think it's cool to carry that around.

Has anyone discussed these concerns directly with DCL? I'd like to see some changes made and more organized activities planned before we cruise at Thanksgiving!

In the midst of all the tweens and teens running around- I did see/hear quite a few of them on walkie talkies. I'd have to say it probably helped a lot and at one point I was wishing we'd brought walkie talkies- but it sure didn't sound like the KIDS were happy about using them! LOL (since several times the snippets of conversations we heard- because the kids weren't quite about it- they didn't seem pleased to be checked up on or having to report where they were. Lots of attitude in their replies, loud sighs, you know- normal stuff for teens LOL)
But I could see them coming in handy when you have no idea where your teen is!

 

[Indea88]

I'm in complete agreement with the above concerns...I like to know where he is, not running around the ship, with who I don't know, and where I don't know...
Last year he would check in and be in by 12:00 but where he was the other times, I don't know. I am not looking forward to being worried about this the whole trip and we leave next month for 7 days.
At home he has a cell phone, he answers it when I call, and I know for the most part where he is. No phones on the ship, and the ship is too big to search for him every few hours. I just made him check in periodically throughout the day.
He can't wait, this is ultimate freedom for him..I hate the feeling, it stresses me..

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

We were just on the Wonder and we experienced similar concerns. We went to watch one of the activities on the sports deck and later asked my son who was the Cast Member and he said that the Cast Member had been there but left. During a supervised activity? I was also not happy with the lack of CM presence on the 10th Deck. These are kids that are running around up there. I wrote a letter to DCL yesterday because we rebooked on-board and I want to make sure some changes are made before we sail them again next year.

We noticed that too (lack of CM during supervised activities outside the stack- lack of any CM presence on 10th deck- except ofcourse when younger age groups were up there supervised). And the kids figured out rather quickly that they could get privacy on deck 10- it was rather early in the cruise that DD started either paging us she was going to deck 10 with friends or that she did NOT page us but we'd go there and find her there with groups of kids almost every time. I suppose deck 10 is better than hanging out in stairways and such though..... LOL

 

[kcashner]

Wow....that's different from our Feb. 2008 experience. The Stack wasn't heavily scheduled (like the Club or Lab), but there were several activities during the day in addition to Guitar Hero and "hanging around." In addition, there was a poster or bulletin board with a list of available activities--ask counselor for supplies. This was stuff like crafts, games, etc.

DD has been in The Stack at least once each year 13-17 including a 14 day cruise and loves it. Her great debate now is the guest list for her graduation cruise....

 

[WDWCrazzyCunninghams]

I am going to be keeping a close eye on this thread and looking for advice from you!! we have a son, who is 13 now, and is SO looking forward to being able to go to the Stack. It's all he's talked about for 2 years! I don't want him in there veggin' all day! All of us need downtime, but I don't want him spending the entire cruise in front of a tv, computer or Wii. We can do that at home if we want! I also don't want him wander the ship aimlessly in a "pack or gang". Does not look good! Besides that, I think the CMs should be doing a little better job of watching how the genders interact. I don't think lap sitting, sharing bean bags, or getting too cozy is a good thing!! I don't "think" my son would go there, but giving him as much freedom as they have on the ship, who knows!!! Ugh. He is so looking forward to being "the big kid" on the ship.

 

[Remember_the_magic]

I am going to be keeping a close eye on this thread and looking for advice from you!! we have a son, who is 13 now, and is SO looking forward to being able to go to the Stack. It's all he's talked about for 2 years! I don't want him in there veggin' all day! All of us need downtime, but I don't want him spending the entire cruise in front of a tv, computer or Wii. We can do that at home if we want! I also don't want him wander the ship aimlessly in a "pack or gang". Does not look good! Besides that, I think the CMs should be doing a little better job of watching how the genders interact. I don't think lap sitting, sharing bean bags, or getting too cozy is a good thing!! I don't "think" my son would go there, but giving him as much freedom as they have on the ship, who knows!!! Ugh. He is so looking forward to being "the big kid" on the ship.

Wow.. well first i have to quote myself

Originally Posted by Remember_the_magic
As i teen reading this i have to disagree with the lack of things to do in The Stack or Aloft. I've been on 3 cruises with Disney each one i was a teen. There has never been a time that i felt "left out" or "Bored" I had things to do every hour of the day and when hanging in the stack was on the navigator a bunch of people and sometimes a councilor would go shoot some hoops or do a scavenger hunt or we would all go swimming or even go grab a bit to eat. There were times when I couldn't do every activity because of dinner. The teens have plenty to do

Now that I got that out of the way. I understand every parent’s worry. You spent thousands of dollars trying to give the kids fun on a Disney cruise and you don't want them to just sit around. I agree with you fully but from every cruise I’ve been on I have always had something to do. Here is a link that will give you a normal day at sea for the Disney Magic (look at the 13-17 yo area). I've only counted 2 "chilling in the stack" times. These times allow the change of guard (the CMs). Its far easier to change cms when there is down time instead of in the middle of an activity. Also one of the two "chilling in the stack" times is during the main dinner. I'm guessing ... just a guess.. but i bet that the chilling in the stack is at this time because people are either at or getting ready for dinner. I'm fighting for Disney because I have friend that work on the cruise boats who work very hard to make every vacation special for everyone. Its a job for them. A JOB.. They work and its just so hard to see other people putting down someone who is working while your enjoying vacation. I'm just saying Disney is good at what they do and if problems occur on your cruise I recommend you write them down on your comment sheet. As each cruise is tweaked by the last set of comment cards. When you say that the CMs are doing paper work all the time its because they are working off of the last cruise’s comment cards and adjusting the schedule for the next one based on what others are saying. I don’t know exactly why some teens have not enjoyed the stack but remember with 3000 people on board its hard to appease everyone.
I’m only saying that Disney does listen and if you have a problem please by all means take it up with guest services and DCL management

Disney Cruise Vacations
Guest Communications
Post Office Box 10238
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830-02381

I hope this helps.

IT’S MAGIC….

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Just a few things.
I'm not ever putting down the CMs because they are doing their job and doing what they are told to do, I'm sure. And they certainly do NOT get to make the navigators and the list of things to do in the stack. I'm sure they are just told what to do and when to do it- and they do their jobs. Any beef anyone here has with the lack of activities and such I'm sure is with DCL itself, and not the stack counselors. Just want to clarify that.

The link you showed- looks quite different than our navigators. Maybe they didn't think up new things for the teens to do and instead just "spread out" the same activities for a 7 night into a 15nt cruise- that might explain why we had more chillin in the stack. There was quite a bit more chillin in the stack on our navigators and lots of "fun" stuff crammed in the hours between like 11-2 or 11-2:30am than what your navigator shows. With that said- things like an hour smoothie sensations is really nothing more than more chillin in the stack except getting a smoothie whilst chillin in the stack. LOL Brunch for an hour or 45min when most everyone just had breakfast while waiting for the stack to open is just more "chillin in the stack" in reality.

We found the navigators were not what we expected, that's all. The stack opened late without many activities planned except late at night- and kept the kids doing the fun stuff in the late hours well into the night when adults really don't have anything to do but wait up for their kids. It was clear, atleast with my daughter and some others that I know of, that the late hour activities were fun and desired by the kids... more of those things during the day would have been nice and would have kept the kids from roaming the ship during the day. Well I can't really speak for ALL kids but I can for my daughter- she waited in the mornings for the stack to open, quickly grew bored and spent her days either roaming the ship going here and there with friends and/or sitting off in the back room (on a beanbag ON a boy- heard that from a few other kids in the stack.. this being one of the things we didn't approve of and I know everytime we came looking for her that's exactly where she was- just laying around in the room in the back), but she REALLY wanted to be in the stack for the late hours activities.

I can't say there were no activities during the day- but they were few and far between. My daughter wanted to go to those- and did... but they weren't often and sometimes she made a point to be there only to find out no one else was participating because they weren't THERE -off roaming the ship doing other things. If there were more activities scheduled IMO the kids would have been there more often so the activities would actually happen. Long periods of time of "chillin in the stack" in between a few activities just made it where most of the kids took off and didn't make it back for the activities once it came time for them... KWIM?

I think maybe DCL just thinks teens would rather just hang out- some would.... but most just end up leaving to do other things on the ship. Which is fine for some kids who enjoy that anyway- but for some parents they aren't pleased with the idea of that for their kids (I would be in this group)- and for other people even without kids (or younger kids meaning they don't have teens) they probably don't enjoy a lot of teens running around the ship.

 

[xangav]

Bibbidy-totally agree with what you said and we felt the same way.

 

[wwwosie]

Maybe I'm naive but if the teens are bored during the day can't they just join in the family activities? Especially if their family is at the pool???

 

[DMMarla07860]

Maybe I'm naive but if the teens are bored during the day can't they just join in the family activities? Especially if their family is at the pool???

yes they could, that's what me and friends I made use to do, if we were board, well some of us anyway. The rest of us would just find a place to sit and talk or whatever, not on stairs or elevators though, usually we would find chairs on deck 4 or 9 and sit

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Maybe I'm naive but if the teens are bored during the day can't they just join in the family activities? Especially if their family is at the pool???

I'm sure they can, unless the family activities require a parent/actual FAMILY -which I'm unsure about because we didn't do all the family activities.
But because they CAN doesn't mean they DO. I can't speak for all the kids but I know the groups that I knew about (including the groups with my daughter also) did things like go to the pool, go to sports deck, go "looking in the shops", apparently sitting in the hallways (another thing I didn't approve of my daughter doing and was upset when I heard she'd done that), sitting in the semi-secluded back areas of studio sea (another thing I didn't approve of primarily because she did that all snuggled up against that BOY) and walking around.... sometimes she went to movies in the theatre with her group of friends also.
Some of the things she did with groups of friends I was fine with (pool, seeing a movie) and others I didn't QUITE agree with simply because it allowed for too much privacy (IMO) being unsupervised -such as deck 10 and still others I completely disagreed with because I either didn't agree with the activity (sitting in hallways and such) or because it caused us problems trying to FIND our daughter when needed (walking around).

 

[Im_A_Princess]

Our 2 teens have been on 3 and 4 cruises each (DCL).
It just depends who is on board.
I think only 1 time was it "boring" for them.
The EB Panama was NOT one of those!!!! They had an awesome time. So did our 12 yr. tween.