Aloft/The Stack

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

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.

Oh don't get me wrong- my daughter thinks she had an awesome time too. It's US (her parents) that aren't happy about HOW she had that awesome time.. and didn't like having to worry about her more than our young kids LOL

(ps. how old are your teens? Just curious. I didn't know you had teens! You look so young yourself! )

 

[Fatphil32]

I've found with any cruises' teen clubs, you have to make the fun yourself. Last year, I went on a Carnival Cruise. The activities were dull & the counselors were even duller. But, I had a great time because I made friends with some crazy people who just liked doing whatever to have fun. You can't just sit back and expect it.

 

[DMMarla07860]

I've found with any cruises' teen clubs, you have to make the fun yourself. Last year, I went on a Carnival Cruise. The activities were dull & the counselors were even duller. But, I had a great time because I made friends with some crazy people who just liked doing whatever to have fun. You can't just sit back and expect it.

So true, even though I am not a teen anymore, I'm 20 and they have had a small college club social the first night all three cruises I've been 18 or older. I just went talked to people and we did fun stuff, same with when I went to the teen club. I can understand parents being worried about teens on the ship and not being able to find them and stuff, my dad was the first cruise, but giving me a watch did help because we would pick a time during the day to meet up so he would know I was ok

 

[Remember_the_magic]

Absolutely I agree parent-teen communication during a cruise is essential... If that is the main problem with the teen club is lack of communication then that is a personal issue between parent and teen.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Absolutely I agree parent-teen communication during a cruise is essential... If that is the main problem with the teen club is lack of communication then that is a personal issue between parent and teen.

Let me be clear- my main problem with the teen club is that there were so few activities and/or activities so few and far between that teens had already left and didn't come back during the few times of activities- that our child decided to do like others have mentioned on this thread that is "so fun" for teens to do ie: leaving the stack. THEN we did have a communication problem/lack of communication problem because we weren't prepared for our child to be just hanging out all over the ship with friends... We didn't know this would be a problem and hadn't prepared for it. (ie: didn't bring walkie talkies, didn't map out the rules beforehand and had some "issues" with making up the rules as we went along, etc.)

I've found with any cruises' teen clubs, you have to make the fun yourself. Last year, I went on a Carnival Cruise. The activities were dull & the counselors were even duller. But, I had a great time because I made friends with some crazy people who just liked doing whatever to have fun. You can't just sit back and expect it.

Let me clarify once more, for myself atleast-- that my teen DID "have a great time" because she "made friends who liked doing whatever to have fun" (which meant all over the ship and not in the stack the majority of the time( but that's not what *I*, the parent, had in mind that she'd be doing on the cruise and not *my* idea of the type of fun I intended for her to have on the cruise.

I'll be keeping an eye on this in the future, but we may just not cruise with teens. Quite literally it ruined some of the fun of the cruise for us to have a teen who was bored with all the "chillin in the stack" so went wandering around with friends to find things to do, either not knowing where she was and even after forcing her to have them page us to let us know where she was going STILL not really enjoying the idea of her wandering to do this and that unsupervised and not realy knowing who she was going with to do those things/etc., and worrying about what she was doing, trying to find her when we needed to, waiting up for her to do the "fun" things they had planned into the late hours with nothing for adults to do that late.... so just waiting up for her.

I will admit our feelings on this may be because our daughter is on the young side, we may feel very differently about this when she's older, more mature, can be trusted with such freedom more than she can be now at her age, etc. I'm sure age has a lot to do with it... very huge difference between 14yr old getting her first taste of freedom as a teen on the cruise vs. a 16+yr old who presumably already has had some freedom due to maturity level, able to drive already, etc. We, the parents, may be more prepared for the level of just hanging out and/or roaming the ship once she's older, more mature, etc. LOL We may be fine with it when she's older! When she's older we probably won't care what she's doing as much because we can trust her more- and when she's older (for one example) maybe I won't have to be waiting up for her late into the night and can go to bed and trust that she'll come to the room once the stack closes/fun stuff is over... stuff like that. It might make a big difference for us when she's older.

(ps. in talking with other cruisers before the cruise, with 14yr olds also... it was also said then that a lot of the activities happen only if the kids want to- but we were all in agreement that atleast the majority of our kids would want to do activities and such so I wasn't prepared for what really happened. Then well into the week or halfway thru the cruise I found out that a lot of the 14yr old girls had been put in Ocean Quest! I think they may have thought I put my daughter in OQ too... some miscommunication there. Just wanted to explain where we were coming from and why we weren't prepared for what happened on the cruise)

 

[DMMarla07860]

I can totally understand where your coming from as a parent, haha I'm 20 and my mom still feels the same way, she is like you hang out till 4:00am in the morning . The look in her eyes was great when I told her.

 

[Remember_the_magic]

I have contacted DCL I expect a reply from them soon concerning the matter at hand.

Just a question; has anyone talked with a DCL official about this issue or anything else concerning the STACK or ALOFT? Just wondering…

I finally got out my old navigators from the Christmas cruise 2007 and I’m not trying to argue but I truthfully found a lot of planned activities all of which I remember attending and enjoying. If what you’re saying is true and The Stack and Aloft have less planned activities than it has changed in less then 8 months… This very well could be true. But I don’t know why these radical changes have occurred. I’ve included a link to this session for DCL to review. I guess we’ll see what they say.

 

[stephent2008]

BibbidyBobbidyBoo - my whole point was that the schedule is derived from the comments DCL recieves, Ive seen it work and not work. Ive agreed with changes and also been against them.

In a way I agree with your point that activity should suit the parents (they should be in charge of their kids), however I do also feel that in some cases parents are very much in the wrong (I wont name specifics)... not that I am saying this is you.

Slightly vexed over you stating that there was a 'must participate' rule in terms of activities - if this happened on your cruise, it shouldn't have. Crew should activly encourage kids to 'try' the activity, but all other activities in the lab/ club should be open to the children if they prefer. I would recomend sending an email to DCL if this wasnt the case for you, and those responsible will be dealt with.

Keeping kids happy is not easy... keeping the kids, their parents, and your employer (who happens to be a 5ft tall mouse) all happy, whilst fufilling health and safety, USPH and coast guard requirements is even harder. If anyone is in a similar situation, talk to the YA officer whilst onboard - and they will attept to deal with it. Also, use teh comment cards - almost everything that happens on the ships has come from them at some point in time.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

BibbidyBobbidyBoo - my whole point was that the schedule is derived from the comments DCL recieves, Ive seen it work and not work. Ive agreed with changes and also been against them.

In a way I agree with your point that activity should suit the parents (they should be in charge of their kids), however I do also feel that in some cases parents are very much in the wrong (I wont name specifics)... not that I am saying this is you.

Slightly vexed over you stating that there was a 'must participate' rule in terms of activities - if this happened on your cruise, it shouldn't have. Crew should activly encourage kids to 'try' the activity, but all other activities in the lab/ club should be open to the children if they prefer. I would recomend sending an email to DCL if this wasnt the case for you, and those responsible will be dealt with.

Keeping kids happy is not easy... keeping the kids, their parents, and your employer (who happens to be a 5ft tall mouse) all happy, whilst fufilling health and safety, USPH and coast guard requirements is even harder. If anyone is in a similar situation, talk to the YA officer whilst onboard - and they will attept to deal with it. Also, use teh comment cards - almost everything that happens on the ships has come from them at some point in time.

I'm not sure what you mean by "must participate" rule. Are you referring to the stack or the lab/club? If you're referring to the club/lab- it's been that way on both cruises... when they are doing an activity they aren't allowed to just roam the rooms doing other things like computers. (they can however lay around on bean bags in the lab.. caught my son doing that a few times instead of participating in activities he felt were "babyish" LOL) I know this for a fact because my oldest two (in the lab on our first cruise) were quite upset that they couldn't just play computer whenever they wanted to- but they just had to get over it LOL
they have computer free time and other times they aren't allowed on the computers. Is that what you mean? In the club we've always encountered them doing an activity and if our child doesn't want to do that activity they are doing at that time- they beep us. I can see why they do this though- the club/lab is not 1 on 1 and they can't have all the kids doing their own thing all day long.
("participate" doesn't necessarily mean they have to do anything but stay in the vicinity/area that they are doing the activity in though. They can just watch, listen, or not- they don't have to actually PHYSICALLY participate if they don't want to. To explain further- for example our youngest WAS in the club during some activities she obviously didn't "particpate physically" in- such as some crafts they did that she was there while they did the craft but when there was no craft for us to pick up- she'd say she didn't want to do it. However, it's kinda like this... say they are going to do such and such activity, let's say for example sake #1 they are doing something within the club- child says no i don't want to do that- I want to go do x instead- counselor says no we can't do that right now- child says then I want you to page my mom- parents are paged- child picked up because we get there and child says I don't want to do what they are doing. Example #2- club is going to some other activity that child doesn't want to do like say for instance dodgeball on deck 10 for 45min or something- child asks for parent to come get them because if they don't- they HAVE to go up to deck 10 with the age group. Example #3- in either of the above cases if the child just sits there watching or listening or whatever and doesn't participate in the craft or dodgeball... they can stay... if they haven't asked for parents to be paged to come get them. At no time have I heard of, or experienced, the staff just paging us because our child doesn't want to ACTUALLY do the craft or activity. they are allowed to stay even if they don't want to physically participate with the scheduled activity- but that doesn't mean they can do what they want instead- such as play on computers)

Other times (besides computers) were the various times they went to the sports deck. With both our younger ones we knew if we saw that on the navigator during the middle of the day that our kids were going to be beeping us to come get them. LOL They had to all go... it wasn't like those that wanted to go do dodgeball could go to the sports deck and those that didn't want to go could stay in the lab.. no, they have to all go as oftentimes when say lab aged kids are on the sports deck- club aged kids may be in the lab for an activity.. they don't want to mingle the ages and such.

 

[Remember_the_magic]

BibbidyBobbidyBoo - my whole point was that the schedule is derived from the comments DCL recieves, Ive seen it work and not work. Ive agreed with changes and also been against them.

In a way I agree with your point that activity should suit the parents (they should be in charge of their kids), however I do also feel that in some cases parents are very much in the wrong (I wont name specifics)... not that I am saying this is you.

Slightly vexed over you stating that there was a 'must participate' rule in terms of activities - if this happened on your cruise, it shouldn't have. Crew should activly encourage kids to 'try' the activity, but all other activities in the lab/ club should be open to the children if they prefer. I would recomend sending an email to DCL if this wasnt the case for you, and those responsible will be dealt with.

Keeping kids happy is not easy... keeping the kids, their parents, and your employer (who happens to be a 5ft tall mouse) all happy, whilst fufilling health and safety, USPH and coast guard requirements is even harder. If anyone is in a similar situation, talk to the YA officer whilst onboard - and they will attept to deal with it. Also, use teh comment cards - almost everything that happens on the ships has come from them at some point in time.

Remember what side I'm on. I'm fighting FOR disney. I work in child care as an entertainer I understand the amout of work it takes to make just half of an audience happy. Kids are very difficult to appease but parents are worse...I'm not trying to affend anyone. Its just a fact. Still waiting on a reply from DCL. I hope they clear this up for us...
Remember the magic.....

 

[cfdance4lif]

does anyone know how much of an interaction the genders have? is it really bad? kids aren't doing inaprpiate things? or... are the consulers right down your back and not letting you have any space?

 

[frdeb1999]

My dd's felt the same way with the teen clubs. They tried to go a couple time's and just felt like there really was'nt a whole lot for them to do other then "hang out" which they ended up doing on their own. My dd who will be 13 when we cruise this year wants to do OQ or Lab instead of the teen clubs. She loves the activities they have organized and says she can "hang out" at home. My dd's would love DCL and would still choose to sail on this line over doing any others.

 

[SplashMountainManiac]

The counselors can make such a difference. On my first disney cruise, Aloft was pretty boring because the counselors didn't do anything, but every time since then they have been awesome. On the Magic when it was out west, the counselors were awesome and really enjoyed their jobs and hanging out with the teens. I've always found Disney very open and responsive to guest comments. Also, the teen counselors are often happy to create any activties that the teens ask for, from my experience at least.