Can anyone compare Disney Kids club VS Another cruise line?

[jamie&Greg]

Hi,

I would love to hear from people who have recently cruised on a different cruise line (RCI, Carnivel ect.) as well as Disney, and can compare the kids clubs.

We recently took a 4 night cruise on the wonder. The cruise was amazing and we had a great time . The kids club was good but didn’t live up to what was built up in my mind. This may have been due to my Childs age (just 3), or un-realistic expectations?? I just wasn’t overly wowed! I felt like it was a very safe and clean environment and the staff seemed very capable however, I felt like it was missing some of the ‘pixie dust’ I was hoping for.

I wasn’t expecting kids ages 3 – 8 to be in the same area for one. I also thought that it was REALLY crowded, especially during the cool planned activities. Also, I didn’t think they had that many fun activities geared toward 3-5 year olds. I felt like every time we went in or walked by the club, they were watching a movie or coloring. Again, maybe I had unrealistic expectations of what it would be like but to me it didn’t seem any different then what another cruise line would provide minus the 2, very crowded character meetings (Snow White and Belle).

Just curious what others who have experienced another kids club PLUS Disney think.

Thanks,

 

[mattmommy]

We think of DCL and the main part of our vacation (outside of the parks of course) and the ports optional sprinkles.

We primarily sail with DCL, but had to sail NCL when we went to Hawaii. The club was almost nothing. DS didn't even want to stay.

The shows at DCL are family friendly, the shows on NCL was nap friendly--for the whole family. I sat in the back the first time because I wasn't sure how the shows were going to be. Good thing because we walked out. All they did was stand there and sing Sondheim show tunes. I know you didn't ask about the shows, but it bears telling.

 

[jamie&Greg]

We think of DCL and the main part of our vacation (outside of the parks of course) and the ports optional sprinkles.

We primarily sail with DCL, but had to sail NCL when we went to Hawaii. The club was almost nothing. DS didn't even want to stay.

The shows at DCL are family friendly, the shows on NCL was nap friendly--for the whole family. I sat in the back the first time because I wasn't sure how the shows were going to be. Good thing because we walked out. All they did was stand there and sing Sondheim show tunes. I know you didn't ask about the shows, but it bears telling.

Thanks for your comment!

I’m not saying we didn’t enjoy the cruise – we did! My DD LOVED the shows, characters, ect. It was one of the best trips ever – and my dd has taken many trips in her short 3 years!

I was just expecting A LOT out of the club compared to RCL ect. And wondering if I was just exception to much – KWIM! Trust me, I’m not one to complain about no towel animals ect.

 

[jamie&Greg]

We think of DCL and the main part of our vacation (outside of the parks of course) and the ports optional sprinkles.

We primarily sail with DCL, but had to sail NCL when we went to Hawaii. The club was almost nothing. DS didn't even want to stay.

The shows at DCL are family friendly, the shows on NCL was nap friendly--for the whole family. I sat in the back the first time because I wasn't sure how the shows were going to be. Good thing because we walked out. All they did was stand there and sing Sondheim show tunes. I know you didn't ask about the shows, but it bears telling.

I also wanted to add that I don’t think the kids club is an “optional sprinkle”. It was one the main things Disney advertises as being different / better then other curise lines. I think the kids club is a main reason some people pick DCL, I know it was for us. As we all know DCL is a lot more $$ then others and I think the kids club is one way a lot of families justify that $$.

 

[hopelea]

We have cruised on CCL 2x and NCL 1x with our dd's. My dd's are now 16 & 14. DCL wins the club debate for us hands down.

CCL did have fun things planned for the kids. But on their older ships, Glory, there was no set room for the 10 - 14 yr olds to hang out in. They bounced them from club to club. DCL does a "hand check" a lot in the stack. I appreciate that! CCL we walked into a movie that my 12 year old was watching and surpised the boy that had his arms around her watching the movie . On CCL Legend, my dd's absolutely loved that ship & the activities....even more than disney!

NCL Star my kids were 10 & 12. The activities were geared more toward younger kids. My dd's never went into that club.

My dd's were 6 & 8 on our first Disney cruise. It was the best vacation they have ever had. They loved everything about the clubs. But that was 8 years ago and things do change

 

[nicki.momof3]

OP - did you check the navigator for activity times. My 4 year old loved all the cool special stuff - PJ Party, princesses gatherings, flubber and cookie making, pre-pirate party activites, dino dig on CC, kids show on the main stage (that was pretty cool).

I think if you just drop in you might not get everything - If you are really interested in special events you should check the times they are running.

Had your child even been in a large group setting like that (preschool or anything). Maybe it was just to large of a setting for a 3 year old.

Our kids love the clubs but than again they are huge "joiners" when it come to activites.

 

[jamie&Greg]

OP - did you check the navigator for activity times. My 4 year old loved all the cool special stuff - PJ Party, princesses gatherings, flubber and cookie making, pre-pirate party activites, dino dig on CC, kids show on the main stage (that was pretty cool).

I think if you just drop in you might not get everything - If you are really interested in special events you should check the times they are running.

Had your child even been in a large group setting like that (preschool or anything). Maybe it was just to large of a setting for a 3 year old.

Our kids love the clubs but than again they are huge "joiners" when it come to activites.

Yes, I checked the schedule everyday. One problem was a lot of the cool activities were at night when she was to sleepy to want to go. Some of the activities were also mis-leading. We built up the ‘Little Einstein’ club house series and it was just a TV show. She was there for the ‘Carnival fun” which she liked and Belle Story time. She said the Belle story time was too crowded and she didn’t like it. We tried to go to the Snow white activity but it was just Crazy busy.

She paged us twice one day within 1 ½ hours because she was board.

Yes, she goes to pre-school 3 full days a week and has been going since 1. She also does dance and is use to these kind of activities.

She did stay in the club 3 times. We went by a lot more times when she didn’t stay. She generally gets along better with older girls, which is who she made friends with in the club – but it did get a little rough in there (especially on the slide) some of the times when I was peaking in.

 

[jamie&Greg]

Maybe she is still kind of young for some of the stuff We are booked for a 7 night cruise on DCL for next year and she will be a bit over 4 by then.

 

[tvguy]

HALS kids clubs pretty much matched DCL for hours of operation and types of activies. They didn't have their own designated areas on the Amsterdam, but I hear the new HAL ships do.

 

[jamie&Greg]

HALS kids clubs pretty much matched DCL for hours of operation and types of activies. They didn't have their own designated areas on the Amsterdam, but I hear the new HAL ships do.

What is HALS? Holland Americia ?

 

[nicki.momof3]

Maybe she is still kind of young for some of the stuff We are booked for a 7 night cruise on DCL for next year and she will be a bit over 4 by then.

good luck on your next trip - a year might make the difference. If she gets along with older kids you can always send her to the lab for some fun stuff. Our daughter was 4 and she went to the lab for flubber and cookie making (both super fun). All you have to do is ask for a lab wristband.

Maybe she will also do better on the 7 night cruise. I think they plan more.

A few fun thing:
1. Alice in Wonderland Tea party - family event - get tickets as soon as you board.
2. Flubber
3. PJ parties
4. Cookie making
5. Last day stage show - kids practice a routine in the clubs then put on a show on the "big stage" for the adults. Super cute and fun. Also great if she is used to dance class and shows on the stage.

Maybe a little Nap / quiet time in the afternoon would really help since she was sleepy at night. Since a 7 night has more sea days they tend to have more "cool things" during the day. Sea days are generally full of fun stuff for them to do.

 

[poizenivey]

My girls (ages 4,6) on our cruise this past April had a BLAST at the Club. Our 4 year old paged us twice the entire week and one of those times she just wanted to know what we were doing! The wanted to spend more time in the club than they did w/ us! The kid's club is one of the main reasons we are cruising DCL again in Nov!

Sorry you were disappointed! I've never heard anything about the other cruise lines..I'm glad you asked your question...hope to get some good feedback!

 

[Magic3forme]

In 05 we did the Wonder with our girls ages 4 & 6... they had soo much fun! later that year we did a 7 day cruise on Princess. The girls were bored and soo disappointed in the clubs. For one it ran certain hours. it was open until 11, then closed from 11-1. open from 1-5 then closed for dinner, and didnt reopen until 7 and only open until 10. on certain nights it was open later but you had to 5.00 an hr. They would not feed them any meals. (the only day they did was an in port day.) There were no cool slides/hangouts and the kids club were 1/3 of the size.

There were no character interactions/ family things to do. Although the ship was beautiful, it was too focused on gambling/drinking.

and the kids pool was a joke too.

We have only done Disney since then.

 

[jamie&Greg]

I would love to hear from some people who have done RCI. I hear their new ships have some great activities and clubs.

 

[K8T]

Hi

Our DD is 6 and we were on the Magic in June and August in the Med. We have done a lot of cruises, but only two lines with our DD.

Compared to Celebrity, IMO DCL is nicer - On Celebrity, they mixed the ages when we were there, which wasn't great - however, now DCL are mixing ages too and that does worry me from a safety point of view. The security on Celebrity was non existent kids coming and going, leaving the door open, cleanliness in the toilets wasn't great either - not counting the fact that all the railings were very climbable!

Compared to P&O (A UK Cruise Line), DCL are way behind - the play areas are far superior on P&O, with soft play, slides etc. and outside play areas. Although there is no Disney theming of course, the activities are split to ages and much more structured than DCL, the staff also seem more 'hands on' and 'involved' than DCL. Encouraging a more reluctant child and including a shy one.

Personally, I don't 'rate' the Disney Kids Club, don't get me wrong, DD loves to go and would ask each day to do so, but it purely is an area for them to play and interact with other kids and that should not be confused with a 'childcare' situation and at times it is a free for all.

The staff are kind and have good intentions, whether the area is too large to watch them all, or whether the staff are preoccupied signing children in and out and speaking to parents, but there seemed a lot of unsupervised play, with little things going on that they weren't aware of, or even for that matter able to see.

However, we don't go on a cruise for the kids clubs, our DD spends a lot more time with us by the pool and on excursions, so it doesn't really matter to us.

What is great about DCL is the security and pager system.

Like you, I kept checking on DD and found a lot of the time she was just colouring or on the computer, no one was really taking the time to include her in a particular activity they may be doing and I just didn't feel totally relaxed when she was there.

We have booked again next year and it will be different again for us, she may spend more time in the Lab than the Club, but Disney could do well to look at their kids club structure, it is the only element I think, that lets them down a little.

Just my opinion!

Kate

 

[sabrecmc]

We've only sailed DCL, so I can't compare cruise lines. However, I CAN compare a 3 year old experience to a 4 year old experience. The difference is amazing. Our first cruise, when my daughter was 3, she didn't really participate too much in the activities. Though she'd been in daycare before, she really didn't quite know what to do in the more "undirected" activities and was sort of lost. By 4, it was a whole new world. On our 10 night Med cruise, all she wanted to do was be in the kids' club. She was enchanted, took part in all the activities as an activie participant and interacted with the cast members much more. It was really more a change in her than a change in Disney. We're sailing again in a week and she, at 4.5, couldn't be more excited. As it turns out, 3 was just too young for her to really get into the activities, though she liked to see the characters. By 4, she was ready and able to truly particpate and appreciate the activities.

 

[3mmm]

We've sailed 4 times on DCL and once on NCL - this past June to Alaska. Our experience is that none of my kids ever took to the DCL clubs when they were in the 3-5 age range. I just think it is so big and crowded and so much staff that they didn't ever feel like they belonged. As they got a little older they loved the Lab and it can be a struggle to get them out sometimes.

Our experience on NCL was the exact opposite. The youngest group is age 2-5 and they are in a small room down the hall. I was not excited when I saw it, but my 3 year old and my 8 year old with Down Syndrome loved it. They spent many, many hours there and always wanted to go back. They had lots of themed activities and came home with crafts and faces painted almost ever ytime. When walking in the hallways the kids were singing and marching. This was a good thing as the rest of the ship had very little to offer them.

My 6 year old thought it was okay and spent some time there everyday. My 10 and 12 year old spent little time there other than a couple of themed activities. BUt my older ones were happy to hang with us, play trivia, bingo, bowl, play dodge ball and go to the talks about Alaska so it was fine.

It was a good experience on NCL but not magical like Disney and we find most of the magic is not happening in the kid clubs but in the multitude of family activities available on the ship. The club is great when the kids want to get away from us or vice-versa

 

[tvguy]

What is HALS? Holland Americia ?

Yes. HAL is Holland America Line.

 

[jamie&Greg]

We've only sailed DCL, so I can't compare cruise lines. However, I CAN compare a 3 year old experience to a 4 year old experience. The difference is amazing. Our first cruise, when my daughter was 3, she didn't really participate too much in the activities. Though she'd been in daycare before, she really didn't quite know what to do in the more "undirected" activities and was sort of lost. By 4, it was a whole new world. On our 10 night Med cruise, all she wanted to do was be in the kids' club. She was enchanted, took part in all the activities as an activie participant and interacted with the cast members much more. It was really more a change in her than a change in Disney. We're sailing again in a week and she, at 4.5, couldn't be more excited. As it turns out, 3 was just too young for her to really get into the activities, though she liked to see the characters. By 4, she was ready and able to truly particpate and appreciate the activities.

I am hoping this is our case too! I am supper excited about our next cruise and it will be 7 nights. We are thinking of throwing a short RCL cruise in before DCL to have something to compare!

 

[jamie&Greg]

Our experience on NCL was the exact opposite. The youngest group is age 2-5 and they are in a small room down the hall. I was not excited when I saw it, but my 3 year old and my 8 year old with Down Syndrome loved it. They spent many, many hours there and always wanted to go back. They had lots of themed activities and came home with crafts and faces painted almost ever ytime. When walking in the hallways the kids were singing and marching. This was a good thing as the rest of the ship had very little to offer them.

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing!