Dream, veteran cruiser and 2 big disappointments

[thornton0511]

I agree on this. On our last trip on the wonder one of the clubs was almost always open house.

I have been reading up for our first cruise and noted a lot people saying the clubs were open house a lot of the time. I thought that open house was only on the 1st day and that after that they were closed expect for checking you kids in and out. Am I understanding that if it's open house that it's probably not a good idea to drop my child off because there will be no CM's watching over the kids and also anyone can just walk into the club i.e. adult wise?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I have been reading up for our first cruise and noted a lot people saying the clubs were open house a lot of the time. I thought that open house was only on the 1st day and that after that they were closed expect for checking you kids in and out. Am I understanding that if it's open house that it's probably not a good idea to drop my child off because there will be no CM's watching over the kids and also anyone can just walk into the club i.e. adult wise?

The kid's clubs have Open House at various times during the cruise (generally once a day for 1 or 2 hours), in addition to the embarkation day open house. When Oceaneer's CLUB is having open house, secured programming is in Oceaneer's LAB, and vice versa. You will always have a chance to just drop off your child in secured programming, it just may not be in the same place everytime.

 

[Hundredacre]

I have been reading up for our first cruise and noted a lot people saying the clubs were open house a lot of the time. I thought that open house was only on the 1st day and that after that they were closed expect for checking you kids in and out. Am I understanding that if it's open house that it's probably not a good idea to drop my child off because there will be no CM's watching over the kids and also anyone can just walk into the club i.e. adult wise?

You cannot leave your child in the "open house" area. You have to stay with your child. There will always be an area with secured programing (as shmoo said) where you can drop off your child IF it is open. Sometimes there is only open house. Especially in the morning. Went to breakfast at Triton's for example and still only open house available-- not secured programing- when we got out of breakfast. Even if there is secured programing it can be frustrating because your child may want to be left in the open house area and - no deal. I personally do not like open house because I cannot keep track of my children in there and the door is open. I am scared one will run off or (okay probably a bit paranoid) be taken. There are adults and children everywhere during open house.
Adding... there definitely were not as many open houses a couple of years ago. It is a recent phenomenon. Used to just be first day.

 

[thornton0511]

The kid's clubs have Open House at various times during the cruise (generally once a day for 1 or 2 hours), in addition to the embarkation day open house. When Oceaneer's CLUB is having open house, secured programming is in Oceaneer's LAB, and vice versa. You will always have a chance to just drop off your child in secured programming, it just may not be in the same place everytime.

You cannot leave your child in the "open house" area. You have to stay with your child. There will always be an area with secured programing (as shmoo said) where you can drop off your child IF it is open. Sometimes there is only open house. Especially in the morning. Went to breakfast at Triton's for example and still only open house available-- not secured programing- when we got out of breakfast. Even if there is secured programing it can be frustrating because your child may want to be left in the open house area and - no deal. I personally do not like open house because I cannot keep track of my children in there and the door is open. I am scared one will run off or (okay probably a bit paranoid) be taken. There are adults and children everywhere during open house.

Thanks for clearing that up. This is still all new to me lol!

 

[Ofinn]

I am so sorry your son screamed when near the clubs and didn't enjoy them. As a result, I am sorry you maybe did not get as much adult time or time with your teens as you had envisioned. The whole thing is the pits. Yes, totally agree, 3-12 is CRAZY! Our DD was 9 on our first cruise and it worked out OK as she is a bit immature for her age, but the following year at age 10 she wanted no part of it and felt too scared to try Edge so no club time at all.

We belong to huge gym with a huge kids club that accomodates kids from 1 to 12. My kids started going when they were 1 and 2. They spent 2 hours a day there up to age 10. Around age 9/10 they started getting bored with it, and I guess there not the only ones because I see very few kids over the age of 9 in there. The club tried having activities for the older kids, but it never worked. At some point kids are not going to want to be in a room full of crying, tantrum throwing toddllers and I cant say I blame them. I wouldnt last 10 minutes. I think the way the other cruiselines split the ages is better. Of course if there not enough kids they throw them together. They also close at weird times and charge you at night. I think its an issue DCl needs to fix. They need a 9/10 to 11club and a 12 to 14 club.

 

[misseulalie]

I did not have time to fully respond before. I am on the fence about the kids club but I lean towards the disney model. While I do think kids ten and older opt out, I think it is good for kids to be "pushed" around a bit. Kids are so overwhelmingly coddled today that I like the idea of kids having to deal with the idea that not everyone is nice all the time. I would not let my kids push other younger kids around-- I am not saying that, but I think that kids are not allowed to experience life anymore in a way that figures like Tom Sawyer did. I have both older and younger children and regret not exposing my older child more to the vagaries of existence. A few hula hoops taken away from him by older kids at a young age might have made him less soft.

Not wanting my just turned 4 year old to be mowed down by a group of 10 year old boys doesn't mean I "coddle" my son.

 

[misseulalie]

I would like to add that my older girls were 4 and 6 when we did the Med cruise (2007). We kept them in the club because it was safer then dragging them around the streets of Rome. They loved the club and didn't want to leave-ever. So seeing how it is run now, they would never stay for that long. As an educator, there is a reason why playgrounds at school are separate for kinder-2nd grade and one for 3rd-5th.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We belong to huge gym with a huge kids club that accomodates kids from 1 to 12. My kids started going when they were 1 and 2. They spent 2 hours a day there up to age 10. Around age 9/10 they started getting bored with it, and I guess there not the only ones because I see very few kids over the age of 9 in there. The club tried having activities for the older kids, but it never worked. At some point kids are not going to want to be in a room full of crying, tantrum throwing toddllers and I cant say I blame them. I wouldnt last 10 minutes. I think the way the other cruiselines split the ages is better. Of course if there not enough kids they throw them together. They also close at weird times and charge you at night. I think its an issue DCl needs to fix. They need a 9/10 to 11club and a 12 to 14 club.

So a 3-8 club, a 9-11 club, a 12-14 club, a 14-17 club. The issue with that is - there's no overlap ages for those kids who "want to be together". Disney already tried it that way.

 

[Ofinn]

So a 3-8 club, a 9-11 club, a 12-14 club, a 14-17 club. The issue with that is - there's no overlap ages for those kids who "want to be together". Disney already tried it that way.

Theres always issues. Kids arent together in school so you would think it wouldnt be an issue. Seems to work on all the other cruise lines.

 

[disneyholic family]

Younger kids should have a safe place to play just like everyone else and it shouldn't be the nursery.

Just my opinion.

totally agree with you!!!

Not wanting my just turned 4 year old to be mowed down by a group of 10 year old boys doesn't mean I "coddle" my son.

well said!!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Theres always issues. Kids arent together in school so you would think it wouldnt be an issue. Seems to work on all the other cruise lines.

Yeah, I agree. BUT, it did used to be that way. And, apparently, there were more complaints about people not being able to put their kids together in one club than not, so DCL changed it. I suppose if enough people complain about it this way, they may make some changes again. Or maybe not.

Trying to satisfy the largest number of people is a pain. There's always a substantial minority that won't be happy, no matter what the decision is. And this is just one of the areas that DCL just can't seem to satisfy people in. Not because they don't try, however.

 

[Hundredacre]

Not wanting my just turned 4 year old to be mowed down by a group of 10 year old boys doesn't mean I "coddle" my son.

Unfortunately I do not think you read my post.

 

[professorandmom]

You haven't seen nasty until you've read some of the threads on the DIS boards when the club/lab age groups were being debated just before the change...folks had VERY strong opinions and it was obvious why Disney changed the age categories

 

[keaster]

I actually preferred it when they had the age groups split up. It seemed like less of a "free for all". Mind you, we have only one child.

 

[Trera]

Theres always issues. Kids arent together in school so you would think it wouldnt be an issue. Seems to work on all the other cruise lines.

Agree with you.

 

[arlopop]

Having done cruises both with the split club and lab and with the combo I can honestly say it isn't that big of a deal. My kids, 11, 9, 7 were 6, 4 and 3 on our first cruise (the youngest turned three the day before we left). Though I'm sure some children were tumbled by older kids at some point, I know ours weren't. I also know that during those open houses on that first cruise the kids were in one or the other combined and there was no problem with any of ours getting banged around. Now that both clubs are combined I find the younger kids tend (tend, mind you) to stay in the club for more "play oriented" activities, while the older ones tend to gravitate toward the lab for more hands-on structured fun.

On our upcoming cruise our oldest will be in Edge (by his choice) while the other two will move between the club and lab individually or as a pair, and they will be fine.

I think we tend to forget that segregating kids by age is an artificial idea created only recently. This was once a country of one-room schoolhouses with many ages sharing classroom and playground, the older kids helping the younger ones. They would function together, but still managed to self-separate for more age appropriate play.

Children do well being around others who are older or younger, learning to behave or care for the counterparts. There's nothing "wrong" with it, and plenty of benefits.

Segregating out tweens and teens is certainly more appropriate as their interests and maturity show great divergence from younger kids, and each other. But as far as 11 and unders go, I have faith they figure it out and maybe gain something from it in the long run.

 

[Trera]

I actually preferred it when they had the age groups split up. It seemed like less of a "free for all". Mind you, we have only one child.

I think we tend to forget that segregating kids by age is an artificial idea created only recently. This was once a country of one-room schoolhouses with many ages sharing classroom and playground, the older kids helping the younger ones. They would function together, but still managed to self-separate for more age appropriate play.

Children do well being around others who are older or younger, learning to behave or care for the counterparts. There's nothing "wrong" with it, and plenty of benefits.

i am not so sure I agree that segregating kids is artificial and it was better back in the "school house" days. The reason the one room school house model is no longer used is because it was widely accepted by educators that segregation was a better model for teaching and catering lessons to specific ages vs. trying to accommodate all ages simultaneously.

While I do agree that kids of differing ages can co exist and benefit, you are referring to kids that know each other well (as you reference in your school house model that would have been together in school every day) or are family members (as many prefer their kids go to the club together) Most kids on the cruises are all virtual strangers and not all children will feel comfortable and free to enjoy the activities with kids that are 7 it 8 years older (especially kids without siblings in the Club with them). Also I would bet most 10-11 year olds could care less about the happiness and well being of a strange 3 or 4 year old standing next to them.

The best suggestion I have heard was the one allowing the older sibling to move down to the younger group if the parents insist on their kids playing together.

Just my opinion again.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

The best suggestion I have heard was the one allowing the older sibling to move down to the younger group if the parents insist on their kids playing together.

Yeah, that works well on Princess. Don't know if other cruise lines have the same policy, just know Princess does.

 

[Ofinn]

The best solution is to find a cruise line with a policy that works for you. DCL worked for us because they allow 10 year olds to move up to edge. Now that bothers some people because they think 13 year olds don't like to be around 10 year olds. It worked for us and honestly it's the only reason weve stayed with dcl the last two years. I wont book a cruise if it doesn't fit my families needs. Now I have two cruises booked on other lines that work for us. There is another I would like to try, but doesn't fit our needs at this time.
I really don't think there is much you can do to change a cruise lines policy. They can't make everyone happy so find a cruise line that has kids clubs that your kids will like.

 

[arlopop]

i am not so sure I agree that segregating kids is artificial and it was better back in the "school house" days. The reason the one room school house model is no longer used is because it was widely accepted by educators that segregation was a better model for teaching and catering lessons to specific ages vs. trying to accommodate all ages simultaneously.

While I do agree that kids of differing ages can co exist and benefit, you are referring to kids that know each other well (as you reference in your school house model that would have been together in school every day) or are family members (as many prefer their kids go to the club together) Most kids on the cruises are all virtual strangers and not all children will feel comfortable and free to enjoy the activities with kids that are 7 it 8 years older (especially kids without siblings in the Club with them). Also I would bet most 10-11 year olds could care less about the happiness and well being of a strange 3 or 4 year old standing next to them.

The best suggestion I have heard was the one allowing the older sibling to move down to the younger group if the parents insist on their kids playing together.

Just my opinion again.

While I agree that combining ages was a product of necessity in that earlier time, there is a growing opinion that multiple ages in classrooms actually is beneficial. Our school district is trying it out with preliminary success. We have high level charter schools with multi grade classrooms that can't meet demand here.

And perhaps (to play the devil's advocate) the reason those 11 year olds don't seem to care is that we don't expect it of them.

On our block we have our three kids, our neighbors on the right have four (15, 14, 12, 8). Neighbors on the left 3 kids (13, 11, 7,) and two houses down 2 kids (6, 4). I have watched as all 12 of them played tag, volleyball or hide and seek, the oldest helping the youngest hide or hit a ball or just teaching, cheering and laughing. I have seen them split up to play with dolls or make super-hero movies in groups that were age-similar. They have done this on their own. They have figured it out. They did not know one another initially but managed to integrate new residents within hours to their group. Are there dust-ups? Sure. Does someone occasionally get banged? Sure (but rarely.) Do they solve their problems with negotiation, collaboration, and empathy by themselves? Almost always. It's how they learn.

As I said, I have faith, both in my kids, and in kids in general, to find a way.