Has anyone else had issues with the new Oceaneer's club/lab policies?

[Mom323]

That's an interesting one. Basically, the answer is: you don't. In most situations, legally you are allowed to ask: "Is that a service dog (horse, monkey, whatever)? and "What does it do for you?"

Well, from a HIPAA standpoint legally you can't ask "What it does for them", because then you are asking them to potentially disclose a medical condition. DCL would get in trouble. We can't ask in the school system or at the hospital.

 

[True Romance]

I think what these lengthy open houses are doing are creating 2 separate clubs now. One for 3-10 year olds, and one for parents & kids to play together. No more are the days of a club designed for 3-5 year olds and one designed for 6-10 year olds. Parents who want to drop off their children have no choice but to leave them in which ever club is secured.

I am not "too" worried about my 3 year old in the lab, but if I had a choice I would keep him in the club. I certainly hope they have 3-5 year old activities in the Lab and 6-10 year old activities in the club.

 

[squirrel]

The clubs must be busier now than my first cruise.

I decided to check the club out since I was considering applying as a children's programer on the cruise ship. The place was empty. I took my camcorder and took video of the club.

I'd like to check out the club on this next cruise. I'll be sure to come when it's open house as I knew nothing about open house on my first cruise.

 

[TDC Nala]

Yeah, but if all the people there are related to or caring for a child that's a little different or at least it is to me. I understand random people that don't have any child in the club being allowed in but to say parent/primary caregivers can't stay is the problem that I have.

It appears they don't want adults in the clubs with unsupervised children who are not DCL employees. You can bet the employees have had background checks and are "bonded" or covered by insurance or some such thing. Parents and primary caregivers are not. That's where DCL is having to look at it from a liability standpoint.

 

[Conservative Hippie]

I think what these lengthy open houses are doing are creating 2 separate clubs now. One for 3-10 year olds, and one for parents & kids to play together. No more are the days of a club designed for 3-5 year olds and one designed for 6-10 year olds. Parents who want to drop off their children have no choice but to leave them in which ever club is secured.

I am not "too" worried about my 3 year old in the lab, but if I had a choice I would keep him in the club. I certainly hope they have 3-5 year old activities in the Lab and 6-10 year old activities in the club.

To redesign the clubs to make one for 3-10 year olds and one for kids and parents would be preferable, IMHO, to the new policy of shuttling kids back and forth between whichever one is "secure." And if I am to understand it correctly, it sounds like, if I drop my child off at 1:30, and there is an open house from 2:00-4:00, I will have to come back at 2:00, sign her out, sign her back in at the "secure" location, then come back at 4:00 and do it again.

 

[Niebz]

To redesign the clubs to make one for 3-10 year olds and one for kids and parents would be preferable, IMHO, to the new policy of shuttling kids back and forth between whichever one is "secure." And if I am to understand it correctly, it sounds like, if I drop my child off at 1:30, and there is an open house from 2:00-4:00, I will have to come back at 2:00, sign her out, sign her back in at the "secure" location, then come back at 4:00 and do it again.

I thought they automatically move kids back and forth between the secured locations so I don't think you'd have to come back at 2:00. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[deanimal]

Yes, I was told that the staff members would take all the kids who had been checked in over to the other area when the open house time started.

 

[Conservative Hippie]

Yes, I was told that the staff members would take all the kids who had been checked in over to the other area when the open house time started.

Well that is good at least.

 

[biff423]

To redesign the clubs to make one for 3-10 year olds and one for kids and parents would be preferable, IMHO,

I am going to respectfully disagree. There is a vast ocean of difference in the maturity level and interests of a 3 yo vs. a 10 yo.

I guess I don't like any of the options - grouping them all together, or shuttling them back and forth in whichever area is not taken up by an open house.

I guess I just don't get it - was there really THAT MUCH need for parents to be in there that this is the only solution.

It all seems like overkill to me. The old split of the age appropriate Club and Lab worked fantastically for my child and thousands others and I never felt I needed to be in there with my child for LONG periods of time - and she is special needs. I guess flame away, but it seems like they are making big changes to appease just a few.

 

[Raspberry Beret]

This really stinks. DCL has long boasted about having more kids programming space than anyone else at sea. Now they are essentially cutting it in half for hours at a time! Isn't the rest of the ship a giant "Open House" with unsecure activities for families? Why is this necessary? Go ahead and say adults aren't welcome to stay, for security sake, I get that. But why do they have to offer this alternative? Maybe they could offer some of the more popular activities to families somewhere else.

Well said!! This is what first attracted our family to cruising DCL in 1999.

Yes!! That's what I have been wanting to say. If you want to be with your kids, there are oodles of ways to enjoy the ship together, not in the clubs! I love the idea of an open house for an hour or two on each day for special circumstances- special needs child, not potty trained yet, not quite ready to leave mom and dad, time to take photos, but that should be ample. In my opinion, you could even set those two hours a day as a constant, say 1-3 (just an example) and parents could plan accordingly. The clubs were designed as a kids away from parents space, not an additional play space for families on the ship.

 

[Conservative Hippie]

I am going to respectfully disagree. There is a vast ocean of difference in the maturity level and interests of a 3 yo vs. a 10 yo.

I guess I don't like any of the options - grouping them all together, or shuttling them back and forth in whichever area is not taken up by an open house.

I guess I just don't get it - was there really THAT MUCH need for parents to be in there that this is the only solution.

It all seems like overkill to me. The old split of the age appropriate Club and Lab worked fantastically for my child and thousands others and I never felt I needed to be in there with my child for LONG periods of time - and she is special needs. I guess flame away, but it seems like they are making big changes to appease just a few.

Even better then would be to leave the Club and the Lab as they are and create a third "all ages" club for kids and parents. I also do not see the need for parents to be in the kids' club, but if they need to appease these parents, then give them their own club and leave "our's" alone.

 

[Grumpymom73]

Like it or not the Kids Club/Lab/Edge/Vibe areas were designed and advertised as Kids Only areas. Meaning you left your kids in the care of the cast members working there. IMO it should stay that way.

I agree with other posters.....there are plenty of family areas and activities outside of the "Kids areas".

 

[peachygreen]

I'm not 100% certain I see what the problem is here.

From the Navigator I've seen (after the change to open house) on the Magic there is open house the first day as usual until dinner time and then secure programing begins. After that Days 2-5 it is a 3 hour block that alternates from the club to the lab from 3pm to 6pm. The rest of the day provides secure programming as usual. 2 of those days are port days that typically didn't offer full access to both clubs when in port to begin with. Day 6 it has open house for 3 hours from 9-11 am. The reason this seems different on day 6 is because of Friendship rocks in the afternoon. On Day 7 - Castaway Cay day the have added open house the entire time that the ship is at CC in the Lab. The Lab wasn't open previously during CC because the secure programing was on the island.

I haven't been on the dream to compare but from my previous experience on the Magic the change is really not taking away that much in terms of secure activties. The activities during the port times were not that great to begin with.

It seems like a nice way to still provide childern's programming but to provide it in a secure atmosphere, but allow sometime for for parents to interact with their children during some of the activites in the Lab/Club.

I imagine that it will be tweaked as things go on to provide more diverse programming in the club/lab where the secure programming is allowed as they receive feedback but I really don't feel like this should be that huge of a deal and be so detrimental to your experience.

Am I disappointed that I won't be able to bring my toddler into the club to let her play on the climbing stuff in the corner of the Club that honestly was designed for the <3 set in mind? yes but there will be plenty of other things to keep my 2 year old entertained and I will enjoy Toddler time (that was offered previously anyway) and other age appropriate activites with her.

 

[Conservative Hippie]

Am I disappointed that I won't be able to bring my toddler into the club to let her play on the climbing stuff in the corner of the Club that honestly was designed for the <3 set in mind? yes but there will be plenty of other things to keep my 2 year old entertained and I will enjoy Toddler time (that was offered previously anyway) and other age appropriate activites with her.

But now you can - you can bring your 2 year old for open hours. I'm sure my toddler and I will be in the club for open hours playing while DD is in the lab for "secure" time!

 

[Stinkerbe11]

Wait a minute...maybe this family time "open house" thing is a good idea. Maybe they can expand it to include family time at the quiet cove pool (it is less crowded than the others). They could also have family meal time in Palo, my children love fine dining and have very mature palates. I know these were advertised as adults only, but that's inconvenient for our family and I don't want my kids to miss out

 

[joyceyw]

that is hardly the same situation as disney suddenly changing things a month before we sail so that there is no appropiate place to leave them. If your kid is prone to meltdowns you would certianly know that was the case when you booked. I have never once had to pick up my child from anywhere do to a "meltdown" so no, i would not expect it on a cruise, but, as i am her parent i would deal with it. At 8 years old it shouldn't happen, but again if it did, it would be my responsibility. That is on me, but disney changing its offerings without notice is on them. It would be like showing up to drop your 3 year old off at daycare and being told that her room is closed, but she can join the 6-8 year old class for 4 hours. I don't see how that is ok???

ita

 

[gydell]

I was on the Dream a couple of weeks ago and I hate the new policies! My dgs is 10yo and hated them more!!!

 

[jetskigrl]

I'm not 100% certain I see what the problem is here.

From the Navigator I've seen (after the change to open house) on the Magic there is open house the first day as usual until dinner time and then secure programing begins. After that Days 2-5 it is a 3 hour block that alternates from the club to the lab from 3pm to 6pm. The rest of the day provides secure programming as usual. 2 of those days are port days that typically didn't offer full access to both clubs when in port to begin with. Day 6 it has open house for 3 hours from 9-11 am. The reason this seems different on day 6 is because of Friendship rocks in the afternoon. On Day 7 - Castaway Cay day the have added open house the entire time that the ship is at CC in the Lab. The Lab wasn't open previously during CC because the secure programing was on the island.

This schedule is different that from the one that was posted at the beginning of the thread (that one had the Club/Lab doing Open House on some evenings and for longer blocks of time).

If this is how it is being handled (Open House from 3 - 6 pm), that sounds a lot more reasonable to me since there is very little adult activities that it would interfere with. My main concern with the Open Houses is during the times when adults may have Palo booked or wish to attend the evening entertainment and the children were limited in which club they could attend on their own.

 

[sjsjbrook]

The one thing I had an issue with the nursery was I could not settle my child in the room. They took him and pulled him over a gate. My kids have all been fine, if I bring them into the room, let them get settled and then say goodbye. It actually tramatised my son so bad that even though we cancelled all our nursery time after the second visit, it had an effect on our return home to his normal nursery. It took me months to get him back to being comfortable being left in a nursery.

So it makes me sad that parents who's children are need that 5 minutes to get comfortable enough to stay on their own, won't have that time.


It also makes me sad, because my favourite parts of my first cruise was being able to check in with the kids and see their excitement, and get to know the staff working wiht my children.

We are booked on the dream in November. My older children will be 9 and 10 so I have no worries about them. However it will make a huge difference with my 3 year old. I am not worried about him being mixed with the older children as that is our world. I am worried he will not go in without me even with his sisters there.

I do agree that with this change that I would definately consider going to the parks rather than cruising though.

 

[SoCaOC-Mom]

I am going to respectfully disagree. There is a vast ocean of difference in the maturity level and interests of a 3 yo vs. a 10 yo.

I guess I don't like any of the options - grouping them all together, or shuttling them back and forth in whichever area is not taken up by an open house.

I guess I just don't get it - was there really THAT MUCH need for parents to be in there that this is the only solution.

It all seems like overkill to me. The old split of the age appropriate Club and Lab worked fantastically for my child and thousands others and I never felt I needed to be in there with my child for LONG periods of time - and she is special needs. I guess flame away, but it seems like they are making big changes to appease just a few.

That's the thing, most special needs kids do not require one on one care but many do need some extra time to get acclimated to the club. As you said, you didn't didn't feel like you need to be there for LONG periods of time(which is kind of a relative term but I digress) but it's seems you felt like she needed a bit more time than just being checked in.

I also think a better YAC to kid ratio would make the environment better for ALL children. I think it would also address and rectify some of the complaints/concerns I read about the club before this all started

But I don't think a child should be denied into the club because they require one on one care, which is the conundrum now created since DCL is unable to provide it, under new secured programing guild lines- the parents/caregiver is too; unless they are using the open house facilities.