How many children are on each cruise

[ninahbear]

I was just wondering if they ever tell you how many children are on the ship when you cruise. If so, how many were on?

 

[TheWog]

If you ask they will tell you. We had approx 900 or so on ours if I remember correctly.

 

[PoohJen]

One thing to keep in mind - there is a "limit" on the kids they will accept - i understand from these boards that once a number is hit for, say, Oceaneers Club, they won't accept any further reservations for that age group.

 

[natdencro]

By the look on people's faces when boarding, Im guessing there are many "ADULT CHILDREN" on board too!Nat

 

[cmdobrien]

Last October when I sailed on the Wonder, at the kid's performance, I recall the annoucement that there were 700 kids on board ages 3-12.

 

[NYDisneyMom]

Originally posted by cmdobrien
Last October when I sailed on the Wonder, at the kid's performance, I recall the annoucement that there were 700 kids on board ages 3-12.

There were over 900 on our cruise in May. It really didn't seem like that many though!

 

[baileybaby]

With that many children do the kids clubs get really crowded?

 

[hydster]

We had 977 on our cruise in May and the kids clubs and pools were so full!!! The first night was pandemonium in the clubs and the pools were so full it was standing room only most of the days at sea. One day they had to close the Goofy pool due to high seas and winds and the Mickey Pool was so full the kids could hardly even move in them and the line for the slide was clear to the bottom of the steps.

The # of kids that were ill on our sailing was awful as well. We had a mother with a full pharmacy of drugs on her lap behind us in Hercules and her kids were coughing with croupy coughs and yet we saw them in the kids clubs that day and the next day as well. Way too many germs on our sailing.

Heidi

 

[lbgraves]

There were 850 kids 3-12 on the 11/15/03 Magic. It never felt like there were that many. Except for the first night when there was a line at check in...because so many people waited until then to sign their kids up, the club was great with alot of open room. The Mickey pool was so uncrowded that I was very surprised. No matter when we went, there was plenty of room for the kids to move around.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

There were well over 900 3-12 year olds on our sailing 2 weeks ago, and that doesn't include teens.
Robin M.

 

[cindalu]

Hydster,
you were on a cruise in May. Which on were you on. We were on the May 8 Western.


Maybe we were on the same cruise

 

[baileybaby]

Originally posted by hydster
We had 977 on our cruise in May and the kids clubs and pools were so full!!! The first night was pandemonium in the clubs and the pools were so full it was standing room only most of the days at sea. One day they had to close the Goofy pool due to high seas and winds and the Mickey Pool was so full the kids could hardly even move in them and the line for the slide was clear to the bottom of the steps.
Heidi

Is it still fun when everything is so crowded? Is there other things to do that aren't so busy?

 

[NYDisneyMom]

Originally posted by baileybaby
Is it still fun when everything is so crowded? Is there other things to do that aren't so busy?

I told my kids way before the cruise that we probably would be spending VERY little time in the pools. we didn't go on the cruise to go in the pool. there were so many other things to do on the ship for the adults and kids on the sea days! The few times we were in the pool were on island days...then we had the ship to ourselves for an hour or two while we took a break from touring the islands.

As long as you realize now that there are lots of people and only two very small pools for the kids...you'll be fine. let the kids go in the club, you go to the adult pool.

 

[figment52]

Originally posted by natdencro
By the look on people's faces when boarding, Im guessing there are many "ADULT CHILDREN" on board too!Nat

So -I guess we need to specify chronological children and children at heart

 

[Mickeyhugger]

There were over 900 on our sailing in late May, yet it didn't seem like very many to me as we've always sailed Disney (tells how much we love it) and don't know any different.

I have a problem when people take their children on a family cruise and are 'put out' by the number of kids. While riding back to Orlando on the Disney bus, the man sitting next to me said he was 'disappointed' because there 'were way too many kids' on this cruise! No, he wasn't 'grumpy old man,' he was a father whose 12-yo son was sitting two rows ahead. My 9-yo DD was sitting across the aisle from me and heard him. She later asked, 'Mommy, why doesn't that man like children.' I told her 'I don't think he dislikes kids, he just didn't like how many kids were on this cruise.' She then said, 'it's supposed to have lots of kids, it's Disney.'

Also in the conversation, he told me he won't be sailing DCL again, and much prefers Holland America. Well, if most people on Holland America are like him, I won't be sailing on THEIR ships anytime soon.

 

[hydster]

Cindalu--No we were on the 5-1 Eastern Cruise just 1 week before your cruise.

Bailey--We found the days to be quite boring but that is due a little to the fact that my 5 year old got a sore throat the 2nd day of the cruise and he passed it to all of us during that week and we also suffered this cruise horribly from sea sickness as well. We've done a cruise prior on DCL a 4 day on the Wonder and we had a blast but this time it seemed harder to fill the days unless the kids wanted to go to the clubs (ours didn't) or we wanted to fight the pools. The movies on the cruise were "lame" to say the least considering we owned all of them such as Pirates and Finding Nemo. During the day it didn't seem to OUR FAMILY that there was much to do. Others will disagree with me and that's fine but for our family it was pretty boring during the day. The nights were a blast but the days were a yawner for us.

We didn't go on a cruise for the small pools either but when our kids see water they want to go in it and the pools were really crowded. We've done cruises on MANY other lines with our kids and never had this kind of problem even on our Wonder cruise in 2002 (which is why we went back to DCL this year because of the great experience then).

Except for the pools, kids club and extraordinary lines waiting to see characters we had no idea so many kids were on the ship either. The Disney experience was wonderful and the characters and such were great fun and I don't regret going...I regret a lot of the situations on board but I don't regret going. We have some GREAT memories and pictures and we had great fun on the islands but the 2 sea days at the beginning took a toll on us.

I think in the future we will stick to Disneyland for our Disney fix or other cruise lines when we decide to cruise just because they are NOT full of children and our kids prefer to only have 100 or so kids instead of 1000. We didn't think it would be a problem since our kids were all in school and deal with kids all day long but they did not enjoy the clubs which made it harder to fill the days up with them.


Heidi

 

[baileybaby]

Originally posted by hydster
.I think in the future we will stick to Disneyland for our Disney fix or other cruise lines when we decide to cruise just because they are NOT full of children and our kids prefer to only have 100 or so kids instead of 1000. We didn't think it would be a problem since our kids were all in school and deal with kids all day long but they did not enjoy the clubs which made it harder to fill the days up with them.
Heidi

Heidi,

Thank you for your honesty. I have been nervous to bring my girls on a disney cruise becasue they are both quiet and timid. I am worried that the amount of kids on board will freak them out. We are starting with 4 days so we will only have 1 day at sea. Hopefully they will become a little more outgoing before then.

 

[cindalu]

bailey,
I have a very shy 7 year old and she had a great time on the cruise. In fact she made a friend while we were at the pool.

My advice is not to miss the DCL just because your child may be timid and quiet. She may end up having a great time.

 

[mmouse37]

My Parents just got off another cruiseline that left from NYC. It also had 900 plus kids onboard....this was compared to hardly any kids when they sailed before in off season on the same cruiseline.

My point is in the summer most any cruise line is going to be filled with kids unless it is one of the higher end cruises like Crystal or Seabourn or one that caters to an older crowd like Holland America or Cunard .

DCL always has many children but that is the whole point...it is a family cruise that mainly caters to children. We have never seen it overrun with kids. The summer months and holiday weeks will definately will see more children on average than other times of the year but it has never been a problem for us.

MJ

 

[CM_Mom]

Don't let the number of kids in the club/lab on the first night determine your expectations for the cruise. The first and last nights are always the most crowded in the clubs. Also there are more kids there on sea days than on port days.

If you have a quiet or shy child, let the CMs know (quietly without embarassing your child) and they will help them make friends. My DD the CM doesn't have a quiet or shy bone in her body but I do have friends with quiet children and I know Robyn has mentioned working with quiet children to help them feel more comfortable in the Club.

Also remember that just because there are 700-900 kids on the ship, they're never all in the club or the lab at the same time. Some like Heidi's kids don't like it, some are in activities with their family, some are in the pool, some in the arcade, etc.

Also, the hecticness depends a lot on the luck of the draw. Some weeks the kids are just more cooperative and "mesh" with each other better than others.