how much later are your kids curfews/bedtimes onboard ship?

[imgoingtodisney]

Just read a post about a teenager whose curfew is midnight but at home it's 10pm. My own DS10.5 (when we cruise) will most likely be "out" until 11pm most nights if he is really enjoying the Oceaneer Lab. At home on weekends if we dont need to be somewhere early the next morn he can stay up until 10pm. How about your kids?

 

[Michelle]

My daughter stays up MUCH later on the cruise, but we sleep late in the mornings while on vacation, plus I don't give her sign-out privileges so I know exactly where she is. She'll be up till midnight most nights, having fun in her club while we have fun in ours. And it's perfecty fine, we're all on vacation.

 

[MelissaE1]

I take the same attitude as Michelle... it's a vacation. DS8 and DD4 will be allowed to stay up until they are worn out. They tend to be night people if allowed to be anyway. I love it that the kids' clubs stay open until midnight, so we have the option to let them stay up and still be entertained if we want to do something "grown up."

 

[CamColt]

No bed time for my kids on vacation...and Im usually pretty strict when at home(both kids in bed by 8:00pm!). I stay up later than usual on vacation and I have no problem with them doing so too. Of course, if they were older and off on their own, I would feel differently.

 

[FantasticDisFamily]

Vacation is always different - later than at home and now that I'll be cruising with teenagers I suspect we'll be going to sleep before they will! LOL!

Deb

 

[Gillian]

Even at Flounder's bedtime is later! DS 2 was up until 10:15 both nights he was there, along with a few other kids. He's usually in bed by 8 at home. But why did he still wake up at 6:30 AM??

 

[hydster]

that my kids are on vacation as well so they will be allowed to play until they cant play anymore. I am VERY strict about bedtime at home no one goes to bed later than 8pm during the school year even on the weekends and no later than 9 pm in the summer. My kids a 9,7 and 3 1/2 and I plan to let them do what THEY Want to do on this vacation since they dont get that opportunity at home very often.
I think you have to do it according to your children however. My kids COULD stay up until past midnight every night if I would let them but I dont let them so vacation is the one time they get that priveledge. Now if they couldnt deal with it they would have strict bedtime on vacation as well. We also will adjust if they do stay up too late and are very cranky the next day they will be required to go to bed an hour earlier than the night before.
Just our ideas
Heidi with a month left WOOOHOO! LOL

 

[TootyJane]

Originally posted by FantasticDisFamily
Vacation is always different - later than at home and now that I'll be cruising with teenagers I suspect we'll be going to sleep before they will! LOL!

Deb

Deb, when we cruised in May my oldest ds (14) practically lived at Common Ground. We were definitely in bed before he was! However, I really didn't get to sleep until I knew he was back in the room and that was usually sometime between 1-1:30am.

 

[inkkognito]

We don't have kids, but we've chatted and even shared a dinner table with parents of children from various ages (ranged from 3 thru teen). The consensus definitely seems to be that curfews are extended or suspended for vacation. There is so much to do, and a lot of it occurs pretty late (deck party, etc.). Since it's a special occasion, I say them stay up till they drop!
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[Pugdog007]

It's difficult to stick with a curfew when Common Grounds has activities going on until 2:00am. I wish it were not so late because it's difficult to tell your child that they have to be in at 12:30 or 1 when "everyone else is staying till 2:00!"

 

[SuperDisneyDad]

Before going on our 7-day Magic last February, my wife and I decided that we would keep a very strict bedtime for our 3 year old . . . 9PM he had to be in bed every night (it's 8 PM at home). When we got on the ship, that immediately got thrown "overboard" the first night. At 8:45 PM, we went into the kid's club to get him out. He'd made so many new friends and was having such a wonderful time, we couldn't possibly take him away from all that. We figured he'd just sleep late the next morning which was fine with us. But . . . after closing down the kid's club a midnight, he was still up at 7AM the next morning ready to go again! This went on the entire week! He still talks about the "Kid's club on the Disney ship" just about every day. So, now he's got wonderful memories, we got to spend some quality time away from the kids, and he returned to his normal bedtime as soon as we got home. No harm done!

 

[jlmcantwait]

Super Disney Dad,
Any insight on the best way to approch the first time leaving them in the club. My son will be 4 the day we sail from Port Canaveral. He attends day care so he has been left with people outside of the family. We were talking about this on a previous board and were joking....."it will really STINK if the kids shy away from the kids club and get clingy!
There was also another member that read the CMs in the club are quick to page the parents if the chlidren don't cooperate immediately with a program. My thought was, I haven't read about that happening much, so it must have been an isolated experience. Any thoughts?

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

Originally posted by jlmcantwait

We were... joking... "it will really STINK if the kids shy away from the kids club and get klinny!"

Okay, that's a new word for me. What's "<b><i>klinny</i></b>"?

 

[SuperDisneyDad]

jlmcantwait,
I personally did not see that the CMs were quick to page. In fact, I saw just the opposite. They seemed to use the page option only as a last resort. I think it just depends on what else is going on in the club at the time.
My son was 3 1/2 at the time we went on the cruise and he'd been in pre-school for about 5 months prior (2 days a week). So, like your son, he'd been around other kids for a while. We built up the kids club before we went, showing him pictures, video, etc. of the club and going over the schedule of activities he'd be doing (Goofy is his favorite, so taking about Goofy tucking him in for the "sleepover" was a huge hit). He was very excited before we went. However, he was still VERY apprehensive when we checked him in for the first time. We walked around with him looking at all the stuff, pointing out the things we'd seen in the pictures and video, and tried to help him meet some other kids. We did this for about 20 minutes. Then, one of the CMs introduced herself to him and told him about some activities they were doing at the time, and said they'd like him to join in. He reluctantly agreed, and she took him off, we slipped out (standing outside the club and peeking in every 5 seconds for about 10 minutes, of course). Then, as I mentioned above, we couldn't get him out of there for the rest of the cruise.
I'm not saying this is the only way to do it, or that it will work, but it sure worked for us. Most kids seem to enjoy it very much. Very few don't.

 

[4nana]

Klinny
LOL....beats me....could it be 'clingy'???

 

[trishy]

Curfew on the ship?!? What's that? Just kiddin'. Our kids used the club/lab as their "curfew" - when they closed, they left. The only exception was when we were going to Grand Cayman the next day - we made them go to be by 10 because we had a few excursions lined up and knew it would be a busy day. As far as the club crew - they are AWESOME! They really do take their time to work with the child and I didn't see any time that they were hasty to send a child back. In fact, I've seen some of the counselors holding upset children in their laps trying to make them feel better or distracting them by playing games or dress up. If it doesn't work, they will send for little Bobby or Susie's parents (bummer if you're at Palo's like I was when my then 5 yr. old paged me because she "missed me" ). Oh well.

 

[jlmcantwait]

yep....consider it a typo, Im usually pretty good proof reading but that one slipped by!