How safe is the Oceaneer Club on fantasy?

[MC0810]

We will be on the fantasy Next spring and was hoping to get feedback on the club. My boys will be 4 and 7.

I get a little anxiety about leaving them with strangers, we only trust family to watch them back home.

Is the club secure? How much supervision is there? Can my 4 and almost 7 year old stay together or will they be separated?

I was hoping to only have to send them a few times for a short period of time if me and my husband want to eat at palo, or go to the adult pool.

Thanks!!! Cant WAIT for the MAY 2015 dates!!!

 

[Princesstiff3385]

We were on the dream in Oct and I was very comfortable leaving my son there. Your kids won't be separated unless they wander away from each other. The club and the lab are attached so they can go from one to another without leaving. My son is an only and had a blast and was back and forth between the two repeatedly, I'm not one to leave him for long but I was informed by him that he wanted to spend more time there which meant more adult pool/quiet time for me which was fabulous.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

We will be on the fantasy Next spring and was hoping to get feedback on the club. My boys will be 4 and 7.

I get a little anxiety about leaving them with strangers, we only trust family to watch them back home.

Is the club secure? How much supervision is there? Can my 4 and almost 7 year old stay together or will they be separated?

I was hoping to only have to send them a few times for a short period of time if me and my husband want to eat at palo, or go to the adult pool.

Thanks!!! Cant WAIT for the MAY 2015 dates!!!

The Oceaneer's Club/Lab is for ages 3-12. While it is one large space, it's roughly separated into the Club space with activities aimed at the 3-7 age group, and the Lab space with activities aimed at the 8-12 age group. That said, any child in the Club/Lab can participate in whatever activities interest them, regardless of age.

During secure programming, the only adults allowed in the spaces are the DCL CMs. During Open House (which occurs on either the Club or Lab side, but not both at the same time), children can participate with an adult (parent, older sibling, grandparent, etc). When one side is having Open House, the other side is in secured programming.

 

[KristiMc]

Your kids will probably love the Club and beg to stay. It is very safe. Only you will be able to check them out, and will have to provide a password that you set up, before they will let you leave with the kids.

Your kids will be able to stay together. The Club/Lab is for 3-12, with most of the younger kids staying in the Club and the older ones in the Lab. The two clubs are connected and they can go back and forth to either.

 

[cmschristine]

We just sailed on the Fantasy last month and the Oceaneers club is completely safe. The kids will receive wrist bands upon boarding the ship (or while waiting to board) and they will wear them all week. The bands are used to check them in and out of the club. When you go to pick the kids up, they will be able to tell you the exact location of your child. I was very comfortable with leaving my kids there and I was a little nervous about this until I saw how it worked. They can stay together or chose to do their own thing. There will be an open house the day you board the ship and you will be able to see exactly how it works. I would suggest registering them online so when you go to retreive the wrist bands, they already have all of your information.

 

[scootch]

Our first cruise(we just finished our 5th) I only let my younger daughter go in for an hour twice. When we got home, that is all she talked about. (older daughter was more interested in the pool and sunshine). So next cruise I let her stay more. I realized that my idea of fun and her idea might not be the same thing. She still ate meals with us, went to shows, went off the ship at ports but she absolutely LOVED the clubs. Yes, the boys can stay together, but likely will have so much fun exploring they won't really care where their brothers are. Noone can take you kid out, it is locked entrance, you need a codeword to get your kid out, plus they pull up a picture of the people whom you note know that codeword. The armbands are like a mini gps, they can even tell you which room of the lab/club they are in. It is really the highlight of my younger daughters cruise, she is bummed that she will soon outgrow and need to go to the Edge, but I am sure she will love it up there too. No worries mom....

 

[TDC Nala]

They can't leave the club without you being there. They can stay together. There will be youth counselors watching them. One on one attention, probably not. Adults other than DCL crew members are not permitted in the space that is under secured children's programming. If that still makes you nervous, it may not be the thing for your family.

 

[kfamilylovesdisney]

I was worried how I would feel about leaving the kids in the clubs before I first cruised with DCL.

First of all, attend the open house. This way you can see what the kids will enjoy and they can get accustomed to the space with you there so it doesn't seem strange when you drop them off the next time.

There are security measures in place to keep your mind at ease and you can carry a wave phone around with you and they will contact you right away if there is an issue (my son needed a change of clothes due to an accident while we were eating at Palo - they got in touch with us, DH delivered the clothes, and we were all good.)

The security measures can be read about online but include a wrist band, a password, and checking in your child and picking them up.

I felt very comfortable, but definitely eased me and my children into it!

Good Luck!

 

[bumbershoot]

Fantasy might be different from dream bc all they could tell me was what side DS was on. Or rather where he had last been.

Not technically true about no adults. At least on dream the picking-up adult is sent into the club/lab to find their kids. This isn't always easy as if your kid is having a blast and resists leaving bc he's having so much fun dancing, the adult can end up wandering around then standing an tapping her foot impatiently for a few minutes. The cm did helpfully remind my guy that I couldn't be in there much longer and so he needed to go with "his grownup".

 

[moomy-san]

On the Fantasy they make the adult picking up a child wear a lanyard that says 'picking up' or something like that. And there are cameras EVERYWHERE. i couldn't believe how many cameras there were in the kids spaces. I felt very safe leaving my daughter there.

 

[Bonniec]

On the magic in January I was a bit concerned at first because they let me in to get my son and I thought adults couldn't go in. That being said, they always knew where he was due to his arm band, I had to give a password to get out, and my photo popped up on their screen tied to him so they could see he belonged with me. Plus there are counselors everywhere. And I had the phone on me so they could call me anytime he wanted to leave.

I felt very safe.