How strict is 3/4 year old separation in Oceaneer's?

[Lillebelle]

My daughter will be about two weeks shy of turning 5 on our upcoming sailing. Our last couple cruises she was in the dedicated 3 & 4 year old group and wasn't super happy to not be with her older brother, which meant she spent pretty minimal time in the club. For our next sailing we'll be with another family and she'd be the only one out of five children who would be separated, which I think will be even harder for her. Anyone have experience 'opting out' of the separated group for kids who are close to the cutoff?

 

[SnowWhite2]

Disney can’t win on this situation. I really feel for everyone since it seems no one is happy. It started with segregated groups and DCL got criticized for not having kids in the family be together on their vacation. When they opened up the age groups so family groups can play together, other parents complained that the older kids trampled/overwhelmed their smaller kids. Due to possibility of older kids inadvertently hurting younger kids, they are back to segregated groups and now have open house every day where parents can come with kids to supervise their own family in the club. That will probably be your best bet. They may allow her to age up but depending on the ages of the kids in the club, it may not be possible.

 

[Mags2002]

No they are very strict and never make exceptions, even if you have older kids in your party. There is no option to opt out of the younger group

 

[mderh]

My daughter will be about two weeks shy of turning 5 on our upcoming sailing. Our last couple cruises she was in the dedicated 3 & 4 year old group and wasn't super happy to not be with her older brother, which meant she spent pretty minimal time in the club. For our next sailing we'll be with another family and she'd be the only one out of five children who would be separated, which I think will be even harder for her. Anyone have experience 'opting out' of the separated group for kids who are close to the cutoff?

If you've already taken your cruise, did you end up having any luck with this? I'm in the same situation with my almost-5-year-old son, who is in the 99th percentile for height and is frequently mistaken for a 6 or 7 year old. We are looking at a last-minute cruise next month, on which he would be a few weeks shy of his fifth birthday. He says he won't want to go to Oceaneers if he'll be stuck with the 3- and 4-year olds, and I can't say I blame him - would love to hear whether you were able to make this work for your daughter!

 

[Mle8308]

If you've already taken your cruise, did you end up having any luck with this? I'm in the same situation with my almost-5-year-old son, who is in the 99th percentile for height and is frequently mistaken for a 6 or 7 year old. We are looking at a last-minute cruise next month, on which he would be a few weeks shy of his fifth birthday. He says he won't want to go to Oceaneers if he'll be stuck with the 3- and 4-year olds, and I can't say I blame him - would love to hear whether you were able to make this work for your daughter!

See post above from @Mags2002, she is a CM on DCL. Post #3.

 

[lanejudy]

If you've already taken your cruise, did you end up having any luck with this? I'm in the same situation with my almost-5-year-old son, who is in the 99th percentile for height and is frequently mistaken for a 6 or 7 year old. We are looking at a last-minute cruise next month, on which he would be a few weeks shy of his fifth birthday. He says he won't want to go to Oceaneers if he'll be stuck with the 3- and 4-year olds, and I can't say I blame him - would love to hear whether you were able to make this work for your daughter!

He will be with the 3-4 yr old group until he turns 5. If that is a deal-breaker for your family then I suggest waiting until after his birthday.

 

[Lillebelle]

We did indeed have our cruise and I can confirm that there was no wiggle room here -- they would absolutely not make an exception. They have your child's age in the system (he will come up as being 4 since it doesn't give months, I saw the screen at one point) so whether or not he looks older won't matter. If I were to go back in time, I would have booked the cruise for after her birthday because the whole thing ended up being a pretty negative experience honestly. If you have no need for your child to go to Oceaneer's and he won't be bothered by not going then go for it, but I would personally postpone.