Kids Club concerns

[Dale and Allie]

Hi We will be taking a cruise with our 2 teens & 3 younger children (8, 9 & 11). I'm nervous every about leaving the 2 little ones while we do the adult activities etc. Any advice from anyone who has gone before to calm my mama jitters?

 

[Maggie'sMom]

The CMs in the kids clubs are awesome! My DD loved the Oceaneers Club/Lab. I think she would have spent the entire cruise in there if I hadn't gone to get her out to do other things. She's 12 now and we purposely scheduled another 3 night cruise for August so we could go one more time before she turns 13 and ages out of the Oceaneers Club/Lab.

 

[lolainkent]

My 8 1/2 year old spent as much time in the club as possible last week on the Fantasy! He would ask to go right after breakfast, he'd ask to leave dinner, he asked to skip getting off the ship in St Thomas...all for the club.

 

[Dale and Allie]

That helps thank you Do you sign them in & out? They can't leave without a parent correct?

 

[Iamaplanner]

You can also tell your children to tell the CM if they want to come out. The CM will message you to come and get them. I found this reassuring.

 

[lanejudy]

Starting at 8 yrs old, you have the option of allowing them self-check-out privileges from the Club/Lab. If you don't register them for that, then yes they cannot leave without an authorized adult. Note that your 11-yr-old can attend either the Club/Lab or Edge, and at Edge they automatically have in/out privileges as some activities take place outside of the actual Edge space.

Do you have specific concerns about your 8 & 9 yr olds and the Club/Lab? That might help with answers other than "your kids will have a great time!"

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[TeaBee]

That helps thank you Do you sign them in & out? They can't leave without a parent correct?

My 10 year old had a great time in the club. You can opt to give them sign out privileges if you want to (we did), but don't have to. My daughter had an old iPhone and used the ship's app to text us whenever she was leaving the club so we could meet up.

 

[iambrink]

That helps thank you Do you sign them in & out? They can't leave without a parent correct?

yes, you can sign them in and out. you could allow them to come and go as they please at some age (i am sure someone can correct me), but i always opted out of that...unfortunately my kids were never lovers of the clubs, but if they had to be there for a certain time they would stay no problem.

 

[Dale and Allie]

You can also tell your children to tell the CM if they want to come out. The CM will message you to come and get them. I found this reassuring.

That makes me feel better & I like that option

 

[Dale and Allie]

Starting at 8 yrs old, you have the option of allowing them self-check-out privileges from the Club/Lab. If you don't register them for that, then yes they cannot leave without an authorized adult. Note that your 11-yr-old can attend either the Club/Lab or Edge, and at Edge they automatically have in/out privileges as some activities take place outside of the actual Edge space.

Do you have specific concerns about your 8 & 9 yr olds and the Club/Lab? That might help with answers other than "your kids will have a great time!"

Enjoy your cruise!

Noted, Thank you I was mainly concerned about them being able to leave the clubs on their own & wanted to hear tips from other parents who have been through the process

 

[scootch]

There wristbands have like little gyp's in them. They even know what room they are in inside the club. Most kids loved it. Our first cruise I was determined I wasn't letting my girls go. It was a short cruise and it was family time. Well after dinner, there was a little down time until the show, so I let my youngest go(she was 7 at the time-- my oldest didnt' want to at that time). When we got home, all she talked about was those three hours(1 hour per night) in the club. That is when i realized her idea of fun and my idea of fun might not be the same thing and it was ok too for me to have a little "me" time. So after that, we struck a balance. Things they had to do as a family.... and times when they could enjoy the club.

Most trips when she was in the 8-12 age, I picked her up the last night in tears as she was so sad she had to leave and the cruise was over. They really are supurb!!

 

[AndreAggie]

There wristbands have like little gyp's in them. They even know what room they are in inside the club. Most kids loved it. Our first cruise I was determined I wasn't letting my girls go. It was a short cruise and it was family time. Well after dinner, there was a little down time until the show, so I let my youngest go(she was 7 at the time-- my oldest didnt' want to at that time). When we got home, all she talked about was those three hours(1 hour per night) in the club. That is when i realized her idea of fun and my idea of fun might not be the same thing and it was ok too for me to have a little "me" time. So after that, we struck a balance. Things they had to do as a family.... and times when they could enjoy the club.

Most trips when she was in the 8-12 age, I picked her up the last night in tears as she was so sad she had to leave and the cruise was over. They really are supurb!!

This is our plan too. I figured, "You know what? It's their cruise too!"

 

[Mitura]

This last cruise the Oceaneer's club called and said they were closing please come and get your kid! LOL He's 9!

Our 9 yo loves the club. Though he is usually shy the first couple of days but by the time the cruise is ending we can't get him out.

 

[richkaryn]

Our son was 7 on our first DCL cruise (a 3-night for his December birthday). My biggest fear was we'd drop him at the club and just be getting to an adult activity and we'd get a page saying he wanted to leave and we'd have to turn right around. He even said the first time "come back in 30 mins". We stretched 30 mins into an hour and when we went to get him he begged to stay longer. The next night we had to practically drag him out at closing. This is why we paid the "disney premium" for our Alaskan cruise this summer....that much time on the ship this trip and I know he will have something he likes to do and won't be bored.

 

[Dale and Allie]

This last cruise the Oceaneer's club called and said they were closing please come and get your kid! LOL He's 9!

Our 9 yo loves the club. Though he is usually shy the first couple of days but by the time the cruise is ending we can't get him out.

Lol that's funny

 

[JMHDisney]

I was nervous before our first cruise too. I think that's common before you see the clubs and how well supervised they are. I had read a couple negative things including a story about how they supposedly couldn't find his kid in the club (turned out he fell asleep inside a structure) and it really worried me thinking that it wasn't properly supervised. Once I saw the clubs, I was totally at ease. The kids have bracelets that tell them where they are and there are tons of cast members. The worst thing that happened was not being able to find an art project at the end of the day and the CMs looked so hard and worked to cheer my son up.

I'm now completely comfortable leaving my son there and I just tell him to have them call me when he's done. I think this also makes my son more comfortable knowing he can leave when he's done. If I'm going to Palo or the spa I will tell the CMs that and they make sure he is happy until I am done.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

We were on a Magic B2B last summer and I wasn't even sure DS would go into the kids club! I took him to the open house and, when he said he liked it, I let him go by himself and checked on him after about 30 minutes. He loved it and for the rest of the cruise I could barely get him out! As others have said, if they want to leave, they will call you on the Wave phone. The kids can't get out of the club unless you give them sign in/sign out privileges and with the magic bands, they know where the kids are in the club at all times. We love the kids club! It means everyone gets a vacation!

 

[bumbershoot]

My biggest fear was we'd drop him at the club and just be getting to an adult activity and we'd get a page saying he wanted to leave and we'd have to turn right around.

This DOES happen. My cousin has had that experience on two cruises now. Not all kids thrive in there.

This is why we paid the "disney premium" for our Alaskan cruise this summer....that much time on the ship this trip and I know he will have something he likes to do and won't be bored.

Other cruiselines have perfectly decent clubs. My son, who is an extrovert and a joiner, prefers Royal's clubs to Disney's. The counselors are far more involved on Royal, the club is smaller, and it's just more hands on. He enjoys Disney's club, but he LOVES Royal's.

I had read a couple negative things including a story about how they supposedly couldn't find his kid in the club (turned out he fell asleep inside a structure) and it really worried me thinking that it wasn't properly supervised.

None of that story made much sense, IMO.

The kids have bracelets that tell them where they are

I've never really had them tell me where DS was. I think sometimes the CMs just guess. But the issue, if you believe much of the story that worried you, is that the kid being under the metal chairs all stacked up is precisely why the supposed tracking of the band was messed up.

 

[Skiton]

We've done two Disney cruises with our boys now. First time, they were 5 and 6. Last time, 7 and 8. I also had reservations the first time around. It's hard to trust that your kids will be safe in an unfamiliar environment, when you have no experience with it. These are the reasons I had no qualms about leaving them there, after day one:

-The place is locked down like Fort Knox. For an adult to pick up your kids, their room-key and photo must match the ones on file. Also, they must know the secret password. I think it would be next to impossible for anyone to snatch a kid from the clubs (plus, where would they go, anyway?)
-There are counsellors EVERYWHERE. I remember our first cruise, I arrived at the club to find my youngest crying and a counselor kneeling down talking seriously to my older son. I said, "Youngest Son, what's going on?" Counselor said "I think it was something to do with the game they were playing, I'm trying to get this boy's side of the story." "I said, Oldest Son, what happened here?" And the counselor said, "Oh! They're brothers! Well that explains it, then. Sorry, I'll leave this to you!"
-At age 8, they can check themselves out IF you decide you want that option. We did not want that option, so we didn't grant permission for it. So, we knew he was in the club and safe until we went and got him.
-They can send you a text via wave phone if they are sick, or upset, or just bored. When we cruised RCCL last year, they had nothing like that. I was never worried that my kids weren't OK, but I did worry they were sick of being there with no way to contact us, so I made a lot of unnecessary trips to the club to check in. With DCL, they want to leave, you get a text, you go get them. Also, if you're going to Palo or Remy you can tell the counsellors that at check-in and they'll make a note of it. That way, if your child comes up after an hour and says they want to text mom and dad, they can check the computer and say, "Hey, your parents are still having a nice dinner and probably can't come get you right now" and them try to engage them in something else.

 

[Skiton]

Also, at my kids' ages, and certainly OP's kids' ages, I would think, if you have something planned you just have a discussion with them ahead of time. We did that for dinners and brunch at Palo, and also when DH had a mixology class that coincided with a spa appt. for me. "Listen guys, we have something to do until X o'clock. So unless it's an emergency, we're not going to come get you if you text us. We'll be back to check in as soon as we're done." So basically, suck it up, buttercup.

Regarding a previous post, I read the blog post about DCL "losing" a child in the club on one of the ships. Basically, a younger child crawled into a hidey-hole somewhere and fell asleep, and the staff wasn't able to locate him when the parents came for him. The dad went ballistic and started demanding to speak to the captain and have a ship-wide search and have his son's info go over the ship's intercom and all that, and everyone kept telling him to calm down, they were all looking for the child. In the end they found him (Mickey band apparently didn't work because of where he'd hidden) and all was well, but Dad was really put out and posted something about how it ruined their entire vacation. I see both sides as I would have been terribly upset, too, but really I think this guy overreacted in the end.