Kids Club Concerns

[belac]

It makes us, as parents, have to say "no" to our child

As with anything you are the parent and must set your own rules. I have a child that seriously needs sleep, and even in the Club/Lab we have to get him out by 9:30-ish and strict 10 pm vacation bedtime rules. I feel your pain, it's awful if there is something they want to stay up for but, his health comes first even on vacation. I try hard to make it up to him, a special souvenir at port the next day, no chores when we get back home for a week if he abides by the rules throughout the cruise or something like that. Rules are rules for our child and he gets rewarded if he follows them.
I don't think that the rest of the children who don't have these rules should be (for lack of a better word) punished for early closing in the clubs. Also their parents would be so-called punished if they want to see a late show, go to the adult bar, or see an adult act.

I think the randomness of the open houses is more of an issue, my DS doesn't like going when they have them and is forced into the club when he really is more Lab aged. If the parents have Palo/Spa/Remy scheduled and there is an open house, that is the issue for us. They seem to be randomly scattered in the Navigator (our last 2 cruises had open houses in the am, afternoons and evenings on various days), and since we schedule way ahead of time for Palo/Remy/Spa we don't know for absolute sure there is or isn't going to be an open house at that time. It would be good for parents to know that on sea days open houses are always X time to X time and same for port days, what ever is feasible but, the same times daily. This way we can schedule appropriate times for Adult only ressies not to coincide with open houses.

 

[bumbershoot]

I have always felt that the Edge programming goes on too late. It makes us, as parents, have to say "no" to our child when he wants to stay up until midnight because of something really enticing. I don't want to have to say no to him and to disappoint him on vacation, but when we have a port the next day, he may not stay up until midnight, regardless of what fun things are planned. I write this each time on the survey at the end, I wish they would make it go until 11:00 at latest so the children can get to bed. Am I in the minority about my thinking here?

Not everyone is on east coast time. Not everyone does excursions. Not everyone gets up early.

If you don't have to say "no" to your child, you get a bunch of other kids who are bored as anything because now they have to go to bed at 8pm their time b/c their club isn't open.

And yes, less open house. My son is bummed when others are taking over the special place reserved for him and other children his age.

Who is taking it over, though? That's an odd way to look at it. You could go with your child to that open house, and just hang back. You have to be there but you don't have to be 2 feet from your child. And he could go to the other side.

We don't really partake in Open House (except the first day, first cruise, when my aunt and I went to check out the spaces), but I know that other kids really want and need it (little kids looking toward when they are older, special needs kids, kids who are shy and want to check out the space etc), and that seems important to me. More important than my kid's wish for all lab all the time, LOL.

 

[SpaceSquirrel]

I never leave my little one with anyone, ever. But the kids club was awesome, I felt so comfortable leaving her there. I appreciate that each area has a crew member watching over the children and how they interact with each other. I was afraid that my little one would be influenced by older children but with all the crew members through out the children's areas my mind was at easy.
My advice, keep doing what you're doing!

 

[Drusilla99]

Open houses! I understand that the younger kids, and parents, want to check out the older clubs, and I'm sure it's a marketing tool for Disney. That would be fine for day one and maybe a little time on day two. But I just looked at my navigator from last month's cruise on the wonder. Vibe offered three and a half to four hours a day every sea day and one and a half to two hours a day each excursion day for open house times. What teen wants to hang out there if it's going to be invaded by younger kids and adults? The whole point is supposed to be that's it's a teen hangout just for them.

 

[gotomu212]

As for open house, the o.club and lab are open for 15 hours a day (more on some port days) and open house is usually only a couple of hours on each side.
It takes at least 10 counsellors to open one space, and the counsellors work 10-11 hours a day.
Open house always happens at dinner time because the spaces are so much quieter and food can only be served in one space.
Open house is used by a lot of people who wouldn't usually get to see the space: children who are too old/young, special needs, children who don't want to go in by themselves, families who want to spend time together...
Just putting it out there...

I don't mean to be argumentative but I was just reviewing recent navigators and open hours are a lot more prevalent. I consider an open house in either club or lab an issue since that pushes all the kids into one secured room creating some of the perceived issues.

On the April navigator I was reviewing there was an open house in either the club or lab for 6 hours a day. So 40% of the time only one space was available to the kids. On top of that one day the club had open house from 9-11:30 and then lab had it was 11:30-2:00. So during the first 5 hours of programming all the kids were forced together. On the previous day it was 9:00-1:00 for open houses.

I think recently the number and duration of open houses has gotten way out of hand. I understand the needs of parents and kids who want to use the open houses but our experience was that those spaces were very lightly used during OHs while the other secured side was an overwhelming crush of kids.

 

[MrsSmalls]

Wow, I thought the open houses were between 1-2 hours. Doesn't having open houses 4 or 6 hours a day defeat the purpose? That is surprising.

 

[belac]

I don't mean to be argumentative but I was just reviewing recent navigators and open hours are a lot more prevalent. I consider an open house in either club or lab an issue since that pushes all the kids into one secured room creating some of the perceived issues.

On the April navigator I was reviewing there was an open house in either the club or lab for 6 hours a day. So 40% of the time only one space was available to the kids. On top of that one day the club had open house from 9-11:30 and then lab had it was 11:30-2:00. So during the first 5 hours of programming all the kids were forced together. On the previous day it was 9:00-1:00 for open houses.

I think recently the number and duration of open houses has gotten way out of hand. I understand the needs of parents and kids who want to use the open houses but our experience was that those spaces were very lightly used during OHs while the other secured side was an overwhelming crush of kids.

Wow, I guess I didn't notice it was that much as I was too busy changing our reservations. I knew it was more than what it used to be but, wholly cow that is a lot. Again this is a perc for the kids to be in their space (Club/Lab) and shuffling them to one or the other for such long periods, it isn't fair to them. I just knew that every Spa/dinner appointment we had seemed to land on a Lab open house, we were shuffling all our adult appointments not to land on a Lab open house when on board so DS didn't have to stay in the Club. What about the younger kids that like the club? I saw a little (assume 3 yo) knocked over by 3 boys (assume 9) in the club when I went to pick up DS after Palo Brunch first sea day. That is when all the ressie shuffling started.

They should make a standard schedule of it all and less OH times because I also noticed a lot less scheduled activities, like crafts, cooking, science for them to participate in. Did the OH take away the ability for the kids to have more scheduled programs? DS loved cooking, crafts, science programs and there was much less of that. They need to bring that back, how many dance parties, video games and TV can they do before they get bored. We tried to get him there when there were scheduled events but he only did two aside from Pluto PJ Party (yes that was in club, he makes that one exception as Pluto is his Fav).

 

[Shanti]

It makes us, as parents, have to say "no" to our child when he wants to stay up until midnight because of something really enticing.

That's kind of your job. Other children shouldn't have to end their days early for the sake of sparing you a guilt trip.

Amen!

 

[Shanti]

hi Everyone,

If you have a comment or concern about any of the youth spaces, please share them. I will do my best to help you or pass things on to management if needed. We can't push for change if we don't know what you guys think!

Thanks for your time,

KT

We had a very good experience with the Club and Lab on the Magic. I like the fact that there are plenty of Open House hours, because sometimes he wants to show me what he's doing, or have me join him for a while at a computer game or art project.

The Club and Lab aren't always about babysitting. There can be some parent-child bonding happening in them, too, during Open House.

 

[bbel]

I'm not being argumentative, I'm just putting the information out there.
If it's a port day there's often a lot more open house times. You can often have less than 40 kids in care for an open house - like I said, 10 counsellors each side that's 20 counsellors for 40 kids so they get a choice. By switching sides for open house, kids in care have the option of both sides at some point rather than being stuck in one side

My experience is only classic ships.

But at the end of the day counsellors can't work anymore hours without starting to break laws. So the only way it will be fixed is if more counsellors get hired. The classics ships at least are over-berthed with crew as it is and with youth activities being such a big team already it's so unlikely. Also, less open house means more counsellors means your cruise is going to cost more, and I've already seen that people are unhappy by how much DCL charge already.

At the end of the day it's at least 15 hours of 'free' childcare everyday - where else does that happen?

Like I said, not having an argument, just putting some facts from the other side out there...

 

[dueley]

My daughter is extremely shy. She has tried the kids club on several different cruises, but never for very long - she felt lost and overwhelmed. On one occasion, we actually came to pick her up to find her crying in a corner. I could see her, but had to wait to get through the check in process. Meanwhile, I watched 3 counselors walk past her without even a glance. I did mention this at the time and on the comment card.

All of this to say, that she likes the open house times, because I can go with her. Otherwise, she would rather not go by herself. Just another side to the story.

 

[gotomu212]

I'm not being argumentative, I'm just putting the information out there.
If it's a port day there's often a lot more open house times. You can often have less than 40 kids in care for an open house - like I said, 10 counsellors each side that's 20 counsellors for 40 kids so they get a choice. By switching sides for open house, kids in care have the option of both sides at some point rather than being stuck in one side

My experience is only classic ships.

But at the end of the day counsellors can't work anymore hours without starting to break laws. So the only way it will be fixed is if more counsellors get hired. The classics ships at least are over-berthed with crew as it is and with youth activities being such a big team already it's so unlikely. Also, less open house means more counsellors means your cruise is going to cost more, and I've already seen that people are unhappy by how much DCL charge already.

At the end of the day it's at least 15 hours of 'free' childcare everyday - where else does that happen?

Like I said, not having an argument, just putting some facts from the other side out there...

I appreciate that perspective except the sea day had 4.5 hours of open houses so there's still a lot of time that the kids are being pushed together on really high volume days too.

I don't understand the crew argument though because a) until the recent open houses they used to have both areas secured and so it's not like this would open them to more counsellors than they had in the not distant past. they already recently had these capabilities. B) childcare staffing relies more on ratios and having the same number of kids in one area versus two should not dramatically affect ratios. I will agree that they could be an overlap in one-two people since there are minimum requirements of staff that have to be in each area but it's definitely not saying we have an open house on one side and can reduce our staff by 25% during that shift as you still need to meet ratios.

 

[gotomu212]

We had a very good experience with the Club and Lab on the Magic. I like the fact that there are plenty of Open House hours, because sometimes he wants to show me what he's doing, or have me join him for a while at a computer game or art project.

The Club and Lab aren't always about babysitting. There can be some parent-child bonding happening in them, too, during Open House.

I agree with this (even though I want reduced open house hours) because I do like that there should be time for these interactions. I just believe that 30-40% of the day is way too much time to be pushing all the other kids together and creating a condition where 3-10 years HAVE to be in the same area. It really has cut down on our use of the Club and while we don't use them as babysitting (at his age I would be comfortable with him in the stateroom while we went to Palo or the adult pool) it has set up a situation where he doesn't have fun in an area he used to love and that does impact our vacation.

Edited- I did want to edit to add that people's experience may vary. I was curious and looked at navigators from different ships and the shorter cruises (mostly the Dream) have less OHs and it also looks like the Wonder had slightly less than the Magic and Fantasy (at least the ones I was looking at) although still around 4 hours.

 

[Dug720]

Not everyone is on east coast time. Not everyone does excursions. Not everyone gets up early.

If you don't have to say "no" to your child, you get a bunch of other kids who are bored as anything because now they have to go to bed at 8pm their time b/c their club isn't open.

And that downtime is what can lead to the roving packs of tweens and teens I encountered on my RCCL Mediterranean/Venice cruise. Their open hours were much shorter - I don't know if it was because it was a port-intensive itinerary and so the hours were purposely shortened or if they're always that way - and there were packs hanging out on stairs, roaming, etc. At one point after I'd picked my way through some lounging on the stairs outside of the area having to move around them away from the handrails as those seemed to be prime lounging slots (fortunately I'm relatively young and able to move without NEEDING the handrails, though when at sea I prefer to use them just to be safe in case of movement), I overheard a man ask them if they could move and what they were doing and a couple of them said "Well, it's not open..." as if that excused them causing a safety hazard on the stairs.

 

[Weedy]

I think it would be a very interesting experiment to go back to the way it was and have the kids divided by age groups except for one room and those parents who want their kids together in the 3-12 age range can have it. The kids cannot move around and see if the kids and parents (more so the kids) really like it. I would think not.

 

[Weedy]

The Club and Lab aren't always about babysitting. There can be some parent-child bonding happening in them, too, during Open House.

Originally it was set up to be just a kids club. Then so many parents came in and took over the activities that they told the parents they couldn't come in. Then some complained so they started the open houses.

 

[belac]

I remember it being only an hour or so in the morning, hour in the afternoon and and hour or so in the evening. That is only going back 4 years. I clearly remember DS hated the club and we could only go in during OH. I was also happy he got to try it out with us as well but, we only did the one hour a day either afternoon or evening. He got to see what he liked, made a drawing with Goofy, and cooked with Chip n Dale. We are parents that knew he may hate it so we scheduled accordingly for the Adult only dining towards the end of the cruise. He went on our Palo night alone and a lovely Counselor colored with him the whole time. So OH has its place, it just shouldn't take up a 40% time allotment of that place.
He loves it now and would hate to see us or other adults there interrupting his time. When he wants us to go we go for a short time to see all the "cool stuff" but then give him his space. This last time he was rarely in the club, mostly due to OH, so when he went to the Lab he stayed. I even was told he wasn't ready to leave....talk about a transformation from 4 years ago.

Note: DCL promotes it as babysitting,
Quoted from DCL Website:
"Sip on a beverage, cheer your favorite sports team or dance the night away at hotspots created for Guests ages 18 and older. While the kids are being cared for by trained counselors at imaginatively themed youth clubs, adults can find their very own paradise while at sea, thanks to a variety of adult-only spaces."
~So they are promoting babysitting to their consumer. They have similar promotions for Palo, Spa, Adult pool etc..

This OH extension may have been cutbacks on staffing so that they had to have OH for extended periods to keep staff #s down, and they save $ BUT it could still be scheduled better.
I look through some of the Navigators and they all differ, some at 3 hour duration some at 1 1/2 hours. Some at 3 hours in the am and then 3 at night for the same club.
I see Edge and Vibe also have 3 hour slots in their schedules some 2x a day. I can see my teen-self not too happy with mom and dad or other adults and their kiddos coming in to the tween/teen club for a 2-3 hours a day and sometimes twice a day.

My Three points are:

• It is a kids Club, let it be a Kids Club for the most part, it isn't a Family club.
• Have a set schedule of OH so parents can schedule their adult only activities when there aren't OH.
• Have more scheduled activities for the kids, I hate the long blank spaces in the Navigator, that meas no scheduled craft, art, or science something. Seems like there are more blank spaces now then before.

I wonder, what would happen if they made Palo/Remy 40% of the time family dining or Spa/Adult Pool area 40% of the time family OH? IMHO, I don't think we adults would like it much.

 

[Jess_S]

I'm personally in favor of the open house time. It's only in one club, so it doesn't take away the option of dropping kids off. What it does do is open the club to kids who are either unable or unwilling to go without a parent. The open house time is actually the reason we booked our first DCL cruise when my son was 2.

I'm in favor of breaking kids up by age group, but it's based on parental nerves given that my son is on the low end of the age range for the clubs. I worry about him being injured and/or not included by the older kids. If feasible, it would be nice to survey the children using the clubs and get their opinion on this.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

It's only in one club, so it doesn't take away the option of dropping kids off.

Yes, and all the kids who require secured programming are crammed into that one space. I'd be more in favor of a one hour open house time every morning in all spaces. That way kids can show off "their" space to mom & dad, but the whole rest of the day it will be for kids only, as intended.

 

[To the honeypots]

I personally like the open house times as well. I work full time so vacations are a time when I get to spend lots of time with my son. I like that he isn't barred from going to the club just because he wants his special vacation time to include me and I want to spend the time with him. the only time we even use the clubs is during the open house