Kids clubs on OTHER cruise lines

[RedSox68]

When was this?[/QUOT

2000 I believe. They were very nice and accommodating about it.

 

[castaway811]

Disney is pricy but I found them to be the top of youth programming as well as theater performances and food.

Interesting thread though as I always wonder what other cruise lines are like. We have taken 6 with Disney.

 

[RedSox68]

Disney is pricy but I found them to be the top of youth programming as well as theater performances and food.

Interesting thread though as I always wonder what other cruise lines are like. We have taken 6 with Disney.

I will give Disney that hands down. We have had just as good food and sometimes better on other cruise lines, but in 6 non-Disney cruises, have only been able to sit through one show -- a comedian who was very good. We go in every time and walk out within 5 minutes -- too Vegas Show type and we're not interested. But Disney's shows I could see over and over and the talent they have onboard can't be beat.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

2000 I believe. They were very nice and accommodating about it.

Well, about 2-3 years ago, the age restrictions started being enforced, and the upper age in each group is set. No exceptions. Occasionally the lower age limit may be relaxed, depending on the CMs onboard, allowing younger kids to "age up" into the next level.

 

[RedSox68]

Well, about 2-3 years ago, the age restrictions started being enforced, and the upper age in each group is set. No exceptions. Occasionally the lower age limit may be relaxed, depending on the CMs onboard, allowing younger kids to "age up" into the next level.

Oh, that's a shame in a way. It made my daughter so happy and she felt more relaxed. She wasn't ready to be in the "big kids" group. I just remember it was a wonderful CM from Australia and he was so accommodating. Oh well, good memory and I don't have to worry about that anymore LOL

 

[Ofinn]

Well, about 2-3 years ago, the age restrictions started being enforced, and the upper age in each group is set. No exceptions. Occasionally the lower age limit may be relaxed, depending on the CMs onboard, allowing younger kids to "age up" into the next level.

I think it's more than occasionally. 10 year olds are pretty much the status quo in the Edge. I think the only reason DCL doesn't change the age policy is because not all parents are comfortable with 10 year olds having the freedom to come and go as they please. I think the DCL is smart doing it this way. It leaves the decision up to the parents.

 

[dvcdisney]

The only other cruise line we've been on is one RCL. We sailed on Allure on a Western Caribbean cruise. On the DCL cruise, my daughter spent a lot of time in the kid's clubs...sometimes we have to drag her out!lol

On the Allure, she went once or twice, didn't want to go back. I couldn't blame her, what they usually did was boring and there were no free time to do other things. They had to do what the whole club was doing, which would be great. My daughter often participates in group activities, but with Allure, they activities were not at all appealing. I suppose she expected some activities to be similar to DCL and I don't think any of it was even close. Plus, my daughter's big issue was that they didn't control the rowdy kids, so everyone had to wait and be penalized if one or two kids couldn't behave. They didn't seem to know to take them aside while the rest of the group continues.

My teenage son (then 15 at the time) said he's prefer the DCL Vibe over the Allure one. With DCL, we rarely saw him, there was always something the group was doing - basketball, swimming, eating etc so he was always with his new friends. With Allure, I was surprised how little he cared for it, the had a nice hangout place...He said no one really did anything and even if there was something planned, it was often cancelled. He found the counsellors were far different between the two cruise lines. I was quite surprised when he said he would rather go on DCL than Allure again. I thought the flow rider and rock climb would be a big hit with him...was thoroughly surprised!

My husband and I noticed the difference, especially in the service. Don't get me wrong, most were very nice and very accommodating. It was just not as friendly I suppose is the word for it. I can't explain it, but most on the Allure seemed nice but we can tell they are just working there. Most experiences on DCL (up to this point, especially on the Wonder) with the crew members were very friendly and they seem to enjoy being there. Perhaps it's just the ones we remember, but those ones are the ones that go directly on our survey. We were so used to writing names down on DCL cruises for the survey, that on RCL, my husband had a whole note page for the crew members on Allure. At the end of the cruise, we had one name...which seemed really sad.

Anyway, it just seems that the crew members in the kid's clubs were very different between DCL and RCL Allure. And that is likely why they didn't want to spend time in the clubs.

 

[castaway811]

I will give Disney that hands down. We have had just as good food and sometimes better on other cruise lines, but in 6 non-Disney cruises, have only been able to sit through one show -- a comedian who was very good. We go in every time and walk out within 5 minutes -- too Vegas Show type and we're not interested. But Disney's shows I could see over and over and the talent they have onboard can't be beat.

how did you like the fantasy? 5/6 cruises have been on the older ships. We took a short cruise on the dream but didn't explore much

 

[aprincessatlast]

We did Princess in Alaska with three kids 3,6, and 8 at the time. The younger ones loved it. The older one was just meh about it as he preferred to play video games etc. when he wanted. It is not DCL point blank, so it takes some getting used to. It is not set up the same nor has similar hours. It is structured and small. The kids came back with tons of stuffed animals and art projects, t shirts, etc. I loved that it was focused on conservation and very educational. The counselors knew our kids by name and always talked to them when they saw them, even in port on their off time. Overall we loved sailing Princess and would do it again for Alaska in a heartbeat.

 

[KashasMom]

So sorry if anyone took offense but let's face it...there are plenty of parents out there who think a cruise is an opportunity to let someone else watch their children. If it wasn't an issue the kids clubs would not shut those few hours.

 

[KashasMom]

I will give Disney that hands down. We have had just as good food and sometimes better on other cruise lines, but in 6 non-Disney cruises, have only been able to sit through one show -- a comedian who was very good. We go in every time and walk out within 5 minutes -- too Vegas Show type and we're not interested. But Disney's shows I could see over and over and the talent they have onboard can't be beat.

My daughter (6 at the time) loved the shows on Oasis - the ice show, the aqua show, even CATS. Think there was another as well... We are looking forward to seeing Tangled (finally a new show!). Disney shows are good but even my daughter remembered that we had seen the same shows 2 years prior. (I agree about the food!)

 

[jahber]

So sorry if anyone took offense but let's face it...there are plenty of parents out there who think a cruise is an opportunity to let someone else watch their children. If it wasn't an issue the kids clubs would not shut those few hours.

Well. Yeah. That's exactly what a cruise is for us, since I watch my kids (all 4 of them) pretty much 24 hours a day. Why would that even be a problem? It's what the kids' clubs are for. Quite literally. To babysit your kids.

Are you saying the other cruise lines think we need to spend more time together as a family, and that's why they close? Disney is *the* family cruise line, but their clubs are open all day. Because we pay for it. A lot.
I'm assuming other lines' clubs close because there are the fewest number of kids during the lunch and dinner hours, feeding kids is logistically more difficult than playing games (although they will do it on port days, under certain conditions), and closing saves them money in some way. Note that they are also open quite late, later than DCL...for a fee.

 

[alliecat523]

Since everyone is posting such glowing reviews of other cruise lines' kids clubs, I thought I would post about our perspective on Royal's Brilliance of the Seas:

The major differences we found between Disney (all 4 ships) and Royal (Brilliance of the Seas):
1. The hours on the Brilliance were tough to work around and also interfered with when the waterslide was open (very limited amounts of time for the waterslide and only when the children's programming was also going on). For example, the evening show (which stated that it had adult content) started BEFORE the kids areas were open. There were a lot of little issues like that on our Christmas cruise.
2. The kids on the Brilliance all had to be doing the same activity, which was usually a sport-type activity. If your child didn't want to play Gaga ball, they just had to sit and watch. No other activities were available to them, even just playing on the computers or coloring.
3. Our Brilliance cruise seemed to be severely under-staffed compared to the Disney clubs. Usually it was just one adult to about 15 kids with no other staff visible.
4. Disney texts you via the Wave Phones if your child wants picked up. On the Brilliance, there is no form of communication.
5. Not kids club related, but we found the Brilliance to be not very kid-friendly. They were showing R rated movies on the big screen at the pool with people being shot and blood going everywhere. Some of the evening entertainment was not marked as adult content, but very much was. My kids saw WAY more than they should have one night, even with us getting up and leaving immediately when we realized what was going on. I'm not super strict about what my kids see and do, but one that game shows took things WAY too far without proper notice.

We decided that if we ever do a Royal cruise again, we'll do one of the bigger ships that hopefully has more to offer to families. The Brilliance was not a good ship for families, in our eyes. We also said that we would bring our own games or more to keep ourselves occupied, as the Brilliance didn't offer many family activities. We did the Brilliance for Christmas and the Disney Fantasy for Spring Break and they were night and day different. We didn't have time to do all of the Disney activities that we wanted to do and rarely had any down time at all. We love Disney, but with the increasing prices, we were hoping to fall in love with another cruise line. Let's just say we're still looking for love after trying the Brilliance!

I have to say that our experience on Brilliance was completely different. My DD was able to do other activities if she wasn't interested in the group one. There were two shows to attend so she would go to the club while we hit the later show. There were no R movies playing on our ship either. I wasn't aware that they ever did this due to mixed ages on the ship.

All that being said, DD hated the kids club on Enchantment. The mix of kids just made for a not fun time. I think the experience varies from cruise to cruise.

 

[Bree]

I just got off RCCL Independence of the Seas this morning. I did not have my kids with me on this trip, but I grabbed a daily activity sheet for two age groups and the weekly activity for the tweens & teens. I'll try to scan them in after my family leaves this weekend and upload them. I also have a few regular Cruise Compass that I'll include too. I plan on writing a mini review here comparing DCL vs. RCCL. I'll just say though that the lack of family friendly activities during the day was very disappointing.

 

[KashasMom]

Well. Yeah. That's exactly what a cruise is for us, since I watch my kids (all 4 of them) pretty much 24 hours a day. Why would that even be a problem? It's what the kids' clubs are for. Quite literally. To babysit your kids.

Are you saying the other cruise lines think we need to spend more time together as a family, and that's why they close? Disney is *the* family cruise line, but their clubs are open all day. Because we pay for it. A lot.
I'm assuming other lines' clubs close because there are the fewest number of kids during the lunch and dinner hours, feeding kids is logistically more difficult than playing games (although they will do it on port days, under certain conditions), and closing saves them money in some way. Note that they are also open quite late, later than DCL...for a fee.

No point in responding anymore. You know that YOU are not the type of parent I am talking about.

 

[Ofinn]

So sorry if anyone took offense but let's face it...there are plenty of parents out there who think a cruise is an opportunity to let someone else watch their children. If it wasn't an issue the kids clubs would not shut those few hours.

I dont think thats the reason they shut down. Dcl doesnt shut down. Im sure it saves them money on staff. Its always about money.

 

[RedSox68]

how did you like the fantasy? 5/6 cruises have been on the older ships. We took a short cruise on the dream but didn't explore much

That was our problem -- we cruised the Dream first and felt overwhelmed that we didn't have enough time to really explore the ship and see the differences. On the Fantasy we roamed everywhere, played miniature golf several times, had more time on the Aquaduck and had more time to get used to the size compared to the classic ships. I love the decor, too.

 

[Dallas_Lady]

I'm assuming other lines' clubs close because there are the fewest number of kids during the lunch and dinner hours, feeding kids is logistically more difficult than playing games (although they will do it on port days, under certain conditions), and closing saves them money in some way. Note that they are also open quite late, later than DCL...for a fee.

Agreed. I have a hard time believe those cruise lines close because they are just so darned worried about family togetherness. Logistically, it's easier to close during meal times. And it allows them to staff fewer kids club employees or use those staff members in other parts of the ship throughout the day.

 

[mcd2745]

So sorry if anyone took offense but let's face it...there are plenty of parents out there who think a cruise is an opportunity to let someone else watch their children. If it wasn't an issue the kids clubs would not shut those few hours.

Completely disagree. I'll bet the farm that the reason the other lines shut down for those hours is for one reason and one reason only - to save money.

 

[Bree]

Royal Babies & Tots