Letter to Disney Cruise Lines

[tvguy]

What's funny is that there are so many activities (I feel) that happen late at night that the kids and we as a family won't be able to do, because we are early to bed early to rise people. For example, the "camp out" doesn't start until 10:15/10:30! But, while I'm disappointed, I figure they can't personalize the cruise to just my schedule, they have to spread it out and still give attention to the trends. I've found/read that a majority of families eat Main Dining, therefore there will more of a demand on the kids club around those hours.

I understand frustration over not being able to do everything, but when so much is offered, it's often about choices. I will miss out on the martini tasting because of a scheduled massage. I'm bummed, but accept that and consider the massage to be more important.

But, I agree. I hate Disney's "form reponses". I got one on Thursday from DCL when I expressed my feelings about the new Castaway Club levels...

Wow, your post is an eye opener for me. Disney cruisers ARE a diverse group.
Certainly sounds like Disney needs to consider handling major events in the clubs the way they handle the shows, having one session for early folks, and one late folks. Except do the early session early in the clubs, and the late session later, instead of the reverse they do for the shows.
My kids were 12 and 16 on our Disney cruise and THEY found all the kids clubs events going on too EARLY. We had late seating. My 12 year old went to just one kids club event over the 7 days, my 16 year old none. We rarely got out of the dining room before 10:30 pm (we sailed before pirate night). We cruised HAL the year before with the kids, their first cruise, and our kids really got into the late night stuff HAL had. There was usually a comic or juggler, or crew talent show, or passenger talent show at 11:30 pm, and the ADULT comic performance was usually at 12:30 am. Ironically, the thing we missed most was not having a nightly Midnight buffet......one that starts at Midnight and runs until 1:30 or 2 am. We'd go to an 11:30 pm show with the kids, hit the buffet about 1 am, do a lap around the open deck of the ship and hit the hay about 2 am.

 

[kileybeth]

We had similiar issues with the scheduling, but what really bothered my 6 y.o. dd was that she did not ONCE get to play in the Neverland themed playland. It was our 1st cruise and all the videos/podcasts show the kids climbing the nets and such, she was so looking forward to playing on there. On our 7 night cruise she never go to do it even once. The worst part is she didn't tell me until the last morning of the cruise that she never got to play in the playland and now she's 7 and will be 8 on our next cruise so she will be too old. My youngest will be 3 so perhaps we can do a family time in there and the 2 of them can play in there together for just a few minutes.

OH NO!!!! Please tell me how I can avoid this disaster from happening. That play structure is ALL my 7 year old talks about doing, well, that and any craft type activity which there are exactly zero, nada, none of after the evening meal. Guess we better plan for heavy club days on sea days (with the other 800 -1000 kids) since otherwise my kids will be in Ports with us or at show and dinner each evening.

When is it open???? Is there a schedule?

 

[3smithboys]

Thank you for sharing your concern/complaint about the kids clubs. I think that your request for more activities and smaller groupings within the club are reasonable and make lots of sense.

The development difference between a 3-year old and a 7-year old is enormous, and I can understand that your kids wanted a bit "more" out of their evening.

Since the big shows are performed twice a night so that adults can both have dinner and enjoy the entertainment, I don't see why the kids activities wouldn't be continued into the later evening if there are kids there who want to participate.

Thank you. This was our point. We had our kids with us in port or at CC during the day. We rested, went to the shows, got ready for the evening, had dinner, and then they were ready for an evening of activities.... there was nothing really for them to do. Nothing that they found fun and exciting. Also 3-7 is just too big of an age range for kids to be together. I was assured when I called before we sailed that they were rarely together, but EVERY evening they were together for ALL of the activities and all of these activities seemed geared toward the younger children.

Now, I understand that people will say it is all about choices....fine, we made our choices by going into port and not putting our kids in the Club during the day or taking them to the shows instead of the Club....BUT I don't think that it should be an either or proposition. My suggestion to DCL was offering some of the more popular activities again in the evening for the late seating dining children so they would have an opportunity to participate also. They told me that had we asked, the staff would have been glad to do it again for our kids....(I'm sure they would have been happy to give my twins a private Flubber session!!!! )

 

[AQW]

Very unfortunate that they didn't take your letter seriously.

We are also hesitant to go back on DCL due to an issue that occurred in the kids' club on our first DCL cruise last year. My daughter was 3yo at the time and had never been without her parents or grandparents. She took to the club right away and had a BALL. We took her several times the first couple of days, and she just loved it.

On the second night we left her there for just over two hours before my Mommy radar went off and I decided to go check on her. It was CHAOS when I arrived... I later learned there were 85 children in the Club at that moment, ranging from 3-7yo. I could hear her crying and wailing, but I couldn't see her. I was so panicked. When I found her, she was crouched down by the TV crying her little eyes out... her face was red and tear-streaked and the front of her shirt was wet, indicating she'd been crying for some time. Nobody came to her aid.

I was *livid* and I spoke to the staff only briefly before leaving - I was afraid Mama Bear would say or do something and later regret it. The asst. mgr. of the kids programming called me the next day and we talked through it all... I was initially impressed with the way they handled it on board, but then they blew it again. (My daughter still wanted to go visit the characters and play in the club, so they promised to page me if the 5-7yo joined in... two nights later I went to check and they had NOT paged me). That was the end of the kids' club for us.

It was very, very unfortunate. Given how dedicated they are about tracking things like food allergies, how difficult is it to make a simple page once the decision has been made to join the age groups together? My daughter was just too young to handle such a large influx of older children, especially given the overwhelming overall number (85 kids with a 3-7 age range is TOO MANY in that facility). For a line that prides itself on a kid-friendly atmosphere, I think their nighttime kids club procedures really stink.

I don't expect them to change their kids programming for us... we've simply elected to sail another cruise line. It just amazes me that they are SO short-sighted about the major problem created by joining the 3-4 and 5-7 year-olds in the evening... this thread has shown it's problematic on BOTH sides.

 

[Melcatfish]

OH NO!!!! Please tell me how I can avoid this disaster from happening. That play structure is ALL my 7 year old talks about doing, well, that and any craft type activity which there are exactly zero, nada, none of after the evening meal. Guess we better plan for heavy club days on sea days (with the other 800 -1000 kids) since otherwise my kids will be in Ports with us or at show and dinner each evening.

When is it open???? Is there a schedule?

Just to let you know my 4 year old was in the club a lot (she LOVED it) and there were lots of craft type activities going on, sometimes things listed in the navigator which seemed not so craft related also had a "making element" for example during the Toy Story Boot Camp they made dog tag things and during a chip and dale rescue rangers event they made masks. I know your daughter will be in the older grouping in the club but many of the main programmes are offered for both ages either simultaneously or following each other. Also there seemed to be quite a few navigator listings for free time which included the play structure.

Hope you all have a great cruise,
Mel
x

 

[loveysbydesign]

OH NO!!!! Please tell me how I can avoid this disaster from happening. That play structure is ALL my 7 year old talks about doing, well, that and any craft type activity which there are exactly zero, nada, none of after the evening meal. Guess we better plan for heavy club days on sea days (with the other 800 -1000 kids) since otherwise my kids will be in Ports with us or at show and dinner each evening.

When is it open???? Is there a schedule?

I honestly don't know how to prevent the disaster other than to ask when it will be open(I never would have thought to ask this). I didn't even realize it wasn't open all the time for them to play on until that last morning. When I asked her if it was as much fun as it looked in podcast online she started to get very upset and told me she never even got to go on it! I felt so bad as it was our departing breakfast and I knew there was no way she could go on it at that point. I asked her why she didn't mention not getting to go on it earlier and she said she didn't want to complain about it. She still talks about not getting to play on it, she said that's the only thing she didn't like about the cruise.

 

[loveGoofy]

As I remember, the slide area in the clubs was closed during organized activities. It is open up during the "free time" or "family time"... I can't remember which way it was described. So, I would suggest to make sure your children are able to play in this area, to go during those times. I hope this is helpful.

 

[3smithboys]

There is a slide time built into the day, but it is only around 15 minutes at a time and only once or twice a day if I remember correctly. I think that they do open it up at other times, but not during the organized activities. I was told by the Kid's Club staff that the kids love the slide area so much that they have to close it during the organized activities or nobody would want to participate! hmmm....

I know that my boys felt that they didn't get to go on the slide nearly as much as they would have liked because it was hardly ever open. It was one of the things that was "highlighted" on the DVD but downplayed at the Club....

 

[lbgraves]

I did write Disney once about a theme park restaurant problem, so bad I thought they should know. They were really nice about it (I didn't want anything other than for them to know), said they had spoken with the manager, and on our next visit it was fixed. They couldn't have been nicer.

I wrote a letter to Disney back in 2005 about an issue we had at one of their resorts. A week later I received a call from someone with a management title in their resort office. We talked about the problems as well as the good parts of our vacation. She asked specific questions to narrow down the source of the problem and assured me that she would personally handle it. I was very surprised that anyone from Disney took the time to call and get more information.

 

[truck1]

Ive had a similar problem with getting an answer out of Disney, on a different subject.Sent 2 emails to Disney and got 2 responses back, neither of them coming close to answering the question I asked. And both, even though they came from different people, were almost identical.Though it did have almost 2 pages of info I didnt ask for.
I think it has a lot to do with
A. Who answers the email,if its someone low on the totem ple, or someone that can make a decision.
B.How long they are there in the position. Disney has a high turnover rate,and if you got someone who has not been there that long, and has not gone thru the older version of Traditions,like I went thru, then youre already at a disadvantage.Ive found that for the most part, if you can get a hold of someone who has been there for several years, you do a whole lot better in getting problems addressed.(In no way shape or form am I trying to defend Disney)
Since the OP is clearly not satisfied with the response they got, I would try next to call someone at DCL and explain their frustrations.That way youd definitely be heard.

Try this one:
Disney Cruise Line: 210 Celebration Place, Suite 400, Celebration, FL 34747-4600; 800-939-2784; fax 407-556-7417; www.disneycruise.com.

 

[kileybeth]

Thanks for all the info about the play structure and how DCL works that. I can understand it being closed during organized activities but am wondering about the 15 minute openings? Seems kind of short if there are very many kids at all wanting to play. I am imagining a McD's or ChickfilA or something only opening there play structures for 15 minute intervals, seems a little crazy.

So I am guessing after late dinner it would not be open since that is wind- down time or something?

Going back to look at the Navigators again and see if I can actually come up with a plan, looks like we may need one more then I thought.

Thank you all for the feedback. Makes a lot more sense now how it works.

 

[yndygo]

Actually, this is the reason that we switched to the "main" seating, or early dinner on our upcoming 4-night. Given that we're from the Mountain Time Zone, it's 2 hours earlier here than on the ship - so when dinner starts at 5:30, that means having my daughter eat at the equivalent of 3:30p our time, and there's just no way that on a short cruise she's going to adjust that quickly... so we opted for "late seating" the first 2 times. Unfortunately, that was before the 'dine and play' option, so it meant horrifically long dinners and getting to the kids club too late to participate in much.

On the 7-night itin, we just let her eat dinner early up by the pool for all of the 'repeat' restaurants and then took her to the club so she wouldn't miss anything. But that meant dining without her. Frustrating.

The first trip on the Wonder, she loved the club so much that we couldn't believe it - 6 months later on the Magic, she was very disappointed. When we asked her what the difference was, she essentially told us that on the Wonder, the staff had paid attention more to the kids, there were fewer 'crazy kids', she felt safer, she got to play on the slide more, and she was included more in the activities. Big difference if you asked us.

I'm sorry that your concerns were dismissed - but please don't take it lying down. Write again. Remember that you might've just gotten the one person who didn't "get" what you were saying and maybe the next one will and will be more proactive in helping!!

I know that the 'dine and play' option was created after enough people mentioned that the second seating dinner was too long for younger kids whose families often didn't have a choice about which seating they wanted. So maybe if they can't do *everything* over again, they can at least double up on the highly desirable activities!

 

[atinkerbellmom]

Yndy.... My Dear Friend... How the heck are you? I have missed you around these threads. Give HUGS to your DD for me...

Anyway.... I am commenting on your comment. Great point and nice way to put it.

 

[yndygo]

Yndy.... My Dear Friend... How the heck are you? I have missed you around these threads. Give HUGS to your DD for me...

Anyway.... I am commenting on your comment. Great point and nice way to put it.

Heya gorgeous!! I sure have missed the disboards! I've just been so danged busy! But you know, you absolutely can't go on board without coming by here to see what the heck is up!

There's no place like the DIS!



Hugs right back to you and your family too!!

 

[disney minnie]

We just got off the Magic and had zero problems with the kids clubs. Our only problem during the cruise was that we wanted the kids to stay with us and they wanted to be in the kids clubs the WHOLE time. We have a 3 almost 4 year old daughter and a 10 year old son. When we checked on our three year old we did see the older children in the club, but they were doing different things. The 3-4's were grouped and the 5-7's were grouped doing a different activity. They do have a time late night - after 10 when everyone is together watching a movie or settling down.

I think it has a lot to do with your children. Our children don't complain about being bored. After all they are on a Disney cruise that does nothing but cater to their every whim.

This is definately not something to worry about before your cruise. If your child really wants to climb on the stuff, then tell the counselors on the first day during the open house and they will let you know when this can be done.

 

[kcashner]

The issue of all the "best" activities occurring during late dinner has been a problem since the inaugural sailing. It has been addressed in some areas and relating to some activities (for instance, the teens now use the fitness center at 10 rather than 9....whether this is a result of concerns that 9 eliminates those kids with late dinner or that the fitness center now stays open until 10 for adults is unclear). Yes, the problem occurs in every age group on every cruise. Keep talking; they do make changes based on guest feedback.

 

[atinkerbellmom]

We just got off the Magic and had zero problems with the kids clubs. Our only problem during the cruise was that we wanted the kids to stay with us and they wanted to be in the kids clubs the WHOLE time. We have a 3 almost 4 year old daughter and a 10 year old son. When we checked on our three year old we did see the older children in the club, but they were doing different things. The 3-4's were grouped and the 5-7's were grouped doing a different activity. They do have a time late night - after 10 when everyone is together watching a movie or settling down.

I think it has a lot to do with your children. Our children don't complain about being bored. After all they are on a Disney cruise that does nothing but cater to their every whim.

This is definately not something to worry about before your cruise. If your child really wants to climb on the stuff, then tell the counselors on the first day during the open house and they will let you know when this can be done.

I think you missed her point... I too agree we love the DCL kids club and it is one of the reason's we keep going back. The OP's point was that the second dinner kids miss a lot of the advertised activities. Did you have Main/Early dinner on your cruise? I bet you did... Her point was that we get out of dinner at 10PM and by the time our kids make it back to the clubs it is the quiet time that you and we have spoke of. (The red sentence above). She was just saying after the main dinner kids eat dinner they get activities, after ours eat, they get "Quiet time". They look back at the activities they missed while at dinner and are bored with the quiet time.... That is all she is saying. Just it seems as if the people with second dinner are punished for having second dinner. If this continues to be, then it will continue to be a problem with people wanting to be on wait list for early/main dinner. She is just saying after dinner her and her hubby wanted to go out, like many early dinner couples do and since it was "quiet time" in the clubs, they were not able. So am I complaining too???? NO!!!! We know this and my kids do too. I do not think it is "Her children"; I do think it is the programing. I do think they do it on purpose to keep the activities from being over-crowded. If they do the advertised activities as she speaks at the same time half the ship is in dinner and a large portion are at the show, the activity will not be as crowded. Does that all make sense with how I am explaining it??

 

[WDW Enabler]

OH NO!!!! Please tell me how I can avoid this disaster from happening. That play structure is ALL my 7 year old talks about doing, well, that and any craft type activity which there are exactly zero, nada, none of after the evening meal. Guess we better plan for heavy club days on sea days (with the other 800 -1000 kids) since otherwise my kids will be in Ports with us or at show and dinner each evening.

When is it open???? Is there a schedule?

Club is open 9am (or ashore time) to midnight on port days
and 9am to 1 am on sea days

the slide was closed during group activities so that all the councelors were avail to help the kids.

We personally were very happy with the Oceaners Club. Our DD never wanted to come out of the club except when we went to castaway Cay

Michael

 

[3smithboys]

We just got off the Magic and had zero problems with the kids clubs. Our only problem during the cruise was that we wanted the kids to stay with us and they wanted to be in the kids clubs the WHOLE time. We have a 3 almost 4 year old daughter and a 10 year old son. When we checked on our three year old we did see the older children in the club, but they were doing different things. The 3-4's were grouped and the 5-7's were grouped doing a different activity. They do have a time late night - after 10 when everyone is together watching a movie or settling down.

I think it has a lot to do with your children. Our children don't complain about being bored. After all they are on a Disney cruise that does nothing but cater to their every whim.

This is definately not something to worry about before your cruise. If your child really wants to climb on the stuff, then tell the counselors on the first day during the open house and they will let you know when this can be done.

I think you missed my point. My twins are not complainers at all. In fact, they are very easy going and were really looking forward to all of the activities in the Kid's Club. Maybe it was our fault. Maybe we built it up to be more fun then it was going to be.... we showed them the DVD multiple times and talked it up to being great! But when they got there and were stuck in a room with a bunch of little kids (which I assured them would not happen because I was told by a CM before the cruise that the kids were separated) and had to play parachute games and watch movies... they were bored.

They wanted to play on the play structure (like they saw on the DVD - which was closed) and do the fun stuff they saw on the DVD.... They are active 6 year old boys. We had napped them before dinner, and they were ready for an evening of fun. We were assigned late dining - and we were making the best of that. The fact the early seating kids are ready to "wind down" is not their fault! The fact they had late seating should not mean they miss out on Flubber and all of the other "cool" things that the early seating crowd gets to do... that is all that I was trying to say. All I suggested in my letter to DCL was for them to repeat a FEW of the most popular activities again for the late seating crowd - not everything.....

The twins spent most of the day at sea in the Club and had a GREAT time because they got to do all of the fun stuff they had been wanting to do they whole cruise. (We couldn't get them out!!!) So it's not they are "unreasonable" kids....they just wanted to do what they saw on the DVD with peers their own age.

 

[KSandbergFL]

I echo the sentiments of those who do not like the 3-7 yr olds lumped together. My son was 7 on our last cruise, and it didn't really work out for him very well. He just wants to play the video games (it's a treat for him, he isn't allowed to have video games at home), but when it was "quiet time" for the younger kids, he got chased out of the video game room and forced to sit watching TV. He handled it well, but we felt bad for "ditching" him to go to Palo's.