No vacancy at the Oceaneers Club?

[Disfruits]

DH and I have been on three Disney Cruises, but we don't have any kids, so I don't know the answer to this. A friend of mine is considering a Disney cruise, but she heard from someone else that they could not get their children into the Oceaneer's clubs because they were already full. I have not heard of this happening. Has this happened to anyone?

 

[WDWLVR]

We don't have kids so I'm not 100% positive on this. I thought I had heard that Disney won't book families with children once they meet a certain level booked on board (this level is pretty high and don't think it happens very often). This is to keep the child to adult ratio in the clubs at a certain level.

I have never heard of them booking a family and then turning the family away from the clubs once on board.

 

[glindamood]

On our first cruise just my DH and I went - #3DS was disappointed and I finally broke down and tried to add him and found out that I could not - they had reached their quota of children his age.

DH and I had a blast going alone and we have been back twice with our DS's.

 

[justcruisin]

Could your friend have been confusing the club and flounders? Founders does fill up an turn people away.

I understood it to be as WDWLVR described.

 

[missattitude]

I was just there in the 1/10 7 day eastern cruise. I had heard the first night there were so many kids that they were turning away kids but just for that night. They had reached their capacity for the kids. But after that night there was no problem anytime since parents constantly are signing their kids in and out of the clubs. I know on my cruise they said that there were 1200 kids on the ship that weekend.

Dawn

 

[bostonlass]

Wow! This is a little concerning since we're going during April vacation. I guess the best bet is to sign them up as soon as you board. I"m glad I read this!

 

[MarkLem]

Upon boarding at 11:45 AM, our priorities were:

Palo reservations
Spa reservations
Kids sign up


Do it early upon embarkation.

 

[Mickeyhugger]

Uh-oh! I'm a little apprehensive here. Does the same often happen in Oceaneer's Lab?

We've taken our previous DCL's at Spring break. The first year, DD was in the club, the second year, the lab.

We did not sign her till the first night there. No problem getting her in.

Our situation is, we very seldom used (or will use either one) but were always under the impression is was there whenever we wanted to use it. We're now booked for May 29th, and 9yo DD will have a 'buddy' as we're sailing w/neighbor friends. Am I correct in thinking the 'turnaway' is only on a nightly or hourly basis? Is the first week of summer usually booked more heavily than spring break? I hope that once DCL has a certain # signed up, that it doesn't mean for the entire cruise. If that's the case, it's taken away peace of mind. (We're going to try to be among the first group @ Port Canaveral.)

Can anyone shed some light on this?

 

[NAT&MAGSMOM]

I'm not totally sure about this...Barb may be able to clarify this..but this is what I've always been told...

When you book..you tell your kids ages(of course)...at a certain time before the ship sails...they get a count of kids....and if they have too many for the counselors to manage...they stop taking ressies for kids. They can only have x number of kids for x number of counselors.

As I said...that's what I've always been told....and this may not
be right....but it always sounded reasonable to me....

Phyllis

 

[kcashner]

My DD has been out of the club for several years now...so my info about pull ups could be out of date. Not trying to start an arguement...I'd go with the info from more recent club cruisers.

Sorry...they were allowed many moons ago....

Of course, if the child is "totally" self sufficient, how will they know????? I think I have a devious mind.

 

[WDWCrazzyCunninghams]

Okay, so if I go right to the club/lab on embarkation day and submit applications for the boys, then they could use the club/lab at anytime, since the club/lab only takes as many applications as they have staff for, right? My only concern is the night DH and I eat at Palo. I would hate for us to have ressies and then the boys get turned away from the club/lab. After I make ressies at Palo, should I tell the Club that we have those ressies so the boys won't get turned away? Essentially making ressies at both Palo and the Club?

Thanks in advance for the advice!

 

[Disfruits]

Thanks for everyone's input! I'll pass it on to my friend. Sounds like I freaked some of you out...sorry! But I hope it's been helpful!

 

[crisi]

Has anybody here had their own child turned away, or is this all "I heard that on our cruise...." or "I had a friend who cruised." There are a lot of cruisers here and if no one has personally experienced this, I'd say the chances of it happening (not that it never happens, but the chances of it happening) are slim.

 

[professorandmom]

My children and I were on a July, 4 day - packed, full full - absolutely no problem with "fullness" in the lab - at any point in the cruise...I have twins who are very different and used the lab at different times (one liked to go right after breakfast, one who stayed until it closed)...I wouldn't give it a worry -
Barbara

 

[Mickeyhugger]

Okay. I think I might have over-reacted. When we sailed during spring break in 2003, we were told at Guest Services it was a full ship. (Easy to believe. After all, it was spring break.) Our dining companions DS was in the lab constantly (his own choice), and we did not here of anyone being turned away. (I'm sure there have been rare incidents.)

I'm not really worried anymore

 

[missattitude]

I don't think I would worry. We had no problem signing out kids up and we waited until 2:45 and they close down at 3:15 for the life boat drill. When they stopped taking kids it was sometime after 9PM. That was the one and only time it happened. But they had really long lines to get in to because their id bracelet machine had broken down that day and everyone had to get bracelets and name tags. Personally I don't think I would worry about it, there were not any problems after the 1st night.

 

[NAT&MAGSMOM]

OK....once more...

The number of kids is determined BEFORE the ship sails.

They know the name and age of every child with a reservation and arrangements are made for each and every child to be registered in the Kids Clubs. But. BEFORE SAILING... once it gets to a certain number...then they stop taking ressies for kids.
There are x number of counslors...so there can only be x number of kids...in each age group. We've registered DD late every time we've cruised and we've never had a problem.

Phyllis

 

[WDWCrazzyCunninghams]

Okay...trying to not be a pain, but to understand.
Take for example, I were to try and book our December Cruise in Novemeber, say last minute..and although there were Staterooms available, we might not be able to make ressies because we have 2 kids in our party and there wouldn't be enough counsilers on board? They only take cruise ressies for a certain number of kids? Only as many as they have staff for? I am understanding that right? So every child is guarenteed the chance to use the lab/club? It does make sence that they might plan it that way.
Thanks in advance!

 

[crisi]

Yes, thats the way its supposed to work.

I suppose that, on occation, counselors get ill and they have too few for the number of children....or something else unexpected happens (they probably don't plan for all children to be in the club all the time, so they are probably staffed lighter at certain times) and a larger number of children want to participate than they are currently staffed for. But this sure doesn't seem to happen often.

 

[WDWCrazzyCunninghams]

THANK YOU! I feel a little more assured that we won't have a problem with the boys being able to use the club/lab. I really don't know how much they will actually get to use it though! We will only be on the 4 day Wonder, and seeing as there is SO much to do, I just don't see how they could use it that much! Thanks again for the clarification!