Oceaneers Club activities

[lolomarie]

I'm hoping that someone can let me know what the kids in the Oceaneer club do? I've never been on a cruise and we're considering a Disney Cruise. I like the idea of my DS4 going to play for a little bit while we get some adult time. Specifically, I'm worried about screen time. In all the pictures and videos I see of these areas it looks like lots of interactive, screen based activities. At home, we limit screen time. What do the clubs offer other than screen based entertainment?
Thanks for your help!

 

[Kate_45]

The screens are everywhere in the club. Even away from the tablets there are big screens showing films constantly.

They offer lots. Crafts, characters, games, slides. But whether your child will choose to engage with them or be distracted by screens is difficult to tell. Go to open house with him and show him all of the other things to do, but chances are when you pick him up he'll be sat in front of a screen.

If you feel strongly you can a) limit club time, b) limit screen time outside of club or c) tell him that when you pick him up you expect him to either have made something to show you (evidence of not being at a screen the whole time) or to not be sitting in front of a screen. This may or may not work.

Us. We just shrugged and figured they were happy, were on holiday and were out having adventures with us during most days. We did avoid the pool with funnel vision though; staying in the kids pool and if we went again we'd probably skip an animators pallette night as it was hard to compete with the screens there for conversation.

 

[TestingH2O]

As you have observed, there are lots of screens. When DD was 4, we only took her for short times and to do specific activities. As she got a bit older, she wanted to stay longer, but we noticed her doing the iPads too much. So we made a deal that she could play 3 games but she had to stop then. My guess is she plays 5 or so, but since we've made the deal, she's always engaged in other stuff when we arrive to pick her up. The staff will usually help if you ask them.

 

[lolomarie]

Thank you both so much. He's not at the age where he can make a choice around this. The screens are so compelling and addictive that I think he'd be glued to them. Good point about avoiding the screens on the rest of the ship. I think I'll still see if he enjoys the club, but it won't be a place I'll send him for very long. On the flip side, his day care has no screens at all and he plays all day long with the other children, where at home he has access to tv and is constantly asking for Paw Patrol and it's a battle to get him to play.

 

[ElenaRN]

There are a lot of screens around in the club. My ODD loves playing on tablets etc but in the club she really didn't bother with them. There is a ton of other stuff to do.

Also, if you are sending your kids there to get some adult time- don't worry too much about screen time. Adult alone time is important for your well being and a little bit extra screen time on one night isn't going to fry your kids brain.

JMHO.

 

[cadien]

Our son is a huge fan of screens, but every time we picked him up, he was playing in Andy’s Room. I was really surprised.

 

[lolomarie]

There are a lot of screens around in the club. My ODD loves playing on tablets etc but in the club she really didn't bother with them. There is a ton of other stuff to do.

Also, if you are sending your kids there to get some adult time- don't worry too much about screen time. Adult alone time is important for your well being and a little bit extra screen time on one night isn't going to fry your kids brain.

JMHO.

This is so true! I'd definitely use it for some Spa time and Palo if we get so lucky!

Our son is a huge fan of screens, but every time we picked him up, he was playing in Andy’s Room. I was really surprised.

That would be a great surprise and would shock me for sure!

 

[TestingH2O]

He's not at the age where he can make a choice around this.

You might be surprised. DD was very newly 5 when we asked her to self regulate and, as I said, the CM's did say they'd remind her.

 

[ScooterScott44]

The counselors are pretty good about engaging the kids. There are always games, organized and informal going on and little play groups seem to spontaneously form in the clubs. Yes, there are screens but I would say that there are too many other things going on. You know your child best but it is likely they will find other things just as interesting. Our son loves games and computers but when in the clubs has always been found doing other things.

 

[tlprice]

For a lot of the screen play there are long lines. My daughter doesn't want to waste her time waiting so she usually does a lot of crafts, science experiments, cooking, soap racers, etc. We did go on the Dream once and there were very few kids and she LOVED the Infinity room. She went after dinner (2nd seating) until closing every night to play Infinity. It was only a 3 day cruise so I didn't care, and she had a ton of fun with the cast members in there who created fun challenges for the kids.

 

[lolomarie]

Thanks so much everyone! It's hard to tell by the pictures that there are other activities going on, and often in the Navigators that people post they only list 1 or 2 activities. This insider information is awesome.

 

[Spotthecat]

It's worth hitting the open houses with your child to show everything that is available.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

Honestly, Its a vacation. I wouldn't worry about it. That has always been our take. A lot of the "normal" rules from home go out the window. At home, you eat what is served, on the boat order what you want. At home, we don't have ice cream on demand, on the boat if you want ice cream, go ahead. At home bedtime is bedtime, on the boat we will stay up if there is something we want to do. Same with the kids club. I never tried to micromanage what DD did there. She was free to go, or not, outside of family time (show, dinner, and whatever the day's activity was).

 

[lolomarie]

Honestly, Its a vacation. I wouldn't worry about it. That has always been our take. A lot of the "normal" rules from home go out the window. At home, you eat what is served, on the boat order what you want. At home, we don't have ice cream on demand, on the boat if you want ice cream, go ahead. At home bedtime is bedtime, on the boat we will stay up if there is something we want to do. Same with the kids club. I never tried to micromanage what DD did there. She was free to go, or not, outside of family time (show, dinner, and whatever the day's activity was).

I totally agree with this, except for when it comes to screens. The screens are so addictive and bring out aggressive and other negative tendencies. Research has likened the dopamine hit that kids get from screens to cocaine. Even with that known, I am ok with a little, but try to limit it as much as possible. I think it will be a watch and see approach to see how much time he's engaging in play with other children, and how much time he's glued to a screen.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

I totally agree with this, except for when it comes to screens. The screens are so addictive and bring out aggressive and other negative tendencies. Research has likened the dopamine hit that kids get from screens to cocaine. Even with that known, I am ok with a little, but try to limit it as much as possible. I think it will be a watch and see approach to see how much time he's engaging in play with other children, and how much time he's glued to a screen.

I REALLY do not agree that research shows this. Coming from someone who spent my early career doing scientific research: There is NO solid,real, peer reviewed study the shows screens are as additive as cocaine, or anything close nor that they make kids aggressive and violent, just a lot of fear mongering about it. Is excessive screen time bad for kids? absolutely Should we limit them, yes, absolutely. Should anyone be this afraid of them?, I don't think so. A few days on a cruise is not going to turn a child into a addict looking for a fix.

 

[Numtini]

The counselors do try to get kids involved, particularly when there's some kind of group event. They aren't going to frog march them off, but they're very good at what they do, plus the character visits are obvious attractions. We would look at the schedule and suggest things our daughter might want to do, but took the attitude that it was their vacation too and they deserved to have fun with whatever it was they wanted.

However, just because they're using an ipad when you pick them up, doesn't mean they spent the whole night doing it. Our daughter would generally retreat to the ipads when she got tired. It was months before we heard about some of the stuff she did. I'm not sure we have yet! We cruised in April and it was probably the middle of the summer when she starts talking about attacking the stormtroopers with The Force. Now, she did Trials of the Temple, so we said "you mean Darth Vader?" She rolls her eyes, because we're supposed to know everything, and says "no, at the kids club..." First time we'd heard about it. Just last week, we were talking about different Disney movies that we hadn't seen and found out she'd watched Pinnochio one night at the club--probably when we were in the theatre watching Thor Ragnarok LOL.

 

[Quellman]

We drop off at the start of an activity, and hope that he actually does it. We pick up about 30-60 minutes after the activity ends.

 

[cadien]

I REALLY do not agree that research shows this. Coming from someone who spent my early career doing scientific research: There is NO solid,real, peer reviewed study the shows screens are as additive as cocaine, or anything close nor that they make kids aggressive and violent, just a lot of fear mongering about it. Is excessive screen time bad for kids? absolutely Should we limit them, yes, absolutely. Should anyone be this afraid of them?, I don't think so. A few days on a cruise is not going to turn a child into a addict looking for a fix.

Plus schools now put them in front of laptops from kindergarten onward, so you're not getting out of it.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

Plus schools now put them in front of laptops from kindergarten onward, so you're not getting out of it.

Exactly. Schools are pushing "technology in education" from a very young age. Actually, in most k-2 classrooms in this area that means daily tablet use. Most do much better on those than laptops and it is much more accessible to get a class set of tablets.

 

[lolomarie]

I REALLY do not agree that research shows this. Coming from someone who spent my early career doing scientific research: There is NO solid,real, peer reviewed study the shows screens are as additive as cocaine, or anything close nor that they make kids aggressive and violent, just a lot of fear mongering about it. Is excessive screen time bad for kids? absolutely Should we limit them, yes, absolutely. Should anyone be this afraid of them?, I don't think so. A few days on a cruise is not going to turn a child into a addict looking for a fix.

Here is a great article!
http://www.ecswe.org/downloads/publications/QOC-V3/Chapter-4.pdf

You're right about the peer reviewed studies on the cocaine, but I have seen non-peer reviewedstudies where the same areas of the brain are "lit" up. Maybe it's fear mongering, but it's working on me. I'm very wary of how addictive screens are, heck I'm typing this on my iPhone and will probably scroll some social media platform after this.

I know it's just vacation, but I was just trying to find out if my kid can play in there for 3 hours or 1? I think I'll do a try and see approach. If he plays with kids and toys, I'll comfortably drop him off for long periods of time. If he's starring at a screen the whole time, probably short burst.