Oceaneer's Lab & Ocean Quest on Magic

[mistydoodles]

Hi everyone.

We are planning our first cruise for Nov 2009. My daughters will be 9 & 12 by the time we go. We were planning on them both being in the Oceaneer's lab together. While looking at some old Navigators I see something about Ocean Quest that is available for tweens & teens on the Magic. I have never heard of this.

I am hoping someone can give me more information on this. I want to know if my 12 year old will be going here instead of the Lab. If she wants to go to the lab is that still an option? Also, where is the quest located? Our room will be on deck 5 and I liked this because this is where the lab is located. I don't see the Ocean Quest on any of the maps I am looking at.

Any information that can be given to me would be great. Thank you so much.

 

[lbgraves]

The Magic has different age group breakdowns than the Wonder.

The Lab is for 8-10 yos.

Ocean Quest is for 11-13 yos.

The Stack is for 14-17 yos.

The Ocean Quest is loacted near the midship elevators on deck 2 where the conference rooms are on the Wonder.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Ocean Quest is only on the Magic. They have a smilulator where you can try to operate and dock the ship. But it is mostly a place for tweens to hang out and play games and watch videos.

Currently, the age breakout on the Magic is as follows:

Oceaneer's Club: 3-7 year olds
Oceaneer's Lab: 8-10 year olds
Oceaneer's Quest: 11-13 year olds
Stack: 14-17 year olds, 18 year old high school students/recent grads

Ocean Quest is located on the 2nd deck. You don't have to register for Ocean Quest and kids are permitted to come and go as they please, or as parents allow.

 

[mistydoodles]

Thank you for the info. I don't know how comfortable I will be with my daughter coming and going as she pleases though. Can they have the parents paged??

 

[frdeb1999]

My dd 13 loved OQ which honestly suprised her. She was insisting on going to the lab if allowed. The counselors were fantastic in there. They do page parents if you want that. You just have to go into club itself and ask for one on the 1st day. Many of the younger kids in the group had this done. Also, many of them had to call their parents stateroom before leaving and then went directly back there. Another option you might be comfortable with. Just speak to the counselors. They are great about working with you!

 

[m&m's mom]

Thank you for the info. I don't know how comfortable I will be with my daughter coming and going as she pleases though. Can they have the parents paged??

In late Aug, 1st of Sept they told me they would. They even offered to do it since I was a little uncomfortable with the set up they had.
Keep in mind there is not a bathroom in the Oceans Quest and the closest public restroom is 2 decks away.

 

[lbgraves]

You also have to insist on being issued a pager for this age group if you do not already have one for a younger child.

 

[mistydoodles]

So if she needs to go to the bathroom she can't go unless we come to take her??

 

[dizmomof2]

Are there no schedual activities in Ocean Quest? My DD loved all of the activites from the club and lab on past cruise. Free time at the club/lab usually meant time to go for her. I thought that the Quest was a location for activites for the tween set, not a "hang out room". Is this why I can't find any Navigators for this group?

 

[nzdisneymom]

We were on the Magic on the 12/20 sailing. Our boys are 11 and 12. They both enjoyed Ocean Quest. Since we were just on, I can share their experiences and ours as parents based on that.

As others have mentioned, you don't register your children for OQ. But you can get a pager - but it's up to your child to ask the counselors to page you - they won't ask or know if the child is supposed to page you or not. We got a pager but ended up never using it because we used a marker-board in the cabin that worked out well for us.

As parents, you can drop in to see your kids any time -- and we did frequently to be sure that they were there (and they always were) and to see what they are up to.

They have Open House in the mornings til about 10 or 10:30, and then they kick everyone out but the 11 -13s. They have scheduled activities all day but you can be in there and not have to participate (unlike in the Lab where if you didn't want to do the activity, you had to check out). They had crafts, games, challenges, movies, video games, DDR, Wii-Fit, and all kinds of other things. There are three counselors assigned (Jaclyn, Darren, and Chantal were assigned while we were on - and all three were fantastic). I loved that the second morning when I took the boys to meet the OQ group on Castaway Cay (we had a double-dip), Jaclyn greeted them by name. And later in the week when our 12 y.o. didn't go one day, she asked me when I was checking on our 11 y.o. if our 12 y.o. was ok - she wanted to make sure he was having a good time and she had noticed he hadn't come in yet that day. (He was having a down-day in the room watching movies, etc.).

It's true that there is not a restroom available for the OQ crowd, and the nearest public restroom is up on Deck 4. We were ok with our DS going to the public restroom if he needed to, but he generally just came back to the cabin.

We popped in at various times throughout the day / night - sometimes the place was nearly empty and other times it was pretty full.

If you have any specific questions, please feel free to ask or PM me if I don't see it here. I personally think that DCL has found a good fit for the 11 - 13s (Darren told me they set it up that way to mirror the typical middle-school ages and to keep the Stack set for the high school ages). FWIW my boys are very different - 12y.o. is more of an "on his own" kid while 11 y.o. is much more social / group oriented. The fact that both of them had a great time at OQ throughout the week tells me that DCL is onto a good solution for the 11 - 13 y.o. programming.

 

[dizmomof2]

Thanks! I'm glad to hear they have activities as well as free time. I'm not worried about my DD leaving in or out as she'll have her KTTW card to go back to the room but usually she is having so much fun we have to drag her out of the clubs.

 

[lbgraves]

So if she needs to go to the bathroom she can't go unless we come to take her??

With the OQ group they do not have the ability to keep the kids from leaving the area. They are not assigned wristbands that are scanned in the OC and OL. It will be up to your DD to page you if you want her to do so to go to the bathroom.

 

[witch of the east]

I called dcl on this today and they said the lab is for 8-12yro and the quest is for 10-14yro. can anyone clarify this ? They also said my dd can go with the lab for some activities and to the quest for others. She just turned 10 in dec. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[lbgraves]

Sorry, but the DCL CS operators do not know what they are talking about. THey are going by the old information before the change was made in May 2008. That is how it used to be but now the OQ is a definite seperate group. You are in one group or the other. Too bad they don't look at the DCL site, which isn't always correct about everything, but in this case it is.

http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/d...vities/venueDetail?name=OceanQuestLandingPage

Ocean Quest

Show 'em you're a nautical natural and "steer" the cruise ship in and out of ports around the world! In this scaled replica of the ship's bridge, sit in a captain's chair surrounded by LCD screen "windows" that let you look out over the actual bridge via live video feed. This is also the perfect place for kids aged 11-13 to "chill" as they play video games, create arts and crafts, or watch a movie on one of many plasma screen televisions.

Here is a recent navigator that also shows the age breakdown on the Magic.

This is the same page from the May 3, 2008 Magic cruise showing the information that you were told by the DCL CSR.

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[witch of the east]

thank you for responding so quickly! so my dd will be in the lab am i correct? and not be allowed in the quest?

 

[witch of the east]

i must be half asleep! i see the navigator now! my dd will be in the lab!thank you for claifying!

 

[lbgraves]

LOL! I hate it when that happens to me. Yes, a 10 yo will be in the lab.

 

[nzdisneymom]

But note that Ocean Quest does have some "Open House" time when anyone can go, so you can go with your 10 y.o. during that time (or she can go on her own or with a buddy) - just check the Navigator. It's great option for 10 y.o.'s who will be sailing again as 11+ y.o.'s so they can have an idea of what OQ has in store for them.

 

[mistydoodles]

With the OQ group they do not have the ability to keep the kids from leaving the area. They are not assigned wristbands that are scanned in the OC and OL. It will be up to your DD to page you if you want her to do so to go to the bathroom.

This makes me really nervous. I guess I have a 10 months to get comfortable with the idea.

I appreciate all the info. It gives me something to think about.

 

[LoriLuvsDisney]

Here is a recent navigator that also shows the age breakdown on the Magic.

I see the bigger fonted breakdown of ages on the right hand side of the page but on the lower left it states that Quest is for 10-14 year olds.

So now I"m totally confused.

The link you sent to DCL wasn't totally clear either. I'm also getting conflicing ages from the travel guides (which of course were out of date the moment they printed them).