Questions about kids

[goodfaerie]

One of the members of our party has a 4 and half year old son. He's the most amazing kid, and we all want his experience to be the BEST. I've heard that the clubs are so great, etc, but what is the schedule like, and what kinds of projects and fun activities will they have for him? Can anyone give me a few specifics?

Also, will he be allowed at Palo for the brunch or the Tea? Or is it always a strictly adult thing (either way is fine with us, we'd just like to be able to plan)

Thanks!

GF

 

[AmyM]

The 4 1/2 year old will have a blast! That is just a bit older than when we took our youngest and we couldn't get him OUT of the club. As far as the activities, check out the Navigators at www.castawayclub.com , there is a navigator listed for the 3-5 year old group that is similar to what you will receive on board. You will see the types of activities and times that they are held daily.

As far as Palo, it is always adults only. Hope this helps!

 

[RagamuffinMom]

We sailed last year with a 3yo and a 5yo. I really expected that I would only put my kids in the kids club for certain activities. So when we got there I sat down with the navigator and charted out our first day. I'd take them to the club for an activity then I'd pick them up an hour later to go swimming, yada-yada-yada.

Anyway - the first time I went to pick them up they ran and hid from me. Then when the counselors finally got them out they spent the next ten minutes scolding me for taking them away from the club!

We finally did fall into a fairly nice routine with a healthy mix of family time and alone time for all of us. Interestingly the one thing the kids always talk about is the time Mother Goose came to the club in the evening to read them bedtime stories! For some reason they LOVED that!

You will have no problem ensuring that your friends child has the BEST time (what cool friends you are!) Between the clubs and the shows and just being on the ship you will all have a blast!

 

[Hunnybee]

We are recently back from the Halloween Wonder cruise. We had 3 kids in our our DS (almost 4), our DNi (6) and other DNi (13). I think our son had the most fun of them all. He always wanted to go to the Club. I finally wised up and sent him there for dinners (except for the last night -- which was birthday night for DS-I-L.) Although they had wonderful food for kids, it came quite a bit before the adults food and then he had to sit there and wait. We did go pick him up for the shows. Although, the second night when I went to pick him up, he was playing in the "pirate ship" and going down the slide. "But Mom, I've got friends!", he said to me. I almost left him there it was so sweet -- but I knew he'd enjoy the Hercules show. The kids were even able to be in their own show the last day with Mickey Mouse. Each child involved gets a very nice t-shirt (free) and is up on stage singing songs, while pictures of the kids in the club are on the side screens. In the club, the kids played dress-up, played on the computers, did crafts, saw puppet shows, all sorts of great activities. My son would have rather been there the whole time. And, I think he probably would have had more fun if we had let him! It was great!!!

 

[Wishing on a star]

We also did the "Take DS to the Club for certain activities" thing....

And, you know what? He really missed out on that 'FREE' time to just PLAY, you know, with the other kids, like on the pirate ship slide.... Remember, the activities, out of necessity, are VERY structured. So, do not overlook that all to rare free PLAY time!!!

DS is one who who does well with the structured activities, but who really likes to just chill, or run wild, and PLAY... Out of all the things he did in the club, his favorite was the few minutes that he got to just play over in the Lab!!!

He also liked it when the kids scare Captain Hook away by imitating the alligator/crocodile and all the kids yelling "TICK TOCK... TICK TOCK!!!!