TW0589

21 hours ago, Water babies said:

My son sailed has sailed on Celebrity at age 12 as well as 14 and 16. I think they are pretty flexible and make age groupings according to who shows up on any given sailing. We took my son to register when he was 12, but he went there on his own at 14 and 16.  He was in more structured activities at age 12 and had a blast. His previous cruises had been on Disney and he had outgrown their kid’s clubs. They were allowed gaming time on the X-boxes, had tournaments, did scavenger hunts, watched movies, etc. It was over Springbreak, so there were a fair number of kids on board.  I don’t remember if they had any older teens. They were well supervised. The X club was just a meeting point when he was 14/16 so he and the other kids his age that he met could roam the ship where they wanted:  the pool deck, fitness club, basketball court, buffet and some of the lounges (on a limited basis, mostly Al Bacio). They spent little to no time gaming on the Xboxes and they did not have many (if any)activities led by the staff beyond the first few days. I’d like to think they were well-behaved; I didn’t hear about any staff or adult passenger complaints. This year he is 18 and “aged out”. I think he’ll still look to see who shows up at the teen club at the start of the cruise to find “his peeps” to hang with. I know there were a few older (18 and over) kids in his group on our last cruise. Hope that’s helpful. 

Thank you so much for your thoughtful and informed response.  You have had much better luck with your son and the clubs than I have.  I have never been able to get my son interested in the kid's clubs on cruises--on any cruise line.  Although he is a very social club, he doesn't like the clubs and won't stay in them.  I'm hoping if he can come and go as he pleases, he might make some friends, enjoy some kid time.  If not, he will once again be my constant companion.  Which is fine, but surely not as fun for him.

So the X Club is the teens club?  I can't find anything about it on the website and couldn't get anyone to answer the phone when I called, but I'll try again.

I'm about to book a cruise for myself and my 12 year old son.  We saw on the deck plan of the Equinox the "X Club."  We're hoping that's a hangout area for older kids with X boxes and what-not.  Can anyone confirm or shed light on whether that's the case?  And what the minimum age is to use it?  He's concerned it may be for "teens" only.

Thanks.

Celebrity is hands-down our favorite cruise line....but not for kids. We took our then-3-year-old son on a Celebrity cruise a couple of years ago. The ship staff were all very nice to him and he enjoyed dining with us in the dining room, going to the shows, even hanging out at some of the lobby bars with us (don't judge). ;-)

He did not, however, enjoy the Kid's Club at all. Even though it was Spring Break and there were plenty of kids on board, they expected kids in his age group to mostly sit and color or do crafts. Our son is waaaay too active for that. So he hardly ever stayed at the kid's club and was with us virtually all the time.

We said we would try Royal Caribbean for our next cruise. In fact, we are leaving tomorrow on a Carnival Cruise Line - not because we like Carnival better than Royal Caribbean (quite the contrary) but because the port is only an hour away from our house. We're hoping for a better kid's club experience for him this time (he's 5 now).

We are considering an eastern caribbean cruise, with nearly identical itineraries. One is royal caribbean, and the other Celebrity. We've never sailed with either line, and were wondering if one or the other has better kids clubs or food. Thanks so much. So far, Princess is my husband and my favorite line, and my son really loved the kids clubs on NCL.

We just returned from the 3/23/2013 sailing of the Celebrity Reflection - me, DH, and DS (3 y/o). We knew before booking that Celebrity isn't "known for" being kid-friendly, but I scoured these boards for more detailed information about their "Fun Factory" (kid's area) and found very little. So I'm posting a little about our experience.

This is our third Celebrity cruise (it is/was our favorite cruise line) but our first with a child. Our 3 y/o son is very social, loves going to daycare, is happy and used to staying with sitters. So we thought the Fun Factory would be a good experience for him. It wasn't. :(

First, the area reserved for 3-5 year olds is tiny. No room to run around. Mostly tables at which they color and do art/craft projects - not his thing. He likes more active, physical activities. Second, he told us that another kid "pushed him down the stairs." Ok, he's 3 and I suspect it was more like somebody pushed him back or rushed by him accidentally knocking into him. He insists the "boy in the red shirt did it on purpose," but really, who knows? :confused:

When I tried to address this issue with the staff at the Fun Factory, they got very defensive and launched into a litany of excuses despite the fact that I told them I understood that he was 3 and kids were rough, etc. I just wanted to find out if it was while the bigger kids were with them or what. Anyway, I was upset that they didn't offer assurances--or even listen to me--without interrupting with defensiveness and excuses. Bad juju for this mom. :mad:

After the first time, he said he didn't want to go back. But we tried it twice more for a couple of hours at a time. On the fourth time, he cried (he _never_ cries) and they called us to come get him. So my very social kid spent almost the whole 7 days with us.

This was a Spring Break cruise, so there were 650 "kids" (under 18) on board. There was no lack of kids to socialize with him. It was the place and the staff.

My unsolicited advice - if you have small kids, go on Disney or one of the other 'family friendly' lines. The passengers on board were very gracious and tolerant of him, which was a pleasant surprise. The Fun Factory, however, was a total bust. We'll be cruising Disney next time.