Kids club and after hours

[misslala]

Has anyone used the kids club for their after hours "sitting" services on NCL? I'd like to spend at least one night out alone with my husband on board. What are the fees? What were the hours? Any complaints? Did they break them up into to different groups? What about during the day, I read a few horror stories.

Thanks in advance

[russianmom]

Has anyone used the kids club for their after hours "sitting" services on NCL? I'd like to spend at least one night out alone with my husband on board. What are the fees? What were the hours? Any complaints? Did they break them up into to different groups? What about during the day, I read a few horror stories.

Thanks in advance

 

 

Not sure how old your children are. My son is 5 and has been on 3 NCL cruises. He LOVES the kids club!! Not sure what horror stories you are referring to we have had nothing but great experiences.

 

They are seperated by age group 2-5, 6-9 etc and are VERY firm on these groupings. There are activites such as face painitng, pirate parade, movie night, pj party. All ages are only together during "freetime freeplay" When in port if there are not many children signed up they may group them together as well.

 

The only time there is a charge for kids club is in port $6/hr first child $4/hr each addt'l child. After hours is 10pm (or 10:30 I don't remember) until 1am (or 1:30) and the same $6/hr charge applies.

[WinterSky]

Not sure how old your children are. My son is 5 and has been on 3 NCL cruises. He LOVES the kids club!! Not sure what horror stories you are referring to we have had nothing but great experiences.

 

They are seperated by age group 2-5, 6-9 etc and are VERY firm on these groupings. There are activites such as face painitng, pirate parade, movie night, pj party. All ages are only together during "freetime freeplay" When in port if there are not many children signed up they may group them together as well.

 

The only time there is a charge for kids club is in port $6/hr first child $4/hr each addt'l child. After hours is 10pm (or 10:30 I don't remember) until 1am (or 1:30) and the same $6/hr charge applies.

 

You may be best able to answer this... I had heard that parents cannot leave the ship while their children are in the kids club... is that correct?

[rxlowry]

We have left the ship with our daughter in Kid Crew. We were docked in Bermuda overnight and asked before we left. They told us it would be no problem. We did tell them where we were going (White Horse..which is very close to the ship) and they told us to have fun! I would ask the Kid Crew counselors first.

The after hours that you pay for do not really have structured activities. It seems like they wind them down by putting on a movie and lying down. I think this is why some parents have posted the kids just watch tv. But to me, it makes sense to start calming them down before pick up.

[russianmom]

You may be best able to answer this... I had heard that parents cannot leave the ship while their children are in the kids club... is that correct?

 

 

It all depends. If your child is not toilet trained or has the potential for an accident they will not let you leave as they do not change diapers or help them clean themselves etc.

 

Also if they are worried about medical issues or such they may also not let you leave.

 

On the Jewel my friend and I left my son and went into Costa Maya to jet ski. We were gone about 4 hours- the staff had no issue.

 

On the Dawn the staff took issue with my son's multiple complex medical issues and told me I could not leave him. They even gave me a beeper and paged me about 30 min later to make sure I was still on board. We just took him with us the rest of the day.

 

On the Spirit they also had no issue but we took him everywhere so it was irrelevant.

 

I think it depends on your child's situation and the comfort level of the particular staff.

[misslala]

Thanks so much for the info. I think that at least one night even for a little bit would be nice to enjoy.

[mnmfischel]

my three year old will be with us in a few weeks. toward the evening, if she is tired, will they have a place for her to lie down? She's used to a 7:30 bed time! of course, she can stay up later, but if she's getting tired?

[mitsugirly]

I'm not sure if the OP is talking about the same "horror" stories that I've heard, so maybe this is or isn't a concern, depending on age.

 

Some of the complaints that I have heard about was the actual "structure" for the young children (2-5 yrs old). People have complained about how they sit them down at a table to do certain activities, meanwhile the children in this age group are doing nothing but starring at all the toys to play on and wanting to go play instead of sitting down. It's hard to keep a child, especially a 2-3 year old sitting down for long and would be better of just being able to play and run around.

 

I know this is my only concern with my 3 year old when we take her on our first cruise in September. She has A LOT of energy and doesn't sit still for too long. :eek:

[russianmom]

my three year old will be with us in a few weeks. toward the evening, if she is tired, will they have a place for her to lie down? She's used to a 7:30 bed time! of course, she can stay up later, but if she's getting tired?

 

 

When my son was 3-4 and I would go to pick him up around 8-9, sometimes he would be asleep in a bean bag chair! They were totally fine with that.

He has an early bed time as well.

[russianmom]

I'm not sure if the OP is talking about the same "horror" stories that I've heard, so maybe this is or isn't a concern, depending on age.

 

Some of the complaints that I have heard about was the actual "structure" for the young children (2-5 yrs old). People have complained about how they sit them down at a table to do certain activities, meanwhile the children in this age group are doing nothing but starring at all the toys to play on and wanting to go play instead of sitting down. It's hard to keep a child, especially a 2-3 year old sitting down for long and would be better of just being able to play and run around.

 

I know this is my only concern with my 3 year old when we take her on our first cruise in September. She has A LOT of energy and doesn't sit still for too long. :eek:

 

 

Could you or the OP give me a link to a thread or a more specific example of the "horror storries" you are referring to?

 

The kids club's have a schedule that they may or may not adhere to depending on the number of children on board and what else is going on.

 

In Aug there were 800 kids on board so they had to be more strict with the schedule to keep a sense of order and prevent complete chaos.

In Feb there were only 200 so they were more flexible.

 

There is a mix of free time free play where the child can chose the activity and a set structured activity. Maybe you can just let your daughter go during freeplay.

 

My son has a hard time listening and sitting still as well but loves to go there and I've never had any complaints from the staff that he is/has an issue. They want all the kids to have a good time- I think it all works out

[mitsugirly]

Could you or the OP give me a link to a thread or a more specific example of the "horror storries" you are referring to?

 

The kids club's have a schedule that they may or may not adhere to depending on the number of children on board and what else is going on.

 

In Aug there were 800 kids on board so they had to be more strict with the schedule to keep a sense of order and prevent complete chaos.

In Feb there were only 200 so they were more flexible.

 

There is a mix of free time free play where the child can chose the activity and a set structured activity. Maybe you can just let your daughter go during freeplay.

 

My son has a hard time listening and sitting still as well but loves to go there and I've never had any complaints from the staff that he is/has an issue. They want all the kids to have a good time- I think it all works out

 

I can't remember where I read it at, it was some time last year and I believe it was on the Epic (where the poster was talking about), but we didn't take our little one with us last year, so I wasn't too concerned with it. I can do a search later and see if I can find the thread they were all complaining about. To me, it wasn't a "horror" story, just complaints in general.

 

My little one loves to draw and color and do activities...but only for so long, then she wants to play. We'll have to play it by ear and see how it goes. She is a water freak, so we will probably spend 90% of "her" time in the pool area. I'm not "too" worried other than 1 day we are going to a port to snorkel and would like to leave her on the ship because it's the only port she wouldn't be able to do.

[russianmom]

I can't remember where I read it at, it was some time last year and I believe it was on the Epic (where the poster was talking about), but we didn't take our little one with us last year, so I wasn't too concerned with it. I can do a search later and see if I can find the thread they were all complaining about. To me, it wasn't a "horror" story, just complaints in general.

 

My little one loves to draw and color and do activities...but only for so long, then she wants to play. We'll have to play it by ear and see how it goes. She is a water freak, so we will probably spend 90% of "her" time in the pool area. I'm not "too" worried other than 1 day we are going to a port to snorkel and would like to leave her on the ship because it's the only port she wouldn't be able to do.

 

 

My son is a water baby as well! What I usually do is grab the week's schedule the first day when we board and go to sign him up. Then I look over it and see the things I think he might enjoy and plan to bring him during those times.

 

Usually he goes 9 or 10 until 11 or 12 out for lunch, swim and if I'm lucky:rolleyes: nap! Then back again 3-5 out for swim, shower and dinner then back again 7-9 or so.

 

I only left him once, the first time we went to Costa Maya, so my friend and I could rent jet ski's. We were gone about 4 hours. They took him to the kids buffet (Jewel) for lunch. As soon as we were done we went back on the ship and got him and went back in the port area so we could shop and let him have a dip in the pool.

 

He really does love it and almost never is ready to leave when we go to pick him up. I don't remember when you are going , but is it an off time where there might be less kids so the counselors could be more flexible? It's the Spirit, right? Of the Jewel, Dawn and Spirit the Spirit had the best counselors- hands down!

[mitsugirly]

Yes, we will be on the Spirit and we are going September 11th. I assume that's a down time since all the kids will be back in school. We were thinking about bringing our teen to kinda help out too, but he will be a Junior in school and just starting back to school and I hate to have to take him out for a week. So, I guess we are on our own with this one. Hopefully everything will turn out good and we will continue to cruise with her yearly. :)

[russianmom]

Yes, most if not all kids should be back in school except for the little ones.

 

That should be perfect for her- lots of extra attention from the couselors!!

 

We finding cruising with our son a prefect way to vacation- hope you enjoy it as well.

[mitsugirly]

Thanks.

 

Do you know how many children per counselor they usually have?

[russianmom]

On my most recent sailing there were 3 for the 2-5 year olds but I have no idea how many of the 200 kids were in that group.

[misslala]

@russianmom, the horror stories I have heard and read were from some of the recent reviews I was reading. Not so much the staff or the kids club but the parents who drop their kids off and some of the crazy kids who rum amuck. Most of the reviews were during the nickelodeon at sea special cruise in February. I guess that is the chance I take going on a cruise during a holiday week, I'll be on the cruise during 4th of July.

[2Cruise4Ever]

We have always had wonderful experiences with the Kids Crew. Our kids were 2 and 7 when we first sailed. They're 8 and 13 now (with their #6 cruise coming up). We have only left them in the Kids Crew while we went ashore once. We had lunch with some friends at the Bone Fish restaurant in Bermuda... only a short walk from the ship.

 

The after hours are from 10:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. and the price quoted above still stands (at least it did last summer).

 

In the past, our younger child fell asleep in a comfy chair a few times before we picked them up. The counselors just covered her up with her jacket. No worries!

 

And, they have never mentioned anything about being told to just sit there looking at the toys. Anytime they were seated they were either doing activities, playing games, or watching a movie. All other times, they were engaged in physical activities. They LOVE the Kids Crew!!!

[russianmom]

@russianmom, the horror stories I have heard and read were from some of the recent reviews I was reading. Not so much the staff or the kids club but the parents who drop their kids off and some of the crazy kids who rum amuck. Most of the reviews were during the nickelodeon at sea special cruise in February. I guess that is the chance I take going on a cruise during a holiday week, I'll be on the cruise during 4th of July.

 

 

There is always the potential for kids to be wild or run amuck especially during peak travel times. Not sure where the parents are or why they alow such behavior???

 

I have never seen or heard of this happening inside of the kids club though. We have always had great experiences and my son looks forward to each cruise.

 

Hopefully you and your family will have a great time as well:)