Kids Club - Fun Factory

[bflowercar]

Hi -

 

I read a lot of posts about the Kids Club prior to our cruise and thought I'd add another thread - we have one daughter who is 9. She is an only child - pretty mature for her age - and goes with the flow.

 

We bought the VIP pass ($90) which gave us free hours b/w the hours of 10 and 1 am ($6 an hour otherwise), a back pack with some cool stuff she *kind of* liked (blow up pool ball, slap wrist watch, frisbee), a bridge tour, and a backstage tour - including dancers/singers/costumes..etc.

 

The good:

 

The activities were very well organized and fun - scavenger hunts in groups through-out the ship, games, talent shows, crafts. The counselors were great and very patient (I saw an altercation with 17 year old very immature boys running through the "kid" side and the counselor handled the situation very well!)

 

The "flip-side" --

 

Based on our own "individual" experience - our daughter is an only child - she enjoyed hanging out with us - having the run of the ship (again - very mature and checked in every 20 minutes)..made friends in the pool..etc. We rarely used the Fun Factory because of this. She called it "daycare" from day 1 - I would have loved it at her age - her..not so much. We did use the late night service twice - have to have some mom/dad time! She was fine - watched movies. The bridge tour was the morning of one day in port - we had already planned an excursion so she was unable to go - bummer!

 

All in all - would not pay for the VIP pack - but from my observations they have a fantastic program, fun stuff to do, and great folks to lead the kids!

[Queen of Oakville]

I agree, the VIP is not worth it.

 

We paid for "overtime" every night, at least one hour, sometimes more.

 

My kids really enjoyed it though and wanted to go. They'd ask every night if they could stay late.

 

It would be nice if they offered a better deal on the late hours, as it kept the kids happy and kept us happy in the casino.

[CanadianDee]

I've seen people mention the adult/child interactive segments of Fun Factory and I'm curious to learn more. Scavenger hunts and bingo were mentioned as activities that parents and kids were welcome participate in together ... what other Fun Factory activities are open to parents/grandparents joining in?

 

We are grandparents who travel with our granddaughter - she will be 5 when we sail Celebrity. We prefer spending time/activities with our granddaughter, so I'm not asking about Fun Factory activities geared to child-only. My husband will sit outside the door of the kid's club, pouting until his best buddy comes out. ;-)

Edited April 8, 2015 by CanadianDee

[Queen of Oakville]

Dee, I don't recall any family events. However, my daughter and I were also following the "top chef" events when we sailed so if there was a choice between a "family event" and a "top chef" - top chef won out.

 

 

But, I also don't remember seeing these events posted.

 

 

I recall when we sailed HAL, that Club HAL had family events posted for each day - family scavenger hunt, family trivia, family wii, family karaoke etc.

 

 

We WON the Family Scavenger Hunt and we WON the Family Trivia !!!!! {well, okay, I'll admit that WE were the only family who showed up :(}

 

lol, the events were not well attended but we REALLY enjoyed them! And HAL gave great prices too! We left HAL with the quite the prize loot - trophies, magic 8 balls, rubik cube puzzles, and my favourite - the reusable shopping bag. I don't think we got anything like that from Fun Factory.

[CanadianDee]

I recall when we sailed HAL, that Club HAL had family events posted for each day - family scavenger hunt, family trivia, family wii, family karaoke etc.

 

 

 

Darn, we considered HAL before settling on Celebrity.

 

I read your review on the Top Chef cruise - sounded like tons of fun.

[Queen of Oakville]

Darn, we considered HAL before settling on Celebrity.

 

I read your review on the Top Chef cruise - sounded like tons of fun.

 

 

Well you can always book HAL for the next cruise : )

 

It's really hard to say because they were much younger when we sailed HAL and they loved it. They sobbed miserably on that last morning when we had to leave.

 

As for TOP CHEF, it's sooooo tempting to do another one, but the only one scheduled now is for Nov 14 Reflection, and we're booked for Nov. 15 Sillhouette. It would be the exact itinerary we did last year :(

[Tall Jersey Girl]

Our last ceuise was August 2013 on the summit and the fun factory did have family scavenger hunts and other family activities. We only did a few but they were great. Our daughter was 6 at the time and loved the fun factory. She would beg to stay longer. We only had her there on sea days b

[sarahc78]

I agree, the VIP is not worth it.

 

We paid for "overtime" every night, at least one hour, sometimes more.

 

My kids really enjoyed it though and wanted to go. They'd ask every night if they could stay late.

 

It would be nice if they offered a better deal on the late hours, as it kept the kids happy and kept us happy in the casino.

 

 

Funny I think the exact opposite. Our kids loved VIP & I think it was an excellent value. They each received a back pack, water bottle, T-shirt, & other goodies. They also got to do a behind the scenes look at theatre & w/ the captain that the other kids did not get to participate in!

 

 

When you choose VIP it includes ALL of the "overtime" hours. Which $7 per hour per kid from 5-7pm and 10pm - 2am... also they charge for lunch hours while in port noon-2pm.

 

 

We didnt have our kids there for all of the "overtime" hours but they were there for dinner & 2-3 hours in the late night depending on what we were doing.

 

It would have cost $28-35 per day per child to do that. So VIP was definitely the more economical option for us. Plus the kids loved their backpack full of goodies and all the extras. They still have them and it brings up great memories of our cruises when they use them :)

[Queen of Oakville]

I guess it depends on whether you will use all those "overtime" hours.

 

We eat all our meals together, so we'd never leave them for lunch or dinner, it's really just the late night, for us. if we "knew" it would be 2 hours per night (which it might be on our next cruise), then it would make sense for us.

 

Did the price go up? for some reason I thought it was $6, but I might be wrong.

[sarahc78]

I guess it depends on whether you will use all those "overtime" hours.

 

We eat all our meals together, so we'd never leave them for lunch or dinner, it's really just the late night, for us. if we "knew" it would be 2 hours per night (which it might be on our next cruise), then it would make sense for us.

 

Did the price go up? for some reason I thought it was $6, but I might be wrong.

 

 

Last time we sailed I thought it was $7...mightve been $6 its been nearly 2 years so I'm not 100% sure.

 

We usually spend the days together on the ship & in port but the evening hours were our adult getaway time. Having 5 kids we often dont get that at home so we take full advantage when we're cruising :D;)