Does your 8 or 9 yr old son like kids club?

[Laurba99]

We have had success on Disney as he liked that it was a little more independent but he didn't like it on Liberty of the seas when he was 7. Now almost

9 thinking it may be better? What is your experience? No siblings so it's just him. We will bring him up there to check it out and it's choice if he wants to stay or not.

[panjabi]

Laura,

 

Yes, both of our boys (currently 10 and 8) have loved the Adventure Club over the last 3 years, more than the Disney one (which we did 15 months ago)

 

Atleast on the Oasis and the Allure (the only Royal ships we have sailed), the kids were divided into groups of 2-3 years. This ensured that a younger kid was not stuck with much older kids and the activities were age appropriate

 

Most kids, including ours, did not WANT to be dropped there (they would rather be getting the free "ice cream" next to the pool :) ) but once we dropped them, they enjoyed it a LOT! So much so that when we came to pick them up (every single night!) they said "Can we stay a little bit longer? Please!!"

 

Now, to be fair, we did not "abuse" our privilege. On the three sea days, we dropped them off at the Kids Club for about 1- 2 hours in the afternoon and then about 2 hours at night, from 9:30 - 12 ($7/hour/kid after 10 PM), so that Mommy and Daddy could go enjoy live music and dancing on the many wonderful night clubs on the Ship

 

Needless to say, on the three Port Days, they were not on the ship in the day

 

Hope that helps!

 

Also, as a reference point, both of my kids are neither too outgoing nor too shy, and yet they made friends very quickly. I would say, most kids were like them... a bit quiet at first.. but the counselors do a great job at breaking the ice

 

As an other reference point, my kids were separated into different groups, due to their age difference. So, while we had two kids in the club, they were each in their own group and it worked out just fine

 

Cheers!

 

Panjabi

Edited March 24, 2016 by panjabi

[memparrot]

My 2 girls (7 & 10) love the kids club. They have been on 2 cruises (Explorer and Liberty) and they beg to go. They enjoy meeting other kids, kid activities and being away from parents. Our rule is family time during the day. Then after dinner they can go to kids club. If we show up too early to pick them up, they ask to stay later. We are going on Allure in June and they cannot wait.

Edited March 24, 2016 by memparrot

[starrcards]

Our son was 7 when we sailed on the Grandeur to the Bahamas. He spent half of each sea day at the Kids club (the other half was the pool). He enjoyed it very much and was able to make friends easily. As others have said, the kids are grouped by age. He is looking forward to our cruise in September so he can "hang" with older kids. RCCL does a good job with their Kid's Club.

[mil76]

I found the 7-9 group to be the sweet spot for Adventure Ocean. My boys have gone through all phases of Adventure Ocean/Teen Club except the nursery, since that didn't exist at the time.

 

In 4-6 they felt they were being dumped off at babysitting, and later in 9-11 they can self sign-out, so they enjoyed having that independence and tended to overuse it. Since they are fortunate to go on 1-2 cruises a year, they also figured out what activities they did and didn't like, and that played a big part in whether or not they wanted to go to specific sessions.

 

The one thing that was constant was they always loved the late night sessions.

[crabby5]

We were on the Oasis last August- our daughter turned 9 during that week and went to the kids club once and hated it. She never went back and has told me she won't go back when we're on the Oasis this June.

On the other hand, we took 3 DCL Dream cruises and she loved the kids club- she didn't spend much time during the day but she'd get ready for dinner and go, then she'd eat with us and go back until we were done eating.

I think it depends on the kid- Disney has so much more to do but it's not strictly planned and RC only has planned times, she likes to do her own thing. It's not a big deal for us, she's good with going anywhere as long as there's a pool so we usually swim all day and we don't really need the club.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[The Fun Researcher]

Two families that we vacation with have kids that have sailed both Disney and RCI, and the kids prefer the RCI kids clubs. Love them. Three kids in total, between ages of about 7-9

 

Edited to add that our 7 year old (at the time) loved the RCI kids club, I fully expect the same this year when he's 8 (almost 9)

 

Dan

Edited March 24, 2016 by The Fun Researcher

[Robinhill]

We have had success on Disney as he liked that it was a little more independent but he didn't like it on Liberty of the seas when he was 7. Now almost

9 thinking it may be better? What is your experience? No siblings so it's just him. We will bring him up there to check it out and it's choice if he wants to stay or not.

 

My 8 year old grandson LOVES IT! In fact he wants to go all of the time and I have to gently remind him that the goal is to spend time together and go into port to the beaches, etc. LOL

[ARCruisinNana]

I found the 7-9 group to be the sweet spot for Adventure Ocean. My boys have gone through all phases of Adventure Ocean/Teen Club except the nursery, since that didn't exist at the time.

 

 

 

In 4-6 they felt they were being dumped off at babysitting, and later in 9-11 they can self sign-out, so they enjoyed having that independence and tended to overuse it. Since they are fortunate to go on 1-2 cruises a year, they also figured out what activities they did and didn't like, and that played a big part in whether or not they wanted to go to specific sessions.

 

 

 

The one thing that was constant was they always loved the late night sessions.

 

 

Age groups are 3-5, 6-8 and 9-11. We are on LB right now and both the 8 and 9 year olds love AO.