Kids club

[LovetheCubs]

We are trying to figure out best kids club for our girls age 5 and 10. Looking for the best cruise line for this age frame. Worried a 7 night cruise may bore them after a while. (My husband and I did a 7 night Escape cruise alone this summer and LOVED every minute of it. But it wasn't what I thought would be kid friendly. Been obviously didn't check out kids stuff but to us it didn't seem like a lot for them on board. Most of the shows were geared to older people.. like older than my husband and I.)

[Kfamilycruise]

NCL has a great kids club. They have tons of activities for the kids to do. When with you, they can do slides, splash park, mini golf. They also love to watch and participate in games in the atrium.

 

Disney of course is great for kids as is RCL and Carnival. They all have great programs and each ship has its own benefits. My kids have been on 4 cruises starting at age 2-13 on Carnival, RCL and NCL -- all 7 day cruises and haven't had a bad time yet.

[sns1009]

My 9 year old son loves cruising and loves the kids club on NCL. Last March, we decided to do an All Inclusive instead of a cruise and even with a waterpark at the hotel he would have rather cruised. We've always cruised on the smaller ships without all the bells and whistles and he still has an awesome time.

[SuperMommy]

My kids aged 10, 8 and 7 took their first NCL cruise in 2013 and we've done them annually since then and will head out for our fourth one next month. They LOVE the kids club. I honestly thought they would use it for a little bit each day, but they beg to go. So they were 4, 5 and 7 when they started and we've done a 10 night, 14 night, 3 and 6 night back to back and going out this year will be only 7 nights. On the smaller ships (especially the Star which was a 14 night) they really got to know the counsellors on a one-on-one basis. On the larger Getaway (6 night) the club was so big there were new kids to meet every day. I was impressed with the attitude that NCL caters to the 'kids' part of the vacation and they don't seem to treat it as something to do while being babysat. We've always been impressed enough to leave a tip for the youth staff and I wish I had a bigger budget to reward them with for all they do.

 

 

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[a1betpr]

For what it's worth my 10 year old son called our 7 days on the Getaway last week the best cruise he's ever been on. He's spoiled enough to have been on Carnival, HAL, Princess, Disney, and now NCL, once each. He loved the kids club, and enjoyed the water slides, mini golf, and the ropes course on the Getaway. There were 600 kids on the Oct 2 sailing so that was clearly a benefit kid-wise; our HAL and Princess cruises had very few kids on board. And a lot of the club activities were active rather than sitting around, which we appreciated. There's also a pretty nice arcade, a rock wall, kid-friendly food, and Wii bowling was available on the huge screen in the atrium I think almost every day. One drawback of the Getaway kids club is kind of kooky hours - the club was closed noon to 2pm and 5-7pm almost every day, which was a nuisance.

 

Good luck with your decision!

[Pikaia]

One drawback of the Getaway kids club is kind of kooky hours - the club was closed noon to 2pm and 5-7pm almost every day, which was a nuisance.

This policy is in effect during at sea days on all NCL ships. It was put in place because parents would drop off kids for several hours, forgetting to come back and get them for meals. :eek: SMH.

 

On port days Splash Academy is open all day for "port play", but there is an additional fee charged if your child will be there during a meal. In that case, the staff escort kids to the buffet to eat together.

[Sizzlechest]

You can't predict if your child will like the Splash Academy. Mine doesn't like it. It has a very regimented schedule and not very freestyle. If an activity is happening that your child doesn't like, there are no other options provided. It's also closed for lunch and dinner on at-sea days, which means you need to schedule around it. Again, not very "freestyle."