Traveling with grandchildren on Gem

[Christophene]

My wife and I are taking our kids and grandkids on a 10 day Caribbean cruise this February on the Gem out of NYC. The grandkids are ages 2, almost 5, 7 and 10. There will be 10 of us in total. We have 3 family balconies booked, 2 adjoining and 1 nearby all on deck 10. We have sailed with NCL many times and on the Gem several times, but we have never cruised with young children before. We are wondering if anyone reading this can offer tips regarding dining, activities and anything else. For example; is it realistic to expect to enjoy eating together at a table for ten in either of the main dining rooms? In one place on the NCL website it states that children  3 to 12 may be dropped at Splash Academy but in another place it say 5 to 12. Do you suppose they might make an exception for a 4 year old who would be 5 in 6 weeks accompanied by his 2 older cousins? Any advice on these questions or any other subjects involving children would be gratefully received. 

[HuliHuli]

Been there, done that! 

I don't think the MDR's regularly have ten-tops, but I'm sure the crew will do their best to accommodate.  You may want to let the maître d' know in advance.

Exceptions to Splash rules - No.

Grin, smile and feed them lots of soft-serve!

[Christophene]

Thanks, HuliHuli

[mjkacmom]

Keep in mind there are no diapered kids allowed in pools. We are a fami,y of 7, we were able to get 8 tops in the larger MDR very easily every night with no reservations.

[Christophene]

Thanks. All are “house trained.”

[Christophene]

I just noticed that the Splash Academy info has now changed to include ages 3 to 12.

https://www.ncl.com/why-cruise-norwegian/family-cruises/youth-programs
We don’t even know if our grandkids will be interested but at least it now appears to be an option.

[European_CruiseGirl]

Is the Splash Academy still divided to different age groups? The link op posted doesn’t mention it anywhere but it used to be very strict and you could not change an age group even if there would have been siblings who would be split by age to different groups. Our DD is already over Splash Academy age but just out of curiosity can someone who has been onboard this autumn confirm how things are currently. The below text is from spring 2022 when Splash Academy was opened up again after covid measures. 

 

The “Splash Academy” program is for ages 3-12, but is further divided into Turtles (3-5 years), Seals (6-9 years), and Dolphins (10-12 years). Within each age bracket, youth counselors supervise age-appropriate activities.