Camp at Sea with few kids

[soozles]

We’re taking our 3 and 4 year olds on an iceland/Ireland cruise over the summer. Please no comments to leave them at home. My kids hate the deck parties and loud noises and aren’t crazy about water dumping on their heads at the splash pads… they’re too short for water slides and zip lines and rock walls. 
 

I’m expecting that there won’t be many kids on board given the itinerary and that it’s a 12 night cruise. Do they still have the kids club open even if there are only a few kids?  

[Ex-Airbalancer]

3 minutes ago, soozles said:

. My kids hate the deck parties and loud noises and aren’t crazy about water dumping on their heads at the splash pads… they’re too short for water slides and zip lines and rock walls. 
 

You know is a Celebrity section and not RCL 🤔

There are none of those things are on Celebrity , thank God 😁

[soozles]

3 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

You know is a Celebrity section and not RCL 🤔

There are none of those things are on Celebrity , thank God 😁

I know… whenever anyone mentions bringing on a kid, lots of people jump in saying that the child won’t like celebrity because there’s no water park/zip line/ice rink/rock wall/etc. Trying to avoid getting those types of comments. 

[the_dylaness]

There weren't a ton of kids on our 10 night Med cruise this past June nor our 10 night Thanksgiving Caribbean cruise in 2018; club still open. We have never done longer than 10 nights on X with our kids but even on lightly attended sailings it's always been open.

[GenerationX]

It seems that the first responding poster may not have fully read your post (which was clearly explaining why ships that have those amenities are not a fit for your family) and just saw “kids and water slides” and immediately jumped to the “Celebrity doesn’t have those things!” comment (that was also completely unresponsive to your question). Or perhaps English isn’t their native language.

 

To try and offer some assistance, my experience is a little dated but my 9 year old and I sailed on Millennium last March on a sailing that only had 7 total kids on it and kids club was still open (and my daughter loved it so much that she was sad  when I’d come to pick her up).

 

There was only one child that I saw in the youngest group (the 3-5 year olds that your kids would be in) but it looked like they had staff and toys for her available at all the times that camp was open.

 

 

[mahdnc]

34 minutes ago, soozles said:

We’re taking our 3 and 4 year olds on an iceland/Ireland cruise over the summer. Please no comments to leave them at home. My kids hate the deck parties and loud noises and aren’t crazy about water dumping on their heads at the splash pads… they’re too short for water slides and zip lines and rock walls. 
 

I’m expecting that there won’t be many kids on board given the itinerary and that it’s a 12 night cruise. Do they still have the kids club open even if there are only a few kids?  

 

Yes, the kids club (aka Camp At Sea) is open even if there are only a few kids.  Sometimes age groups are consolidated, but the kids club goes on.  

 

We just finished a 15 night Transatlantic in late Oct - early Nov on Constellation.  There were 8 kids on our ship.  The kids club was in full operation with their 4 counselors.

 

[soozles]

2 minutes ago, GenerationX said:

It seems that the first responding poster may not have fully read your post (which was clearly explaining why ships that have those amenities are not a fit for your family) and just saw “kids and water slides” and immediately jumped to the “Celebrity doesn’t have those things!” comment (that was also completely unresponsive to your question). Or perhaps English isn’t their native language.

 

To try and offer some assistance, my experience is a little dated but my 9 year old and I sailed on Millennium last March on a sailing that only had 7 total kids on it and kids club was still open (and my daughter loved it so much that she was sad  when I’d come to pick her up).

 

There was only one child that I saw in the youngest group (the 3-5 year olds that your kids would be in) but it looked like they had staff and toys for her available at all the times that camp was open.

 

 

Thanks for your reply… I suspect that my kids would probably be the among the youngest in this itinerary… luckily they’re super close, and have each other to play with in that youngest group. 

[soozles]

Just now, mahdnc said:

 

Yes, the kids club (aka Camp At Sea) is open even if there are only a few kids.  Sometimes age groups are consolidated, but the kids club goes on.  

 

We just finished a 15 night Transatlantic in late Oct - early Nov on Constellation.  There were 8 kids on our ship.  The kids club was in full operation with their 4 counselors.

 

Sounds great! My kids take a bit getting used to new places, so when they walked into the kids club on carnival with a bunch of other kids running and yelling around them, they just shut down. Actually, the older one shut down and the younger one follows. But when it’s just them getting all the attention? They’d love it. 

[the_dylaness]

My kids really like the Celebrity kids club precisely BECAUSE there aren't too many other kids. On Disney it was so loud and overwhelming and pandemonium-ish.

 

[GenerationX]

5 minutes ago, soozles said:

Thanks for your reply… I suspect that my kids would probably be the among the youngest in this itinerary… luckily they’re super close, and have each other to play with in that youngest group. 

Happy to help! Also I am very jealous that you’re doing that itinerary with your family.  It’s on my travel bucket list. I think you’ll all have a wonderful time and see some stunning sights. Bon voyage!

[Ex-Airbalancer]

9 minutes ago, GenerationX said:

It seems that the first responding poster may not have fully read your post (which was clearly explaining why ships that have those amenities are not a fit for your family) and just saw “kids and water slides” and immediately jumped to the “Celebrity doesn’t have those things!” comment (that was also completely unresponsive to your question). Or perhaps English isn’t their native language.

 

 

 

American is not my native language 😁

she just wrote what they didn’t like splash pads,  they were short for zip line and rock wall ,

Making  me think she thought they were on ship or why would she bring it up 🤔

[mahdnc]

15 minutes ago, soozles said:

.....when they walked into the kids club on carnival with a bunch of other kids running and yelling around them, they just shut down. 

 

That would be my reaction as well.

[soozles]

27 minutes ago, GenerationX said:

Happy to help! Also I am very jealous that you’re doing that itinerary with your family.  It’s on my travel bucket list. I think you’ll all have a wonderful time and see some stunning sights. Bon voyage!

I’m super excited, I always wanted to go, and I feel so fortunate that I can show the world to my kids. 

[Reel Love]

27 minutes ago, soozles said:

Sounds great! My kids take a bit getting used to new places, so when they walked into the kids club on carnival with a bunch of other kids running and yelling around them, they just shut down. Actually, the older one shut down and the younger one follows. But when it’s just them getting all the attention? They’d love it. 

My suggestion would be to have a friendly chat with one of the camp counsellors the first time you take your kids to the camp to explain what you described above and I'm sure they would do their best to try to accommodate a calm area for them if there are a lot of kids running and yelling.  My son has special needs (Down Syndrome) as does the daughter of a good friend who we cruise with and our kids can be a bit apprehensive in new situations.  We simply spent a few minutes talking with one of the counsellors our first time there and found them to be quite responsive to our kid's needs, and they ended up having a great time!

[Moochi]

55 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

American is not my native language 😁

she just wrote what they didn’t like splash pads,  they were short for zip line and rock wall ,

Making  me think she thought they were on ship or why would she bring it up 🤔

Lucky you didn't get reported for hijacking the post. CC police is everywhere lol....

[Bo1953]

13 hours ago, soozles said:

I know… whenever anyone mentions bringing on a kid, lots of people jump in saying that the child won’t like celebrity because there’s no water park/zip line/ice rink/rock wall/etc. Trying to avoid getting those types of comments. 

Yet, just allow them to make those comments and pass them by as their agenda is not the same as yours, which is making sure your children enjoy themselves... while you have a great sailing, too.

 

Check your roll call to find out if anyone there are bringing their children, but I would guess that Camp at Sea would be available, maybe not a full compliment of hours if there are few children, but something would be available...

 

Good luck and bon voyage

[soozles]

1 hour ago, Bo1953 said:

Yet, just allow them to make those comments and pass them by as their agenda is not the same as yours, which is making sure your children enjoy themselves... while you have a great sailing, too.

 

Check your roll call to find out if anyone there are bringing their children, but I would guess that Camp at Sea would be available, maybe not a full compliment of hours if there are few children, but something would be available...

 

Good luck and bon voyage

So far no kids on our roll call. They’ll be ok even if it’s just the 2 of them, they are super close in age so they’re built in playmates. And we will take legos, magnatiles, and travel board games and puzzles to fill in the gaps. It’s a fairly port heavy cruise anyway, and I’m pretty sure they’ll burn off a lot of energy at the ports. 

[Vcorley1]

On 3/18/2023 at 8:30 PM, GenerationX said:

It seems that the first responding poster may not have fully read your post (which was clearly explaining why ships that have those amenities are not a fit for your family) and just saw “kids and water slides” and immediately jumped to the “Celebrity doesn’t have those things!” comment (that was also completely unresponsive to your question). Or perhaps English isn’t their native language.

 

To try and offer some assistance, my experience is a little dated but my 9 year old and I sailed on Millennium last March on a sailing that only had 7 total kids on it and kids club was still open (and my daughter loved it so much that she was sad  when I’d come to pick her up).

 

There was only one child that I saw in the youngest group (the 3-5 year olds that your kids would be in) but it looked like they had staff and toys for her available at all the times that camp was open.

 

 

The first responding poster sounds like a *****

[docsneeze]

15 hours ago, soozles said:

So far no kids on our roll call. They’ll be ok even if it’s just the 2 of them, they are super close in age so they’re built in playmates. And we will take legos, magnatiles, and travel board games and puzzles to fill in the gaps. It’s a fairly port heavy cruise anyway, and I’m pretty sure they’ll burn off a lot of energy at the ports. 

Hi Soozies,  We are taking our just turned 5 yo son on one of the Iceland/Ireland trips this summer so may see you there.  Having done a mid-October cruise with RCL, there were only about 20-25 kids but the Kids Clubs were functioning at all times and our little guy loved it.  Lots of craft based activities and games with the counselors.  Have a great time!!

[emmas gran]

Late July to early September is school holiday time in the UK and you may find children on board. Cruise critic is mainly the American market and I know quite a few people this side of the pond never heard of it so you may be surprised and have other kids in the clubs.  

[Chriskoo]

I was on reflection this past December with my 4 and 6 year olds, there were only 17 kids total on the ship (it was early December, not school break). Camp at sea was open and our kids LOVED it. Most of the time there was only 4 or 5 total kids there and the counsellors were so wonderful , they all got lots of attention. We will continue to bring our kids on Celebrity, having a low ratio of kids to counsellors at camp at sea is a better feature than any rock wall, at our stage of life.

[soozles]

5 hours ago, docsneeze said:

Hi Soozies,  We are taking our just turned 5 yo son on one of the Iceland/Ireland trips this summer so may see you there.  Having done a mid-October cruise with RCL, there were only about 20-25 kids but the Kids Clubs were functioning at all times and our little guy loved it.  Lots of craft based activities and games with the counselors.  Have a great time!!

Which sailing are you on? We’re going aug 9. 

[Emma on sea]

We did a Med cruise in the summer holidays , our DC ( teens at the time ) had a whale of a time , we hardly saw them , they enjoyed the midnight pool parties , treasure hunts etc

There  were crafts and arts activities as well

We liked seeing the little crocodile of tots with the nannies / nursery assistants ( as we snoozed on the sun beds ) 

As it’s a school holiday cruise , from Southampton ( I assume ) there will be lots of British families on board 

We’re on the August 29th sailing , no Dc with us this time they’re all grown up ( counts days .. ) 

[docsneeze]

5 hours ago, soozles said:

Which sailing are you on? We’re going aug 9. 

We are on the June 6 sailing.  I think both of our families will have fun.  Just trying to be selective with excursions as some of the longer ones in Iceland would be difficult for this age group.

[BeeInSF]

My family (two adults and one eight-year old kiddo) are doing the July 13th Ireland/Iceland cruise. I expect there to be some kids, but not a ton, and we're ok with that! 

Edited March 20, 2023 by BeeInSF
clarification