How is the RC childrens program?

[MickeyMark]

Just wondering if anyone has used the Royal Carribean childrens program and how it works.

Are the Royal Carribean cruises child friendly ?

 

Thanks!!

[boingy300]

We sailed Disney and my children were disappointed w/ their programs (and we aren't picky people!) I felt "gauged" everytime their was an event usually costing me $20-40.There was VERY limited character involvement- not like the commercials. I felt money was more important than the children (which is for business, but that wasn't what they marketed and it was glaringly obvious the mouse wanted YOUR dough). I DID like Disney's private Island and their dinosaur bone "dig area" though and their shows!

Last Decemeber my hubby and I went solo on Explorer and I wanted to "check out" the children's programs. They have their own daily schedules, so I collected them and saw a few programs.Kids seemed to be having a ball! I liked the schedule much better than Disney, and the focus seemed to be simply on the kid having fun. There is also a cool kids' water play area on the ?12th floor where they can be noisy and splash and not disturb the adults, who can't seem to find the adults only area.(So there are areas for adults only, and area for kids only, and family pool areas-- nice design if people use them! Everyone's happy!). I'm not sure of the ages of your children. Ours are 10 (twins) and I thought their age specific programs looked great!!

[whfhome]

We were on the Mariner in April with our three boys, 4, 7, 12. They all attended the kids programs and they had a great time. Counselors were great with the kids. We were given a pager for the youngest so if they needed us they could just page. The eldest's group was less organized, but he still had a great time. It's very important that they go the first evening so they can meet others.

[berd0625]

My daughter loved the Ocean Adventure club, even at 13. Everything I've read on these boards has been positive, especially for younger kids.

[khank]

We were on the Mariner 6/6. My daughters 12 & 14 enjoyed the navigator program. They participated in many activities (ice skating, scavenger hunt, dances, games). They went to the social the first night and they both made friends with others their age and had a wonderful time.

[dshebert]

My son was 6 when we sailed on Rhapsody of the Seas for an 11 day Hawaii repositioning cruise. They kept him so busy and happy that we hardly saw him during the day. HE LOVED IT!! Even the kids that were a little older seems to be having a great time. I would highly recommend the program.

 

"whiskey for my men, beer for my horses"

[DecafMom]

We just returned from the 6/12 sailing of the Empress to Bermuda. My 3 year old loved the Adventure Ocean program. The gal that was in charge of his age group was not the friendliest person, but he still had fun with the other kids. We had other children with us that were older and they enjoyed the program as well, but they only went at night.

 

Being able to use the program allowed him the freedom to be 100% a kid, and gave us a chance to relax a bit. They have three times a day they are available, and he typically went once or twice a day.

 

From what I have experienced and what I understand from others, kids ages 9 and under pretty much really enjoy it. When the kids get older than that, a lot of times they find the program too immature and they feel as if they're being babysat instead of enjoying themselves. This is, of course, until the late night party. The older kids really seemed to enjoy that time. From 10pm-1am the kids can be in the after party for $5 an hour. We never did it with the 3 year old b/c he was too wiped out after busy days, but the older kids did the late night party almost every night.

 

Dawn

[tasbm1]

My son turned 8yo on our last cruise in October on EOS. I asked him what he wanted to do this year for vacation, Disney World again or cruise again. He picked cruise! He loved it and we were very impressed by the activities and the people watching him. It was a wonderful program! This October we are going on NOS and we are all thrilled. For our family, it is the perfect family vacation.

Terri

[Maria65]

I can't say enough positive things about the Adventure Ocean program. My four kids, various ages, all loved it. We cruised last November and they still talk about the staff by name, which really says a lot about how well they interact with the kids.

 

They loved getting their own compasses and planning out their next day. It really made their vacation their own in a sense. We still spent time together as a family too, but it allowed time for relaxation as well.

 

My kids also prefer cruising to Disney, hands down. Kids don't like that schlepping against the crowds feeling anymore than adults do. Cruising is such a convenient vacation and the kids clubs on RCI allow families to make the most of their time as individuals and together as a group.

[cruiseky]

We have been on three RCCL cruises with our children(Enchantment,Grandeur and Navigator, respectively) Our kids were 5 and 8 on the first cruise, 7 and 10 on the second and 8 and 11 on the third cruise. They have absolutely loved the Adventure Ocean programs on each and every cruise. They keep the kids busy from morning to night and the kids even have the option of eating with the Adventure Ocean group on formal nights, if they don't want to get dressed up and go to the dinning room. With the Adventure Ocean programs, the kids are getting to have a great time with other kids, and mom and dad get to have some adult time, knowing that the kids are well taken care of. They even offer continuous programs on port days, so that the kids can stay aboard the ship if they don't want to go ashore with mom and dad.

 

Troy

[famcruiser]

Although we have never cruised on any line other than RCI with our 6 year old son, he loves the Adventure Ocean program. Next month, he'll be on his 5th cruise with us. He never wants to do any excursions with us, which works out well. Then, we can do the things that we want to do without worrying about whether he'll enjoy it or not. He's really too young to appreciate the places we visit, anyway. He wakes up in the morning on the cruise, wanting to know when he can go to his program. We have to tell him, "Not until after breakfast". Make sure you go to the meeting the first night of the cruise. They'll give you a lot of information you'll need to know and it sets the tone (FUN) for the kids. As I mentioned, we've never sailed on any other line with him, but we highly reccomend it. Enjoy!

Carole

[BLUEICE]

I love this thread and am so glad that I found it.

 

I am in the process of booking a family cruise for June or July 2005 and our daughter (who will be 9 at the time) gets to decide which cruise line.

 

She is having a hard time between Disney, Carnival, Princess or RCCL.

 

We (husband and I) have sailed Princess and RCCL (2nd RCCL cruise coming up in Sept) however we have no idea what the kids program is all about and which line might have the better program for kids.

 

The problem is that she wants to see the disney characters, she also wants to rock climb and figure skate (she currently figure skates and won 2 gold's this season - allowed to brag right?) and she also wants to use the big slide. All three lines offer one or the other. She also wants to go Princess as she likes the name and thinks she will be treated like one.

 

Prices are pretty close to each other with the exception of Disney however, I am looking at Penthouse suites, Owners Suites, or category 11 or 12.

 

Can anybody offer any opinion on which one you think she will have the most enjoyable time. How can you not have a good time on a cruise.

 

I appreciate your feedback and look forward to getting lots of advise from you experienced cruisers who have taken the kids along.

[westkid]

Am I understanding that it is $5 an hour for the older kids to stay at the late night party?

 

I had not heard anything about there being a charge for that, I thought it was just part of the teen program. Or am I misunderstanding?

 

We leave for our first cruise on Sunday, with 12 and 5 year old boys. They are both looking forward to their programs, but I did not know we would have to pay for the "extras".

[jhaasz]

BLUEICE -

 

Having experience with Carnival, Princess and RCCL with a 9 year-old, I think that RCI's kids program was the best. Princess' was terrible as, on the Grand Princess, it was only at night and they did not have a room for the children (they sat in an "in-between" area with no chairs). Carnival's was more like a "babysitting" program. Both of my children loved Royal Caribbean's program and always wanted to go (the fact that they get a dollar for each activity to cash in at the end of the cruise did not hurt).

 

When booking our cruise this year, we decided to stick with RCL - the kids program worked out the best and both DH and I had a chance to relax.

[42trvl]

BLUE ICE - why not let her have a little of both? If you can afford the time and $$, you can sail the RCI's Mariner out of Port Canaveral, then spend a couple of days at Disney World before or after (I prefer before...) the cruise where she can get some of the Disney and characters experience. We enjoy Disney World very much, but did not particularly care for the cruise on Disney. All of us, including the kids, concluded that we would rather enjoy the characters at Walt Disney World and enjoy a cruise as a cruise. They did not particularly care for the Disney ship's kid's programs, and we found the whole atmosphere a bit overwhelming. Beautiful ship and great service - just not the type of cruise experience we were looking for.

[Maria65]

To clarify, the late night program for kids runs from 10pm- 1am and costs $5/hr per child, of any age.

 

Before I went, I would have never thought I would have spent that kind of money on that ($60 for my kids for one night), but we ended up letting them stay up twice. They do sell this as a slumber party type event and kids may feel they are missing out if they don't go. I figured it was kind of like letting them choose an extra excursion of a sort. I hope the staff gets a cut of that money, it's very popular.

 

I didn't have a teenager at the time, but I think they may tend to do their own thing late night. I didn't see any teens being signed into the late night program on our cruise.

[boingy300]

Once again I can give the opinion that I was really disappointed in Disney's "Character" involvement. It always entailed a long line and the end was a rushed $20 picture. Here's an idea....Disney has a really fun breakfast w/ characters at the Contemporary hotel. Lots of character involvement. You could consider flying into Orlando 1 day early, spend the night at Contemporary (?Grand Cafe?) have breakfast w/ the characters then shuttle to the port at Port canaveral for the RCCL cruise. Skip Disney cruise and theme park, yet still give your daughter what she wants- character involvement. We have seen the breakfast and it is a blast for kids. Lots of singing, dancing, tons of characters etc. We did like the Bon Voyage at Disney w/ the characters- but never saw them again after the first 30 minutes of the cruise. Capt. Hook came to the kids program once....yawn. He was the only "free" character we saw. We DID like Disney's shows much better than RCCL, in order to be fair. Just some ideas. Good luck!

Karen

[BLUEICE]

Thank you everybody for your opinion.

 

We thought about departing from Port Canaveral which would enable us to also do Disney before the cruise. I am not sure if it could work out. I really don't think she is all that set on seeing the disney characters I think just going on a cruise is better than seeing the characters.

 

It sounds like Carnival is out of the question. Every time I call them (Carnival) they go into a blurb about award winning kids program, etc. They go overboard telling me about Camp Carnival.

 

I hope I still have lots of time to try to decide. First thing we have to do is get a definate date and take it from there.

 

I think the final decision will be to stick with RCCL and we think they are a fantastic line.

 

Thanks for your help it is very much appreciated.

[rncruiser]

West Kid: The kid's program Does Not charge $5 per hour after 10 pm for the older kids (12 and up). There schedule runs until 1 am and is not considered late nate babysitting which is what you are paying for for the younger kids.

[westkid]

Thanks so much for clearing up the $5 charge!

My 12 year old is looking forward to "hanging out" late (yes, he's already been "warned" about getting into trouble), but it's good to know if the 5 year old wants to stay late, or us parents want some extra time, then $5 an hour is a great option to have!

 

We leave tomorrow!!!!

I'll be happy to share my experience with the kids programs when we get back!

[Maria65]

Sorry for the confusion about the late night fees. My daughter was 12 at the time and we were charged but that was because she had opted to stay down with the 9-11 yr old program.

 

I don't know if it was just the cruise we were on (Voyager during a week most kids have school) but the teen program was pretty dead. We only ever saw a couple of kids using the teen lounge.

 

For our next cruise, my daughter will be 13 and we're letting her bring along a friend because I didn't want her to feel isolated while her sibings were together in their group. She's on the quiet side and would end up reading a book before she'd mix with more outgoing teens. I figured having a friend along might make her more comfortable. Does anyone know if there are any organized ativities/game nights like the younger groups have for the 12-14 yr olds?

[goodml]

I would have to disagree about Carnival's kid's program. My kids have sailed with Carnival 4 times and RCCL twice (third time coming in Dec.) and they have absolutely loved the programs on both lines. We were on the Victory last November and my daughter who was 10 at the time participated in just about every activity offered. We had to drag her off that ship with us at every port and in fact, she missed San Juan entirely because she was having too much fun. She still corresponds regularly via email with two of the counsellors and with some of the friends she met on board. My kids were 4 and 6 when they took their first Carnival cruise. Same deal then - no way is it just a glorified baby sitting service. Lots of planned activities. My kids would jump at the chance to sail either line again. Now if you're looking for activities outside the kid's program there is absolutely nothing on the seas to compare to the Voyager class ships with RCCL. You'll do great either way.

[TWELVEOHONE]

In a word E X C E L L E N T

 

My gandkids did not want to go to the program. My daughter dropped them off with them almost crying. After about two hours we could not get them to leave. Almost had to drag them out for meals. They loved it.

[GrannyJ]

My 12-year-old granddaughter had the time of her life in the 12-14 year old group earlier this month on the Majesty. Once they formed a group, it didn't seem to matter whether there were any formal activities going on or not....they were just as happy "hanging out" as doing something organized. Once I felt sure she clearly understood my rules (no going into anyone's cabin, no wandering around cabin corridors, etc.), I perfectly comfortable about her being on her own with her friends. As far as activities, they had a movie/slumber party, a casino night, disco every evening, pool games, other activities. When I'd run into her somewhere, I'd get that little "wave" that said "yeah, yeah, I see you, I'm just fine, now go away". I'd say as long as your child isn't extremely shy, he or she will do just fine.

[Avidcruiser]

My little boys (8 and 4) love Adventure Ocean. The counselors are great, the activities are great, anf we always felt 100% comfortable. There is a separate Cruise Compass just for the childeren's activities which is really a nice touch!:cool: