Kid's Programs on Celebrity

[rebeccalouise]

I just got off a Disney cruise and my 6 year old said it was his favorite cruise. I sat next to a travel agent at dinner each night and she was really surprized to hear that MY favorite cruise line for traveling with children is Celebrity. She said she had never heard this from any of her customers.

 

For those that have been on different cruise ships (I have sailed NCL, Carnival, Princess and Celebrity with my kids)- which line did you like the best in regard to kids programs?

[dkjretired]

I think they do an excellent job with the childrens programs and are very underrated. I think they got a reputation years ago that they were not involved with the childrens programs and for some reason it stuck. My kids enjoyed it more than the Big Red Boat with Disney Characters and Royal Caribbean. Even cruise critic rates Celebrity very low but I have seen a number of posts from people who rave about the childrens programs. I remember one a while back in which the parents said their kids enjoyed them more than Disney.....

[Texed]

Out of RCI, Carnival, and Celebrity, our 8 YO preferred Celebrity.

[rebeccalouise]

As one would expect, my 6 year old loved Disney (but I think all kids this age love the ship they just sailed on)

Having said that, I personally loved Celebrity. Not only did my son (in April) say that he could live on the ship and loved going to the kids program, I also could live on Celebrity. So everyone is happy.

As for my take on Disney. It was what I expected- Disney heaven but I am not a huge Disney fan in general so for me I wouldn't go back. It is nice for young children and the ship was clean, had the most spacious rooms I have stayed in, was organized and very nice with embarkation and disembarkation- can't really complain.

Celebrity has stolen my heart though.

[GORDONCHICK]

We've been on two cruises so far, with the next less than 3 weeks away. The first was X, and my heart was stolen. It was a 12-day during the school year, so not many children at all. Our DS, who was 3 at the time, loved the program but it was only him and an 8-year old girl so they pretty much gut their run of the program and ship. The girls working in there genuinely seem excite to see our son and were so energetic. They even played in the ball pit with DS.

 

In February, we were on Princess. There were about 15 children in DS's age group (by this time, he was 4). While they had lots of activities and watched movies, I wasn't nearly as impressed with the girls working in the program.

 

Of course, DS is a happy-go-lucky boy (now 5), very outgoing and makes friends easily. At his age, it was hard for him to notice a difference in the program except one cruise had lots more kids than the other one.

 

We will be on Carnival shortly, and I hear wonderful things about their children's program. I just wonder what my feelings will be about the line. The best line for us is one that is great for both adults and children alike. So far, that's Celebrity in my book!

[A Little Pixie Dust]

My daughter has been on 6 different cruises from Carnival to Disney to Celebrity - there isn't a kids club she didn't like. Disney was by far her favorite - they do what they do best - kids. I loved the Disney because they are very responsive to the kids and go out of thier way to make it special.

 

My daughter also liked the kid's club on Infinity but I was not so thrilled. It worries me because we are heading towards our next cruise in a few months on Summit. One item that did not please me also left my daughter a little less then thrilled. On the kid's daily, they would list what they were going to do at certain times (like any other kids club). We would plan around the things my daughter wanted to do. Unfortunately, we would sometimes get to the kid's club and they would just be finishing up the activity (we were more then on time) or getting ready to do something completely different then scheduled. They would explain that either they had moved along faster then they thought so they started the activity early (sometimes more then a half an hour early) or if the counselor felt like doing something else..they skipped the scheduled activity. I realize that it's not a huge deal but sometimes my daughter really wanted to do something and was disappointed. To me, it was frustrating because we had scheduled accordingly and then the activity did not happen. Over a 4 day period - this was the case about 8-9 times.

 

The only other item that bothered me was that they had a play area outside that opened to the deck where people were walking. The gate to the area was kept open and the kids would sometimes wander out onto the deck. The counselor did not notice. This did not apply to my daughter since she was a little older but 2 times we saw a toddler age child go out the gate - one time his mother happen to be walking on the deck as he came out and grabbed him. I worry about the safety of my child.

 

I did speak to the people in charge but it did not change. I am hoping that this will not be the case in December. My daughter had a good time regardless and I know she will in December as well.

 

I do not know if this was an isolated cruise that this occured on or normal but we are going to keep good thoughts for December.

 

Desiree

[rebeccalouise]

Thanks for everyone's insights. I think that most kids do like the kids club regardless of ship- but Disney is probably going to be the favorite of most small children. Everyone should at least do one for their little ones.

I agree about the activity schedule- there were some delays in this on all of the Celebrity cruises but it was a real problem for my son or myself. I don't remember and escapees on the Millenium or the Constellation- they should defineately keep the outside door closed to the deck on Infinity.

 

As for the youth staff, one girl (Lisa) had been on the Millenium in 2005 and was then on the Constellation this year. She remembered Marc when he walked into the Fun Factory the first day. Boy, was that nice and comforting. My experience with the staff has been wonderful. Since Celebrity is so great (in my view)- will stick with Celebrity.

[Gocruzin]

Gordonchick-- So they operated the kids club even though there were only two children there? I have been worried that they may not have the kids club open when I sail in Nov.

[rebeccalouise]

Yes they certainly do operate the kids club even if there is only one child. If there are only a couple kids in different age groups- they might combine them- simply because the kids would have more fun.

The cruise lines always have a skelaton staff (one for each age group) that are employed full time. During holidays and summer vacations they hire extra crew to come on board.

On my last Celebrity cruise in April /Easter there were at least 300 children on board (including teens) on the one prior to that May of 2005 (Tranatlantic) there were only 30 kids on board including teens. Most of the small children were 5 and under- but there were two that were 7 and 8. They kept all the young ones together instead of dividing them up into groups. It actually was really fun for the kids to be together with their older siblings.

I love Celebrity and I love, love, love the youth staff. They were so nice always telling me how nice I looked for dinner and had the "go have fun- stay out late. He'll be fine" attitude. Just loved them and they love their job.:p

[A Little Pixie Dust]

I wasn't trying to dissuade anyone from Celebrity - I appologize if it sounded that way. I am just looking at it as an off cruise and that things will be better on the next one.

 

Desiree

[Gocruzin]

A little Pixie dust-- I didn't take it that way. The toddler getting out incident is pretty scarey.

[GORDONCHICK]

Gordonchick-- So they operated the kids club even though there were only two children there? I have been worried that they may not have the kids club open when I sail in Nov.

 

They do, and we sailed in November. There were 5 girls working in there, three from Canada, one from the USA, and one from Chile (the director, Macarena). I love sailing in the off-season because they get more attention and pampering. The adults on board seem to be nicer to the children because the ship isn't overrun by hoards of little ones, especially misbehaving ones. We were complimented many times on DS's behavior and manners, especially in the dining room. Most co-workers couldn't believe we would take him in the dining room, but we have taught him well. Also, if you don't put children into the environment, how will they learn what acceptable behavior is?

[junglejane]

We took our kids on the Infinity to Alaska (8/6-8/23/06). They had a great time. We previously cruised on the Caribbean Princess and I agree that Celebrity does a fine job with the kids program and is underrated. I also think that cruise dining helps teach kids how to behave through fancy multi-course dinners. A few weeks ago we took our daughters (ages 5 and 9) with us to Capital Grille. Normally we would leave them home with a sitter, but we couldn't find one and we had gift certificates that were about to expire. So we decided to dine early and take them along. If you've ever been to Capital Grille you know it's pretty stuffy! At the end of the dinner our server complimented us on how well behaved they were. I told her that they recently had a week's worth of practice on a cruise ship at sitting through a fancy dinner. Now we just need to go to the Mexican Riviera in March so they can have a refresher course, ha-ha!

[lumpkin]

Recently (8/25) took the Mercury to Alaska, with a 9 and a 12 yr old. After a day or 2 of not wanting to go to the kids' programs, ("boring", eyes rolled around), they then loved it and could not get enough of it. They wanted me to pay exttra for them to do the 10Pm - 1AM slumber parties, even tho I didn't need the service. I would highly recommend the kids' programs. I went with my kids to the family disco, and actually saw my 12 yr old (who wants to be way too cool, ) intently joining in and doing the hokeypokey, and chicken dance.

[SeaGal]

We just returned from our first Royal Caribbean cruise. We had a wonderful cruise and will do another RCI cruise if the itinerary and price are right.

But this is the first time in six cruises (the rest were with Celebrity) that my teen daughters did not participate in the teen program. And not for want of trying. They would go to the meeting place a little before the scheduled time of an activity and either the room would be empty or the activity staff was not there. And when the staff was there they never said or did anything to make a newcomer feel welcome or engage them in the activity.

On our past Celebrity cruises there have been from 30 kids to 600 kids (Christmas) but the quality of the program never varied. Each time my daughters became close to the staff and really looked forward to the activities. They made friends in their groups and had a wonderful time.

So I have to say our experience has been that the Celebrity youth staff is much more engaged in the program and the kids.

[gmazz]

Don't know if I picking a good time to "chime" in on the boards for the first time, but here I go.

 

The toddler escapee, is scary. But we were on the Disney Magic the beginning of May and while me and my husband were reading by the pool we heard the couple behind us with a infant talking with one of the crew about their daughter wandering away while they went from one of the clubs to another. Apparently she slipped off her bracelet, which did come off once you figured out it had a snap on it (my 7 yo did it the first night at bedtime), and when they were walking in line from the lab to the club she stepped out of line and was wandering around the boat for a good half hour-forty five mins until she was found. They did take attendance once they got to the club and discovered she was missing right away. But it can happen on any boat.

 

I will say that Disney does keep a close eye out on the kids and I was even brave enough to give my 12 yo sign out privilages. After seeing the kids programs on Disney, I hope I, as a parent, am not disappointed on our next cruise. We are thinking of going on Celebrity to Alaska in July of '08.

 

Oh, and just for the record, I am a Disney freak! But, my youngest did not enjoy the clubs at night because they were put in with the 3-5yo at 10pm and had to watch movies. I was always beeped about 10:15 to come and get her. She loved it during the day, but not at night. The counselors tried to talk her into staying in her age group and not switching to the next group because they did sports. It turned out they had alot of things at night she would have loved. So much for adult time onboard in the evening.:rolleyes:

 

I know, I'm on the Celebrity boards, but I just wanted to let you know that even Disney doesn't have it down pat either in the kids department.

[rebeccalouise]

Don't worry- I am in agreement. I love Celebrity for many reasons but the most important is that I felt my son was safe and happy in the kids programs. Even though HE preferred Disney- he is not at all disappointed that we will be sailing Celebrity twice next year-Century and Millenium. He is thrilled. Kids are easy to please! I am not so easy. After umpteen cruises I have gravitated toward Celebrity- just so pretty and relaxing- couldn't want for more.