Help! Coordinating children and Murano's!

[dixiejen]

Hi everyone. We are going on the Century in April w/ our 14 and 9 year old. While we hope to do lots of things together, my husband and I would love to try Murano's, which I can tell you would NOT appeal to my kids (and of course, WE would love to be alone in such a romantic setting!;) )

So -- I've read the youth program info on Celebrity's website, but I'm not certain I completely understand how it works. Can I take the kids at 6:00 and then pick them back up in a few hours? Are the kids split up into their specific age groups at night? Will they be served dinner there with the other kids? Also, I read something about the 10-12 and 13-17 year olds could come and go between youth activities as they pleased. That doesn't mean they can wander about the ship unsupervised, does it?? Probably stupid questions, but we'd like to try to understand how it all works before we get there! Any tips on cruising w/ kids or Century's youth program would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance....

[dkjretired]

Not sure of the age that the kids are allowed to come and go however I will try to answer some of your questions. They do not offer dinner for the kids with the groups every night so when you go would be important. You can as an alternative feed the kids in the cabin. During regular dinner hours the regular dining room menu is available from room service. There is also the alternative dining which they could use.

[Wayneair]

Hi everyone. We are going on the Century in April w/ our 14 and 9 year old. While we hope to do lots of things together, my husband and I would love to try Murano's, which I can tell you would NOT appeal to my kids (and of course, WE would love to be alone in such a romantic setting!;) )

So -- I've read the youth program info on Celebrity's website, but I'm not certain I completely understand how it works. Can I take the kids at 6:00 and then pick them back up in a few hours? Are the kids split up into their specific age groups at night? Will they be served dinner there with the other kids? Also, I read something about the 10-12 and 13-17 year olds could come and go between youth activities as they pleased. That doesn't mean they can wander about the ship unsupervised, does it?? Probably stupid questions, but we'd like to try to understand how it all works before we get there! Any tips on cruising w/ kids or Century's youth program would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance....

 

I hope that I can answer all of your questions. First, let me say Celebrity is awesome with the kids program. We have sailed 3 times with the kids on X and once on Holland, and me, along with the kids prefer Celebrity. Also, if you are sailing during the Easter break expect more out of X for the kids. We sailed over Easter and Celebrity did a Easter carnival for all of the kids. The each kid received a bag of candy and did tons of activities for 2 hours.

 

Here is how the program works during a Holiday sailing. You can sign up to have X take your kids to lunch and dinner for a fee of $6 per child per hour. While the ship is at sea, I beleive the charge is waived (lunch only). The dinner is almost $6 each time. Be sure to sign up because if no one signs up, they will cancel it. We were able to place them in the program so we could hit the specialty dinning option. They take the kids to the buffet where they prepare more kid friendly food. I am not sure of the food options if not a holiday, but I am certain at least the Fun Factory is open. Holland America never took the kids to eat, so we ordered them room service (so we could get dress) or took them to the buffet before we checked them in to the program.

 

During the day the kids are split into groups and only the Ensigns (10-12) and Teens (13-17) are allowed to sign themselves in and out. Check on this because you may have the option of not letting them do this. If they do sign out, they can get run of the ship. We allowed our daughter (12) to do this, but when she signs out she is to immediately go to the room and wait for us. We also told her that she better not sign out and we will do surprise checks to see if she was still in there. She loved it so much, she did not want to leave.

 

When the evening program begins, all kids are then put into one group. This starts at 10pm and goes until 1am. The fee again is $6 per child per hour and is held in the Fun Factory. Your 14 may not be able to participate because they cap this at 12. However, they still may have activities for the teen group with no charge.

 

On X, the hours of the kids program is almost around the clock. I dropped our son off on a sea day at 11am and did not pick up him up until 1am. They took him to lunch and dinner for no charge. When I picked him up, he was not ready to leave.

 

After you board the ship, the staff will do an orientation to cover the hours and additional fees if any. Let me know if anything else is needed.

[Rev22:17]

dixiejen,

 

Hi everyone. We are going on the Century in April w/ our 14 and 9 year old. While we hope to do lots of things together, my husband and I would love to try Murano's, which I can tell you would NOT appeal to my kids (and of course, WE would love to be alone in such a romantic setting!;) )

So -- I've read the youth program info on Celebrity's website, but I'm not certain I completely understand how it works. Can I take the kids at 6:00 and then pick them back up in a few hours? Are the kids split up into their specific age groups at night? Will they be served dinner there with the other kids? Also, I read something about the 10-12 and 13-17 year olds could come and go between youth activities as they pleased. That doesn't mean they can wander about the ship unsupervised, does it?? Probably stupid questions, but we'd like to try to understand how it all works before we get there! Any tips on cruising w/ kids or Century's youth program would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance....

 

I can't answer all of your questions because I don't have children and thus have not interacted directly with the children's, youth, and teen programs, but I do know a few details from what I have observed.

 

>> 1. The children's, youth, and teen programs do include some dinner meals supervised by the counsellors, but my impression is that it's not every night. There's really no need to make reservations for the specialty restaurant until you get aboard ship, so you can inquire which nights the youth and teen programs will have group dinners before you make your reservations.

 

>> 2. The evening activities for teens, which include a teen disco, are separate from the activities for the younger age groups. I know that the children's program turns into a slumber party at some point, but I'm not sure about the youth program.

 

>> 3. Teens have pretty much free run of the ship, and go to or leave the teen center at will.

 

>> 4. The youth program does include some activities, such as scavenger hunts, where the youth have to go about the ship and find people who have various things. On a couple cruises, youth have asked me to sign their scavenger cards on the line for a person with a beard, and I will say that the youth who came to me asking for a signature seemed to be enjoying themselves. I don't know whether all youth or only the older youth participate in such activity.

 

>> 5. Dining in the specialty restaurnat is a fabulous opportunity for young people to learn about the experience of a truly elegant restaurant at much lower cost than taking your children to a comparable restaurant ashore. Most children who eat there are captivated by the ambiance and the "show" -- the synchronized service, tableside preparations, etc. -- and thus handle it very well. Unfortunately, I understand that some of Celebrity's specialty restuarants have a minimum age of twelve, which will exclude your nine-year-old, but I seriously encourage you to reconsider not taking your teenager there. If you and your husband want a romantic dinner alone, too, perhaps you and he could dine there on a second evening.

 

>> 6. There's really no such thing as "unsupervised" anywhere on a cruise ship because there are both staff and monitored security cameras throughout all of the public spaces. If the people monitoring the security camreas see anybody doing anything inappropriate, they can either call the staff who are responsible for that area or dispatch security personnel to take care of it, as appropriate. Likewise, the staff tend to keep an eye on young people who are in their spaces and will intervene, if necessary, before they do any real damage rather than after. To give you an idea just how all-pervasive the security cameras are, on one of my cruises, a passenger reached behind the shades over a closed buffet line to filch a roll. A clip from one of the security cameras that showing the poacher in action made the "Your Cruise in Review" video.

 

So you, Mom, can let your youngsters have more or less free reign, for once in their lives, with little worry. Just make sure that they know to conduct themselves with proper decorum (and I have no doubt that they will since you are cruising with Celebrity) and that they understand NEVER to climb on any rails while they are aboard the ship due to the danger of falling overboard. Of course, it's certainly reaonable to expect them to keep you informed of their whereabouts whenever they are not in the youth or teen program.

 

Finally, it's also a good idea to hold off on making reservations for the specialty restaurant until you meet your tablemates. With any luck, you'll be seated with another familiy with children of similar ages and really "hit it off," in which case you probalby will want to coordiante schedules with them.

 

Norm.

[dixiejen]

WOW!!! What wonderful advice! Thanks so much for taking the time to fill us in. I do feel much better about everything. I'm sure they will have a ball. But Norm, as much as I would love my son to experience a truly first-class dining experience, I'm afraid gourmet to him would be chicken tenders fried in extra-virgin olive oil instead of vegetable oil!!! He definitely has a teenage palate!:D But I agree it would be a great experience for him....may drag him there and tell him he can order room service later if Murano's menu doesn't appeal to him!! Thanks again for the great advice!

[cruisinelsewhere]

I would strongly disagree with the post mentioning that there is no need to book Murano in advance. Murano is much smaller than the specialty restaurants on the M class ships....only serves about 50 people. I sailed on 12/11, the ship was not anywhere near capacity and Murano was waitlisted for hundreds of guests. If you are a Captain's Club member you can pre-reserve one evening in Murano and I would strongly recommend that you do so. If not, make your reservation as soon as possible after boarding. Many of the waitlisted did not get the chance to dine in this fine restaurant. If you have reservations and decide that the situation for the children is not to your liking you can always cancel the reservation.

[dixiejen]

That may be a good idea. Like you said, we can always cancel if we have to... Thanks!!

[rebeccalouise]

If your kids are 10 and 14- they won't want to dine with the kids at dinner time. I have done this with my young son and there might be one or two kids in the 10-13 year old catagory there. It would bore them.

 

I don't think you have to worry about the kids. I would let them go to the main diningroom at dinner time. They will already know the wait staff who will take good care of them. Then they can go to the kids club at 7PM or another designated area.

 

Having traveled with two boys- don't worry they will be very safe on board and well looked after by the caring staff.:)

[Luvin' Cruisin']

I understand completely about the "teenager palate" - my 40+ year old sister decided NOT to join us at Murano once she saw the menu. I absolutely adored the goat cheese souffle, and everything that came after it - but Sis had a much better time in the main dining room!

 

I'll also agree with booking as early as possible. We boarded the ship around 1:00, and went directly to the Murano reservation desk (it's just across the lobby from where you board the Century). The maitre d' (Dominique) was very helpful - we didn't know if we should make our reservation for 4 or 6 (didn't know if our extended-family table mates would like to join us), and Dominique helped us through that process, making sure there was room for us on our preferred evening - even though our number changed a couple of times after we boarded. He was able to be so helpful because we initially made the reservation as soon as we boarded.

[tbelian]

To give you an idea just how all-pervasive the security cameras are, on one of my cruises, a passenger reached behind the shades over a closed buffet line to filch a roll. A clip from one of the security cameras that showing the poacher in action made the "Your Cruise in Review" video.

 

 

 

They put this clip in every cruise in review video I have seen (7+ Celebrity cruises). It's something they do on purpose to get a laugh. And people always laugh.

 

On the flip side, there are security cameras 'on duty' everywhere.