Cruise compass

[castleforus]

I'm new here and have been spending a lot of time doing searches and not finding what I'm looking for. I'm thinking about a 4 night cruise on the Sovereign of the Seas. I have cruised Disney Cruise Line when my boys were little. I loved the kids programming there. Now that the boys would be 15 and 11, I don't feel the need to immerse myself in the disney theming but worry about the quality of the kids clubs as compared to our DCL clubs experience. Can anyone point me in the direction of how to find a Cruise Compass that would list activities from the age 9-11 group and also from the teen activities? My husband is hesitant to try anything other than DCL but RCI cruises are so much more reasonable in cost. Thanks so much!

[kazooie11]

Castleforus--See my daughter's review of the AO teen program on our recent Legend cruise at this link: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=478877 It includes links to the teen compasses for all 7 days. Having sailed both Disney and RCCL, I think your boys would really enjoy RCCL and its "Get Out There" atmosphere. I know my DD was ready to move on to something a bit less Disney, and RCCL proved to be just the ticket. Good luck with whatever decision you make.

 

Jim

[SheilaSailAway]

hey there,

try cruisedailes dot com, they might have what you are looking for over there!

 

your family will love RCI!

 

all the best to you!!!

[FionaMG]

RCI's kids and teen programmes are excellent.

 

In the older (15-17) age group, there is a meeting scheduled for the first evening on board. You will find the time and place in the Compass. Your son should make a point of going to this as it will give him the opportunity to meet up with others his own age. Teens in this age group can come and go as they please from the teen facility and whilst there are "programmed" activites, there is a fair amount of flexibility depending upon the wishes of the teens themselves.

 

Your younger son will be in the 9-11 age group where there is a more structured programme of age-appropriate activities such as trivia, games and sports, science experiments and video, to name just a few. Parents can opt either to let their children sign themselves in and out, or be signed in and out by an adult. In the latter case, if your son is to be signed out by an adult, you will be asked to provide the names of all adults allowed to sign him out, and they may be asked to show their seapass card at sign-out to confirm they are who they say are. I think this is very reassuring for any parent.

 

Also, all children under the age of 12 years are fitted with a coloured wrist-band showing their muster station as soon as they board and the kid's club usually conducts a separate emergency drill with the kids on the first day.

 

My kids (now 17 and 9) have always used the kids facilities on our RCI (Splendour and Explorer) cruises, and loved them. I'm sure your boys will have a great time and you and your husband some quality couple time.

 

Hope this helps

Fiona.

[castleforus]

I forgot to mention in my original post that my boys are not into sports and I find a lot of info on RCI being so good for the sports-minded.

 

It was nice to look at the thread, Kazooie11, from your daughter. I did see this last night, it was posted a couple minutes after my post. That was pretty good timing! I like that she liked the organized activities like the hunts and thought they were good. Those are the kinds of things my son will be interested in. He won't participate in any of the sports activities. My husband is worried he'll sit and play video games all day, ha! I'll show him the compass she posted. I wish I could find one from a 4 day from the Sovereign though. I wonder how the Legend and Sovereign compare, for activities.

 

SheilaSailAway, thank's so much for that site. I've never heard of that. Unfortunately no one has posted from the Sovereign but I'll check the other ships and it'll be fun to spend some time checking the site out. I really appreciate that.

 

Fiona, your advice makes me feel much better. Thank you. And you read my mind, I was going to go on here today and ask whether 11 year olds have check/in check out themselves or only if adults could sign them in/out. My son knows he would have it on DCL and was wanting it on RCI, too. He's a very responsible child, so I'm o.k. with this.

 

Thank you so much everyone. I really appreciate the help!

[buccikulju]

Hi, we're going on our first family cruise in February on the Sovereign. I have an 11 year old daughter and a 14 year old son. I found these photos of the kid's compass.

 

http://family.webshots.com/photo/1353338635071087628mtEYaV.

 

Hope that helps!:)

Patty

[castleforus]

Thank you so much. I did a search on webshots after seeing this and also found ones for my 11 year old. This is just one page, there are more.

http://family.webshots.com/photo/1353339442071087628iRGHEy

If you don't mind answering, what category are you staying in. (I'm asking this question at every opportunity I can!) We're debating one superior oceanview or 2 ocean view rooms.

[buccikulju]

Actually, this was a terrible dilemma for us.

 

When we decided to go there were no Superior Oceanview Rooms that sleep 4 people available. I then thought of the Junior Suites, but found out that the Junior Suites on this ship only sleep 3 people and they will not allow a fourth person. The other suites were not in our budget. So then I thought of an Oceanview Room with a nearby Interior stateroom...thinking we could all sleep together in a quad Oceanview Room (our kids DID NOT like the idea of sleeping in a different room!), and have a "spare" room for our clothes and for an extra shower and so forth. Unfortunately the folks at RCCL told me that the quad Oceanview would only be available if four people are booked into that room. <sigh> In other words, my clever plan would not work. :cool: So, we talked to the kids and they said that they would rather have us all crammed into one room than to have to split up, even in two adjoining rooms. So, here we are booked into room 5570. I've checked everyday since we booked (around Xmas time) to see if a four person Superior Oceanview Room has become available and unfortunately it hasn't. I gather that the Feb 19 sailing of the Sovereign will be pretty well booked. (It's vacation week in the Northeast).

 

 

I console myself by telling myself that a cabin in the middle of the ship on a lower deck (deck 5) will be more stable and therefore more comfortable. Also, my kids love the idea of the Pullman beds. We'll see how it goes.

 

Sorry for the long winded answer, but you asked! ;) I suppose your kids will let you know how they feel about sleeping in a different room and/or how you would feel if you split it with one adult and one child in each room. As I stated, my kids thought this was a terrible idea, even though they are 11 and 14. I think if this wasn't their first cruise they might be more willing to try adjoining rooms, but, not this time.

 

Good luck.

Patty

[castleforus]

Thanks. Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one who has trouble deciding what to do. I never even thought about the kids not wanting to do that but I just asked my kids and they said they'd be fine with connecting rooms but wouldn't want to be across the hall. Now, if I can get my husband on board, I'll see what's left for the date I want. I guess I never thought about that!