Princess Pelican group for 8 yr old?

[latterdayesther]

We are sailing on the Sapphire to Mexico 21 Nov., with grandchildren ages 3, 5 1/2, and 8. Will Princess allow the 8 yr old to stay in the younger group with his little sisters if he wishes, or will he have to go up to the 8-12 Shockwaves group?

Do the onboard counselors really teach about stars, oceans, coral reefs, etc. with California Science Center and NWF educational materials?

Any general information from those who have traveled with young children on the Sapphire would be most welcome! Thanks! :)

lattedayesther

[Toto2Kansas]

We are sailing on the Sapphire to Mexico 21 Nov., with grandchildren ages 3, 5 1/2, and 8. Will Princess allow the 8 yr old to stay in the younger group with his little sisters if he wishes, or will he have to go up to the 8-12 Shockwaves group?

 

Do the onboard counselors really teach about stars, oceans, coral reefs, etc. with California Science Center and NWF educational materials?

 

Any general information from those who have traveled with young children on the Sapphire would be most welcome! Thanks! :)

 

lattedayesther

 

The age groups are not interchangeable, they must go with their age group.

[rebeccalouise]

My son is 8 and he can't wait to go to move up. Last year he was 7 almost 8 and hated being with the 3 year olds. He was routinely punched by a little kid and told that he should understand since he was only three. Ugghh... I love Princess but that wasn't fair to my son.

 

So I don't think that 3 year olds have much in common with 8 year olds. Your son will have more fun in the older group.

[rebeccalouise]

I forgot to mention that I was on Sapphire Princess also (in 2005) and the youth program was very good but the little kids do mainly arts and crafts. The older children get to explore areas of the ship with the counselors. They will be in entirely different rooms on Sapphire.

 

Your eight year old would not have fun with the younger kids. I can guarantee that he would feel like he was in nursery school.

[latterdayesther]

Thanks Rebbecalouise, I appreciate your thoughts. My concern is that my daughter, who is very protective of her son, may not want him in with 12 year olds. I'm sure she will size up the counselors and the situation once we get on board.

The enrichment stuff with the CA Science Center and NWF mentioned in the Unofficial Guide to Cruising seemed a little too good to be true...but I do hope that they enjoy actually learning something versus just watching videos.

Safety is a main concern, too. Were you confident that they kept track of all of the kids all of the time? :confused:

[onthelake]

My son has always enjoyed the youth activities on board and I give a lot of credit to the counselors. But, the enrichment activities have been very, very spotty. Count on fun for the kids but don't count on knowledge. Like any cruise, the staff moves from ship to ship and contracts are completed and new crew members come aboard. Some staff members are more serious about the educational activities and, of course, the number of kids always influence what can be accomplished. The counselors also create daily programs and perhaps the activities will not mesh with the family plans.

[rebeccalouise]

Princess doesn't really excell with their youth programs. Don't get me wrong, the kids will be very well attended to and you shouldn't worry too much about this. What I mean by this is they don't have as exciting a program as say Celebrity or Royal Caribbean. My son's favorite cruise lines have been Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Disney.

 

But Princess delivers an overall great product. There are lots of things for the kids to do besides go to the youth program but your grandson will make a new friend in the youth program and then they can hang out at the pool together and participate in the activities they enjoy. You will get a list of the daily activities for each age group. As far as enrichment. I did Alaska and Europe on Princess and they didn't do this with the 3-7s and I wasn't paying attention to the activities for the older kids. So can't comment on this.

 

My son was getting punched by a 3 year old in the youth program last summer and this really was a problem. He was the brother of another child in the same group (3-7) and the counselor kept telling my son to be patient. The child even bit my son! So this time- he is thrilled to be going with the older kids.

 

I think that everything will be fine. I have sailed 16 times with my 8 year old- twice on Princess and we both had an overall great time. In fact, we are doing another one this summer and I am sure that it will be great.

 

If my child does get hit or punched and the counselors don't remove said child from the program. I will march right down to the front desk and demand they inforce the no hitting policies. I should have done that last time.

 

And yes- the counselors take their job very seriously and they will keep track of your child. Now- older children are allowed to sign in and out of the program if you give the youth program permission. I did this for the first time on Royal and regretted it. I was always trying to find my son. I had said that he could not go to the pool without me and of course, a few days later- found him there with a buddy from the youth program. So I would not allow your 8 year old to sign himself out. This is why its against the law to leave your kids at home unattended (until they are 9).

[latterdayesther]

Thank-you for these details, it helps a lot! :)

latterdayesther

[Nicole0992]

and my son was 5 and daughter 8. They allowed my daughter to go into the younger group with my son to keep them together. The counselor is the one who suggested it to us when she saw how shy my daughter was.

 

Nicole

[karatemom2]

Thanks Rebbecalouise, I appreciate your thoughts. My concern is that my daughter, who is very protective of her son, may not want him in with 12 year olds. I'm sure she will size up the counselors and the situation once we get on board.

 

The enrichment stuff with the CA Science Center and NWF mentioned in the Unofficial Guide to Cruising seemed a little too good to be true...but I do hope that they enjoy actually learning something versus just watching videos.

 

Safety is a main concern, too. Were you confident that they kept track of all of the kids all of the time? :confused:

 

The California Science Program on Princess is excellent. My daughter has done many fun experiments including disecting a squid and making "flubber". I understand being a protective Mom as I am one too, but I don't think the 8 year old would have nearly as much fun in the younger group and he would miss out on the Science Program as that is targeted at the Shockwaves age level. Keep in mind that even though they show the range as 8-12, that can change based on the number of children on board. My daughter has also been in 8 to 10 and 7 to 9 year old groups when they have had to break them up to keep the group sizes manageable. Since you are cruising Thanksgiving week you can bet that there will be a higher number of kids onboard, so they may need to break up the groups a bit more.

 

Usually the counselors will encourage you to let the older child try his age group and see how it goes. If it doesn't work out, they may let him move down to the younger group. Princess is very strict about age groups so it's not a guarantee. They seem to be somewhat flexible about letting kids go to a younger group, but never have I seen them allow a younger kid to move up to an older group.

 

We have been on 7 Princess cruises and my 9 year old daughter has had wonderful experiences with the kids program. They really do an excellent job with the kids!

[erinpdx]

My family will be on this same cruise in November. My son Tyler will be 9 by then. My daughter is 7 which means they will be in different kids program groups too. We will look for you and your family!