[yazee1]

The deciding factor for picking a Disney cruise for our family was that my husband and I could enjoy the cruise with our children (10y, 7yr and 4yr) but also do things as a couple without them. In fact, we are toying with the idea of visiting one of the ports of call just the two of us and letting the children stay on the boat in the kids' clubs IF that will be fun for them. I have no doubts about their safety. I'm wondering if parents do that and what the kids would do in the clubs during those hours.

Also, our 7 year old will be two months shy of his 8th birthday when we go. Being grouped in with the 5 year old would not be a good fit for him. How flexible will the childcare staff be about letting him go with the 8 and 9 year old group?

TIA,
Monica

[brumcg]

Monica,

I've read that they will let kids close to the next age group join the next age group.

I've also read that parents are expected to be within range of the pagers, and that the range doesn't extend very far off the boat.

Hopefully someone will have first hand knowledge and not just read it somewhere!

Bruce

[woohoo]

well from experiance-
they want the kids to be close to the age group they are in- my DD will not be able to be with her brother this time because he is 9 and she is 7 - the cut off is 8. But they are geared to do appropriate stuff at the different age groups so there is lots for them to do. Also the pagers are awesome and we rented Mopeds in Nassau and had no problem finding out that my DD wanted to swim in the micky head pool from our secluded spot on the beach. I will say though that the little waterproof boxes that they sell at castaway are not waterproof- dont go skorkeling with it- again from experiance-
as for how long to keep them there? Well they did not want to come with us- not even to the shows or dinners- they had so much fun with the "yellow people"

[yazee1]

Okay, so if my son is very close to 8, the staff may be amicable to placing him with the 8 year olds in the Oceaneer Lab instead of with the younger group in the Oceaneer Club. That would be fine. Being with his brother is not my concern. We homeschool; he gets plenty of time with his sibs.

[mickey]

I think it really depends on the kids. My kids are not realy fond of the kids club. Part of the problem was that our last trip, we went with some cousins, and their parents never put them in the club, so our kids thought their cousins were out partying with Mickey and Minnie the whole time, so they never wanted to go. Turns out the cousins were just sitting in the room watching TV, so by the end of the cruise, they were back liking the kids club. I would suggest every night, getting your personal navigator and planning out your day with the kids. Who knows, some kids hate leaving the club, others are fine for a couple of hours. We usually pick out a couple of things the kids want to do, and plan around that.

[woohoo]

Micky- you are always so wise!!

Personally I like that the kids feel like they would rather stay there- its a load off the "entertain them" back. I have to keep the baby with me but its nice to know that they are safe and having a blast while Im enjoying myself too. My DD who is 7 wants to be in her group because she still wants to be the princess and see them and is less inclined to be in the computer lab etc.. My DS is looking forward to a different experiance, it all works out!

[qltingrl]

I think the age cut off was one month of the next birthday. I read that somewhere but can't remember where. I think though you could ask because your child is going to be the top of the age group and may be bored there while, if allowed to move up, would be more interested in what is going on in the club. We found as well that they have them in groups of 2 years, i.e., 4-5,6-7,8-9,11-12. I would definitely ask to have him moved up.

My 11 yo did not like the kid's club. His brother is 18 and they spend a lot of time together so he felt he was being treated too much like a 'child'. It's hard to convince him he is one!

Have a good time!