Kids Club Age Change

[bobby5966]

Well as a concierge guest on the upcoming member cruise with a 10 year old that turns 11 the first week of May I’m pretty disappointed. We’ve only been on one cruise and this is what made the cruise, and the reason we were looking forward to it. I certainly wish they’d at least make exceptions to the cancellation - called and they will charge a penalty with no exceptions.

 

[Bibbidi_Boo]

Well as a concierge guest on the upcoming member cruise with a 10 year old that turns 11 the first week of May I’m pretty disappointed. We’ve only been on one cruise and this is what made the cruise, and the reason we were looking forward to it. I certainly wish they’d at least make exceptions to the cancellation - called and they will charge a penalty with no exceptions.

That is honestly ridicoulous. I know they don't have to , but good outstanding customer service would.

 

[bobby5966]

That is honestly ridicoulous. I know they don't have to , but good outstanding customer service would.

Yea I had them check and see if they could make any exceptions and it was a no. The good thing is we’ll probably be busy most days. One positive is we were able to move a cruise from October to April, so we get an opportunity to go one last time. I do wish they had age overlap so we could try both.

The one wild thing is I only found out about this change when I started looking at port adventures today for May

 

[_auroraborealis_]

FWIW- I got my almost 12 year old daughter the bitty baby doll set for her American Girl doll. She LOVED her Bitty Baby forever so when I saw this…. I had to get it for her. She refuses to give up her Barbie house and still plays dolls to decompress. I know it’s winding down… but it’s still something she loves. She’s also calling everyone dude, is obsessed with her friends and is dabbling with makeup. I trust her to walk to the grocery store or McDonalds and back- not terribly far, but on the main road. So she’s independent and ready… but still loves those dolls! She’d probably still do a BBB makeover without the dress in a heartbeat. She loved the Edge at 10.75.

Please allow me to point out that when adult men play video games, have Legos or giant collections of Funko Pops and similar, they are "cute hobbies." When girls continue to like American Girl or Barbie, it is "childish."

Which is to say: the cultural paradigm is stupid.

 

[lanejudy]

I certainly wish they’d at least make exceptions to the cancellation - called and they will charge a penalty with no exceptions.

Is that because it's a DVC member cruise? Or because you are booked concierge? If it's because of being booked concierge, you should still be able to change the date, just no refund for an outright cancellation. You could try for a date before her birthday, or continue to kick it down the road if you wanted to wait until she's older.

 

[Bibbidi_Boo]

Yea I had them check and see if they could make any exceptions and it was a no. The good thing is we’ll probably be busy most days. One positive is we were able to move a cruise from October to April, so we get an opportunity to go one last time. I do wish they had age overlap so we could try both.

The one wild thing is I only found out about this change when I started looking at port adventures today for May

Crazy! Thats great you get one last time. I wish we had known it was my daughters last time in Sept. But we are now doing Disneyland instead of our cruise this year so that will be fun. By the time we cruise again I don't think she will care she can't go to Lab, but this year she would have care.

 

[Bibbidi_Boo]

Please allow me to point out that when adult men play video games, have Legos or giant collections of Funko Pops and similar, they are "cute hobbies." When girls continue to like American Girl or Barbie, it is "childish."

Which is to say: the cultural paradigm is stupid.

This is such a good point. I hate how so many in our society want to grow up our kids (especially girls) so dang fast. I mean I know many people that refuse to take them to Disney or buy toys after age 5/6 saying its babyish.

 

[bobby5966]

Is that because it's a DVC member cruise? Or because you are booked concierge? If it's because of being booked concierge, you should still be able to change the date, just no refund for an outright cancellation. You could try for a date before her birthday, or continue to kick it down the road if you wanted to wait until she's older.

I think it’s probably due to concierge - I didn’t check to see if they could apply it to a future date, but that’s a great idea. I’ll have to check and see.

I should also add it would be loosing 20%, so it is cancelable, just at a hefty price.

 

[greeneyedchick]

This is such a good point. I hate how so many in our society want to grow up our kids (especially girls) so dang fast. I mean I know many people that refuse to take them to Disney or buy toys after age 5/6 saying its babyish.

That's terrible. I have always been mature for my age and I played with dolls until high school. Even in high school, I switched to collecting "collector's dolls." Kids should be encouraged to play and use their imagination for as long as possible.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

That's terrible. I have always been mature for my age and I played with dolls until high school. Even in high school, I switched to collecting "collector's dolls." Kids should be encouraged to play and use their imagination for as long as possible.

and adults

 

[CamillaF]

Well as a concierge guest on the upcoming member cruise with a 10 year old that turns 11 the first week of May I’m pretty disappointed. We’ve only been on one cruise and this is what made the cruise, and the reason we were looking forward to it. I certainly wish they’d at least make exceptions to the cancellation - called and they will charge a penalty with no exceptions.

I am sorry. Disney should do better.

 

[DCLMP]

I'm surprised people are surprised by Disney's lack of communication, abrupt changes, and poor shoreside customer service. Heck, I was on a cruise this Summer when they announced at 6 pm no alcohol would be served for the next 24 hours. Disney is good in some areas and lacking in others. I think communication is not one of their positives.

 

[Cfabar1]

I'm surprised people are surprised by Disney's lack of communication, abrupt changes, and poor shoreside customer service. Heck, I was on a cruise this Summer when they announced at 6 pm no alcohol would be served for the next 24 hours. Disney is good in some areas and lacking in others. I think communication is not one of their positives.

What was the reason for that?

 

[bcwife76]

What was the reason for that?

I believe we were on tbe same cruise, it was the 11 night cruise from Copenhagen to South Hampton. Part way through the cruise we were sailing from one danish port to another and apparently they are not allowed to sell alcohol or have shops open during that time as it's a "domestic cruise"... something like that? I believe customs agents came aboard and told them this, that if they sold liquor etc they would be heavily fined. I was in a WhatsApp group within our cruise group and people were bartering for bottles of wine, inviting others to their room to partake of the wine they had in their rooms and the like it was so odd to see the bars so quiet that night, bar staff had basically nothing to do, Palo that night could not serve any alcohol, nor could they in the main dining rooms and the stores remained closed as well.

 

[Weedy]

One simple thing I’d love would be for the Edge and Vibe to get is an iPad at the door that kids could use to text their parents in the app when they come/go if needed. This would be a benefit even to those of us who loved Edge for our kids, were fine with checkouts, and had kids with phones (my son didn’t always want to be carrying his phone around, especially when wearing swim trunks). Calling the stateroom and leaving a vm was always an option but I’m not sitting around my room and don’t want to go back randomly to see if my kids had left the Edge.

This was needed in my opinion before this change, but is something relatively easy to implement to help with the transition.

Just a FYI
You can retrieve messages from your cabin phone from any house phone on the ship. Just dial your cabin and follow the prompts.

 

[DMMarla07860]

I believe we were on tbe same cruise, it was the 11 night cruise from Copenhagen to South Hampton. Part way through the cruise we were sailing from one danish port to another and apparently they are not allowed to sell alcohol or have shops open during that time as it's a "domestic cruise"... something like that? I believe customs agents came aboard and told them this, that if they sold liquor etc they would be heavily fined. I was in a WhatsApp group within our cruise group and people were bartering for bottles of wine, inviting others to their room to partake of the wine they had in their rooms and the like it was so odd to see the bars so quiet that night, bar staff had basically nothing to do, Palo that night could not serve any alcohol, nor could they in the main dining rooms and the stores remained closed as well.

Interesting. I know my Friend Mario(a beverage manager talked with me about it)

 

[CamillaF]

I'm surprised people are surprised by Disney's lack of communication, abrupt changes, and poor shoreside customer service. Heck, I was on a cruise this Summer when they announced at 6 pm no alcohol would be served for the next 24 hours. Disney is good in some areas and lacking in others. I think communication is not one of their positives.

In my case its' not surprise. It's disappointment and a belief that Disney should do better.

 

[DCLMP]

What was the reason for that?

Do you mean the alcohol? They said they weren't leaving Denmark waters into international waters. I don't know, but it was weird. The first dry night I've ever seen on a cruise ship. Did they not know that or did they forget to pay some fee that would allow them Who knows it's Disney.

I believe we were on tbe same cruise, it was the 11 night cruise from Copenhagen to South Hampton. Part way through the cruise we were sailing from one danish port to another and apparently they are not allowed to sell alcohol or have shops open during that time as it's a "domestic cruise"... something like that? I believe customs agents came aboard and told them this, that if they sold liquor etc they would be heavily fined. I was in a WhatsApp group within our cruise group and people were bartering for bottles of wine, inviting others to their room to partake of the wine they had in their rooms and the like it was so odd to see the bars so quiet that night, bar staff had basically nothing to do, Palo that night could not serve any alcohol, nor could they in the main dining rooms and the stores remained closed as well.

You would think they would have known that before hand. That’s what I mean about DCL they don't always have it together. I’m sure other cruise lines that do that route wouldn’t plan an itinerary like that because they lose money.

 

[DMMarla07860]

Do you mean the alcohol? They said they weren't leaving Denmark waters into international waters. I don't know, but it was weird. The first dry night I've ever seen on a cruise ship. Did they not know that or did they forget to pay some fee that would allow them Who knows it's Disney.

You would think they would have known that before hand. That’s what I mean about DCL they don't always have it together. I’m sure other cruise lines that do that route wouldn’t plan an itinerary like that because they lose money.

All Cruise line had same rule in those waters I believe I read others were surprised on other lines as well

 

[DCLMP]

All Cruise line had same rule in those waters I believe I read others were surprised on other lines as well

I realize all cruise lines have the same rules. What other ships were surprised by this? The only thing I've read is that NCl didn't want to pay the fees to be able to sell alcohol in certain Baltic ports.
I don't doubt passengers were surprised, but the cruise lines shouldn't have been. The Crew on the Dream was surprised. Lots of lost tips for them.