New to this - got questions!

[LG123]

This is only my second cruise, first time with Disney. I have found this board very informative. I think I will be so much more prepared now.

Question 1 - I have two girls, 3 & 6. I haven't seen anyone post about the children's activities with these ages. Any info for me? My kids love school and daycare so I am sure the will fit right in. Do they limit the time spent in the Club? What do they do with the kids if you have them there late at night?

Question 2 - My husband loved to snorkel on our last cruise. We are on a Western in December and would appreciate some info on good snorkeling tours. He is not too crazy about the stingrays.

I have so many more questions but don't want to post them all at once. If you have time I would love to talk to any experienced Disney cruiser. How do I get the cute countdown clock on my posts? Thanks!!!

 

[hulagirl]

We're taking our first cruise in Nov/Dec so I can't answer your first questions but if you go to the post on "weird kid question" I posted a link for the countdown timer.

 

[Hygiene99]

Also check out these 2 sites , from people on this board Very informative www.castawayclub.com and www.dcltribute.com

the fist site have taken over 30 cruises on DCL...
peter

 

[ohiominnie]

LG123,
Welcome! We recently went on our first cruise, a 4 day cruise on the Disney Wonder. We loved it!

I can't tell you about the snorkling, but do have first hand experience with both the Oceaneer's Lab and the Oceaneer's Club. My daughter was in the Lab (she's 8) She basically checked in around 9 or 10 am and stayed until midnight or 1:00 am!! She did check out for dinner with us twice (first night she didn't realize she had an option, the third night it was Animator's Palate and she didn't want to miss that) She did check out for swimming and for the evening shows. She also checked out for the premEAR of the Lizzie McGuire movie. Various times she'd check out to be with us for some short activity, but by FAR she spent more time in the Lab and loved every minute. (btw, she is homeschooled and I was SO impressed with how easily she just fit right into the group situation and dynamics! -- just had to cringe when she told us how she was explaining to the 10-12 yr old group all about the scientific properties of color and she was surprised they didn't know it already!! )


Anyway....onto my son. He was in the Club. He's 6 1/2. The Club is for kids 3-4 (must be pottytrained) and 5-7. I believe, for the most part, they are not all in the Club at the same time. I think they do "quiet movie time" all together though. My son liked the club, but he's more of a clingy child by nature. He would check in for an activity, (for example the pirate activity) but would ask to be picked up afterwards. He wanted to eat all meals with us. He didn't like quiet movie time in the evening because "I have all of these movies at home, I can watch them there!!" He also told us after the cruise that the mat they gave him the first night smelled like pee, and he didn't like that. He enjoyed the club when he was actually there. Played well with the kids. But wanted to be with us more than his sister did! ALTHOUGH....when we went to Castaway Cay, he pretty much wanted to be in the kids club on the island. He was with us in the morning, then wanted to go for his whale dig, and after that we couldn't get him out!!
The clubs are phenomenal. I highly admire the people who work there. I know I'd want to wring a few necks in very short order.
HTH

 

[eek40]

I have taken this cruise many times and although they have been without children I have viewed the kids clubs many times...(former teacher/nanny). The children seem very happy in fact I saw more dissapointment from the parents than the children. One poor man was beside himself because his dd wouldnt leave the clubs to spend time with him. They have a number of things thru out the day....the offical web site lists some of them, but the other posts in here are perfect also for info. I think at nite its pretty much story time, and movies. It didnt look like a lot going on, but the kids seemed to be having fun regardless. Hope this helps some.
Aimee

 

[LG123]

I am sure my kids will love the programs. They cry when I pick them up from daycare here! They are very outgoing love to play with other kids. We just got our Disney Cruise video in the mail today and are even more exctied! Thanks for all your great info.

 

[savs]

We were just on a cruise the beginning of May and my 2ds loved the clubs. They are ages 3 & 5 and spent time going in and out of the clubs depending ont he activity. They mostly went there when an activity was going on or if we needed to go to Palos or in the evenings when we wanted to go to Dueling Pianos.

The only problem we ran into was since one boy was in the younger group (3 &4) and the other one was in the older group (5-7). The older one actualy went to the lab a lot and left the younger one in the club. When I was looking into this before the cruise I didn't think having them in different groups was a big deal since I thought they would both still be in the club together. The 1st time we had to take them there we went to the club and checked the younger one in and then they said ok, now you have to take the older one and check him into the lab (down the hall). Well that brought tears to by little ones eyes...he thoght the older one was going with us and didn't realize what was going on. So we learned to check the navigator and tried to only drop them off when they both had to be dropped off at the same place (if they separated them later on that was ok with him) or we would drop the older one at the lab then take the little one over to the club. That way he saw his brother was with his group and not with us.

Also in the evenings we would let them know what movies were playing and let them decide if they wanted to go up there or not. Most often they really wanted to see the movie (even if they had already seen it 1,000 times before). So we would drop them off around 10:00 and we would head to whatever adult thing we wanted to do and them pick them up between 12:00-1:00. Most of the times they would fall asleep on their mats and we would have to carry them down to our room.

It just made the trip so much more enjoyable for all of us. They had time away from us and us from them. It made everyone feel they were getting the most out of their vacation

I hope this helps and if you have any more questions....ask away!

 

[GenieDana]

Snorkeling in Grand Cayman:

http://caymanislandsdiscounts.com/OffshoreSnorkeling.htm


Cozumel Beaches:

http://www.cozumelinsider.com/beaches.html

 

[eek40]

There is a national park that you can snorkel at in Cozmel. I highly recommend this. I cant spell it but will try. Its call Chanabab ???????? And it was awesome!

 

[jfeasel]

In response to if there is a limit on how long you can leave them in the clubs, there isn't a limit. My kids sound just like yours and love school and daycare. On our last DCL cruise in 2000, my kids didn't even want to eat dinner with us, they wanted to eat with the club kids! This time, my husband can't go because he's running a basketball camp, so my plan is to let them do the clubs all the time and I'm hitting the spa!

 

[Wishing on a star]

We haven't cruised yet. But I found the sample Kids Navigators (shedules) listed on Castawayclub.com very helpful!! You can get an idea what activities are planned at what times, when the two age groups might be together, etc....

When you first board the ship, you will get the Kids navigators for the entire cruise. Which I thought was such a great idea for being able to try to plan! The regular cruise navigators will come to your stateroom each morning.

Hope this helps!

 

[ohiominnie]

Originally posted by Wishing on a star
you will get the Kids navigators for the entire cruise. Which I thought was such a great idea for being able to try to plan!

That IS a great idea.
We packed a highlighter so dd and ds could mark off what they considered "don't miss" activities.
We did the same to our Navigators so we wouldn't smack ourselves in the head at 5:00 because we missed something we really wanted to do which was at 4:30!

 

[disney6]

bring different color highlighter for each kid. It's a lot easier that way.

 

[RellingTwin]

As a avid snorkler, I have done a bit of research on this. I never have had much luck seeing many fish when I get in the water with 50-100 other people!We booked with Eagle Ray Divers for our upcoming (10/11/03) trip. They have small boats (Max 10 people) and do a 1/2 day trip including beverages, lunch and all equipment for about 60.00 per person (1/2 price for kids). I booked with them last year but had to cancel when we did not make Cozumel due to a hurricaine.
I have read many wonderful reviews on this company (on several different boards) and have found them to be very easy to deal with when booking. E-mail answered quickley, and all questions answered. I will do a full report on them when we get back from our trip.
The web site is:

http://www.eagleraydivers.com/WhatsNew.htm

 

[granna]

When I told my students I was going on the Disney Cruise, one boy (age 6) said,
"The ship was GREAT, but we kept on having to go to these ISLANDS."

They love the kids clubs.

 

[LG123]

Thanks for the great replies. Can't wait to go.