ScottD Posted February 10, 2023 Report Share Posted February 10, 2023 Just got off Oasis, and laid the deposit down for another cruise with Next Cruise before we got off. Now we have to decide what cruise to actually take, and I thought maybe we'd change it up. How is Celebrity for kids? Looking at the ships, I don't see the slides and stuff which is fine, but are there onboard activities and is the klds club any good? Still leaning toward re-booking Oasis because he loved it so much (he's 11, btw) and there was so much we didn't try...but figured I'd dip my toes in the Celebrity side and see how it was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbrinkm Posted February 10, 2023 Report Share Posted February 10, 2023 A thought about Oasis and your son's age - if he turns 12 before your next cruise he would be in the teen club rather than AO (Oasis ships start at 12). I don't know Celebrity's club age guidelines. I don't think Celebrity is known for being as much of a family line - it used to be more upscale than Royal. We cruised Celebrity once and I don't remember seeing many kids at all, but that may have changed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xaa Posted February 10, 2023 Report Share Posted February 10, 2023 If not for my 12yo, my wife and I would sail Celebrity for sure. With him, I just don't see it being tailored to him in any way. Best of both worlds for us would be Edge class that stopped at Coco Cay. That's probably not the best for the typical Celebrity cruiser. ScottD and Neesa 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted February 10, 2023 Report Share Posted February 10, 2023 I didn't think a Royal NextCruise future cruise certificate could be used on Celebrity. WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottD Posted February 10, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2023 4 hours ago, twangster said: I didn't think a Royal NextCruise future cruise certificate could be used on Celebrity. Maybe the future cruise can't...when I did it she asked which line kmi planned on doing,but that may have been if I booked right then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottD Posted February 10, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2023 6 hours ago, jbrinkm said: A thought about Oasis and your son's age - if he turns 12 before your next cruise he would be in the teen club rather than AO (Oasis ships start at 12). I don't know Celebrity's club age guidelines. I don't think Celebrity is known for being as much of a family line - it used to be more upscale than Royal. We cruised Celebrity once and I don't remember seeing many kids at all, but that may have changed. Thanks...it'll either be JUST before or just after he turns 12, so hoping they'll let him slide up if it's the month before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyC Posted February 14, 2023 Report Share Posted February 14, 2023 Honestly - I wouldn't want him to slide up. This just about 12 yr old is now in a group with teens who date, drive, have freedoms that your son doesn't know, and are working post-high school plans. They try to separate the 12-14 from the 15-17, but there are a lot of joint events and depending on the size of the group they may all be. Remember - you don't and won't know these kids and have no idea what your 12 yr old will be exposed to. Some of the things my kids shared with me were...interesting. My boys, now 25 & 23, started cruising when they were 4 & 2 and participated in kids programs across three different cruise lines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody14 Posted February 14, 2023 Report Share Posted February 14, 2023 On 2/10/2023 at 2:50 PM, ScottD said: Thanks...it'll either be JUST before or just after he turns 12, so hoping they'll let him slide up if it's the month before. generally speaking most cruise lines are pretty tight on the age rules. As soon as they make 1 exception everyone wants an exception and then they get programs that become unruly really fast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottD Posted February 14, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2023 30 minutes ago, Woody14 said: generally speaking most cruise lines are pretty tight on the age rules. As soon as they make 1 exception everyone wants an exception and then they get programs that become unruly really fast. Yeah I know... I also hear it depends on amount of kids, and some other factors. If they don't, they don't and he'll just end up hanging with us the whole time, but hoping MAYBE they'll let him in since he'll be a month out. He already felt like the oldest kid in the 6-11 group at one month after turning 11, so I'm sure he won't love it as an almost 12 yr old Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyC Posted February 16, 2023 Report Share Posted February 16, 2023 On 2/14/2023 at 11:16 AM, ScottD said: Yeah I know... I also hear it depends on amount of kids, and some other factors. If they don't, they don't and he'll just end up hanging with us the whole time, but hoping MAYBE they'll let him in since he'll be a month out. He already felt like the oldest kid in the 6-11 group at one month after turning 11, so I'm sure he won't love it as an almost 12 yr old Who knows, maybe this sailing will have lots of 11 yr olds he can relate to! My boys have had different experiences each sailing, all based on the number of kids in their age groups, even when they sailed more than once during a year. Sometimes they flat out didn't like the kids in their group and barely went, and others they kept in touch with for a long time after. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbrinkm Posted February 16, 2023 Report Share Posted February 16, 2023 We loved Allure so much last spring and also felt like we didn't do everything we wanted on the ship, that we booked her again for this spring. I feel like 12 can be a challenging age to be in the teen club. My son was 12 last year and was still a little young for his age, there were a lot of older teen boys in the club and he seemed a little intimidated. He ended up just mostly hanging out with us or his older sibling who had a small group they connected with. We tried to encourage him to go to some of the organized activities, like the foosball competition, but he was pretty resistant. I think he'll have a better time this year now that he has grown quite a bit and is 13 and wants less to do with parents. ScottD 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottD Posted February 17, 2023 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2023 12 hours ago, KathyC said: Who knows, maybe this sailing will have lots of 11 yr olds he can relate to! My boys have had different experiences each sailing, all based on the number of kids in their age groups, even when they sailed more than once during a year. Sometimes they flat out didn't like the kids in their group and barely went, and others they kept in touch with for a long time after. Thank you. I hope so...I'd rather he was with kids slightly younger than hanging with the teens. I honestly think he just got a bad first impression, the time he happened to try it was mostly younger kids and he never even gave it a chance. So...I guess we will see! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mac66 Posted February 19, 2023 Report Share Posted February 19, 2023 I think there's two ways of looking at RC vs. X 1. Do the cruise for yourself, not for your kid. An X cruise may not have all the bells and whistles of an Oasis class ship but it's still a cruise. Unless you've spoiled your kid rotten he should have a good time on whatever ship you go on. It is after all still a cruise, how bad could it be? 2. Even if he doesn't have as good a time on X as he did on the Oasis, it still gives him and you something to look forward to if you decide to go back to RC. That's kind of why I always recommend sailing on smaller class RC ships first. Get your feet wet on the smaller ships first. You can always go up a class, harder to go down. Xaa, Neesa and WAAAYTOOO 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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