11 Year and 10 months in Teen Club

[staylordunn]

Some friends asked us to join them on a cruise in June of this year. Each family has two boys.  The older boys are 14 and are just finishing 8th grade - about to start high school.  The younger boys are finishing 6th grade and will be in 7th grade in the fall.  One of the younger boys turned 12 in January and my son turns 12 in August.  We called Royal Carribbean to ask if he will be allowed with his brother and two friends into the 12-14 year old club, but they told us they cannot give us an answer on the phone.  Has anyone experienced this and can we get a waiver?   

We had this issue on Disney last year (their club is 11-14) and it was also June and they had not problem with it and let him in so he could be with his brother.  We had no idea that RCI had an older age cutoff until after we accepted our friend's invitation to travel with them.

Any insights are greatly appreciated because we are very concerned that if our son cannot go with his brother and two friends, that it will be a miserable experience for him and significantly impact everyone's cruise.

Thank you in advance for any insights or help.

Stephanie

[DocLC]

I've found they've been accommodating when the kids are within 6 months or so of the age cut off. However, it is up to the staff to determine onboard, so that's why you won't get an answer in advance. 

[jticarruthers]

We have had them make exceptions and had them not make exceptions, depends a lot on how busy the clubs are going to be, how many other people are asking, how you tackle it, etc, etc.

Unfortunately you wont know until you try and see what happens.

[JBC]

On a recent Freedom sailing I had this issue with my kids, they were 9 and 7 and fell into different age groups.  Neither of my kids really cared, as they are both pretty outgoing, so they were fine going to separate rooms.  I found that most evenings and some other times as well that due to there not being that many kids in the clubs they combined the groups anyways, so as others have said, I think it depends on the amount of kids and the situation.  I think if you go there and talk to the people, tell them your situation, stress that they are brothers and in 2 months the younger one turns 12, please don't split them up....I would be very surprised if they told you no.  They get these kinds of requests on every sailing, and if they told everyone no exceptions you would hear about it, and it would also make for a lot of angry cruisers.  I really wouldn't worry about it, I don't think you will have any issues.       

[Matt]

Ultimately, it depends on the AO staff.  My recommendation is to explain the situation and ask nicely.

On a recent cruise, my oldest had turned 6 2 months before the cruise, so that meant she got moved up to Explorers. Well, on this sailing there were not a lot of kids and Explorers (6-8) and Voyagers (9-11) got mixed together and that meant a lot of the older kids were engaging in games she was not comfortable with.  The AO director talked to me about having her stay in Aquanauts (3-5) since it was more her pace.

I think the key is to ask nicely for what you want, but, be prepared if the answer is not what you want. Depending on the amount of kids on your sailing, it may or may not be so easy to change.

[Kellyjo72]

We took a cruise last year on the Grandeur of the Seas and my son was only 11. We were able to sign a waiver stating that we allowed him to be in the 12 yr (teen) program. He loved it!! We had no problems. Enjoy!!