Hi! I'm a first time cruiser, traveling with 3 small children on RCI this summer. My brother would like to join us, with his 2 kids, but 1 will be 2 weeks short of 3 years. She's potty trained, and mature. Any chance they would allow her into the kids' program? How flexible are they about the age cut-off? Any insight would be great, as they are trying to make a decision by tomorrow. Thanks!
Hi! I'm a first time cruiser, traveling with 3 small children on RCI this summer. My brother would like to join us, with his 2 kids, but 1 will be 2 weeks short of 3 years. She's potty trained, and mature. Any chance they would allow her into the kids' program? How flexible are they about the age cut-off? Any insight would be great, as they are trying to make a decision by tomorrow. Thanks!
Not sure if this info is too late, but according to Royal Caribbean there are NO exceptions to their rule about being 3 to participate in the Adventure Ocean activities. Now that is the oficial policy, however, whether individual youth staff on individual ships bend the rules in some cases is a good question. I am sure there are liability issues, etc. that play into the picture. If booking the cruise is dependent on the child's participation in the children's program, then I would be hesitant.
Nancy
To put the official line on this, if a companies policy is not to accept children under 3 in their kids program then generally it is because they are not insured to do so, and therefore to ask them to bend the rules would not be advised.
If however, the cruiseline operates a creche facility then they may mind the child for a fee.
Im not sure with RCI as i havent travelled with them.
Not sure if this is too late to answer but...
I took my two kids on an RCCL cruise last Jan. and my youngest was 7 weeks shy of his 3rd birthday. They refused to take him even though he cried that he wanted to be with his big brother. You could tell the counselor really felt bad (my son can throw a really great guilt-tantrum) but No was No.
They know the ages, they have a manifest with each childs name and birthdate. You cannot even board the ship without a birth certificate, so the answer is yes they know how old each child is, and if you tried to lie and say they were older all they would have to do is look at the manifest to get the childs age.
You might want to look into either a Disney cruise or a Carnival cruise since their policy is to take younger children. Carnival will take them at 2 into the childrens program.
We just returned from an NCL cruise ansd were told as long as we acompanied our 20 month old he could participate. Once on board he was refused any use of kids room at all!! if only to roll a ball around by himself with me at 7 a.m., We are planning a fall cruise and when I called royal they said they have an "aqua tots " program for 6-18 mth olds which is free and runs morning and p.m and he could go with one adult helping? maybe that helps you?
We just got home from a Carnival cruise and the age requirement for anyone reading now is 2. We took our three kids ages 8,10 & 11 and they all loved Camp Carnival. Our 8 year old wanted to be with the 9-11 year old group since his brother and sister were there and they did allow him to do so. The older group was allowed to sign themselves in and out and even when they older two weren't with him they allowed him to do so. Anyone trying to decide on cruise's for families I was really impressed with Carnival's activities for kids. We have cruised by ourselves on Royal Carribean and loved it but they did not offer quite as much for kids. After we got on Carnival I realized how MUCH there was for adults to do to.
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