My mom, my two daughters and I went on our first Disney cruise this last June – the first time on a cruise ever for me and my girls – and I have many favorite things about my experience on the Disney Dream. I will have several entries about my cruise here at some point, but for now, let me tell you about one of those favorite things: Kid’s clubs!
I love my children. Which includes my youngest daughter. But let me tell you that one of the highlights about my recent Disney cruise was the fact that I got some time without her. That sounds awful, and is the kind of sentence that, if she reads it now, would make her sad. So I won’t show this to her. But her future self is totally going to get it.
When we first boarded the ship, we did what most newbies did, and toured it. One of the first things we checked out was the kid’s clubs. Here’s the thing; the Disney cruise line has excellent kid’s clubs. One of them, Edge, is just for ages 11-14 and my social little girl took to it immediately. I mean, don’t get me wrong, we did plenty of family stuff; meals together, Castaway Cay, shows, hanging out on the deck, the Aquaduck, and the pool, but it was also very nice to be able to hang out in the kid-free zone of the ship and just relax as only adults without little kids present can. Quietly.
In preparation for our cruise experience, I had YouTubed the Disney Dream and knew that there was a kids club for ages 3-12 called the Oceaneer’s Lab that looked ultra-themed and really cool and it was where I figured my 11-year-old would like to hang out when she wanted to do kid’s stuff. It has directed activities such as building race cars, making cookies, a science station, and a detective mystery to solve. There are also movies, navigation simulators, video games, an animation studio, a craft studio, and all kinds of kids to play with. There’s security, too, kids cannot check themselves in or out on their own and there are several cast members manning the ingress and egress gates of the club. Everyone has to register to be able to go to the club, and all the information pops up on a screen for the cast member to see – your stateroom number, allergies, and any other pertinent information. Right next door is the Oceaneer’s Club. Also designed for ages 3-12, this area has several specifically themed play rooms; Andy’s room, Pixie Hollow, and a Millennium Falcon room. There’s a magical interactive play floor, and more directed activities here as well; A Jedi training experience, story time, and Playtime with Mickey – where Mickey and pals will play games and puzzles with the kids.
The hours of these clubs? 9 am to m-i-d-n-i-g-h-t. This means you have free babysitting – where the kids will have a ball – at almost any time of day, during the entire length of your cruise. The great thing is the Disney cruise can be as family-friendly as you want it to be; if you want someplace for your child to play for an hour, for the length of a quiet dinner, at night while you go to the silent disco, or while you tour Nassau, you can be (almost) assured that your child will have fun. I say “almost” because I did witness a pretty sad sight one day as I was passing by the Oceaneer’s Club; a small boy, no more than five, who had been crying up in the area by the gates where the cast members monitor who is being signed in and out. I happened by during what must have been a shift change and one cast member was explaining to the other that the child had been there since 9am (it was 3 when I passed by), and had been upset for the whole time, and his parents had not come for him. My heart broke for the little guy. While I certainly did enjoy my child-free moments on the cruise, this was just a very long time to leave a sad little boy and not come back for him.
There is, by the way, It’s a Small World Nursery, for kids ages 6 months to 3 years. This service is one that you need to reserve ahead of time and does charge for its services, but a very nominal fee.
There are clubs for the older kids, as well – Edge (ages 11-14), and Vibe (ages 14 – 17), on different areas of the ship from where the younger kid’s clubs are. And while the Oceaneer Club and the Oceaneer Lab were so cool, Edge is where my daughter was drawn to. It’s a bit lighter on the theming, one might say “more mature” if one was eleven, but just like the younger kid’s clubs, Edge has both organized and independent activities to choose from. My daughter participated in a dance competition, trivia, and learned how to draw a Disney character. There was always a movie playing, plus video games, foosball, dodgeball, and other activities such as a pirate challenge and improv. My daughter’s favorite thing? Meeting and hanging out with other kids. For this club, unlike the clubs for the younger kids, parents do not sign kids in and out. The kids can come and go as they please. This meant that if a kid got hungry, they simply walked down one flight of stairs and went to the buffet, or the ice-cream machine or the drink station, or – who are we kidding, the ice-cream machine. This lack of signing in and out is also what made me wary of this service at first.
You see, I am a bone fide worst-case-scenario worrier. I don’t have a stomach ache; its most definitely a tumor. My kids aren’t just out of my sight for a minute; they’re definitely kidnapped. So for me to let my 11-year-old go back and forth to Edge on her own is a testament to how secure I felt once I got familiar with how things worked on the ship. A fantastic feature, and the one that put me most at ease, was the set of Wave phones that are located in the stateroom. I have a cell phone, but my daughter doesn’t. And you don’t get great cell service on board anyway. But the Wave phones are a courtesy service that is designed to help parties communicate on the ship despite spotty cell service. At first, I just saw it as expensive tech on our desk in the stateroom and told my kid to leave it alone. But she insisted with a confidence in technology that only those under age 25 have, and we gave the phones a try. It was great! I could contact her from anywhere on board. She could phone me when she got to the club and phone me when she was hungry and going down for food (ice-cream). I could phone her when it was time to meet up again for dinner or a show. Or just to see her and tell her I love her (in case she reads this before adulthood).
The option of a kid’s club made our cruise so relaxing. My youngest daughter’s love of Edge allowed my mom and I some time to just hang out together on the forward deck or to go to the spa – and it also allowed for my older daughter to have some time with just her and her grandma. So, while the Disney Dream is a wonderful family experience, the kids club help you to customize what that experience looks like and gives everyone a little of what they want!
Fifty State Family 