Check out privileges from Kids Club

[Clojel]

Hi all, would love some feedback from people who have let their kids have self-check out privileges from Kids Club. DD will be just shy of 11 when we cruise this fall and it will be her 3rd time on the ship. She loves kids club but as she's getting towards the older end of it, I'm not sure she'll always want to be there the WHOLE time. Like, I'm imagining we send her one evening because we're doing a Palo dinner and half way through she's bored or not a fan of whatever they are doing and would rather just go back to her stateroom and watch a movie or something. Has anyone let their almost 11 year old check themselves out? How did you stay in contact with them if that was the case? She has an iPod and we've always had her leave it home but I'm debating letting her bring it so that she can text us if she decides to leave. The wave phones seem unnecessarily clunky. Thinking I could have her slide her iPod into a slim fanny pack or similar instead. Any input?

FWIW, she's VERY mature and savvy. She could probably tell you right now from memory the exact layout of the ship and how to get from Kids club to our deck, lol!!

Would love some (judgment free!) feedback!! TIA!

 

[otten]

We gave our 8.5 year old check out privileges. She only used the privilege once or twice. The reason we did it is because she does eventually need to learn how to be out in the world on her own. When she’s 12 she’ll be taking the bus to high school. I’d rather gradually give her more freedom and responsibility than expect her to just magically be responsible enough when it’s no longer optional. The cruise was a more controlled environment for this than our own neighbourhood.

She was allowed to go from the club to our room and that’s it. We were on 6 midship so it wasn’t far.

May 11 she’ll also be old enough for Edge where check out privileges are automatic.

 

[Mommb]

We gave our kids check-out privileges at 9 or 10. Our rule was that if they left the kids’ club, they must go back to our room. This was before the DCL onboard app existed. My husband or I would carry a wave phone in case anyone needed to call us. We figured the kids could ask someone in the kids’ club to call us or they could call us from the room if they needed us.

When the kids were a few years older, we allowed them to then go elsewhere on the ship as long as they left a message on the whiteboard inside our stateroom telling us where they were going and when they would be back. They were not allowed to go into another stateroom or bring anyone into our stateroom.

If we were at a table ourselves or had a good relationship with our table mates, we would let the kids go to the main dining room while we were at Palo. They felt grown-up, and we knew where they were.

 

[murmer]

We let our little guy have check out privileges when he was 9. We carried a wave phone which always told us when he checked out and he was allowed to do 2 things 1) go back to the room 2) grab a slice of pizza (or ice cream) and go back to kids club. He was really good at following the rules and really liked being able to get pizza whenever he wanted. But he also LOVES kids club so he only left when it shut down or to get pizza. Also note at 11 kids can go to tween club and that doesn’t have check in/out system.

 

[Clojel]

We let our little guy have check out privileges when he was 9. We carried a wave phone which always told us when he checked out and he was allowed to do 2 things 1) go back to the room 2) grab a slice of pizza (or ice cream) and go back to kids club. He was really good at following the rules and really liked being able to get pizza whenever he wanted. But he also LOVES kids club so he only left when it shut down or to get pizza. Also note at 11 kids can go to tween club and that doesn’t have check in/out system.

she’ll still be 10...the cruise is November and her birthday is December. I’m guessing she can’t do the Edge club until she’s officially 11, right?

 

[murmer]

she’ll still be 10...the cruise is November and her birthday is December. I’m guessing she can’t do the Edge club until she’s officially 11, right?

Actually on some cruises depending on numbers they will occasionally let a 10yr old age up. But you have to check when you get on the ship and they can say no if they have a large group in the 11-14 age group. I know of at least 1 who aged up on our last cruise.

 

[Clojel]

We gave our 8.5 year old check out privileges. She only used the privilege once or twice. The reason we did it is because she does eventually need to learn how to be out in the world on her own. When she’s 12 she’ll be taking the bus to high school. I’d rather gradually give her more freedom and responsibility than expect her to just magically be responsible enough when it’s no longer optional. The cruise was a more controlled environment for this than our own neighbourhood.

She was allowed to go from the club to our room and that’s it. We were on 6 midship so it wasn’t far.

May 11 she’ll also be old enough for Edge where check out privileges are automatic.

agree about gradual responsibility! It drives me crazy when people expect their kids to just flip a switch at a given age when they haven’t exposed them to anything to prepare them!

 

[Clojel]

Actually on some cruises depending on numbers they will occasionally let a 10yr old age up. But you have to check when you get on the ship and they can say no if they have a large group in the 11-14 age group. I know of at least 1 who aged up on our last cruise.

good to know! And, if they age up, can they have the option of EITHER club?

 

[Clojel]

We let our little guy have check out privileges when he was 9. We carried a wave phone which always told us when he checked out and he was allowed to do 2 things 1) go back to the room 2) grab a slice of pizza (or ice cream) and go back to kids club. He was really good at following the rules and really liked being able to get pizza whenever he wanted. But he also LOVES kids club so he only left when it shut down or to get pizza. Also note at 11 kids can go to tween club and that doesn’t have check in/out system.

yea, we would likely tell DD to go back to our room and our room only....otherwise she’ll eat ice cream 24/7 - hahaha!

 

[murmer]

good to know! And, if they age up, can they have the option of EITHER club?

Yes they can go to either (just make sure you did check in for both).

 

[PurplePencil]

good to know! And, if they age up, can they have the option of EITHER club?

As PP said she can go between the two as much as she wants. I do want to add that if she does age up she needs to have self-checkout from Oceaneers (since Edge doesn’t have check-in/out)

 

[Marc D]

We gave our son check-out privileges when he was 8. Then, the rule was that he could only go to the clubs from our room and back. We didn‘t give him a device to contact us. We would get the message on the app and wave phones that he had checked in/out and could time him both ways. He did great and was really proud of himself.

On our last cruises, at 9, we gave him an old iPhone (without service) that he could text us with. He was allowed to go to/from the clubs from anywhere around the ship i.e. after breakfast in Cabanas, meeting us in a lounge. He could also stay in the room to watch a movie while we went to activities. He even did dinner in the MDR alone that evening. We texted him a few times during the meal. We set everything up with the servers the evening before, but he ordered his own meal. He was not allowed to roam the ship without a specific purpose however.

Our son would not wander around the ship on his own anyway, or grab food between meals, so there are a lot of things that others might worry about that do not even cross our mind. Being platinum and very aware of his surroundings, he knows the ships’ layouts inside and out. He would never get lost getting anywhere. Maturity more than age is the most important factor.

 

[Rob1872]

You are the best judge of maturity on your child. Our oldest son was happily roaming the ship when he was 10, and knew to stick his nose into our room every so often to leave a note as to what he was doing and to check if we had left a note telling him of any new plans. Our youngest son (who is on the Autism spectrum) didn't get self checkout privilege until we had no choice (i.e. Edge age) and we were fairly nervous for the first few days until we realized that he either was in the club or coming back to the room to watch movies. Just remind them that they can never go into someone else's stateroom without the parents first approving it, even if it is their super new friend they just met.

 

[MomOTwins]

I think that sounds like a fine plan, with three caveats.

One: use the wave phone even if it is klunky. The app is great when it works, but we found it to be insufficiently reliable on our last trip to depend on (e.g., we'd get notices from kids the club on the wave phone instantaneously, but get the same message 30 mins later on the app).

Two: have a reminder talk with your kid about manners. I see a lot of tweens alone on the ship who may be otherwise mature and well-behaved (and no doubt their parents assumed they would be), but then they get together in "packs" they lose all sense of courtesy. No running or yelling in the hallways/stairwells. No pressing all the buttons in the elevator. No grabbing magnets off doors and "rehoming" them a few doors down because it's "funny." If getting food, sit down at a table and eat it, don't take a big plateful in the elevator where it can be accidentally spilled all over another guest (ketchup stains are the worst). If going to see a movie, no talking in the theater and saving seats. I know it seems obvious, but you really don't want to be that parent who thinks their kid can handle it only to have them making other guests on the ship miserable when the parents aren't watching.

Three: Trust, but verify. If your instructions are that your kid is to text you when they leave the club and go straight to the room, check on them once or twice to see that they followed through (don't have to be obvious; can come back to the room to "get sunglasses" or something).

 

[Clojel]

We gave our son check-out privileges when he was 8. Then, the rule was that he could only go to the clubs from our room and back. We didn‘t give him a device to contact us. We would get the message on the app and wave phones that he had checked in/out and could time him both ways. He did great and was really proud of himself.

On our last cruises, at 9, we gave him an old iPhone (without service) that he could text us with. He was allowed to go to/from the clubs from anywhere around the ship i.e. after breakfast in Cabanas, meeting us in a lounge. He could also stay in the room to watch a movie while we went to activities. He even did dinner in the MDR alone that evening. We texted him a few times during the meal. We set everything up with the servers the evening before, but he ordered his own meal. He was not allowed to roam the ship without a specific purpose however.

Our son would not wander around the ship on his own anyway, or grab food between meals, so there are a lot of things that others might worry about that do not even cross our mind. Being platinum and very aware of his surroundings, he knows the ships’ layouts inside and out. He would never get lost getting anywhere. Maturity more than age is the most important factor.

Yea, my DD is very mature for her age. I would have been inclined to give her privileges earlier but I wanted to be certain she had a handle on the layout of the ship - how to get from point A to point B. Thanks!

 

[Clojel]

You are the best judge of maturity on your child. Our oldest son was happily roaming the ship when he was 10, and knew to stick his nose into our room every so often to leave a note as to what he was doing and to check if we had left a note telling him of any new plans. Our youngest son (who is on the Autism spectrum) didn't get self checkout privilege until we had no choice (i.e. Edge age) and we were fairly nervous for the first few days until we realized that he either was in the club or coming back to the room to watch movies. Just remind them that they can never go into someone else's stateroom without the parents first approving it, even if it is their super new friend they just met.

Good reminder about somebody else's state room! I'm not sure I would have thought to mention that in advance. Thx!

 

[Clojel]

I think that sounds like a fine plan, with three caveats.

One: use the wave phone even if it is klunky. The app is great when it works, but we found it to be insufficiently reliable on our last trip to depend on (e.g., we'd get notices from kids the club on the wave phone instantaneously, but get the same message 30 mins later on the app).

Two: have a reminder talk with your kid about manners. I see a lot of tweens alone on the ship who may be otherwise mature and well-behaved (and no doubt their parents assumed they would be), but then they get together in "packs" they lose all sense of courtesy. No running or yelling in the hallways/stairwells. No pressing all the buttons in the elevator. No grabbing magnets off doors and "rehoming" them a few doors down because it's "funny." If getting food, sit down at a table and eat it, don't take a big plateful in the elevator where it can be accidentally spilled all over another guest (ketchup stains are the worst). If going to see a movie, no talking in the theater and saving seats. I know it seems obvious, but you really don't want to be that parent who thinks their kid can handle it only to have them making other guests on the ship miserable when the parents aren't watching.

Three: Trust, but verify. If your instructions are that your kid is to text you when they leave the club and go straight to the room, check on them once or twice to see that they followed through (don't have to be obvious; can come back to the room to "get sunglasses" or something).

These are all good points to keep in mind! The manners thing is HUGE with us....nothing bothers me more than unsupervised, poorly behaved children. DD is always exceptionally well behaved but you bring up a good point about getting together in "packs"! I'll be sure to remind her of our rules!

 

[matheke]

We gave our kids check-out privileges at 9 or 10. Our rule was that if they left the kids’ club, they must go back to our room. This was before the DCL onboard app existed. My husband or I would carry a wave phone in case anyone needed to call us. We figured the kids could ask someone in the kids’ club to call us or they could call us from the room if they needed us.

When the kids were a few years older, we allowed them to then go elsewhere on the ship as long as they left a message on the whiteboard inside our stateroom telling us where they were going and when they would be back. They were not allowed to go into another stateroom or bring anyone into our stateroom.

If we were at a table ourselves or had a good relationship with our table mates, we would let the kids go to the main dining room while we were at Palo. They felt grown-up, and we knew where they were.

A couple years ago there was a blended family sitting near us for our dining rotation. The mother had 2 kids from another marriage, the father had 2 kids from another marriage and they had a child together. My wife had a Birthday on the second night of a 5 day cruise so we invited all the kids over for some cake. Our table was an 8 top but 2 couple rebooked at other tables so we had plenty of room.

On the last night the oldest girl (about 10-11 yo) came down by herself. She said everybody else was to tired. We insisted that she sit with us and another couple. Just felt better that she was not alone. When it came time to order dessert she couldn't make up her mind which one she wanted. The other couple's wife told her "You can order as many as you want". Here eyes got as big around as saucers and replied "Really". She had three desserts and her secret was safe with us.

 

[TestingH2O]

My daughter is almost 8, and she is very aware of the fact that she can check herself out on our next trip if we give permission. So, on this trip we told her that she needed to start practicing navigating the ship on her own. We reviewed how to use the carpet, made her practice reciting her room number, reviewed procedures for if we get separated (find someone with a name tag,) things like that.

We let her do a little self navigating on this trip, and I feel confident that she will be ok on our next trip. We have booked deck 5, and we will practice her room number and look at deck plans before we go. She will only be allowed to go to our room or meet us somewhere that we agree on and we will give her an old iPhone so she can use the app.

 

[DisneyPiPhi]

My daughter is almost 8, and she is very aware of the fact that she can check herself out on our next trip if we give permission. So, on this trip we told her that she needed to start practicing navigating the ship on her own. We reviewed how to use the carpet, made her practice reciting her room number, reviewed procedures for if we get separated (find someone with a name tag,) things like that.

We let her do a little self navigating on this trip, and I feel confident that she will be ok on our next trip. We have booked deck 5, and we will practice her room number and look at deck plans before we go. She will only be allowed to go to our room or meet us somewhere that we agree on and we will give her an old iPhone so she can use the app.

Same! We just cruised with our seven-and-a-half year old. We practiced some Deck 9 freedom, such as being able to go between pool and waterslide or get pizza or ice cream without directly letting us know as long as she didn't leave the area. We did lots of navigation practice around the ship and practiced knowing the room number. One night, she was cold at dinner and went from Triton's to our Deck 5 stateroom to get her sweater by herself. Trying to prepare her for some more freedom on the next cruise!