Kids Club Ages-Moving Down (Alaska)

[reveilleba]

Hi, I'm toying with sailing Royal Caribbean to Alaska next summer with kids who will be 10 and 7 (almost 8). We've only sailed Disney before (but can't swing that for Alaska!), where both kids have been in the same age group. I notice the age group shift is at age 9, which would put my girls in different clubs. My 10 year old has some neurodiversity and will be unwilling to go into the club without her sister. I realize that kids moving up to the next age group would be very unlikely, but has anyone been able to get a child moved down to a younger group? Or, on a late May Alaska sailing, is it likely that both age groups would be combined anyway? Thanks for the help!

 

[Alan1972]

they might move up depending on maturity but they will never move down.

that said is the age group not 3-12 anymore?

 

[Carolynleanne]

It's really hard to know. We're sailing June 5th to Alaska out of Vancouver. I've been told to expect the kids clubs to be super small, as children will still be in school (we homeschool.)

 

[Mrsjvb]

You won’t know until,boarding. If h age group is full, they wont make exceptions

 

[ZYX2008]

I think it depends on the ship and how many kids are sailing. We went on a Northern European cruise a couple of summers ago, and they kept multiple age groups together the entire cruise. I can't remember the exact split, but my kids were 7, 9 and 11 and they were all in the same group.

 

[bumbershoot]

that said is the age group not 3-12 anymore?

It's supposed to be split up. It isn't always depending on the sailing, though we never experienced little bitties in with the olders.

"Aquanauts (ages 3-5 years) will have fun conducting cool experiments and becoming Certified Jr. Adventure Scientists. Our specially designed Explorers program (ages 6-8 years) is packed with exciting cruise activities for kids, which includes themed parties. Voyagers (ages 9-12 years) will explore a range of activities that puts the "cool" back into learning."

Except that in our experience the "-12" part means that it ends at 11, and 12 year olds go to the teen club. Which did not work out well even for my tall, mature, friends-with-older-teens 12 year old.

 

[tidefan]

Just to give you some food for thought. Have you considered trying Princess in Alaska? We've done Alaska with both DCL and Princess, and both were amazing. I believe the "tween" group is 8-12 as our Daughter was in the teen group last trip a couple of years ago and it was 13-18. Our DD says that Princess is her favorite line, even with DCL. Also, the Princess ships go to Glacier Bay.

We have also done cruises with RCCL and Carnival and while those are great in the Caribbean, you aren't going to do a lot of water activities (other than perhaps the hot tub or the indoor pool if the ship has one), or rock wall climbing, etc., in Alaska. I know that NCL has a ship up there that has the go-karts and all that on there and it not only takes up half the upper deck, it is closed most of the time for weather. In Alaska, you want to make sure you can have good viewing areas on the ship to view the wildlife.

All that said, a cruise to Alaska on any of the lines, including RCCL will be amazing, so you really can't go wrong...