Adventure Ocean – Royal Caribbean kids’ clubs
The days when kids on cruises had to amuse themselves with a board game, watched over by a bored member of staff are long gone. These days, facilities for children on cruise ships can take over whole decks and entertain them almost 24 hours a day.
And as the world’s largest cruise ship, Oasis of the Seas, isn’t short of options as we discovered on our day on board. For starters, there’s a 28,000 square foot complex set aside for the kids’ club, for babies aged six months up to teens.
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As well as giving the play area a test, and experimenting with a homemade volcano in the science lab, I had a chat to Adventure Ocean manager Hugo Arenas about the child-friendly facilities in the Royal Caribbean kids’ club, Adventure Ocean on our day aboard Oasis of the Seas.
What’s at the heart of Adventure Ocean?
It’s about making a connection. It’s not like a school where you have a year to work on it, I have seven days – and a second to click.
All counsellors have nicknames, which makes things more friendly and fun – I’m ‘hotdog’ not Hugo, for example. At the end of three hours, I want you to have to beg your kids to come out!
Who can use the Royal Caribbean kids’ club?
There are three main areas, all of which are subdivided – the nursery for six months to three years, the kids’ club for three to 11-year-olds and the teen area from 12 to 17.
Within the kids’ club and the teen area, the ages are split, such as Aquanauts for three to five years, Explorers (six to eight) and Voyagers (nine to 11) – teens are divided into younger and older teens.
When is the Adventure Ocean kids’ club open?
There are sessions running whenever the ship is at sea, but also in port. After registering, parents can drop their kids off and head off to relax on board or explore off the ship.
The only criteria is that apart from the nursery, children of three and above have to be potty trained and able to go to the toilet on their own.
For six to 18 months, parents need to be present for the activity sessions but for babies over a year, there’s a separate babysitting service in the nursery.
And what do they do all day in the Royal Caribbean kids clubs?
What don’t they…There are different activities per session, including arts and crafts, science experiments, games, family activities such as basketball. Younger kids have slides and toys to play with, the older ones have XBoxes in the teen zone.
What about evening childcare on a cruise?
There’s also childcare from 10pm to 2am with a party theme, plus you can also book babysitting in your stateroom.
So what does the Royal Caribbean kids’ club cost?
There’s no charge for teens, and daytime activities for three-year-olds and above are all included as well. The 10pm sessions cost $7 per hour per child, while childcare for babies costs $6 per hour per child during the day until 6pm and $8 in the evenings.
What if there’s a problem?
Parents whose kids are aged under five, including babies, get a special deck phone which will work anywhere on board in case they’re needed. And if they’re off the ship?
The trained staff will do their best to keep them happy. All staff have a degree and at least three years experience working with children, and have to pass background checks and go through a series of interviews.
And I can vouch for the fact that every member of staff we met in the kids’ club was fantastic with Minnie, making her giggle and taking any shy moments completely in their stride.
I could barely get her to leave the toys in Adventure Ocean without tears, and that was with only a few other kids for company and no special activities, let alone meeting any more of the Dreamworks characters or seeing the special kids’ theatre.
One other mum even mentioned that she’d been given a bag of toys to borrow for her 20-month-old on the cruise, which she could swap whenever she wanted. Think of all that suitcase space saved…
For more tips on choosing the perfect cruise with kids, check out this post and more ideas of things to look out for on board. For a look inside Celebrity Cruises’ kids’ club check out our review of the Anturus Explorer Academy as well as my mini cruise on board Norwegian Bliss.
Disclosure: Our day on board Oasis of the Seas was courtesy of Royal Caribbean – all opinions about the Royal Caribbean kids’ clubs are my own (and my daughter’s)
Main image copyright MummyTravels. All others courtesy of Royal Caribbean.
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