We had only traveled once before with children on a Royal Caribbean ship prior to sailing on the Oasis of the Seas. Our trip on the Enchantment of the Seas, one of RC’s older ships had a modest kids area which the kids thoroughly enjoyed. Royal Caribbean is one of the most popular family friendly brands so i had anticipated that the kids facilities would be in line with the audacious standards of the Oasis of the Seas.
I’ll start out by saying that our expectations were met and our girls had an incredible time. They were in the club for a portion of the day on every day of our 3-night cruise on the Oasis. Our youngest was excited to go every day and didn’t show any hesitation to joining her assigned age group without her sister.
Aboard the Oasis of the Seas the children’s activity area is called Kids Avenue. This holds the Adventure Ocean children’s programs and also some activity rooms. Royal Caribbean divides it’s Adventure Ocean into different age groups with quirky names: Aquanauts (ages 3-5), Explorers (ages 6-8) and Voyagers (ages 9-11).
Royal Babies and Tots is the program for children over 6 months who are not old enough for the Aquanauts group. Each group has it’s own large room where children are signed in and picked up. Kids Avenue is truly designed as an small village with a main thoroughfare and rooms opening off the main route. It’s not big enough for you one to get lost but it does organize the space well and allow easy access to all of the activities.
In the main hallway there is a wall with pictures of all the staff members, with details on their educational background, their country/culture of origin and their real names; they all choose a quirky name that is easy to be remembered by the kids. I really find this to be a unique and effective idea because I’m horrible with personal names when I’ve briefly met people but to this day I remember the names of all the counselors on Oasis (and Enchantment of the Seas) that my daughters connected with.
Kids Avenue features an awesome theatre which shows movies and also has a stage where they host talent shows and character events. There is a kids arcade, specifically for the kids 12 and under. They also have an Imagination Studio where kids can explore their creative sides and a fully equipped Science lab. For younger children there is a large play area full of all manner of excitement for young sailors to have some fun with their parents.
The Adventure Ocean programs run daily. The normal hours are 9am to noon, 2pm to 5pm and 7pm-10pm. After 10pm (and until 2am) there is a charge of $7 per hour for the Late Night Party Zone. On port days the club stays open from 9am-5pm (children are taken to the Windjammer buffet or Wipeout Cafe on the pool deck for lunch), from 5pm-7pm the children will be taken to dinner if you sign up in advance and then the evening session starts at 7pm and continues to 10pm. This provides ample opportunity for parents on port days to take day excursions or just spend a few hours off the ship alone together, while the kids are safely ensconced and having a blast in the kids club. The club also provides parents with a cell phone or pager coded to their child; that way parents can feel assured that if their children need them staff have a way to reach the parents, wherever they are on the ship! Everyone is happy!!!
The Adventure Ocean program offers different activities every day. Each time we picked up the girls they had some craft they had made or had their faces painted or were raving about some totally cool game they were playing. There is a game called Gaga ball that they play often with the Explorers and Voyagers. They even have “championships” during the late night sessions; once we picked up our oldest daughter in the middle of the championship game which elicited actual tears from my dear girl. We let her stay for another half hour to give her a chance at the medal (she came in second but was happy we let her stay until the end).
I say, any children’s program that has your kids crying when it’s time to leave and excited to return, is worth every penny! And in the case of Royal Caribbean’s Adventure Ocean, all children’s activities (with the exception of the late night parties) are included in the price of your cruise fare. This is one of the reasons that cruising is a truly great option for family vacations!
Have any of you had an experience in Adventure Ocean on the Oasis of the Seas, or any Royal Caribbean cruise ship?
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