I think it would be a good idea to give the “cutoff” ages an option between clubs. Like
Example:
Babies= 2 and under
Toddlers= 2-5
Little Kids= 5-8
Big Kids = 8 - 11
Tweens = 11- 14
Teens 14-17
Where 2, 5, 8, 11, 14 (parents and children) get to decided which group best fits the child.
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I do not blame you one bit on being hesitant. My 12 yo looks maybe a smidge older than 12 but he does not like socializing with many kids in the 12-14 range that he doesn’t already know based on some bad experiences with crappy kids his age at school so was happy playing with his siblings and any new social interactions being with any friends his 10 yo sister was making.
And I think they had it right on having overlap in the 11-12 range to have a choice of being in a space that geared towards 7-12 (a lot of the Lab side activities did that age range even if it wasn’t specifically enforced or stated) OR having the option of a hang-out space for 11-14.
Once upon a time the kids clubs were split so that Club was 3-7 and Lab was 7-12 and apparently parents didn’t like the separation for siblings and Disney decided to just allow all of it to mix based on complaints. Then on the Wish they didn’t build one side as a Club and the other as a Lab (and won’t on the Treasure either) but they do have separate rooms and could enforce moving about to a degree if they decided to. It just wouldn’t be as simple as Club and Lab sides are on the older ships. I don’t know what the right answer is, but I would love to see them bring back some kind of overlap for 11-12.
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Very very possible. 3 to 12 is a HUGE gap. I even remember when I was in 2nd grade, and I didn’t want anything to do with “those 1st grade kids” even though I was almost always one of the youngest kids in my class. So what would a 6th grader want to do with pre-K?
Yeah, the specifics would probably be overkill, but having a 12 year old do something to a 3-4 year old on a cruise would be bad all around 
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No, they won’t. There was an incident and a lawsuit. I’ll be downright shocked if there are any exceptions
There was
The talk they gave me when I signed a waiver for DS to go to edge at 10 is that he’s not locked in. He can come and go when and how he pleases. If I’m not okay with that, I shouldn’t sign the waiver. This is the big deal… Some 11 year olds can do this, some can’t.
I have heard DCL is waiving all fees but ymmv as all things with Disney. @lolabear_la if you’re not getting the answers you want HUCA (hang up, call again)
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That’s what was suggested elsewhere. Do you have details? I don’t. Mean details details but more like solid news source. So far I just find speculation
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That’s what it’s looking like. What a shame. Did this incident just recently happen or did it happen a while back and the hammer is just dropping now.
The 2021 incident is old news but I’m not seeing anything other than expired links to a march 2023 incident. We may know more soon and Disney is trying to get out ahead of this becoming more public… A new law firm picking up the case, a settlement becoming public, etc
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This. Unless there is a legal or safety reason, Disney shouldn’t change the kids age groups after booking. And if there is a change for a legal or safety reason, then anyone with a child impacted should be offered the opportunity for a full refund.
I am hopeful that @lolabear_la will get a full refund or an exception when Disney gets back to her. Those are the only 2 fair options.
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Thanks for the suggestion. DH was actually the one to call in and I hate to say it but I think having him being firm first but also kind & not having me who would’ve been “mom upset about her baby boy’s last childhood cruise” on the phone went a long way in that conversation. We ended up with the guest services team & someone offering to get us some options & come back to us (said it would take about a week). We still don’t know what we’ll do & are still drained from all the emotional energy it took yesterday to process the change, but this morning we talked and whatever we decide we’ll ask DS12 to give his opinion on what he would like to do.
And based on reports today it does look like more and more people are getting the ability to cancel with a refund. So we’ll have to figure out how much of it we want to cancel (we may still want to do 1-2 legs since it will now be DD10’s last Oceaneer club that we had been counting on having over another year to figure out a cruise for her to do that) & also what we do with refund to give him a fun Orlando vacation that includes any of the fun things he wants to do there (we already have the flights booked so we’re getting on that plane no matter what & will have 11 days & nights total from arriving to departing.
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Same. If I do see any solid source, I’ll circle back here. But so far, it’s all comments on the interwebs.
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Thanks Dave, we’re hoping for either of those outcomes too, but right now sitting tight & waiting. So far there are more reports today of people paid in full (even one in concierge who is one of our 3 sailings that was told yesterday she would be out all total cruise costs) who are being told they can cancel with a full refund. It sucks though that all of those are vacations that people had hopes & plans for.
I know for me, I have a spreadsheet with 3 different tabs each having a version of blocking out how the days would look and what booked activities we wanted to slot in & in what order for our 3 legs combined. And now I can’t even look at that workbook without getting all sappy & sad about it.
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I get it. Sorry.
I think the Universal trip would be fun. Maybe adding a night in Disney for an After Hours party if the budget allows?
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We would LOVE an Epcot, probably HS studios extra hours. So those are definitely options on the table.
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It’s interesting to me that there is a change in age grouping in order to prevent future inappropriate behaviors and victimization of younger children by older children. Basically because any age child can victimize any age child and I don’t think changing it by a couple years makes a big difference.
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You must be reading DH’s thoughts cuz he has brought this up every single day. Also, there’s been some talk I’ve seen of how now all 11 yo will be in Edge and what’s to stop an advantageous 13-14 yo from convincing a naive 11 yo (who might otherwise have gone to Oceaneer with much more gatekeeping to who’s moving in & out) to go off around the ship with them and end up in a stateroom with absolutely zero superversion. So yea. It might be solving half of one problem, but how many new problems does it open up?
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I have seen several other agents report getting their clients full refunds today
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This is a link that’s been posted in another forum about this:
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Thanks for sharing this
This only further makes me ask - how is changing the age grouping going to prevent this from happening? This alleges that any such inappropriate non consensual contact occurred near but outside of the kids club near a pool.
I suppose that any such allegations would require a response from the cruise line. Like, you have to do something and regrouping is the only thing they could logically do? There are probably some best-practice age groupings established by early childhood education groups and this update might more closely align to those, decreasing the likelihood of liability coming to DCL in the future.
I still maintain that the timeline is poor customer service, though I am reassured to hear there is some level of flexibility on the part of the cruise line for guests like @lolabear_la who are inside the usual penalty window for modifications or cancellation of their reservations with full refunds.
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That is rather disturbing.
My thought is, what’s going on with the 12 year old who did this? What sort of abuse might he be experiencing to do such a thing?
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