Andrea Zelinski
I don't know how parents do it. After spending three-and-a-half days with my 10-year-old nephew in Nashville for spring break, I have a new appreciation for staving off the dreaded "I'm bored" lament.
On a cruise ship, filled with shiny spaces, pools and movies under the stars, I want to imagine it'd be a cinch to entertain kids. But I know better -- and so do cruise lines.
It wasn't by accident that Royal Caribbean International included a waterpark on the top deck of the Icon of the Seas or designed the Surfside neighborhood with a splash pad tailored to young kids.
Not every cruise ship will have a waterpark, or a racetrack like the Norwegian Prima and Viva, or the Bolt roller coaster like Carnival Cruise Line'sMardi Gras, Celebration and Jubilee.
But that doesn't mean cruise lines aren't thinking intentionally about what kind of attractions they can offer to keep kids on big ships entertained.
For instance, Princess Cruises set out to make its first Sphere-class ship, the Sun Princess, more family-friendly by installing the Park19 family zone with nine activities, including a ropes course and a motorized zipline called the Sea Breeze that zooms riders around the top of the ship.
MSC Cruises is focusing on innovative activities for kids. Matteo Mancini, MSC's senior manager of youth entertainment, said the line sails with about 600,000 children and teenagers fleetwide each year. Most of the kids are older, with about 40% of that group made up of teenagers and 30% kids ages 7 to 11, he said.
"We absolutely are having a new generation onboard, a new generation that we need to entertain, that we need to surprise all the time. You know, this new generation is very fast. They have a lot of new interests [and] they get bored easily," he said.
To figure out what will capture their attention, MSC hosts board meetings with kids every few months about what they want to see on ships. It was at these meetings where kids talked about the video games that they play at home which inspired development of the "Drone Academy," which is rolling out on all of MSC's U.S. ships in June.
The academy is a "school," with the line's youth staff teaching kids how to be drone pilots, Mancini said.
Flights would take place at the indoor Sportplex or the ship's outdoor sports court which is covered by a net that will prevent kids from going rogue with their drones. Kids will race drones through an obstacle course complete with floor lights resembling an airport.
MSC also offers a class with access to a 3D printer so kids can turn their designs into multidimensional objects, like a doll or an elephant or a gadget, Mancini said. This feature is currently available on all Seaside- and Meraviglia-class ships during the arts and crafts session, which is offered one hour daily. Kids can also see inside the 3D printer to watch it work. The class and 3D printer will also be included on the World America, which sets sail from Miami in April 2025.
"It's a chance to demonstrate to the kids that they can create something, and whatever you have in mind can be real," Mancini said.
And that is just as real as the splash from a waterslide and or the rumble of a roller coaster.