Camp Carnival Reviews for toddlers

[abbyrose]

We have done a carnival cruise in the past, actually got married on the cruise! We now have a 2 1/2 yr old, we are planning a cruise for Jan or Feb and I am looking into the Camp Carnival. I haven't found much for reviews and I would love to hear everyone's personal experiences that they had with Camp Carnival and their kids. I'd love to hear from people who did a cruise with kids around the age of our daughter! But all feedback is greatly appreciated!!! :D

[jam82]

We LOVE Camp Carnival. Our son will be three at the end of the year. He has been on 7 cruises and we have 2 more booked. He has spent alot of time in Camp Carnival. He loves every second. It is playland for him. They have great activities and are so caring! They understand the kids 'are that age' and treat them accordingly. He doesn't go to day care, but has no problem adjusting to their schedule. If you have specific questions, ask away.

[cb at sea]

2 1/2 years olds will LOVEthe kid's program...the allure fades as kids hit the teen years. For kids under 10, they are ecstatic....from 10-13, they tolerate...after that...they want to be on their own.

This doesn't just apply to Carnival, but to all "scheduled" activities on any cruiseline.

[A&Jfamily]

My son was almost 3 when he went on his first cruise. CCL was fantastic. He was not 100% potty trained - still had accidents if he didn't make it to the bathroom fast enough. And, he had an accident one day. Was the staff upset? Not in the least. Put him in a CCL t-shirt and extra shorts they kept for just such occasions, and paged mommy to come with clean clothes. They treated it like no big deal - and my son therefore did not get upset and was happily playing when I arrived. Couldn't have done better myself. I felt so comfortable, I even left him on board for the morning when we were in Costa Maya so I could take my older DS to see some ruins about and hour away.

 

He has since been on 3 other cruises with CCL and asks to go to camp everyday.

[Tooter_Cruiser]

Our daughter was 30 mths and our son was 5 1/2 years when we did our first cruise as a family on the Carnival Splendor. They loved the camps, and their positive experiences converted us to be cruise-fans! The staff at the Camp were excellent, and the children wanted to go every day. By Day 3, my son wanted to eat dinner with his friends and not us! There were some young kids that didn't take to the Camp atmosphere at all: the staff was patient with them and worked with the parents to ease any anxieties.

 

We have and do recommend Camp Carnival for children 2 years and above: you can relax better when you know your kids are having a great time!

[crusinmama06]

My daughter has been on Carnival when she was 2, 3 and then again this year as she was 4.

 

Our first two experience with Camp Carnival were better that this one, so it just depends (for me) on the counselors.

 

My review was here (it got heated pretty quickly so the thread was locked)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1004642

[beckyjohns]

Not to hijack, but I had similar concerns as the OP. We're taking our twins on their 2nd cruise in Dec when they will be 33 months. This will be the 1st time they're old enough to use Camp Carnival. I've read that there is no tolerance for crying so that makes me nervous because sometimes my kids will cry when we leave them, they cry for 3 minutes and are then done. I'm concerned that I'll be pages because of their crying. I hope this isn't the case, because I don't think it's abnormal for kids this age to do it. Also a little concerned about the potty. They're trained, but they need help in the bathroom with their clothes. I'm hoping this won't be an issue?

[boulders]

We were on Carnival Glory a few months ago when ds was 3. They do appear to have "some" tolerance for crying. They appear to be pretty good at redirecting the children at dropoff and not giving them a chance to be upset that Mom or Dad is leaving. They do give you a pager though.

 

Since Carnival changes diapers, they should be OK with helping the younger ones go potty.

[Kerry's Girls]

Not to hijack, but I had similar concerns as the OP. We're taking our twins on their 2nd cruise in Dec when they will be 33 months. This will be the 1st time they're old enough to use Camp Carnival. I've read that there is no tolerance for crying so that makes me nervous because sometimes my kids will cry when we leave them, they cry for 3 minutes and are then done. I'm concerned that I'll be pages because of their crying. I hope this isn't the case, because I don't think it's abnormal for kids this age to do it. Also a little concerned about the potty. They're trained, but they need help in the bathroom with their clothes. I'm hoping this won't be an issue?

 

My experience was with my twins the week they turned 2 and neither had been in day care - the staff was wonderful and more patient with them than I expected. I guess because they take kids so young, they were used to having tots with separation anxiety. Both of mine cried and cried the first time I left them - but I followed good advice I got here and did not prolong my stay, I promised them I would be back, said goodbye and left (well, I hid behind the next wall where I could hear what was going on). The counselors were very patient and consoling with my girls. One of the twins calmed down and ended up having a great time and the other never took to it on that trip (the same child who is now 4 and will have nothing to do with me if the "kids club" is open while we're on a cruise). The counselors did keep trying with my little one though, and encouraged me to keep trying.

 

Best,

Mia

[Sweetp9994]

My son turned two the week before we left on the trip. Good because I was excited he could go to camp carnival....or not. Huge confusion the first day the camp was open, long lines of parnets waiting to drop off their children so they could go drinking, lost paperwork, staff confusion...just awful. The very first day we arrived we took our son to look at the room. It is really a great space geared toward that age group lots of toys and fun things. Staff was sweet and caring, but overwhelmed.

My son would not stay with strangers, no matter how fun those toys were, theymkept telling me to "sneak off" a theory I don't believe in. The hours were a little nutty my son wakes about 6:30 am but it doesn't open until 9 so wasted time with not much for him to do. They gave me a pager when I left but I had to comeback in five minutes because my son was crying....and yes he goes to day care. So I thought well I will wait until the open family play time...that never happened. There was no open play time. I was to

D online and on the phone there was a time whe. 3 and under can play with their parents...not so. You can go to the build a bear time and pay for a bear in the other room but not the fun room. We were disappointed.

The staff did really try to get him to stay they even gave him a pillow and blanket to lye down with while he was sobbing but he did not stop so each time I had to come back within ten minutes and get him, wish i could have just sat there and read a boom while he played but they don't allow that. There was a nice outside play area with cars and slides my son enjoyed, really the only area for him. I think waiting until he is 3 to take another cruise might be wise.

[sandytoes03]

We had a very positive experience in June on Pride. Kids took a few minutes to adjust and then they had lots of fun. They didn't love being dropped off for dinner in the buffet, it was easier to drop then off at the playroom. But it all worked out.

[surrocruiser]

My soon will have just turned 4 when we sail and I am torn if I want to let him try it or not. I love traveling with him but think he might really enjoy the play time. I'm so torn!

[sandytoes03]

My soon will have just turned 4 when we sail and I am torn if I want to let him try it or not. I love traveling with him but think he might really enjoy the play time. I'm so torn!

 

Why are you torn? Why wouldn't you let him at least try it?

[surrocruiser]

I actually would rather have him be with us the whole time but I'm afraid he will miss out on some of the cruise experience e if I don't let him go.

[lovebelle]

I actually would rather have him be with us the whole time but I'm afraid he will miss out on some of the cruise experience e if I don't let him go.

 

Well you can drop him off for short periods of time. Maybe an hour here or there just to see how he likes it. Or get a schedule of activities and drop him off only for a specific activity while you treat yourself to a spa treatment or something.

[cbsmama]

We had a really great experience with Camp Carnival on the Fantasy with our DD (who was 3.5 at the time).

 

My DH was a little hesitant about it, but I was pushing for it because I wanted some time off from mommy duty! I told my daughter that "there was a special kids place, mommy and daddy can't come. We will check it out, and if you want to stay, great, but if not, it is no big deal." Basically she ran right in there and then would get mad when we would try to pick her up :rolleyes:

 

We typically used Camp Carnival for 1.5-2 hours in the morning, and then again after dinner. It worked out really well for us, and DD had a great time. In my opinion :D, we have a very well-behaved little girl. But asking her to be "on" all the time in adult spaces (buffet, dining room, pool, etc.) I think is exhausting for her. Other than in Camp Carnival, there was not really space for her to bounce off the walls and let her energy out without someone putting restrictions on her (please sit still, get back in line, stop splashing that lady!). So it gave her a break from us asking her to maybe act a little older than her age, and us a break from monitoring 3.5 yr old behavior constantly, if that makes sense. For us, it was a really great balance, and I feel like we spent a ton of time together as a family. Maybe because compared to our other vacations, I didn't have to cook, clean, drive, etc., so when we were together, we were REALLY TOGETHER and enjoying each other's company.

[Gardeneroflove]

Why are you torn? Why wouldn't you let him at least try it?

 

Because some of us aren't ok with leaving our kids with complete strangers and taking the risk that comes with it? And some of us would rather spend time with our kids while they still like us.

 

For dd, maybe when she's old enough to ask. HOWEVER ONLY if she knows how to fight back (I will NOT tolerate her being hurt by other kids), she has to be able to handle the potty 100% (almost there), and has to know the difference between good/bad touch. I'll also drop in and have dh drop by to make sure everything is ok and see how the staff is.

 

surrocruiser,

Does Carnival do open house hours like Disney does? Dd (14 months at the time of our last sailing) was able to play in the club during open house hours. She had a blast and didn't miss out on anything.

 

We have lots of downtime/toddler friendly time. We're not always on the go. We let her do her own thing most of the day (which was running around, lol).

 

We too kept dd with us. We don't do daycare/babysitters this young. Dh was 'off' during naptime and bedtime and I was 'off' after nap and after dinner. It was great! He got quality one on one time with dd, but I was still around when she was ready for me.

 

"There was a nice outside play area with cars and slides my son enjoyed, really the only area for him. " Is this an open play area? I'd LOVE a cruise with an open play area for parents and kids. That's the only way Disney fails. They have open house hours, sure, but most were later. They don't have an open play area. We cruise to spend time with each other and an open play area would be perfect! (Disney is leaving gal, so we'll need another cruise for next year.)