Adventure Ocean VS Camp Carnival

[adoptmom]

Hi all, Looking for some thoughts on choosing Adventure Ocean (Royal Caribbean) vs. Camp Carnival (Carnival cruise.) My older 3 kids went with us on a Carnival cruise about 5 years ago and it was DREADFUL. We homeschool so we cruised in mid-May on the Sensation. There were very few kids on board, the kids' pool was closed the entire trip and they were a bit too short for the big pools. Also, they did not have much of anything going on at CC for the older kids and they were pretty much stuck in a small room with some video games for the entire time they were there. The older 2 got so that they refused to go and ended up going to all the shows, etc with us.

 

Now we're looking at trying a cruise again the first week after memorial day. We're hoping that since many schools should be out by MD, that the kids programs will be up and running but hopefully the ship won't be completely packed yet.

 

My kids will be 14, 12, 10, and 4 by the time we go on this cruise and we're looking at the 4 or 5 day cruise to the Bahamas (Monarch of the seas or mariner of the seas to the mexican riviera.) I hadn't even looked at Carnival because of our experience last time. However, I'd like to hear other people's thoughts before we book.

[K&Rs Mom]

Our only cruise so far was on Royal Caribbean, so I only know about the AO side. We went in March, so most kids were still in school (my nephews had to take the week off), and the AO program was up & running. There were only about 6-10 kids in each group at any given time, but they were fully staffed and had a ton of activities for all ages. The pools were all open and there were always kids up there too. One of the things I like most about homeschooling is the flexibility to take vacations when places aren't crowded - it never occurred to me that they'd shut down the kids' programs!

[adoptmom]

Yes, we had that problem with Camp Carnival and with the programs at Beaches Boscobel. The GOOD think about Beaches is that we went the week after Thanksgiving and there were about 50 families in a resort built for 500+. Our kids were able to meet some kids from London and they walked to the game room, etc by themselves.

 

tami

[MNmomof4]

I have no experience yet with AO but this year one of my older sons was 14 and didnt want to go to camp carnival and didnt last year either. I find that older kids dont usually go to the clubs but make friends on the ship. Royal might be better for the older kids since there seems to be more activities for them

[boulders]

I've sailed both lines. My 11 and 14 year olds have a definite preference for Royal Caribbean. My younger one liked Camp Carnival a lot in March, but is ready to move onto a cruise ship permanently after his cruise on RCCL in August. ;) We ran into some issues on our Carnival cruise similar to what you mentioned. For example, my oldest complained that half of the games in the arcade were broken. There were no out of order signs on them, and the broken games varied daily.

 

RCCL provided a better experience for my kids at ages 10-14. I would choose Mariner of the Seas between the 2 cruises you mentioned.

[crusinmama06]

I would pick Mariner. Has more to do on it than Monarch.

 

And my kids have a preference for RCCL Adventure Ocean over Camp Carnival.

[adoptmom]

thanks everyone! RCCL was my gut instint but wanted to check it out with more experienced cruisers. I want them to have a good time this time around.

[supercrunch]

We haven't been on RCCL, but we just got back from our first cruise on Carnival and there was plenty to do in the kids clubs...even with few children on board.

 

My kids are 5 and 8 and they loved the activities for their age groups. There was only one occasion (other than the listed times) that they were just doing video games, and that was on Saturday when 90% of the ship was seasick due to Ida and they had to cancel the towel animal demonstration because the room stewards were too busy cleaning up after sick passengers.

 

My 8 year old especially loved the science based activities like constructing erupting volcanos, and my 5 year old preferred the more active activites like treasure hunts and physical games.

 

I think a lot of it depends on the age group and the ship/staff.

 

On a side note, they were also too short for the big pool, but my son loved it anyway and really improved his swimming that week (and my daughter was just happy to sit and listen to the music with an ice cream cone) ;)