Camp Carnival

[Kingisacruiser]

My 5 yo (6 in March) can do the same math, is learning his sight words, plays Wii, rides a 2- wheeler, swims on a swim team, plays coach-pitch and basketball. This IDIOT put him in the 2-5 year old program and he was just fine, and had a lot of fun. There are plenty of other 5 y.o. at the same level he is for him to have kids to play with. He went to Camp in the morning and then played putt-putt and swam with us in the afternoon, and at the end of dinner was ready to head back to camp.

 

There is just as much a world of difference between a kid in K vs a kid in 3rd grade, as there is a 2-5 year old.

 

And your 7 year old will not be taken to the pool; it is only the 9-11 group that can participate in that.

 

If you set your kid up to enjoy himself, he will; if you continue acting like he is above it, yes, you will be entertaining him the entire cruise. It is a vacation. Teach your child to relax and go with the flow.

 

A&J, I completely agree with you. My son turned 5 a week ago. He is in Kindergarden, ke is learning his sight words, a little bit of adding and subtracting, etc. (basically a genius ;)), and he absolutely loved Camp Carnival (although he was 4 1/2 the last time he was there). But we will be going on the Dream and I think he will still love it. He still remembers the great time he had and can't wait to go back. Although the age group is 2-5 somehow they make it work. I think the kids gravitate to kids that they can relate to, so it works.

 

There was a comment about feeling like dumping the child. Let those guilty feelings go! I felt the same way too. Until I realized that they were having fun and ENJOYING doing things they wanted to do. I suppose a sitting on a deck looking at water can get very boring for a child. So CC is perfect. Plus, they were with us everyday, all day on port days.

[nybumpkin]

I didnt know that any age group was taken to the pool in the camp settings.

This is a liabilty for the cruise lines. Some kids swim- some dont- some are afraid of water. Put in the sea water instead of fresh water.

Camps will prefer the parents to do the swimming.

 

Has this changed since last August?

My son's (age 9) Camp Carnival group had one swimming night when we sailed on Miracle in July.

[Naomi John]

Our DD, (age 6 first cruise, 7 now, will be 8 for her fourth cruise), begged to go to the Camp. Went on Carnival Fantasy at the end of september. One of port days, Cozumel, she came with us to shore, she and DH returned to the ship around 2 PM. Did the waterworks thing, and when I got back on board she was reading the Camp Capers and saw they were open. She just had to go.

 

ON a previous cruise, for elegant night, she wanted to dress up and do dinner with the Camp. They had a special elegant night just for the kids.

 

She did not want to be picked up at Midnight one time, and even told us the camp was open until 3 AM.

 

It also depends on the Child, some are shy, ours is not.

[NoOtherVacay]

If I may join the conversation, I have a question about Camp Carnival also. We will be sailing with our kids for the first time in March. At that time our DS will be a couple weeks away from turning 7 and our DD will be almost 5. As I understand it, they will be in separate age groups. I would love to be able to send DD with DS, I know she would be able to keep up, but I guess that's not an option. I'm wondering how much fun they will have even if they don't know any of the other kids. I'm more concerned about DD, she doesn't make friends as easily as DS. Has anyone else sent their kids without knowing other children? Do they still have an enjoyable time?

 

I'm probably worrying over nothing, but I still had to ask :)

[nybumpkin]

If I may join the conversation, I have a question about Camp Carnival also. We will be sailing with our kids for the first time in March. At that time our DS will be a couple weeks away from turning 7 and our DD will be almost 5. As I understand it, they will be in separate age groups. I would love to be able to send DD with DS, I know she would be able to keep up, but I guess that's not an option. I'm wondering how much fun they will have even if they don't know any of the other kids. I'm more concerned about DD, she doesn't make friends as easily as DS. Has anyone else sent their kids without knowing other children? Do they still have an enjoyable time?

 

I'm probably worrying over nothing, but I still had to ask :)

My kids are so far apart in age that they have never been in the same age group, so on all of our cruises they have gone to the kids' programs without knowing anyone else and they've always had a good time. They've always seemed to "click" with one or two kids in particular.

[aggieastrosfan]

Has anyone else sent their kids without knowing other children? Do they still have an enjoyable time?

 

Our son was 3 for his first cruise, and we weren't travelling with any other kids. I don't know if he necessarily made friends in Camp, but he definitely loved going! And his first cruise was a B2B, so after 4 days he had all new kids to get used to. Didn't faze him a bit. A year and 2 more cruises later, he loves going to camp. :)

[mjrich73]

I have an 8 & 10 year old...I was worried about them being seperated, but now I think it is going to be great for them to actually get some time away from each other. I am hoping they are able to make some friends quickly and have a wonderful time at Camp Carnival.

[FlipFlopFanatic]

I do feel a little guilty about even THINKING about 'dumping' him off at camp...although a previous poster made a good point. A 5 year old would get bored real fast sitting on the lido deck all day. I don't want him to be bored...I want him to love cruising as much as I do. So I guess it's off to camp he goes. I'm sure he will have NO problems making friends...he's nothing like my husband and I were at his age. So outgoing!

[AQW]

My kids (7yo and 4yo) love Camp Carnival SO MUCH that I'm actually taking them on a deeply-discounted cruise in a couple of weeks just so they can enjoy Camp Carnival again. They absolutely, positively LOVE it. My 7yo son would be in CC from the moment he woke up until way past bedtime if I'd allow it! My 4yo daughter also wants to go multiple times a day - and both of them would rather eat with the kids' club than in the dining room.

 

I hope you and your boy have a wonderful vacation!

[MarkRosenthal]

Same here, our sone checked in at 730 in the morning and some nights we had to drag him out at midnight. We would do a discounted one too just so he could get back to camp, he had a great great time.

 

My kids (7yo and 4yo) love Camp Carnival SO MUCH that I'm actually taking them on a deeply-discounted cruise in a couple of weeks just so they can enjoy Camp Carnival again. They absolutely, positively LOVE it. My 7yo son would be in CC from the moment he woke up until way past bedtime if I'd allow it! My 4yo daughter also wants to go multiple times a day - and both of them would rather eat with the kids' club than in the dining room.

 

I hope you and your boy have a wonderful vacation!

[FireMonkey]

My DDs first cruise was when she was a couple of weeks shy of turning 3. We would take her after we had breakfast and let her spend a couple of hours then pick her up and have lunch, pool time, etc. Then she'd go back in the afternoon for a few more hours, then pick her up and get her ready for dinner and she'd go to the MDR with us. I think we left her at CC once on a port day that trip, but the other 2 stops she went with us.

 

However her last cruise, which was last month (I had to work so didn't go!), my parents said she wanted to have nothing to do with CC. She said it was 'boring'. I'm a little concerned because we are doing another family cruise in February and she will be 5 then so will be one of the oldest in her age group. I think maybe she didn't like it last month because she came down with the crud first day or 2 and spent the rest of the trip in the cabin with my parents.

 

BTW, she loooooves the Build A Bear they offer!