Anyone sailing W/kids NCL Dawn 2/10/2005

[cruzinrn]

We are a family of 5 sailing on NCL Dawn Feb 10, 2005 S. Caribbean. Just looking to find other kids that may be on board for our daughter and son, 7 and 10.:D :cool:

[cruzinrn]

NO KIDS ON THE DAWN 2/10/05!!! This is a valuable learning experience!!!:D :eek:

[cruzinrn]

STill Hoping!!!:confused:

[Girlsnightout]

Like I said, I can't imagine that anyone would be pulling their kids out of school one week before the school vacation starts. Almost the entire Northeast has vacation starting Feb 18th......Where do you live?

[cruzinrn]

Well I guess my Northeast (South Jersey) isn't like the rest. My kids go to public school and don't have vacation until the last week in March and it is just for three days. Besides I didn't ask if it is okay to take my kids on a great learning experience, I asked are there any other kids going to be onboard. Maybe you should'nt image so hard, you just might hurt yourself. I also just might add that my children are involved in many "academic" after school activities, have never needed sick days, rarely get snow days, go to Sunday School every weekend and get tutored from my sister (a school teacher). They live, breathe and sleep school work. Not to mention don't get as many days off as your schools. They deserve this vacation, thank you! Are the only people going on the Dawn from the Northeast?

[Girlsnightout]

Well I guess my Northeast (South Jersey) isn't like the rest. My kids go to public school and don't have vacation until the last week in March and it is just for three days. Besides I didn't ask if it is okay to take my kids on a great learning experience, I asked are there any other kids going to be onboard. Maybe you should'nt image so hard, you just might hurt yourself. I also just might add that my children are involved in many "academic" after school activities, have never needed sick days, rarely get snow days, go to Sunday School every weekend and get tutored from my sister (a school teacher). They live, breathe and sleep school work. Not to mention don't get as many days off as your schools. They deserve this vacation, thank you! Are the only people going on the Dawn from the Northeast?

 

Ummm, I don't remember giving you my opinion about whether it was okay to take your kids on a "great learning experience", but I will now, since you ASSUMED as much. I have no opinion, I think people should raise their kids anyway they like, I personally have taken my children out of school when I felt it was merited, but I haven't the slightest interest in telling you what to do with regards to your childrens' education. No need to justify or provide your childrens' academic records. That being said, I do take issue with the implication that a caribbean cruise is a great learning experience, but that's beside the point.....

 

You're obviously very defensive about this, since you jumped to a very wrong conclusion. Many people will take issue with taking children out of school for vacation, but I'm not one of them. Calm down, I didn't "image", you did. Oh, and you're welcome.:D

[cruzinrn]

Ummm, I don't remember giving you my opinion about whether it was okay to take your kids on a "great learning experience", but I will now, since you ASSUMED as much. I have no opinion, I think people should raise their kids anyway they like, I personally have taken my children out of school when I felt it was merited, but I haven't the slightest interest in telling you what to do with regards to your childrens' education. No need to justify or provide your childrens' academic records. That being said, I do take issue with the implication that a caribbean cruise is a great learning experience, but that's beside the point.....

 

You're obviously very defensive about this, since you jumped to a very wrong conclusion. Many people will take issue with taking children out of school for vacation, but I'm not one of them. Calm down, I didn't "image", you did. Oh, and you're welcome.:D

 

Maybe you are just basking in the sun but there are many other fascinating options such as Coral World Marine Park, endangered wildlife, 17th century bunkers and plantation homes, Harrison's Cave natural phenomenon(which my daughter is learning in science), historical bldgs. Parliament, St. John's Church, etc. That's a sin :( , you've been missing alot on your caribbean cruises. If you let me know when you are going again, I can help you with your excursions so your children will get some learning experiences during their break :D . .

[Girlsnightout]

for the offer, but I and my children have been to all of those places, plus many other countries. We're very well-traveled but I appreciate the offer. Now if you need help with excursions in Europe, Thailand, South America (particularly the Amazon jungle), Mexico, Hawaii, all over the US and any other caribbean islands, my children would be happy to offer their opinions for kid-friendly choices as well as cruiselines. They've been on 6 cruises with RCCL, DCL, Celebrity, NCL and we are trying Carnival for the first time. If you've experienced Carnival, maybe you can answer some questions for me there?

 

Thanks again, I really appreciate your attempt at educating my brood....

[cruzinrn]

for the offer, but I and my children have been to all of those places, plus many other countries. We're very well-traveled but I appreciate the offer. Now if you need help with excursions in Europe, Thailand, South America (particularly the Amazon jungle), Mexico, Hawaii, all over the US and any other caribbean islands, my children would be happy to offer their opinions for kid-friendly choices as well as cruiselines. They've been on 6 cruises with RCCL, DCL, Celebrity, NCL and we are trying Carnival for the first time. If you've experienced Carnival, maybe you can answer some questions for me there?

 

Thanks again, I really appreciate your attempt at educating my brood....

 

Yes, we've been on Carnival 4 times. The last was the Glory Jan 2004. I appreciate the opportunity.:)

[Girlsnightout]

You're kidding! We're booked on the Glory, April 16th (kids spring vacation). We've got 7 boys going, age range from 20 months to 15 years. How is the kiddie pool? Salt water? Do the kids have easy access to the basketball court? Is there ping-pong? How did it compare to other lines you've sailed? How about the kids program? My 4 year old nephew wouldn't go near NCL's last year, we're hoping he likes Camp Carnival.

 

Thanks RN, what a coincidence!

[cruzinrn]

You're kidding! We're booked on the Glory, April 16th (kids spring vacation). We've got 7 boys going, age range from 20 months to 15 years. How is the kiddie pool? Salt water? Do the kids have easy access to the basketball court? Is there ping-pong? How did it compare to other lines you've sailed? How about the kids program? My 4 year old nephew wouldn't go near NCL's last year, we're hoping he likes Camp Carnival.

 

Thanks RN, what a coincidence!

We went on the Glory Jan. 3, 2004. 3 families with 7 kids, (2)2,3,4,6,8, and 9!!

They absolutely loved Camp Carnival and never wanted to stay with us. We practically had to force them to eat a few dinners with us. Camp carnival offered dinner for them every night on the upper floor of the Red Sail. After dinner they went directly to Children's World for the scheduled activities. On the night of the adult cocktail party Captain's Dinner, the children have a coke-tail party! They have the option to get dressed up as well.

We didn't use the sports deck very often, only to play ping-pong and jog a few times. Hey, I needed to save my energy for eating and the sun. The older children did use the facilities during the camp hours to have ping-pong matches. I think it remains open at all times.

The kiddie pool is salt water. It is not very big but does the job to cool them off. While we were on our cruise at one point they did have to close the pool because a child threw up in it! Yuk!

The counselors in Camp Carnival are absolutely wonderful. They even helped my son with his homework! They went far beyond their call of duty at all times, in my opinion. They have sand art and candy machines. The older children usually go to another area away from the smaller kids. The smaller age group stays in the children's world room. The camp opens at 9:00 am usually until 12:00. Then closes until 2:00 but during that time they have family games by the pool, etc. We usually did some family games and had lunch together. It reopens at 2 and closes sometimes at 4,5 or 6 for just an hour to set up for dinner. Then you can bring them to the upper floor of the Red Sail. There is a set of stairs in the middle of the Red Sail Restaurant that leads to the upper floor where they have their dinner. After dinner they are taken to Children's World to begin their activities. They are over at 10pm. You can have them in group sitting from 10-3am for a fee. Just be sure to bring a stroller when picking up the kids even at 10pm in case they are asleep. It is very convenient to put them in the stroller to take them to the cabin rather than carrying a sleeping child. It will state the times daily in the Carnival Capers paper you will get nightly. It takes some getting used to trying to locate children's World. It is located on deck 12 and deck 12 does not run the length of the ship so you must go to deck 11 spa and go to the front of the ship (which puts you in front of the spa entrance literally) then take the single elevator or walk up the stairs to deck 12. Sorry I'm all over the place with this info. I'm trying to remember as I go along and I'm getting tired. It's been a long day. This really was a great cruise and I'm sure all of the kids will enjoy themselves.

The water slide is huge and to die for if you are into waterslides! I enjoyed the aft pool which tends to be less crowded so we would take the smaller children to swim there. It has a dome that covers the pool if need be. THis is also where the 24hr pizza and chicken ceasar salad is not to mention the icecream! . . . . .

[Girlsnightout]

Great information. I was always hesitent to cruise Carnival, but it sounds like the kids are going to have a ball!

 

I hope my nephew is braver this year, but from what I've seen in photo's, the kids area sounds like it has a lot of attractions, certainly more that what was offered in NCL's program (which was the first one he tried). I know my boys have always loved the programs on the other lines, and now just enjoy meeting new friends and doing things with them outside of the programs.

 

I'm also glad to hear about the aft pool, we prefer the quieter pools also, and I wasn't sure if that one was an adults only. I always think it's the adults with the noisy pool games that cause more of a disturbance than kids, but then, I would think that....;)

 

Was there a very long line for the waterslide? I hope not.

[cruzinrn]

Great information. I was always hesitent to cruise Carnival, but it sounds like the kids are going to have a ball!

 

I hope my nephew is braver this year, but from what I've seen in photo's, the kids area sounds like it has a lot of attractions, certainly more that what was offered in NCL's program (which was the first one he tried). I know my boys have always loved the programs on the other lines, and now just enjoy meeting new friends and doing things with them outside of the programs.

 

I'm also glad to hear about the aft pool, we prefer the quieter pools also, and I wasn't sure if that one was an adults only. I always think it's the adults with the noisy pool games that cause more of a disturbance than kids, but then, I would think that....;)

 

Was there a very long line for the waterslide? I hope not.

 

The only thing that the little ones enjoyed better on the Dawn was the oversized ball pit tunnel which was very enjoyable for them. Unless there are too many kids on the sailing and lots of over abundant germs and no room to move in there. The wait for the slide was never excessive maybe as long as 5-10 min. at times. And yes, the noisy adult pool games are not at the aft pool. I think your nephew may do fine this year. The counselors are very understanding toward the hestitant kiddies. There are usually quite a few counselors at one time. Some of them even held the smaller children if they were upset. I'm not sure if I mentioned it but Carnival does port sitting for free and they feed them lunch as well as dinner until you come back to the ship. :)