Review of camp carnival with 2 1/2 year old

[scrappinheather]

We just came back from a cruise on the Carnival Elation. While my son had a lot of fun at Camp Carnival once they let him in, we had a very poor experience.

 

First night- when we cruised on the Carnival Valor last year they had a party the first night of the cruise where they met the kids, handed out the pagers, signed the kids up for camp & made it fun. No party on this cruise. I turned in my paperwork, they didn't give me a pager, didn't meet anyone and no welcome.

 

2nd day- we tried to drop my son off for a few hours in the morning. We waited in line to drop him off. When I went to put him in he cried briefly, and understandbly as he didn't know them. He is in daycare, used to being with other people, but will cry for about 2 minutes and then he is fine in a new situation. They told me they wouldn't take him because he was crying, we were not allowed to step in & try to calm him down, and they didn't even try showing him a toy or getting him involved. At lunch, my husband went to the camp where they let the two of them play inside. We tried again for the evening party & although he cried for a second when the counselor showed him a toy he immediately stopped and they took him. It just depended who was the counselor at the door if he got in.

 

3rd day- when we tried to drop off my son they wouldn't take him because my husband didn't have the pager with him. They didn't tell my husband he had to have it on him to drop him off (I had the pager). He came and got the pager from me & by the time he got back to drop him off my son was upset & they almost wouldn't take him but one of the counselors said she remembers my son & he's super sweet he can come.

 

When he was at camp he seemed to have a blast. They did really cute face painting. However, they made it extremely difficult to use the camp. At several of the drop offs there were no other kids in camp or only 1 but if he cried for 2 seconds they wouldn't take him, per this one counselor. The other counselors were fine with taking him. I definitely would not recommend camp carnival on the elation.

[Tggrtoes]

WOW! I am so sorry you had that experience. :mad:

[mkluvs2cruise]

i had a similar experience with my 2 yo dd on the imagination. She has never been to daycare and when she cries, sometimes, she gets herself sick. We tried to drop her off once and she of course cried until that point. We were called within about 3 minutes to pick her up. She was not allowed back to CC unless we went to the infirmmary. I know she got sick and can somewhat understand their point, but as previously stated, they need to give parents an opportunity to get the child interested in something before they sneak away. We ended up having a blast with her in the pool(she is potty trained), but think CC needs to try to interact with the kids a little better. Any ideas on how to get them better used to the idea would be helpful!

[Kerry's Girls]

I'm surprised (and really disappointed for you) because I had the opposite situation on the Carnival Pride when I took my twins who had turned two the week before. Neither had been in day care (they had a nanny) and they both were crying when I dropped them at Camp, but the very kind staff said it happens all the time that way and they're used to it. I hid around the corner so I could listen and the staff was very patient in calming my girls down, which was not easy or quick. Both girls would cry each time I left them, but they always ended up calming down and playing. One of my girls never made it longer than half an hour though - she would start crying again and they would call me when they couldn't calm her down again. I was really impressed with the patience of the staff - but clearly that can vary ship to ship and cruise to cruise.

 

Take heart though, that the next time (and every time since), they don't care about spending time with mama anymore - they want "Kids Club".

 

Best,

Mia

[crusinmama06]

We were on Elation a couple of years ago and had an ok experience with the camp at that time. Obviously it would have been a different crew from back then. I do remember they kept staring at their watches. Like if I wanted to drop the kids off at 6:58pm and the kid dinner was at 7pm, they would sit and stare at their watch until it was exactly 7pm and then at 7pm they would say "Ok, NOW you can sign in"

 

Recently we have been seeing more and more reviews of impatient counselors at camp carnival. We experienced it last June on Triumph. You experienced it on Elation.

 

MKluvs2cruise on Imagination.

 

More and more threads are popping up with bad reports about impatient counselors. They need some retraining or a serious overhaul. :(

[mkluvs2cruise]

Any suggestions on how to prepare her for it would be great because I do not want a repeat of the last!

[Kerry's Girls]

Any suggestions on how to prepare her for it would be great because I do not want a repeat of the last!

 

In the weeks ahead, I made a big deal out of it being a Kid's-only Club. ("Can mommy pleeease go???" "No Mommy! Kids only!) We did what you did, talk about the fun activities they're going to do, but besides that, I didn't focus on it a lot. When it was time to leave them, I took the good advice I found here and didn't linger - just said I'd be back, gave them a kiss and went. (I learned the longer I tried to calm them down there, it just made it worse.). Worked for my kids.

 

Best,

Mia

[MrsZee]

I agree with CruisinMama, sounds like there does need to be some retraining. Also, sounds like the one who wouldn't let you leave when your child was crying just didn't feel like working. Easy kids only, right? Thing is, I wouldn't have patience with a counselor like that. There is nothing in their policy that states they won't take them if they are crying. I can understand if they can't be calmed down, but crying to begin with is so normal!

[scrappinheather]

Thanks for responding everyone. I just thought people should be prepared in case the staff on their ship are similar. It was amazing because he always calms down within 1 or 2 minutes, just show him a toy and he's happy. It was a very frustrating experience for us. Esp. the time we went to drop him off, he wasn't crying & then they made us go get the pager (how they don't keep track of the pager # when they are the ones who distribute them I don't get) and by the time we got back he was upset. I am concerned because we're taking NCL to the Greek Isles this summer and I hope we don't have a similar experience.

 

Heather

[CruizinMom2c]

We just got off the triumph...and our almost 3 year old only spent 2 hours in camp carnival ...the first night. He enjoyed it the first night...but we dropped him off the 2nd day and the called us abot 30 mins in..saying he was crying and calling for us. So dh went up to get him and our son never went back. We kept asking him if he wanted to go..and he insisted that he didn't. So we never made him...but we still had a blast even though he never went back. Plenty to do on the ship to entertain him :)