Camp Carnival 2-5

[beckyjohns]

Does anyone know if they split this group up when they have a lot of kids on a particular cruise? It seems like there's a lot of difference in that age group (a 2-year-old is VERY different than a 5-year-old). I've never seen the group separated by age, but we've always gone during non-busy seasons and camp was never really that crowded. We're leaving Saturday on the Dream and I'm anticipating a LOT of kids since it's still spring break. Just wondering if they might split the group or not.

[TheCalicoCat]

My experiences are similar to yours - never really crowded enough to warrant it. But I seriously doubt that they split them up. The activities are planned, The fact that not all kids will be in the club at the same time, etc.

[lucigo]

I haven't seen them split up, but I have seen the 4-5yo's on the video games while the smaller kids wander and play with toys.

[NJfoodie]

I'm not sure what I would consider a "lot" of kids. We sailed at the end of June so it was the beginning of summer vacation season and whenever we took DS, age 2, to camp, there were usually about 20 kids in the 2-5 group at the time. I don't know if this is considered a big group. The older kids groups were much larger. It's also likely that parents of younger kids don't often use the camps as much whereas a school-aged child if they enjoy camp will ask to go. We would ask DS if he wanted to go to camp or stay w/ Mom and Dad, and he was about 50/50. They also page parents to pick up if their child is upset so that may also be why there aren't as many kids in this group. DS would play there for short periods, like 1-2 hours at a time on sea days and was fine playing w/ the slightly older kids. They do a mix of planned activities which he participated in like art projects - my guess is that the older kids can do the activities w/ less guidance and the staff hand-hold the younger ones through it more. I don't think they force the kids to all do the same thing either - if DS wanted to just independently play with toys, as long as he wasn't disruptive, they let him.

[CruisingSoon88]

My kids were 2 1/2 and 5 1/2 last year on the Dream. There were many times especially at night during the theme parties that my 5 year old was next door with the older kids. I don't think they split them up, but they did let my 5 year old go next door because he said he got bored with the babies.

[nybumpkin]

My experience is now 7 years ago, but when our youngest son was 5 and we sailed on Conquest, they did informally split the kids between 2-3 and 4-5. They were in the same physical area and did the same activities, but each group had different counselors leading their groups.