Camp Carnival

[tkportersat]

Has anyone ever known of a child to be kicked out? I just read over all the Camp Carnival rules and how they won't tolerate hitting, throwing, biting, etc. Well my child is 2 and for the most part a pretty well behaved child....but again HE IS 2. They sometimes do these things as well as these wonderful random episodes called temper tantrums. For some reason now that my long awaited vacation is less than 2 months away I am starting to stress that my child will be booted and I will not get to relax. :eek:

[angelndscz]

I have 4 kids and they have never hit or bit another in a daycare enviornment. Now with each other... that is a different story. I am not sure I am inclined to agree with "these things sometimes happen" attitude. I have to think of how the child/parent on the recieving end feels. If a child bit my child, surely I wouldn't want them back near my child.

[ata1976]

My 2 yr old got kicked out, but it was because he was crying and upset he was left with strangers. Which is perfectly understandable. Needless to say he spent the rest of the cruise with me and DH watched him for naps if I wanted to sit out by the pool or anything.

 

He stayed about 10 minutes before they called me to come get him. They did say I could try again and bring him the next day, but we just kept him with us.

[crusinmama06]

Ahhhh Carnival - good luck!

 

Here is one of my favorite experiences with Carnival.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=30925793&postcount=9

[tkportersat]

My son has never bitten but he has been the bitee on several ocasions. I always try to teach him the right thing, but there have been a few rare ocasions where someone has yanked his toy away and he has swatted them. He is usually pretty well behaved unless provoked. And yes, these things sometimes happen...I don't like that my child is being bit, but certainly understand that at that age it does happen. My daughter who is now 18 was a biter, I tried everything. I did the big no no and finally bit her back because nothing else worked and that finally stopped it.

 

I have 4 kids and they have never hit or bit another in a daycare enviornment. Now with each other... that is a different story. I am not sure I am inclined to agree with "these things sometimes happen" attitude. I have to think of how the child/parent on the recieving end feels. If a child bit my child, surely I wouldn't want them back near my child.

[tkportersat]

Oh boy :) I hope it will be a good experience. With my older two kids we didn't start cruising until they were 10 and 12, and they always loved the kids club and we never had any issues. I guess I will just have to wait and see and hope for the best.

 

Ahhhh Carnival - good luck!

 

Here is one of my favorite experiences with Carnival.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=30925793&postcount=9

[tkportersat]

He sometimes gets upset when I leave him at daycare, but they tell me within a minute or two he is playing and fine. He is a very active and curious child, so I am thinking he will like all the cool new things he gets to play with.

 

 

My 2 yr old got kicked out, but it was because he was crying and upset he was left with strangers. Which is perfectly understandable. Needless to say he spent the rest of the cruise with me and DH watched him for naps if I wanted to sit out by the pool or anything.

 

He stayed about 10 minutes before they called me to come get him. They did say I could try again and bring him the next day, but we just kept him with us.

[cb at sea]

I wouldn't worry about it in advance. Chances are, he'll have a fine time, and so will you!

[Julienatul]

My 2 yr old got kicked out, but it was because he was crying and upset he was left with strangers. Which is perfectly understandable. Needless to say he spent the rest of the cruise with me and DH watched him for naps if I wanted to sit out by the pool or anything.

 

He stayed about 10 minutes before they called me to come get him. They did say I could try again and bring him the next day, but we just kept him with us.

 

Mine too, lots of times we tried later in the week and even differnt sailings but they dont tolerate crying and tantrums so to the OP, if your 2 year-old is having a tantrum they will call you to come get them. It is not a daycare/babysitting service more like an activity service. If they are happy and want to participate in the activity they can stay if they are hungry, tired, upset, want to be with mom/dad, dont want to do the activity planned they will call you.

[Zeebaby]

We just came off of the Liberty and our kids went to Camp Carnival. I would imagine one hit or bite would be okay, but if it is behavior that can't be corrected by the parent or the camp staff, it becomes a danger to the other children and would warrant the child being kicked out. I would think similar to any other daycare situation. I wouldn't want my child to be the bitten or hit kid.

[denas]

We just came off of the Liberty and our kids went to Camp Carnival. I would imagine one hit or bite would be okay, but if it is behavior that can't be corrected by the parent or the camp staff, it becomes a danger to the other children and would warrant the child being kicked out. I would think similar to any other daycare situation. I wouldn't want my child to be the bitten or hit kid.

 

Did you like Camp Carnival on the Liberty? We are going in Jan with kids who are 2, 6, and 10. Have read poor reviews of. Camp Carnival on the Dream but cant find much on the Liberty

[Zeebaby]

Did you like Camp Carnival on the Liberty? We are going in Jan with kids who are 2, 6, and 10. Have read poor reviews of. Camp Carnival on the Dream but cant find much on the Liberty

 

I actually really liked Camp Carnival on the Liberty. They had some great ideas for the kids. They usually came back to the cabin with something. I liked the director, she was very friendly and actually said hello whenever she saw families with children on the ship, as did the staff and they actually remembered the kids names. I really don't know how they did it with so many kids on the ship, but they always called my kids my name when we came to drop them off. The kids have name tags, but they would call them by name even before we got the name tags.

 

I had my two kids and my cousin had her child that was in the same age group. The 3 of them were together and usually wanted to go to Camp Carnival. My other carnival who had her 6 year old didn't like it as much as he was in a group by himself. I don't know if it had anything to do with camp carnival as much as he just didn't want to be by himself.

[tkportersat]

Thanks :)

 

I wouldn't worry about it in advance. Chances are, he'll have a fine time, and so will you!

[tkportersat]

I will wing it...my son is a pretty active social child so hopefully he will enjoy the program. If not I guess we will figure it out. Just hoping to get a couple hours in a deck chair because I didn't get that last timeand I would like a little relaxation. So...fingers crossed and hoping it is a great vacation.

 

Mine too, lots of times we tried later in the week and even differnt sailings but they dont tolerate crying and tantrums so to the OP, if your 2 year-old is having a tantrum they will call you to come get them. It is not a daycare/babysitting service more like an activity service. If they are happy and want to participate in the activity they can stay if they are hungry, tired, upset, want to be with mom/dad, dont want to do the activity planned they will call you.

[tkportersat]

As a follow up as I am back from my cruise.....Camp Carnival was a complete dud. We dropped my 2 1/2 year old off the first sea day and they called us after a whopping 10 minutes because my son was standing off to the side and it seemed made zero effort to engage with him and said we should come check on him. Well of course as soon as he saw us he started bawling and we picked him up. We tried later that night and the lady was nicer and really talked to him, he make it about 2 hours. After that he would never go in, ran as soon as we hit the Camp Carnival sign.

 

We had a great trip with him but had very little relaxation and I feel like I need a week to nap. I just wanted a couple hours a day to relax but that didn't happen. We will probably wait until he is a bit older until we try again. I don't have much good to say about the program as they try very little to draw your little one in. As someone on here mentioned before, bring em' happy or they can't stay. :(

 

I will wing it...my son is a pretty active social child so hopefully he will enjoy the program. If not I guess we will figure it out. Just hoping to get a couple hours in a deck chair because I didn't get that last timeand I would like a little relaxation. So...fingers crossed and hoping it is a great vacation.

[crusinmama06]

As a follow up as I am back from my cruise.....Camp Carnival was a complete dud. We dropped my 2 1/2 year old off the first sea day and they called us after a whopping 10 minutes because my son was standing off to the side and it seemed made zero effort to engage with him and said we should come check on him. Well of course as soon as he saw us he started bawling and we picked him up. We tried later that night and the lady was nicer and really talked to him, he make it about 2 hours. After that he would never go in, ran as soon as we hit the Camp Carnival sign.

 

We had a great trip with him but had very little relaxation and I feel like I need a week to nap. I just wanted a couple hours a day to relax but that didn't happen. We will probably wait until he is a bit older until we try again. I don't have much good to say about the program as they try very little to draw your little one in. As someone on here mentioned before, bring em' happy or they can't stay. :(

 

Ack! I was hoping you would come back and tell us that you had a wonderful time :( But alas, you have discovered what I keep saying (yes I am post number 4 and have an illusive history with carnival) They just don't know how to deal with younger children.

 

I wasn't one to "wait till my kids were older" - we just found a new cruise line :)

[tkportersat]

Thanks :) We did still have fun, just wasn't really restful. Had a great time running through the water park on board and the beaches in Bahamas were beautiful with really calm water for my little guy. He wore us all out! Thankfully we did have grandparents who stepped in so we could have a dinner alone, one night in the hot tub and late nights in the casino. I have one more cruise with Carnival so I can grandfather my platinum status and then we will maybe try Disney or RC.

 

 

 

Ack! I was hoping you would come back and tell us that you had a wonderful time :( But alas, you have discovered what I keep saying (yes I am post number 4 and have an illusive history with carnival) They just don't know how to deal with younger children.

 

I wasn't one to "wait till my kids were older" - we just found a new cruise line :)

[eastcoastbaby]

Im a bit nervous as well.I have a 4 year old.Although, he is very social and loves meeting new kids etc...he is STILL 4 and prone to missing mommy, and the occasional tantrum. I will try to bring him happy and only send him if he wants to go.If fine with spending time with him.The hubby thinks that he will want to be in camp ALL day ..me I know better:) I look forward to this experience with him and our 16 year old nephew.Its thier first time cruising,our second.

[joshchristine100700]

We took our twin 4 year olds and 7 year old (at the time) on Carnival Triumph and they didn't get kicked out of the camp and had a blast. The program I will say is a lot more fun for the bit older crowd (ie our 7 year old had more fun than the younger 2) due in part to you can do more activities with the little bit older set and they are more independent. All drew on tshirts, made bags, did crafts etc. I really think it depends on the child. I know if we would have dropped off our oldest at 2 in that type of scenario they would have called us because he didn't like daycares, even gym daycares were a no go...

[tkportersat]

Yeah, I didn't start cruising with my older children until they were 10 and 12 and they always loved it. Really thought the 2 1/2 year old would too as he is very active and social but he doesn't see his grandparents often and was getting quite spoiled. So why go to camp? ;)

[Julienatul]

As a follow up as I am back from my cruise.....Camp Carnival was a complete dud. We dropped my 2 1/2 year old off the first sea day and they called us after a whopping 10 minutes because my son was standing off to the side and it seemed made zero effort to engage with him and said we should come check on him. Well of course as soon as he saw us he started bawling and we picked him up. We tried later that night and the lady was nicer and really talked to him, he make it about 2 hours. After that he would never go in, ran as soon as we hit the Camp Carnival sign.

 

We had a great trip with him but had very little relaxation and I feel like I need a week to nap. I just wanted a couple hours a day to relax but that didn't happen. We will probably wait until he is a bit older until we try again. I don't have much good to say about the program as they try very little to draw your little one in. As someone on here mentioned before, bring em' happy or they can't stay. :(

 

Oh no, so sorry to hear that. I was keeping my fingers crossed for you, but it sounds very familar!! My DS will be 4 next month and he is still leary about camp. I am hoping next weeks sailing goes well for us. I need some relaxation. But as always, I will be prepared if he doesnt want to go. My older one who is now 7 started going around age 4 and now I cant keep her out. I started talking about camp carnival in the car last week and immediately DS started screaming saying he didnt want to go he wanted to stay with me. UGHHH I just hope he changes his mind once onboard at least for a few hours a day.

[tkportersat]

It's ok :) I was only disappointed because I really wanted more time to relax and to spend with my hubby as he travels a lot and I work full time. We had a lot of fun with him but I just wish he would have stayed a couple hours a day so we could have a little down time. Funny (or not), the morning we were getting ready to debark he comes up to me and says "I want to go to the kids club :)". :rolleyes:

 

Oh no, so sorry to hear that. I was keeping my fingers crossed for you, but it sounds very familar!! My DS will be 4 next month and he is still leary about camp. I am hoping next weeks sailing goes well for us. I need some relaxation. But as always, I will be prepared if he doesnt want to go. My older one who is now 7 started going around age 4 and now I cant keep her out. I started talking about camp carnival in the car last week and immediately DS started screaming saying he didnt want to go he wanted to stay with me. UGHHH I just hope he changes his mind once onboard at least for a few hours a day.

[Pom Lover]

I am sorry to hear your son didn't want to stay in Camp Carnival. We travel with our granddaughter and she loves Camp Carnival. We have cruised 3 times in the last year with her and each time she enjoys her time spent in Camp. We have a B2B booked on the Breeze sailing later this month and another B2B booked on the Liberty and she is already talking about the fun things she will do in Camp Carnival.

[parrotthead]

I think it must depend on the ship and the staff? Our "Traveling GingetTot" Kinley is (now 17mo) but was 8 mos on his first cruise (Triumph) and 16 months on our most recent (Carnival Magic). Of course, he is too young for the Regular Camp, but has really enjoyed the Under2s program (stay and play- Sea Days 8-10am)

On the first cruise we stayed the whole time he was there. But on our last cruise we decided to see how he would do if we left for a bit ($7/hr). Since I have never left him with anyone besides family befor, I just wanted to see how he would do, figured this was a great chance to try, since I do trust the Ship staff and the low ratio of baby/staff. They paged us after about 15 minutes and said he was crying. When I got there I looked in the monitor and he was calm, so (without him seeing me) I asked if he was ok to stay and they said yes, but that if he got upset again they would page, as the policy is to not let them cry for more then 10 minutes, to avoid the child being too distressed and to avoid getting the other kids upset (understandable). Sure enough they paged again after about 20 mintues, no worries, I dont want him upset either. (they only charged me for 1/2 hour)

We tryed it again a couple days later... he lasted an hour! (no pages)

When we go there they were letting him play on the computer, he had been crying you could tell, but was totally engaged in the play at that point, they had also gotten out the bubble machine to occupy him. (horay for them!) :)

On both ships even tho he was an "under 2" and not in the regular camp, the CC people would say hi to him and remembered his name, even around the ship. (yes, very impressive)

We did meet a little boy in the MDR on the Magic this last time, who was just over 2. His mama said he had been kicked out of camp for biting, so yes, I guess it does happen... :o

We are looking forward to when Kinley gets to participate in the "Over2" program, I think he will have a good time!