Activities for kids under 2 on Carnival Pride

[margerette]

We are taking our 16-mo old daughter to carnival Pride in Feb. Anyone with similar experience can comment on were there any activities for toddlers. I understand Camp carnival only accepts kids 2+.

Thanks for your input!

[irishnyc]

Before Camp opens every morning there is usually an hour where parents can accompany under 2s to the camp facility and have open play time.

[JinxyB]

I took my then 15 month-old on the Carnival Liberty in 2012 and besides the limited babysitting options on port and sea days, there were not many toddler- friendly activities. They have night owls from 10pm- 2am where you can pay for sitting. I let my son run around in the empty lounges during the day. I also had a small blow up pool I put on our balcony so he could splash around in. I vowed to not take him on a cruise again until he could participate in the kids club and be potty trained!

[Prinycesa07]

We went on pride when my son was 18 months. There really wasn't much for him to do, i was kind of disappointed. There were a couple days where we could bring him to camp and stay with him for an hour in the early morning but we were always eating breakfast at that time. We let him run around in the disco lounge and the music was on so he enjoyed that a bit. This April we cruise again and he will be 3 & my daughter 4. I think it will be much better!

[Lerin]

There's really nothing for under 2s to do.

Before my child was old enough for camp we always brought along a relative that way we could all share the baby-sitting duties. We found the cost of 2 cabins vs. the cost of a cabin for 3 was nearly identical, so it was cost effective and simple to bring along another adult.

 

We still had a ton of fun and have no regrets, but the only time you will get child free would be the Night owls which is about $7/hour. Or if you and your husband take turns. Morning playtime is an hour or so and you must be with her.

[NotTheBatesMotel]

We're sailing with my 18 month in a few weeks. From what I've read, there isn't much to do on-board. We have 4 ports to visit, so I made sure to book kid-friendly excursions. He loves sand and swimming so we booked pretty much all beach activities.

 

We have a balcony cabin so I bought an inflatable tub to use as a pool/splash area on the balcony. We're only planning on putting a few cups of water in it but that should be enough to entertain him. He loves to people watch and engage with others, so we plan on sitting around the lido deck until he loses interest (or starts acting up). We will have an umbrella stroller with us (he loves going on walks) so I'm sure we will do a lot of walking around.

 

So much of what I love about cruising is sitting on the balcony staring at the ocean, so I feel like we can make it a good trip even with a toddler. I'm mentally preparing myself for doing things at a "traveling with toddler" pace and won't be disappointed if we have to spend a lot more time in the cabin than normal.

 

I second the bringing family if you can. My son's grandparents, cousins and aunt and uncle will be in the rooms next door. We won't be relying on them heavily for babysitting but my parents have volunteered to babysit the night of my husband's birthday so we can have a couple hours kid-free!

 

It's going to be a much different experience than cruising before kids, but at least I won't have to cook dinner for a week. ;)

[*Cassie*]

We'll be sailing with our will be 14 month old also in February. As others have said, it doesn't look like there's much for them to do. I'm planning on checking out the early open play time on sea days and see if she likes that. But I think that's it on the ship.

[LREcruise02]

Both of my daughters did their first Carnival cruise at 16 months. Loved every minute of it! Hung out by the pool with snacks, danced to music on deck, explored the ship... My tips would be take a small umbrella stroller, usually around nap time I could walk around the ship with her in that to fall asleep. Also handy for ports. Bring a sand bucket and shovel and do beach days in port. My girls would both just play in the sand for ever at that age!

[megann831]

I don't understand why kids with swim diapers aren't allowed in the pool? Don't most young kids pee in the pool anyway? Any why does the Pride offer a kiddie pool if diapered kids can't go in? Would my 4 year old have fun in it?

[gerif]

I don't understand why kids with swim diapers aren't allowed in the pool? Don't most young kids pee in the pool anyway? Any why does the Pride offer a kiddie pool if diapered kids can't go in? Would my 4 year old have fun in it?

 

Urine isn't the issue - yucky but usually sterile. Feces, OTOH, contain bacteria including ecoli which can make a healthy person sick but could prove fatal to a small child or immuno impaired adult. Swim diapers might contain solids but not bacteria (think fecal tea). Disney and a number of Royal Caribbean ships have infant splash zones that are specially filtered for the diapered set - Carnival does not.

[RSLeesburg]

I don't understand why kids with swim diapers aren't allowed in the pool? Don't most young kids pee in the pool anyway? Any why does the Pride offer a kiddie pool if diapered kids can't go in? Would my 4 year old have fun in it?

 

I thought I read in another thread that there are actually regulations against this, and that ships can be fined if they are found to be letting diapered children in the pools.

[RSLeesburg]

Here is the thread - you need to scroll down to post #17 I think...

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1954474&highlight=nappy