Sail and sign cards for children, kids club and our questions about carnival

[nickykat]

Sorry in advance about all the posts I have been making, a search of threads has answered many of my questions but I'm sure I will have a few more yet to come. I appreciate all the help this community has given me thus far.

 

So I've finally booked for 8 June 1015 on carnival spirit- YAY!! My first ever cruise :)

 

As we a family of 5 I've booked 4 of us into an ocean suite quad, and my oldest son in with my parents in another room (extended balcony as all trio suites were booked!) As he will be 10 it is my understanding that he will be able to sign in and out of the kids club (if we let him). I want him to be able to access our family suite during the day for some chill out time if he needs it (we will take some lego etc. for quiet play/ read a book), but I assume that he will not be allowed to access our suite with his card? Wondering about ways around this- do younger children need their cards with them? Could I also give him his 3 yo sisters card to access the room? Do kids cards actually unlock the room at all? Am I able to ask guest services to allow access to our suite on his card? Also am I able to ask them to put his charges onto our account rather than my parents?

 

Are there any other snags I may encounter by having him not booked into our room? I've already spoken to carnival about boarding and they say he will still get priority boarding if he is with us.

 

Thanks in advance.

[rkmw]

Sorry in advance about all the posts I have been making, a search of threads has answered many of my questions but I'm sure I will have a few more yet to come. I appreciate all the help this community has given me thus far.

 

So I've finally booked for 8 June 1015 on carnival spirit- YAY!! My first ever cruise :)

 

As we a family of 5 I've booked 4 of us into an ocean suite quad, and my oldest son in with my parents in another room (extended balcony as all trio suites were booked!) As he will be 10 it is my understanding that he will be able to sign in and out of the kids club (if we let him). I want him to be able to access our family suite during the day for some chill out time if he needs it (we will take some lego etc. for quiet play/ read a book), but I assume that he will not be allowed to access our suite with his card? Wondering about ways around this- do younger children need their cards with them? Could I also give him his 3 yo sisters card to access the room? Do kids cards actually unlock the room at all? Am I able to ask guest services to allow access to our suite on his card? Also am I able to ask them to put his charges onto our account rather than my parents?

 

Are there any other snags I may encounter by having him not booked into our room? I've already spoken to carnival about boarding and they say he will still get priority boarding if he is with us.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

if you see them at the reception desk they will give your son a spare card for your room and they will put his bill on your card

[rabbit1971]

Hi Nickykat,

welcome to cc and congrats on booking your cruise. The spirit is a wonderful family ship. We cruised on her oct'13 with a 15yo and 10yo aswell as two grandma's and we all had a blast.

My 15yo was able to use her card to access the room and I am reasonably sure the 10yo could also and yes if you give permission he can sign in and out of the kids club.

Any other questions you have fire away.

Cheers maree:)

[nickykat]

Thank you both rkmw and maree. I'm very excitied about the trip. Good to hear that the Grandmas also had fun Maree, it'll be interesting to see if my parents enjoy it- they have cruised on Princess which they enjoyed, NCL which they thought was quite boring with not many activities and they are just about to cruise on Le Boreal to Antarctica which will be interesting as it's a small ship. So they have a bit to compare it to, plus my Mother is not a major fan of cruising!! Hard to please! I, on the other hand am pretty sure I will love it :)

[rabbit1971]

Hi ,

My MIL had cruised twice before, although many years ago, and whilst she found the decor over the top, she (and the rest of us) could not fault the service on the cruise. My mum went on to say that she thought it was the best holiday she has ever had ( whats not too love, no cooking, no cleaning ).

Hope you have fun ( I'm sure you will).

I noticed on an earlier post you had put that your children have some medical issues, my 10 yo son has cerebral palsy and is in a wheelchair, and the staff were incredible with him, he attended the kids club and they did all they could too make sure he was included. On the tendered stops the crew carried him and his manual chair down the stairs to the tender, so he could get off, which I thought was over and above what I had expected. My daughter has a severe nut allergy ( anaphalactic) and the MDR staff could not have been more accomodating for her.

Hope you enjoy your cruise.

Cheers maree

[nickykat]

Maree that is wonderful to hear how accommodating to your children's needs Carnival were :) Yes my 2 eldest have Aspergers (Autism). I think they will be okay, just need staff to understand that there is a reason for their quirky behaviour at times and understand that they may get overwhelmed with a huge crowd sometimes. I think my 2 yo daughter may be more a handfull judging by her spectacular tantrum at the zoo today!!! Did you contact the special needs department before your cruise about your kids? My eldest also has some food intolerances, that although not life threatening like your daughter will make him itchy, snotty and miserable for the cruise if he eats those foods.

[rabbit1971]

Hi,

Being our first cruise we booked through travel agent and she contacted the line regarding our son needs. We were then emailed updates from carnival regarding door widths and tender ports where he may not have been allowed to get off, but there was never any issues, and I had researched door widths before booking to make sure his chair fitted.

When we boarded we went to the MDR and spoke with the staff regarding our daughters allergies, and every evening she got to look at the next days menus so she could pick what she wanted and that helped alleviate her anxiety about a potential reaction. the wait staff were fabulous, and we had no issues at all. So I am quite sure if you explained your situation they would have no issue in doing the same for you and that might reduce the stress levels for your kids.

Enjoy your time abaord.

Cheers maree