Tell me about carnival with a kid, please

[Gardeneroflove]

Hi, we've cruise carnival BEFORE kid, and Disney and RCL with kid.

 

We're looking at the Dream in Nov.

 

1 Does the kid's club have open house hours/activities? Meaning can we go play with our kid?

 

2 What's the stuff with dr. suess? are those activities only in the club or are they family activities?

 

3 Do they have toy lending option?

 

4

 

The website is vague "character parade, interactive story time, arts & crafts activities, character breakfast featuring their favorite Dr. Seuss friends and more. " I see the additional charge for breakfast, do I book on board or before? what about the storytime and other actitives? are there set activites that I need to book? are they speafic to the kid's club or open for the family?

 

 

I do like that the age group is 3-5, so at least i have a CHANCE at getting dh to drop kid off for something, but we never have before (family vacation, he works).

 

What I'm looking for are activities to do with dd, that are kid centered and fun, NO bingo or such like RCL tried to pull as family actitives. On Disney, they have open house hours, where we could play with toys, read books, or color. They also have toddler time and wake up with disney jr, and had some holiday crafts.

 

Thanks! trying to decide which cruise, NCL dawn or Carnival Dream.

[sprath]

1. It depends on the cruise. Last cruise, they had a period on a couple of days where we could go into camp and play games with our son. But, you can't just go in there any time. I believe there was also open play time early in the morning, but don't quote me on that.

 

2. There is a Seuss parade. We all met in the back of the promenade deck. They had tambourines, drums and placards with pictures of characters. Kids picked up the instruments and pom poms. Adults picked up the placards. Then we all marched from the back of the ship to the front chanting and making a bunch of noise. After that, they had a reading of the Cat in the Hat in the lounge, with kids and parents acting it out on stage. We all had fun. You don't have to book it, you just show up.

 

3. No toy lending that I remember.

 

4. I think you have to wait until you get on board to book the Seuss breakfast. I don't remember if it was in the camp carnival schedule or the fun times, but there was a specific phone number to call.

 

In general, most of the kids activities you just show up for. If parents are allowed (which isn't often), the camp schedule will say so. Otherwise, the activities are just for kids. For what it's worth, our 4 year old son will usually choose going to camp over hanging out with us when we give him the choice.

[sillychicky]

Hi, we've cruise carnival BEFORE kid, and Disney and RCL with kid.

 

We're looking at the Dream in Nov.

 

1 Does the kid's club have open house hours/activities? Meaning can we go play with our kid? They have a time when you can check out Camp Carnival/Camp Ocean with your child but they won't allow you in when it's a structured time since other people's kids will be in there too.

 

2 What's the stuff with dr. suess? are those activities only in the club or are they family activities? Seems like you can do this as a family as far as the breakfast but seems to be club activities other than that but i'm not 100% sure.

 

3 Do they have toy lending option? I have never seen this as an option. We bring our own toys.

 

.

 

Honestly, I would try to get your husband to let your child participate. They have great staff and a great playroom and my 3 and 5 year olds absolutely loved all of the activities and begged to go. Plus, it's your vacation too! Enjoy whatever you decide.

[JinxyB]

The Dream also has a great waterpark with a slide and splash area for little kids. Mini golf is fun. Parents are not allowed in the camp area unless a family activity is taking place. They offer build a bear for $$$. The Seuss stuff is cute- we signed up onboard on Day 1. When my son was younger he liked to watch the elevators in the atrium and loved riding those glass elevators! There is no toy lending on Carnival.

[legion3]

Both NCL and Carnival's kids club's my children had equal good times in.

 

I liked Carnival just a tad more as they allow you to drop the kid off at dinner time (6pm) at the buffet and they will feed the kids at a separate, roped off part of the buffet with kid friendly foods, very safe and with their new friends. They then take them back to the club.

 

On Dawn we had to wait for the club to re open at 7PM and make our mom and dad dining plans for around 7:30

 

Also felt the policies were just a tad more user/parent friendly on Carnival.

 

In two weeks our kids get to try out Carnival's new Camp Ocean for the first time so for them it will be an all new experience.

 

 

If I were going in a family suite then the Dawn is the better choice for the suite perks but in almost all other choices I would pick the dream, bigger ship, newer ship, with far more things to do.

[Gardeneroflove]

Honestly, I would try to get your husband to let your child participate. They have great staff and a great playroom and my 3 and 5 year olds absolutely loved all of the activities and begged to go. Plus, it's your vacation too! Enjoy whatever you decide.

 

The goal of vacation is dh spending time with our daughter, not dropping her off. I WILL have tons of time to do nothing, it's what's I do best on a ship. :D

 

I'm hoping for an hour or so alone with him, since the age group is 3-5, there's a chance he may agree. I wouldn't on ncl with it being 3-11 age group.

 

JinxyB-the waterpark and slide will be perfect!!!

 

We let her pack a bag of toys/books, but there's always something extra fun about playing with toys that aren't your own.

 

I really wish these ships just and an open indoor play area for parents to play with our kids! Rather than another bar/louge, build a playscape, have big foam blocks, board books, a swing/slide. fun stuff. NOT all parents what to ditch the kids. I think if dh didn't work, then he'd be ok with it. I"m hoping there'll be something fun and he'll agree. If not, nbd.

Edited April 12, 2015 by Gardeneroflove

[JinxyB]

RCI Oasis/Allure have a large play room with plenty of toddler and baby toys where kids and parents can play. It's open all day- Carnival doesn't have anything like this on their ships, so you may want to look into one of those ships. Overall, I think the Adventure Ocean program on Royal Caribbean is much better than Camp Carnival, but my son enjoys both programs.

[katiedidthat]

Camp Carnival has a few open family activities, but very few when we were on the Pride with our son. There was no open play time, just structured in camp activities (build a bear, a few other crafts, a dance party). The only time where parents could go in and play with the toys was during the under 2 playtime on sea day mornings.

 

No toy lending program, unfortunately. We asked about borrowing a specific toy that DS got really attached to during his time in Night Owls and the staff was nice enough to let him take it to our room, but they said they weren't really supposed to and that they could only do it because there were less than 20 kids on the entire ship that week.

 

We've said quite a few times that we wish Carnival would install something like a mall play area. A few padded slides, climbing objects, that sort of thing. Basically a splash park without the water. It wouldn't cost that much and they would appeal so much more to families. But then again, it also wouldn't make them money, so it won't happen, haha.