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Single Mom, kid's first cruise


afiaccone
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I have a 12 year old daughter and 15 year old son. I'm recently widowed and planning a Christmas cruise for the 3 of us. Looking at Carnival Panorama. Worried the kids will be split into different kids clubs. Hoping there are other single parents and not just big family groups. I did a few shorts cruises 15+ plus years Go, but the kids have never been. 

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Totally recommend a Royal Caribbean Cruise. If you are able to do any of the Oasis ships, do it. Harmony #1. Especially going to there island of COCOCAY. Nothing but awesome for you and your kids. The ship offers many things for your kids. There disco is for ages 12 -17 and a lots more activities that they should really enjoy. A cruise on the Harmony will be unforgettable for you and them.

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Condolences on your loss, and welcome to CC. It sounds like you need a combination of Carnival-specific info (kids clubs should generally operate the same way across the fleet, but other lines will have different age thresholds & policies), Family cruising info, and then specific cruise info.

 

So my recommendation would be to ask about the specific kids clubs policies on the Carnival board; then seek general advice on the Family cruising board; and when you do narrow down which potential cruise you are on check out the Roll Calls - if you have a few options you might even consider posting on each of the Roll Calls asking if there are other single parents etc. before making your final choice if you don't see any posts from other single parents already.

 

Oh, and be sure to travel with the Death Certificate or a certified copy - taking your kids out of the country is a potential red flag for border controls! I have a widowed friend in the US who has been asked to prove she has permission to travel with her child on many occasions so started carrying a copy in her purse to ensure she'd always have it.

 

Edit - oh yes, and don't restrict yourself just to that ship or line, check out the other cruiseline boards re: their kids club policies etc. too!

Edited by martincath
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I'm a single mom too and we just came back from sailing on the Splendor, on the route the Panorama will be sailing. And we're booked to sail the Panorama Feb 15, 2020.  My kids are 6 and 10 and they were split into two groups, but they were in the same area sometimes. My older one could check himself in and out, so he could come and go to find me, get food, whatever, whenever he wanted. He was quite happy with that. We'd look over the daily schedule and they'd let me know what they wanted to do on sea days and that's what we went with.  Camp Ocean splits kids into different groups, ages 2-5, 6-8 and 9-11 (https://www.carnival.com/onboard/camp-ocean). Circle-C (https://www.carnival.com/onboard/circle-c) is 12-14 and Club O2 (https://www.carnival.com/onboard/club-o2) is 15-17

 

I was worried about the same things as you, I'd sailed before but the kids hadn't, and found the roll calls to be helpful. Happy to answer any other questions you have.

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I have done multiple cruises , as a single dad, with a teenaged daughter. Both the tween and teen clubs are wonderful aboard Carnival. I felt safe having my daughter in the clubs.

 

As a single mom, believe me, you will not be lonely on a Carnival cruise if you want to meet people. Just go to the activities where there are lots of people. You can literally hop from one activity to another to see what's happening. If you prefer solitude, you can find that too.

 

I would suggest:

 

1. Plan on eating all meals together and make sure your kids know they're expected to be with you at that time.

2. If you have a curfew at home, don't be afraid to have a curfew on the ship. Entirely your call. 

 

 

Good luck to you. Please feel free to write with additional questions.

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