gameover Posted November 12, 2007 #1 Share Posted November 12, 2007 Hello, Right now I am in early stages of planning a cruise for 2008. I have a son who will turn two later in 2008. I believe currently the only options for a two year old for kids camp is Carnival and NCL. I have cruised with Disney, CCL, and Princess before but have always wanted to cruise RCCL. My question is if my son is too young for kids camp for any other cruise line other than CCL and NCL, are the rates reduced for 2yrs and younger? Personally I do not mind to pay the full child or 3rd-4th person rate if I can check my kids in but I do not want to pay the 3rd-4th person rate if I cannot since in theory they are not using as many services including food. If RCCL charged a reduced rate for 2yrs old then I would consider them even though I cannot check the child into kids camp. Thanks in advance.:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larronry Posted November 12, 2007 #2 Share Posted November 12, 2007 I would assume that RCCL would charge full 3rd/4th person rates since that is what we are paying for our 2 year old on RCCL owned Celebrity. And no I cannot bring him to the kids camp there either. Although my son is capable of eating more food then I eat. :eek: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusinmama06 Posted November 12, 2007 #3 Share Posted November 12, 2007 You are correct. The ONLY kids clubs that accept 2 year olds FREE of charge are NCL and Carnival. And if he's not potty trained, NCL will page you when he needs to be changed, Carnival WILL change his diaper. Neither of these cruiselines allow non-potty trained kids in ANY pools onboard. (At least, not right now. Carnival *may* be in the process of adding infant/toddlers areas into their waterworks, but this is just a rumor at this time) Prices - NCL charges just port fees and taxes for 2 year olds. Disney charges a "reduced rate" for 2 year olds. Carnival, RCCL, Princess charges full 3rd/4th person rates. Disney will allow 2 year olds to attend "Flounders Nursery" for a fee. AND the Disney ships will allow him to use the special toddler/infant water play area if he isn't potty trained. RCCL has in cabin sitting for $8/hour. And they also have a 45 min sessions called "Aqua Tots" that allows toddlers to play with their parents and other toddlers. RCCL FREEDOM ships (Freedom/Liberty/Independece of the Seas) has water play areas for non-potty trained infants/toddlers called "The Baby Zone" We've been on Disney, NCL, Carnival and RCCL. My youngest likes Camp Carnival better. My oldest (age 7) likes RCCL Freedom ships better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gameover Posted November 12, 2007 Author #4 Share Posted November 12, 2007 It's interesting that NCL charges a reduced rate for 2yr olds and yet allows check in to kids club. My older kids have participated in the kids camp at Disney and Princess (pre kids on the CCL cruise). I thought the Disney program was much better than Princess but of course Disney costs MUCH more (worth every penny but at the same time a once in a lifetime cruise) than Princess. I like to cruise every other year so Disney is less of an option. At this time NCL and CCL remain my most viable options. I pretty much know what CCL is about (good and bad) but know less about NCL. The diaper thing is okay. At worst I am paged but by age two changes are fewer compated with an infant. I joke about my son's day care becuase by 18 months he will be promoted to a class called "potty train" where a (what I call) potty train totalitarian frees my son from diapers. With my older kids I remember receiving a twenty page document on the process. While I wont go into details it seems like they are on the throne (toddler size) 1/3rd the time. The potty train totalitarian was on our case when progress was not as expected. There were run ins but to her credit both kids were trained in 12-15 weeks. So odds look probable. So at this time its a toss up between ccl and ncl and I will look forward to booking RCCL after that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crusinmama06 Posted November 12, 2007 #5 Share Posted November 12, 2007 potty train totalitarian :eek: sounds scary! ;) Yes NCL charges taxes/port fees only. The big difference with NCL is their "Freestyle dining". You either love it or you'll hate it. It all depends on the individual. You either like having the same servers every night or you like having the freedom to go to dinner whenever you like. I've seen some of the new ammenities on the NCL ships (like the NCL Pearl has suites with a private adult pool) and they seem really nice. And some swear by the new Carnival ships and I am sure you are aware of their "bright/bold" design scheme. Bring your sunglasses. ;) SOme other highlights to the new Carnival ships are their LCD movie theatres on their pool decks. And personally, I've always like Carnival's food the most. (although I am a diehard RCCL fan :) ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larronry Posted November 12, 2007 #6 Share Posted November 12, 2007 The "bright/bold" theme does not seem to hold true on the newest ship about to come out in July for Carnival. At least from the pictures I've seen. You can check it out at: http://www.carnival-brochures.com/Splendor/default.asp?id=14703&trackingid=17313 I agree with the freestyle cruising. Carnival will really cater to your 2 year old so I've been told. They'll have a plate of fruit or other item waiting for them at the dinner table (this can't be done when you have a different waiter every night) and they have a nice selection of foods for kids so I've been told. I really didn't enjoy eating on NCL and no one in my group of about 50 enjoyed the food. I so wouldn't want my son potty trained that way. Successful or not they shouldn't be potty trained spending a 1/3 of their day on the potty. Just sounds awful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gameover Posted November 12, 2007 Author #7 Share Posted November 12, 2007 yeah...i have mixed feelings about the agressive potty training. While my comment was a slight overstatement, the schedule was to throw them on the throne every other hour for twenty minutes then if they do no go to give them a break followed by thowing them on again. Beyond that we were given instructions not to give him/her "pull ups". Our first child went through another day care and she had pull ups. Looking back the pull ups worked too well. Because of that it took her 6 months longer to be trained. The agressive potty train program has its advantages and disadvantages but in the end it was worth it since he was moved to another class (preschool ish) at $40 less/week. On Disney and CCL I've had assigned seating times and on Pricess I've had anytime dining. The advantage of anytime dining is to go....anytime. But it comes at a cost. Service was inconsistant and on one night it was just sub par. To me service is more important than a set time. Plus I like having the same servers every day who knows what I like (food and drink). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larronry Posted November 12, 2007 #8 Share Posted November 12, 2007 CCL does have other dining options if your child needs to eat and it's not dinner time. Then they can go to the kids club and you can eat. I want my son to eat with me, but I know if he has eaten he won't sit and eat with me. As for the potty training I don't like putting children on a schedule because it can cause problems in the process. I don't believe in pull ups either. When I decide to potty train then my life will revolve around it and what I mean by that is that I won't be planning long car trips (or I'll line the car seat). But should it be necessary I'll put diapers on. I don't want the big boy pull ups. It's big boy underwear or baby diapers. Besides pull ups don't hold as much. Before pull-ups potty training used to not take 6 months so maybe they are the thing slowing down the process. I don't know I've only potty trained special needs kids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gameover Posted November 12, 2007 Author #9 Share Posted November 12, 2007 On a prior cruise we had our older son (then three) eat with us at assigned times. On 2-3 nights he had actually fell asleap during dinner and we had the first sitting. Was not a problem though since there is never a shortage of food on the ship at any hour. Plus our server actually even brought a blanket over for him one night. If your a toddler/preschooler its hard to party like a rock star :D during a cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larronry Posted November 12, 2007 #10 Share Posted November 12, 2007 On a prior cruise we had our older son (then three) eat with us at assigned times. On 2-3 nights he had actually fell asleap during dinner and we had the first sitting. Was not a problem though since there is never a shortage of food on the ship at any hour. Plus our server actually even brought a blanket over for him one night. If your a toddler/preschooler its hard to party like a rock star :D during a cruise. Wow your one of the lucky ones. My son would never fall asleep during dinner. He would just get cranky so I would have to bring him back to the room to go to sleep. My last cruise, left him at home (big mistake), I couldn't party like a rock star. My DH insisted I go the the show. I fell asleep before it started. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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