Camp Carnival I have lots of questions!

[7continentKaren]

Kids 8 and over can sign themselves out unless you forbid it. But then your kid will hate you.

 

Our family of 19 (9 kids from 1 1/2 to 13) was just on board Glory and the kids had a ball. Except for the 13 yr old where almost none of the kids showed up. 15-17 have their own room but not the 12-14 group. We were told that all families with kids get the early dining and no one had a problem getting the kids into Carnival Kids in time for dinner. They even had one formal night for the kids. It was my understanding that the kids had dinner from the kids menu, not Lido. Only parents can sign a kid in. As a grandparent, I discovered that I could not sign my grandson in, only out and only if the parents gave the OK. The first few days, the parents were a little nervous about the cousins roaming the ship unsupervised but, as the days went by, it seemed safe enough after all and the kids from 8 up loved the freedom. Only a 6 yr old and a 2 1/2 yr old terror (little one refused to go without the older sister) ate at Carnival kids. The rest ate in the dining room with the family, including a 1 1/2 yr old who was pretty well behaved.

 

Carnival has at least one other project that costs extra: a backpack. Kids get to decorate it. They also had a day of decorating cakes to eat. No charge.

 

The biggest problem was that they only had Carnival Kids open until noon on port days so you were pretty much forced to take your kids with you on any excursion you went on.

 

One thing the kids liked was that there was special seating at the shows where they could all sit together as a Carnival Kids group.

 

No one in our family was willing to spring for the sleepover. Kids would be delivered to their rooms at 3 am! Really dumb idea.

[nybumpkin]

I am cruising the Paradise on 5/26-30 with 18, 17, 13 and 7yo kids. Our dinner is at 6:15. I can change this if I need to. I want my 7yo to be able to join Camp Carnival for dinner if she chooses.

 

So, is the CC dinner always 5:45? And CC would keep them until 10pm or would we have to pick up/drop off after CC dinner and before evening CC?

 

My daughter is very quiet and I would not worry about her in the dining room with us in that respect. What I do worry about is her and her older brother argueing and her picky eating. She would me much happier with CC!! :D

I would keep the 6:15 dining (remember, unless you're Platinum this is only a request, not a guarantee). You can take the kids to the Camp Carnival dinner at 5:45 and they can stay in Camp Carnival until 10 - you don't need to get them after dinner. On our upcoming Valor cruise, we have a 7 p.m. dinner reservation at the supper club, so our kids will go to the Camp Carnival dinner at 5:45 and stay with Camp Carnival after dinner that night.

[nybumpkin]

I am cruising the Paradise on 5/26-30 with 18, 17, 13 and 7yo kids. Our dinner is at 6:15. I can change this if I need to. I want my 7yo to be able to join Camp Carnival for dinner if she chooses.

 

So, is the CC dinner always 5:45? And CC would keep them until 10pm or would we have to pick up/drop off after CC dinner and before evening CC?

 

My daughter is very quiet and I would not worry about her in the dining room with us in that respect. What I do worry about is her and her older brother argueing and her picky eating. She would me much happier with CC!! :D

I would keep the 6:15 dining (remember, unless you're Platinum this is only a request, not a guarantee). You can take the kids to the Camp Carnival dinner at 5:45 and they can stay in Camp Carnival until 10 - you don't need to get them after dinner. On our upcoming Valor cruise, we have a 7 p.m. dinner reservation at the supper club, so our kids will go to the Camp Carnival dinner at 5:45 and stay with Camp Carnival after dinner that night.

 

I should also add that there is no Camp Carnival dinner the first and last nights, so you need to bring the kids to the dining room on those nights or dine on the Lido deck.

[JoeSmooga]

I should also add that there is no Camp Carnival dinner the first and last nights, so you need to bring the kids to the dining room on those nights or dine on the Lido deck.

 

Agree... no CC dinner the first or last night. CC isn't open the first night at all until 10PM for babysitting (they are doing the CC orientation and welcome aboard party until 9:45ish... if you haven't done this before it really is a lot of fun). However, the last night the camp is open... you can take the kids to an early dinner on Lido and drop them off a CC if you so choose.

 

Joe

[Drew B]

We were told that all families with kids get the early dining and no one had a problem getting the kids into Carnival Kids in time for dinner.

 

 

Gosh, I hope that's not true! I don't want early dining! We've requested late, and I'm hoping for the 8:00 seating.

[pjinaz]

We have kids and have always had the late seating. We are requesting early seating this time, just to see how it goes. We live in Arizona and normally cruise the caribbean, so 3 hour time difference feels weird to eat at early seating, but this time we are going out of California, so there is not a time difference. It looks like it is easier to make the kids activities with the earlier seating????

 

Was the above poster correct that Camp Carnival closes at noon on port days? If so, do all the ships do this? I have cruised 10 times spread out over 4 cruise lines and have always had the kids club open the entire time in port. Is this something new that Carnival is doing?

 

Thanks

[nybumpkin]

Was the above poster correct that Camp Carnival closes at noon on port days? If so, do all the ships do this? I have cruised 10 times spread out over 4 cruise lines and have always had the kids club open the entire time in port. Is this something new that Carnival is doing?

We haven't used Camp Carnival during port time, but our Camp Carnival Capers always stated that if you were on board, you should pick up your kids for lunch - not that Camp Carnival was closed.

[A&Jfamily]

I know you have gotten a lot of responses, but since my kids are very close in age to yours (4 and 9 year old boys), I thought I might be able to provide a little insight from our experience on the Valor last March. We will be going on the Legend in just a few weeks.

 

First, let me say that I thought CC was wonderful, and so did my kids - they were practically begging to go each day. We even left my then 3 year old on the ship when we were in Costa Maya so we could take a trip to the ruins - we thought he would just be too bored. He didn't even miss us!

 

As for dinner, we kept them with us but, we tended to separate them with an adult in between! :) Our wait staff was awesome: they had crayons and paper for entertainment and brought their dinner early on, often with extra chocolate chip cookies on the top of the PBJ! Also, we were seated at a table with a family with another 9 year old boy - I can't help but think that they did that on purpose. Parents and kids all made fast friends. Also, it is not like the regular dining room is all that fancy - it was a lively, fairly loud space, and the kids loved the performance from the staff every night. So asuming your kids are used to "eating out" and relatively well behaved, I think they are more than fine to have in the dining room. One final note - CC opened back up about the time we were ready for dessert - one of us would often run them up and come back to linger...

 

If they have a hyptonist (sp?) show, take your kids, at least your older one. Our table mates and we took the older boys and they laughed like you wouldn't believe! CC took the 6+ group to a couple of the shows and they really enjoyed it.

 

All in all, I really think that the cruise is the PERFECT family vacation because you can have family time, but the kids are just as happy to get rid of you and be in CC as you are to get rid of them for some adult time!

 

Have a great vacation!

[michalanajon]

We are leaving our 4 year old only one of the days on the boat while we do an excursion. We will be on the Destiny. I heard that after 12:00 (or is it 2:00) you have to pay a babysitting fee until the camp opens up again. Does anyone know about this?

[MississippiMom]

You must have a nicer pediatrician than mine. LOL When I called they said they only recommended dramamine...which the pharmacist told me would totally knock my kids out. *sigh* I know they have a bonine for kids...but it's not a 24 hour med like the adult version. Not sure how sleepy that makes the user...

 

I'm one of the cruisers that uses SeaBands, with much success. Since I had already used them on myself on three cruises, I mail ordered children ones for our little girls (ages 4 & 5 at the time) for their first cruise. Mine are in boring gray, but theirs are bright multi-colored, and they didn't have any problems wearing them. I explained what they were for and I would have them wear them the few times the seas were a bit rough. They even wore them to Camp Carnival, once, and never took them off. Of course, the fact that both their grandfather and their father were a bit queasy one morning and missed out on some activities, while they laid around in their beds and waited for their Bonine to kick in, was a great incentive to get our daughters to wear their SeaBands.

[letsgocruz1]

About the Bonine thing. The adult version is completely different than the kids. Bonine for adults is Meclazine, 25 mg (you can also get this in generic form, and is also sold under the name "Less Drowsy Dramamine).

 

Bonine for kids is Cyclize 25mg. It comes in a chewable berry flavored pill. My kids GAGGED on this. Ds disliked it so much that he chewed it up, and immediately threw it up.

 

My best friend is a pharmacist, and she says Meclazine is not recommended for children under the age of 12. She said she would not be comfortable giving it to her children.

 

I wound up giving my kids dramamine because they couldn't stand the taste of the chewables. My 7 yo did just fine on 1/2 tablet every 6 hrs. However, it made my 11 yo sooo sleepy that I wound up going on and giving him the meclazine (1/2 pill twice a day) He did fine on it, and had no side effects.

 

My advice would be to take 2 or 3 different meds w/you...maybe dramamine, Bonine for kids, ginger...but first, please just call your kids Dr. and see what they recommend.

 

HTH

[allesonwonderland]

I'm one of the cruisers that uses SeaBands, with much success.

 

Ah yes, I have Seabands in my arsenal as well! They were great when I was pregnant. ;) I have one set and plan on picking up a second so the kids won't have to fight over them. It was funny, our last long car trip, DS started feeling carsick--he hasn't done that in a long time. I had picked up a set at our church garage sale and they were in the car with us...I pulled over and told DS that they would help him feel better, I only had one on and he said 'they're already working!' LOL

 

My advice would be to take 2 or 3 different meds w/you...maybe dramamine, Bonine for kids, ginger...but first, please just call your kids Dr. and see what they recommend.

 

HTH

 

Great advice, I plan on having lots of options, and I'm hoping not to have to use any of them. ;) You're right, the best thing is to call your Dr. I just find it interesting how different doctors suggest different things or some will say something's fine when another advises against it.

 

Now off to search for small ginger pills! :D