Camp Carnival Questions

[Crusin' Momma]

Hi! I am pretty new to Cruise Critic and am getting ready to go on my third Carnival Cruise. We will be on The Carnival Conquest September 28th out of Galveston with some of our family. This will be my first time bringing my two oldest kids on a cruise with us (they usually stay with grandparents) and we have a few questions about camp carnival.

 

First of all neither of them have any medical concerns so I am not worried about leaving them at camp carnival and nether one of them are very "needy" as far as mommy is concerned! My Daughter is nine and is getting to the age where she wants to be independent anyway and my son is going to be 3 when we sail and is extremely well rounded and independent. I take him to the gym with me and leave him in the play area and I have a hard time getting him to go home with me.

 

What activities do they have for the 3 year old? I know that the older kids get to do scavenger hunts and stuff, but what do they do with the younger kiddos? Also my son is very behind on his speech (but catching up fast!) because of ear infections will we have a problem if they can't understand what he wants? Hopefully by then he will be articulating much better.

 

Last question: What about dinner time? Do they keep them in camp or do you take them to the dining room with you? Does the dining room offer kids dishes? I can't imagine either one of my kids eating the roasted quail or lobster tails!! They are pretty good about trying new things but they usually just want to taste it not eat it!!! LOL

 

Thanks!

[crusinmama06]

Nice screen name you have there. :D ;)

 

Ok, let's start with the camp activities. Click here and then on Camp Carnival...

http://photobucket.com/cruisekidpages

 

The dinners, yes they have camp carnival dinners. But they also have a children's menu in the dining room. We take our kids with us to dinner and then to the camp.

[seashell36]

We cruised with our kids for the first time when they were 9 (dd) and 4 (ds). One thing you may want to think about is the 9 yr olds can check themselves out of Camp if you allow it. They have a scavenger hunt that requires the kids sign out (or be signed out)and then signed back in. We allowed our DD to sign herself out for this event only. They work in teams of 4 or 5 kids. There were a couple of kids in that group that weren't allowed to sign themselves out for this event - they stayed with the counselors during the hunt.

--- If the search is working you can find a copy of the Kids Menu from the dining room. It has a lot of kid friendly foods on it. My dd actually shocked me with some of her food choices when given the option. DD chose shrimp cocktail for an appetizer every night and tried several foods that I wouldn't have thought any 9 yr old would try (escargot, squid, and discovered a love of sushi that amazed her father). The 4 yr old ate the fruit plate appetizer every night but was not as adventurous as his sister. He stuck to the pizza, mac and cheese, hot dog and hamburger. He recently decided he likes seafood - so he will be more willing to try stuff this time around.

--- If you choose to have the kids do dinner with camp they eat in the buffet and then go to camp. But, my kids enjoyed eating in the dining room with us and then going to camp.

[mcfam5]

Also my son is very behind on his speech (but catching up fast!) because of ear infections will we have a problem if they can't understand what he wants? Hopefully by then he will be articulating much better.

Thanks!

 

My now almost five year old son also had delayed speech. He is in his second year of speech therapy and it has done wonders for his articulation! The kids from his therapy class who are behind due to ear infections usually correct themselves in no time once they have tubes put in ~ I hope his improvement continues quickly!

 

As far as communicating with the Camp Carnival counselors, I will tell you what we have done in the past (even during church, when using new sitters, etc.) . . .

 

Our oldest, who is now eleven, understands him as well as we do ~ so she often has been called on as an "interpreter" (and she doesn't mind at all). I would request of the CC staff (if a communication barrier arises and if your older child is in the camp area) that she be brought over to find out what he needs. If that does not work or if the older child is out of the camp doing a different activity, I would ask that you be paged to speak with your child. Our little guy could become upset if he felt like he couldn't communicate with someone so we always tried (when the problem was more pronounced) to be extra aware of that issue.

 

Good luck, have a GREAT TIME! :)

[Crusin' Momma]

Usually with us if there is a communication problem he grabs our finger and shows us what he wants... Lately since he has been talking more we have been trying to play a guessing game to see what he is saying.... sometimes he gets really Mad before we figure out what he wants! He had tubes in his ears in February and is doing wonderful! For some reason the word "movies" sounds like tees... We had a problem with that yesterday!

 

Well I guess I am going to plan on taking them to the dining room the first night and see how they like it. I have a feeling we will be keeping the 9 year old with us and the 3 year old will stay at camp after the first night. LOL :D!

 

Thanks for the heads up about that age group being able to check themselves out. We actually ran across a group of kids playing the scavenger hunt last time we were on the ship and they looked like they were having a ball! I am sure we will do the same thing as far as allowing her to check herself out for that event only. She is responsible, but not enough for me to feel comfortable her wondering around the ship by herself in search of us. :eek:

 

I am going to check out the pics now!

[crusinmama06]

My 4 year old is speech delayed too (she got tubes last April and her speech just took off, still requires twice weekly therapy though)

 

Anyway, on Carnival we had NO issues with them being patient enough to communicate with her. They couldn't have been nicer. My daughter was so frustrated on RCCL because the counselors on Freedom didn't give her a chance. :( One even joked "does she even speak English?" And yes, on day 1 I had filled out all medical forms telling them that she was speech delayed. :mad:

 

So you should have no problems with Camp Carnival. With 2 year olds being in the club, the counselors do a wonderful job trying to communicate with everyone.

 

And here is the menu...

 

[dolphinwyo]

My 3 year old son loved Camp - they painted t-shirts, made puppets, they had lots of age appropriate toys, puzzles, etc. They played "does it float or sink?", sand art, etc., never a dull moment. The counselors were great with him - and at that age you have the phone issued where they can call with any questions. Have fun!