Camp Carnival 9 to 11

[tmt218]

My DD turns 9 in Sept. during our next cruise. I saw that kids 9 and up can sign in and out themselves. I think 9 is way to young. She is an only child and won't have any friends or cousins along. Am I being unreasonable? How old were your kids when you gave them the freedom to sign themselves in or out of camp?

Thanks,

Tanya

[crusinmama06]

I agree and this is one debate that I had to have with myself when my oldest turned 9 and we were on Carnival. I don't allow my kids to sign themselves out. However, on Carnival, they can't participate in the scavenger hunts (as many as 5 hunts on a 5 day cruise) if you don't allow the "sign out privledges"

 

So I made a deal with my child. She had the privledge, but was only allowed to use it for the scavenger hunts -- which were group activities. For everything else, I would MEET HER and walk her back to the cabin at the end of the night. Or at the end of the activity.

 

So we had meeting times/places worked out in advanced. I would walk her to camp and say "Ok, I will MEET YOU {insert name of place here/time}" So she was never alone walking anywhere.

 

Nine is just way too young. No way.

[Wavesprite]

We're the same as above. :) We're going in October with our now 9 year old. I am going to leave the option open, with the strict instructions that he is NOT allowed to use the sign out priveledge unless it is for the organized treasure hunt. If he screws up (which I don't think he will), I will take away the priveledge. I did hear that you can start it and stop it at any time. So you can have it stopped, start it for the treasure hunt, and stop it again.

 

I believe nine is WAY to young to be wandering around a cruise ship....

[dolphinwyo]

I am concerned too, our DD will be 9 on our next cruise. So - tell me about the scavenger hunts - it says "unsupervised" on the capers, so I am assuming the group of kids are going together without staff? Do they stick together? Not sure I am comfortable with this. When you say you told your DD you would meet her - can they just be picked up at Camp too? I will have a son in the younger group. I agree, 9 is too young!

[bbrme]

I am also trying to get more information on this. DS will be 9 on our cruise in Dec. My gut feeling was not to allow him to sign himself out but is there something for him to do if he cant participate in the scavernger hunts? And how unsupervised are these kids? Is this the packs of unsupervised kids that I always read about on the Carnival board?

[A&Jfamily]

I am also trying to get more information on this. DS will be 9 on our cruise in Dec. My gut feeling was not to allow him to sign himself out but is there something for him to do if he cant participate in the scavernger hunts? And how unsupervised are these kids? Is this the packs of unsupervised kids that I always read about on the Carnival board?

 

Nope. The packs of unsupervised kids are more in the 12-14 range. They don't have any camp activities in the morning.

 

My son was 9 3/4 when I first gave him the privilege. It was his 2nd cruise, so he had some idea of how things worked. I wanted him to be able to do the scavenger hunt - they go 3-4 kids to a group. We set rules about no going in anyone's cabin etc.

 

I gave him very limited freedom. If he wanted to leave dinner and walk to camp before we were done, I would let him. It was easy enough to check up on him, and he was always where he was supposed to be. He could check himself out, but then only go to get ice cream, the room, or come to my location (pre-discussed).

 

He knew if he blew it, he would be grounded to his cabin for the rest of the day, and lose the privilege for the rest of the trip.

 

He is a good kid. A staight A student, and now, a 1st degree brown belt in karate. I was glad that I had given this freedom over the past couple of years as this June when we cruised, he was 12 and there were no morning activities. He was still not allowed to roam the ship - he stayed with me, or relaxed in the cabin for the most part - with trips for ice cream!:D

 

But ultimately, it boils down to what makes you comfortable, as only you know your kid.

[tmt218]

Thanks everyone for all the input. She would be disapointed if I didn't allow her to do the scavenger hunt. I am ok with her being with a group but not wandering the ship alone. I will have to sit down with her and talk about the rules and what will happen if she breaks them.

Tanya

[crusinmama06]

I am concerned too, our DD will be 9 on our next cruise. So - tell me about the scavenger hunts - it says "unsupervised" on the capers, so I am assuming the group of kids are going together without staff? Do they stick together? Not sure I am comfortable with this. When you say you told your DD you would meet her - can they just be picked up at Camp too? I will have a son in the younger group. I agree, 9 is too young!

 

The kids are groups together by the staff. They are given a list of things to find and then they have to report back to the camp with those items.

 

When I say I told my daughter I would meet her -- you can read the caper and see exactly where they are to be -- the lounge at 8pm, the camp at 9pm, the sports deck at 10pm, etc....So I would pick one of those place and tell her to meet me at one of them. And I would pop in and out thoughout the day/night and make sure she was fine.

[dolphinwyo]

Thanks for the info. The thought of her walking around ship alone made me nervous - a group should be ok. Guess we will get there and see how I feel about all of this, picking her up in different areas should be okay too. Appreciate this thread - seems to be an issue with lots of parents of this age group.

[dcmteacher]

My DD will be 12 in a few weeks. We cruise on Saturday out of NOLA and because she is 11, she will be in the 9-11 age group. I have pre-registered her for Camp and did not give her the option of checking in and out. But I may have to change it. I wasn't aware that she wouldn't be able to participate in some of the activities. I will definitely have to set down some rules for her.

[tmt218]

From what I have read here on CC I think you can request it. With her Birthday right around the corner I wouldn't see why not. Unless they had alot of kids onboard that week.

It doesn't hurt to ask and see.

Tanya

[smoosh28]

DH & I had our cruise all booked for just the 2 of us. We were going to leave DD in Florida with my parents for her own little vacation. Unfortunately now because of health issues, my parents will not be in Florida this winter as my mom will be starting chemo next week, so we are faced with possibly having to take her with us so i am trying to find out information on this Camp for her.

 

She will be almost 10 when we cruise. Is there an additional cost for her to go to camp? Does she have to be pre-registered? If we go into a port, can she stay at camp?

 

Sorry if this is the wrong place for this, but I am having a hard time finding out any info on this

[A&Jfamily]

DH & I had our cruise all booked for just the 2 of us. We were going to leave DD in Florida with my parents for her own little vacation. Unfortunately now because of health issues, my parents will not be in Florida this winter as my mom will be starting chemo next week, so we are faced with possibly having to take her with us so i am trying to find out information on this Camp for her.

 

She will be almost 10 when we cruise. Is there an additional cost for her to go to camp? Does she have to be pre-registered? If we go into a port, can she stay at camp?

 

Sorry if this is the wrong place for this, but I am having a hard time finding out any info on this

 

What cruise line are you on - I believe all of them offer free child care for that age group, and babysitting after hours.

 

Sorry to hear about you mom.

[mia10010]

This was how I solved the "It's not fair. Everyone else is allowed to sign themselves out" situation.

 

I had the same issue with my son and nephew last year as well. They were both 9 and I did not want them roaming around the ship unsupervised during the scavenger hunt. Of course, they were not happy about this.

 

I told them that instead of the scavenger hunt, I would let them attend the "can you party/stay awake until 3 a.m." event. This is a supervised event for the 9-11 year olds where they do things like an ice cream eating contests, take-over the game room (all games were free for them), and they even played capture the flag in the big theatre as well as many other activites. At 3 a.m. the staff dropped each kid off in their stateroom. If they get tired and want to leave before then, the staff will drop them off. Also, parents get a list of activites of where the kids will be so you can check up on them or pick them up yourselves at the end. They even got a certificate if they made it through the night.

 

We had to pay for this. I think the fee is $15 or something like that.

 

They had a great time the party. Also, I reminded them that most scavenger hunts were in the afternoon when we would be at the pool or on the slide. They quickly forgot about not doing the scavenger hunts.

 

This party was on the Miracle, but I think that all Carnival ships do this for the 9-11 year olds.

[MamaParrotHead]

Nope. I don't let my 10 year old sign herself out, and she'll be 11 on our next sailing and she won't be doing it then, either.

 

I don't think she even noticed that she missed the scavenger hunt, it was not that big of a deal. She didn't complain, I explained to her the situation and that was that. Just like at home, my job is to make the best decisions for my kids until they old enough to do so...my house isn't a democracy. If that makes me the mean mom, I'm OK with that.

 

She's an extremely mature and responsible 10 year old, it's the handful of freaks onboard I don't trust. "I'd rather be safe than sorry" is my mantra when doing simple, mindless things like packing extra sunscreen for the trip...you can bet I raise my kids that way as well.