Camp Carnival

[digertwo]

Ok so the last time I cruised I was childless. Finally after 3 years I'm going again this time with my son coming along. I had a few questions regarding the camp carnival. I noticed on one of the capers that there is something listed as "Eating with my friends" Does this mean that they eat at the camp? Our regular dining will be 6pm do I have to run back and get him after that? Or do regular activies continue on after their dinner?

Also for anyone who has taken their kids to the dining room do you find you are able to entertain them for the whole time while you are being served?

[Angeleyes1382]

When the kids are "dining with friends" the Camp Carnival staff has taken them to the buffet and they section off an area that is only for the camp carnival kids. Then they go back to Camp Carnival for normal activities. Our son ate with friends one night while we went to the steakhouse. He ate with us in the dining room every other night. We had a special backpack we took that had crayons, coloring books, books, and some toys in it that was only used for dinner. Sometimes he needed them, sometimes he didn't. He ordered off the regular menu which is part of what held his attention. We started with bread right after we sat down, then the appetizer, dinner, and then a dessert. We were moving from one thing to another, so he did really well. He was of course 5 at the time, but I think that a 3 year old would enjoy dinner just as much. Our tablemates thoroughly enjoyed his company, as he did theirs.

[MrKash]

My kids really enjoyed Dinner with friends. But then again, they have fun with Mom and Dad in the regular 6 PM Dinner. Your son will enjoy eating with his new friends. We would drop the kids off before we went to dinner and then pick them up around 10 PM. It took a few cruises to get use to the process, but our family LOVES Camp Carnival.

 

During our first few cruises, we would drag the kids everywhere we went. The kids would get bored, but the wife and I were bound determined to keep the WHOLE family together. We have now learned it is best for everyone to do what they like to do. ;-)

[MamaParrotHead]

Ok so the last time I cruised I was childless. Finally after 3 years I'm going again this time with my son coming along. I had a few questions regarding the camp carnival. I noticed on one of the capers that there is something listed as "Eating with my friends" Does this mean that they eat at the camp? Our regular dining will be 6pm do I have to run back and get him after that? Or do regular activies continue on after their dinner?

Also for anyone who has taken their kids to the dining room do you find you are able to entertain them for the whole time while you are being served?

 

One thing that might make this more clear is that Camp is closed for a few hours here and there. As I recall, it was during the 6:00 hour that Camp offered dinner...after being closed from 4-6 p.m. (and 12-2 p.m.). Yes, lots of regular activities continue after the group finishes eating. We enjoyed eating as a family, plus, atleast with my kids, I like to have an idea of what they ate and how much. When my kids are distracted at meal time, they don't focus on eating their food and end up STARVING half an hour later, and in Camp (other than mealtime) they don't offer any food.

 

The youngest one in our "clan" last time was 4 and he had no problem staying entertained in the dining room...it honestly went pretty fast after ordering. Lots of fun "rehashing" of the day's festivities and our food was set in front of us, and they just kept coming until the end of the meal. Then the kids LOVED the waitstaff entertainment nightly. We had no issues whatsoever.

[seashell36]

I agree with MamaParrotHead. The one time that my DS ate with friends at camp he didn't eat enough, he was too interested in talking. We've never had a problem with keeping the kids occupied during dinner - it's rarely slow or boring. The waitstaff and tablemates (plus whatever I happen to have brought just in case) have kept them quite happy.

 

If you do let your child eat with camp, check out the menu that they have chosen. I think it's on the camp capers.

 

Edit: I went to crusinmama06's photobucket page and got the menu off one of the Pride Camp Carnival Capers for the 2-5 year old group - one nights menu is: spaghetti and meatballs, fishsticks, carrots, pizza, hot dogs, garden salad, french fries, and sugar cookies.

[A&Jfamily]

The Camp dinner is not offered the 1st night, but all the others. You sign them in at the designated spot in the dining room and they remain with the counselors through dinner. The counselors walk them back in a line up to camp when dinner is done; it is very cute to watch the parade of kids.

 

I will only let my son do this once or twice a cruise because it is a family vacation and even at home I am big on having meals together at the table.

 

We try and let the MDR waitstaff know what to expect. For example, my boys drink milk with dinner. And I always get them at least one fruit plate. Once I tell the waiters that the first night, they are prepared. Milk and fruit are on hand when we arrive. Plus, there are rolls. So that tides hungry tummys over while mom and dad put in their order. Usually, the wait staff will bring the kids food quickly, and even move them on to dessert, while mom and dad are on the main course, if we say OK. I can usually have them done eating by 7 or so, so they have been at the table a little less than an hour. One of them then walks them to camp while the other orders the dessert course. Best of both worlds.

 

Sometimes CCL has the kids menu and crayons. But if yours likes to draw, you can certainly bring your own. My youngest also likes to carry matchbox cars in his pocket and my oldest will slip in his video game. That way, if they get antsy, there is something to occupy them in case of delay.

 

So that is a long way of saying it is very do-able - either way.

[kjunea]

We eat as a family every night (and every meal during the weekends, if possible), so on the cruise, I let DS choose, since it is his vacation. Generally, he chooses to eat with us 1/2 the time, and Camp 1/2 the time. The real determining factor is the menu during the Camp meal!

 

As for what he does in the dining room, we bring coloring books and have even brought his portable DVD player (with headphones) when things run slow. He now has a DS, so I suspect that will come instead of the DVD player. We were lucky, in that there was a magician who was on our last cruise and he came to our table and did tricks for DS. He loved it!

[digertwo]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I was planning on having my son most nights but thought if we wanted one night to go to Davids I would have an option for him.

I am glad to hear once you have ordered things move fairly good. I will remember to pack some crayons and his little cars. Reading your replies I feel so much better!

[MamaParrotHead]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I was planning on having my son most nights but thought if we wanted one night to go to Davids I would have an option for him.

I am glad to hear once you have ordered things move fairly good. I will remember to pack some crayons and his little cars. Reading your replies I feel so much better!

 

When we do the supper club, we just make reservations a bit later and feed the kids at the grill, pizzaria or Lido buffet, drop them off at Camp and then head to dinner ourselves. Just FYI. ;)

[Tggrtoes]

Just wanted to add that I agree with everything above. We did our first Carnival cruise this past May now that DS was 2 and could do kids club. I had planned to have him go to dinner with us each night and possibly do as above poster said and one of us walk him to camp before we ate dessert. He did great at dinner - helped that we had window table with a cabinet behind us so he was kind of penned in and couldn't run around. :p I brought his ipod Touch with movies and headphones and he colored and played with everyone's spoons at the table. We had great table mates and the waiters were AWESOME!

 

While he had fun the first night, he loved Camp so much, he chose to go to dinner with them at 6 p.m on subsequent nights when it was available. We dropped him off at Lido and then they took him back to Camp and we picked him up after our evening. I checked menu ahead of time and told the camp staff exactly what I wanted them to put on his plate. That helped cuz he's not very verbal and good at picking his own items (he'd say french fries every time. :eek:).

 

Bottom line - I'd see how your kids enjoy Camp and play it by ear and do what's best for you. The other parents at our table had their kids at camp all but one night too, I think. It worked best for us overall - we had plenty of family time during the day. But the MDR is set-up well for kids and it's definitely workable and enjoyable.

 

 

Here's a pic of my son counting everyone's spoons in MDR. (thankfully our other dinner guests happily contributed!)

 

[nidaco]

Just wanted to add that I agree with everything above. We did our first Carnival cruise this past May now that DS was 2 and could do kids club. I had planned to have him go to dinner with us each night and possibly do as above poster said and one of us walk him to camp before we ate dessert. He did great at dinner - helped that we had window table with a cabinet behind us so he was kind of penned in and couldn't run around. :p I brought his ipod Touch with movies and headphones and he colored and played with everyone's spoons at the table. We had great table mates and the waiters were AWESOME!

 

While he had fun the first night, he loved Camp so much, he chose to go to dinner with them at 6 p.m on subsequent nights when it was available. We dropped him off at Lido and then they took him back to Camp and we picked him up after our evening. I checked menu ahead of time and told the camp staff exactly what I wanted them to put on his plate. That helped cuz he's not very verbal and good at picking his own items (he'd say french fries every time. :eek:).

 

Bottom line - I'd see how your kids enjoy Camp and play it by ear and do what's best for you. The other parents at our table had their kids at camp all but one night too, I think. It worked best for us overall - we had plenty of family time during the day. But the MDR is set-up well for kids and it's definitely workable and enjoyable.

 

 

Here's a pic of my son counting everyone's spoons in MDR. (thankfully our other dinner guests happily contributed!)

 

Soo cute! You all gave great advice/info. :)