Sailing with a two year old? Camp Carnival?

[ohok]

She was potty trained, but she is short. They would check to see if her diaper was dirty.. and she would have to explain that she didn't wear a diaper. She was a little insulted; I found it funny.

 

Nancy

 

That is so cute haha

[ArielsGrotto]

I want to Thank everyone for posting their experiences. I will be cruising this summer with my very active 2 year old twins girls. I hope they staff can handle them. :D

[ShannonSto]

Carnival does accept 2 year olds, and they do change diapers. Those were the reasons I chose them when I cruised with my 25 month old twins last year. I learned that how well it goes really depends on the child.

 

One of my girls did very well and would have been fine to leave her there. The other, however, suffers major separation anxiety and screamed the entire time she was there. We tried twice, and both times they called after 30 minutes or so for me to come get her because she still hadn't calmed down. So, I spent the entire cruise with the girls with me 24/7. Granted, it was still better than being at home, but it wasn't quite what I hoped for

[maritaysa]

This is a very informative thread. After reading this, I think I'm going to expect the worst and hope for the best. DD was 13 months when she took her first Carnival cruise. We used babysitting after hours and she mostly slept. Her normal bedtime is 8pm. We also used AM babysitting the couple of times that it was available. The first time I got a chance to tour the ship by myself which was great. The second time, DH and I got a chance to tour the Cozumel port for an hour or so. We were told that DD would cry then calm down after some time. They tried calling us in the PM, but our phone never rang. She eventually calmed down and went to sleep. It was nice to have a bit of time to ourselves. The rest of the time, she was with us and we were just flexible to what we felt like she wanted to do. It was a completely different cruise than any of the other ones we've taken, but we still had a great time. We're going in April right after she turns 2, so it will be interesting to see how she takes to CC since she doesn't go to daycare and doesn't socialize with other little ones. We have no other little ones in our family. We're trying to socialize her on our days off, but it's a bit tough with this cold/flu season. We're just going to go with the flow in April. Our next cruise has 5 ports, so we've got a couple of non-Carnival tours planned, and probably a day at resort planned. I remember reading that someone took their LO on a catamaran and/or boat. I'm a bit afraid to do that, since I don't swim (DH does though). Has anyone else done this?

[sherryf]

This is actually a great topic. I am traveling with my 2yr old this August on the Dream. He will be just 2 months shy of turning 3yrs old. He has no daycare experience and has only been left with relatives. I am hoping that he enjoys camp and that he takes a liking to the counselors there. He will not be alone. We are cruising in a group of 18 (9 adults, 9 children) I know he will have his cousin there to play with him and that he won't be alone. Hopefully, this will be enough to keep him happy and entertained.

 

We also went on a family cruise when my daughter was 2. (sons were 5 & 8) My daughter had not been in daycare but had stayed with a sitter one morning a week since she was an infant, so had a bit of experience being left. Her 3.5 year old cousin and 5 year old brother were in the same group as her, which helped. She was not potty trained, and they did change her, and we never had any issues. This was back in 2001 so we didn't have any fancy cell phones. I think they might have given us a pager. The only time I left the kids on the ship while I went ashore was for a couple of hours one morning to go shopping. Everything was fine for that short time, but I don't know if I'd feel comfortable going much longer than that, or being further away than just right off the ship shopping in town. (Skagway)

 

Now my daughter is nearly 14 and we have a whole different set of issues. :eek:

[cruzinlisa]

Hello! I'm going on a cruise in May and we're considering taking our two year old. I know they can go into Camp Carnival. What if they aren't potty trained? Do they change diapers there? Have you had a positive experience with Camp Carnival for a child that young? We just don't want to miss out on a couple excursions and wouldn't be able to do them with her, so we're thinking Camp Carnival would be great for us but I'd love some info first. Also, has anyone done the babysitting services? How was that? Where do they go for it? Do they sleep? (It goes til 3 am?) How much is that an hour? I'm a little nervous about taking her just because I'm wondering how hard it's going to make it on us..

 

We took our DD last year when she was 15 months old. So she did not go to regular camp, but went to baby sitting. She will be going to camp these year. They do change diapers, just bring them. Baby sitting was in the camp. They sleep if they want. But they will not make them-in my experience. We only used it one night because we were exhausted most nights. The time she went DD was asleep when we picked her up. But they told me that she had played until about midnight:eek:.

[cruzinlisa]

Well, our experience with Camp Carnival was not as successful as we'd hoped. The first time we dropped off our 2yo we got paged by Guest Services to come pick him up shortly after (we were walking around by the pool and couldn't hear the phone ring - oops!). He was SO distraught when I picked him up. I can't say I am surprised, though. Even though he goes to daycare full-time and does fine, he seems to be going through a very clingy and shy phase right now when around people he doesn't know. My parents dropped him off once and he stayed for two hours, after about 10 minutes of crying while they watched on the video screen outside. They even got to change a dirty diaper while he was in camp. We did utilize the free play time for under 2yos on the sea days from 8-10am. They said it was ok since he is just barely over 2. He actually had a great time in camp as long as we were there to play with him! :) I have to say, I loved having access to the cell phone for calling cabins and receiving calls wherever we were. The counselors were great, too.

 

I worry about this as well. DD goes to a baby sitter 5 days a week, but its the same sitter. Besides her kids, she only has one other child there. On Sundays when we go to Church and take her to the nursery, she will cry, even though there are toys and she has been there plenty. But she does not know all the people there. She can be clingy at times. I think she would calm down after a few minutes though. Do they try to calm them down, distract them, anything?

Also, I have heard they do not feed them, which is fine, but does that mean they don't offer any snacks, drinks anything?

[Sweetp9994]

I just returned from traveling with a toddler, he was not potty trained and we did not use any of the pools on the boat. I did bring a blow up pool but was told by staff I could not use it. Camp carnival does change diapers, you must provide them. They don't really check much though. My son would not stay with strangers, he had lots of fun playing with the toys and the girls were super nice thing to get him to stay. They gave me a pager, but he just would it stay. They would not let me stay longer than ten minutes which was really annoying and there is NO open family play time as stated in the web site. So he was never able to fully enjoy that room, however there was an outdoor area with cars and slides I played there with him. Wish there was a parent time for open p,a&y or a story hour for the younger ones, I saw every two year old there crying....

[lrowe70]

I'm not sure I could advocate going off on excursions and leaving a two-year-old on the ship - there would be no way for them to reach you in case of an emergency or even if she had a melt-down and wanted you. I'd either plan family-friendly excursions where she can come with you or leave her home.

 

 

Leaving her home certainly won't help in an emergency, she's closer to you on the ship!

Guess it all depends on who is watching her...My kid would be better off being watched by wolves than some of our family members.

 

I personally trust the Carnival staff, I observed and spoke with them several times before my son was old enough for camp. But the decision to leave your child with them is your own.

[Prinycesa07]

I think this will totally depend on the child. I'll tell you my 2 experiences. Please note that neither of my kids have ever gone to daycare or have been away from me.

 

Last year we sailed and my daughter was 2. She was 2 yrs & 10 months. She LOVED LOVED "kids club". Every morning she was ready to go. She had no problems being separated from me. This year we went and my daughter was 3.5 (she still loved it), my son was a newly turned 2 year old (just a few weeks before our cruise). He absolutely hated it. We tried 4 times, we were called back after 10 minutes each time & he was hyperventilating crying. He is also a very attached child. He has to know where I am at all seconds. My daughter has always been more independent. So our experiences were either their ages (one newly turned 2, one was almost 3) but I think it was their personalities. We are cruising again in April & they will be 3 & 4.5. I'm hoping my son takes to it a little better Cuz mama needs a break but I'm not holding my breath :/

[Barisaxylady]

Are there sub groups in the age groups? I don't see my 4 year old really enjoying the same things a 2 year old would. I know I can't put him with his 6 year old sister but it would be unfair to her to put her with babies in the younger group.

 

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[soozenw]

Are there sub groups in the age groups? I don't see my 4 year old really enjoying the same things a 2 year old would. I know I can't put him with his 6 year old sister but it would be unfair to her to put her with babies in the younger group.

 

They probably wouldn't let your 6 year old in the younger group. They really want the kids in the set groups, and aren't too keen on age hopping.

 

They do many different things that the whole age range enjoys--coloring, playing with trains/cars/dolls, very simple crafts, movies, etc. Our 4 year old (at the time) wanted nothing to do with the group activities. They tried forcing him, but he won. They just let him do his own thing, which was play with trains, and get the other little boys to want to play with trains as well.

[Prinycesa07]

IMO its more geared toward the 3-5 yr olds anyways. My 2 year old hated it. He had no interest in making the crafts, having princess parties or any of the structured activities. My 3.5 yr old loved it, shes into all that stuff. My 2 yr old cried all 3 times we brought him when they tried to get him to sit and do the activities. We sail again in April and my daughter will be 4.5 and my son will be 3. Hoping he does better this time. He was just to young at 2 for it.

[megann831]

for those of you who have used it for your 2 year olds, how strict are they on age restrictions? We're going on the Pride in April and my son will be about 2 weeks shy of being 2. I'm really hoping they'll take him while we have a peaceful dinner or two, although I don't really expect him to stay. We'll also have my 4 year old, so we'll be around with him for the family events.

[luvsviola]

Camp Carnival is really strict on age. You must be two on the day you sail.

 

My 2 year old (3/2011) LOVED Camp Carnival on Fascination last week. There were only ever about 5-10 kids in there for the 2-5, and sometimes there were only 2 or 3 in her age group. There were always lots of adults around and she loved her "teachers" as she called them. I think for the little little ones, they do better when there aren't as many kids in there. I'm worried about the much more crowded clubs on Dream this spring.

 

They did a lot of fun things--read books, played with the toys, got their faces painted, made Fruit Loop necklaces, colored, played Legos, did puppets...I was impressed that every time I looking in on the tv, the kids were engaged in activities.

 

My 4 year old is special needs, and Fascination also was amazing with him. But, because they had so few kids, they had the manpower and time to be able to have someone sit with him when he didn't want to do the "group plan"