Can I squeak a 22 month old in Camp Carnival?

[Reen31]

So, we're thrilled to be taking the Triumph in August, but I'm wondering about logistics for my son who'll be 22 months old. Will I have a hard time getting him in? I'm only really concerned about dinner time; we'll be feeding him around 5 or so, and we, unfortunately, have an 8:15 dinner seating. He'd be way too cranky to bring with us into the dining room, and group baby-sitting doesn't start until 10 PM. We can't change the time as we're going with a large group. Any ideas? Has anyone slipped their almost 2-year-old into the program?

 

Thanks...Doreen

[mommykim]

Hi there,

I hate to say it but I don't think you'll be able to do it. They have all the real information as you have to submit it to get on the ship and they're pretty serious about the age groups. You might be ableto arrange a private sitter through the purser's desk though. Good luck!

[I&MsMom]

Hi! I'm afraid I have to agree with the previous poster. They will have your son's age from his birth certificate or passport. I witnessed parents trying to get their 22 or 23 month old into the camp on the Glory in January - they were VERY upset, but the counselors were adamant that they could not take a child under two - period.

 

That said, they do generally have a period between 12 and 2 pm when your child can use the camp facilities, so long as he/she is accompanied by a parent. Also, the group baby sitting is available from 10 pm to 3 am.

 

HTH...Happy cruising!

[serene56]

I have sailed with large groups and always made my dinner time the time I wanted to--

Now how do you eat dinner at 8pm with a cranky child?? You can request your own time at a table for 2 with a high chair and meet up with your group later.

[Reen31]

I was kinda figuring we wouldn't be able to get him in. I never realized you could hire a private sitter on Carnival. I'll definitely be looking into that as soon as we board!

 

Thanks for your replies!

Doreen

[serene56]

I know that Royal has private babysitting. I dont know about Carnival. Could you let us know when you get back if that is indeed offered.?

[l929]

I will let you know about a 22 month old on the Triumph in 3 weeks as I will be attempting to get mine in too, well he will be 23 months. However, I am going on a CTN, so, it may be different. As for a private babysitter, Carnvial specifically states they will NOT arrange for that due to liability reasons. Celebrity and Royal Carribbean do it, we were on Celebrity last year and had in room sitting almost every night. I was thinking of maybe seeing if a crew member would do it on the "sly" but, if its not Carnival approved, its probably not a good idea. I dont really get the 10-3 group babysitting. What under 2 year old is awake at 10? Are you supposed to wake them up, carry them through the bright hallways and noisy people to put them back down in Camp Carnival? Why doesnt it start at 8 after main seating dinner?

[cruisinqt]

1929, I've done a lot of cruising with my kids and I know exactly why they don't start babysitting until 10 p.m. It's because the kids program doesn't end until 10 p.m. They only start babysitting after the kids program shuts down. They don't have enough workers to spare to babysit because they are all busy supervising the kids in the kids area. Once it closes, they are free to babysit.:)

 

I understand first hand how frustrating it is to not have child care available until after 10 pm, but that's just the way it is. On the other hand, I've found it quite useful to invite along a parent or a friend who is willing to babysit in exchange for a free cruise.;)

 

Another good idea is to put your child to sleep in a reclining car seat and then just carry it to the kids area when 10 o'clock rolls around. The child is never woken up and gets a good nights rest. I saw several people doing that and it seemed to work for them.

 

What I normally did when my kids were little was eat an early dinner at one of the buffets with the kids. Then I put the little ones to bed while my husband ate a later dinner at the sit down restaurant with the others. He would call me on the walkie talkie when dessert rolled around and we would switch places. He would go take care of the little ones while I had dessert and adult conversation. This worked out perfectly for us since he likes to go to bed early and I'm a night owl.:D

[Cruisin' Chick]

Our girl was 23 months old for her first cruise which was on Carnival. We took her to the orientation and realized they were serious about age. As others have said, no private baby sitting and their group sitting starts at 10 (basically watching movies while sitting on pillows or otherwise sleeping). As our girl was (still is at 7) a night owl, this was not a problem. I seem to remember the kids can even come in their jamas.

 

My sister got a free cruise when a friend of hers' sugar daddy (yes, there are some around) paid for her fare. But she got stuck taking care of their four brats, um, I mean, kids.

[cruisinqt]

They will look at the age on your profile in the computer. If the child is not 2, they won't get in no matter what. I saw several parents turned away for this exact reason. :(

 

I tried to get my almost 6 year old into the 6-8 year old age group with her 7 year old sister, but they said absolutely not even though she would be turning 6 in just a few weeks. They did allow my 7 year old to go to the 2-5 year old group with her sister.

 

They pull up your child's profile with their exact age and everything the moment you walk up and give your child's name. Every cruise I've been on has been VERY strict about age requirements.:rolleyes:

 

On the positive side though, little ones can have a lot of fun even when they're not in the kids program. These ships are like floating cities with tons of things to see and do. My kids love to go to the shops and look at the toys. Even just playing with a few toys while mom and dad relax in a lounge chair on deck is fun for little ones. My kids loved to walk around and ooh and ahh over the neat stuff on the ship.:)

[Cybele]

I tried to get my almost 6 year old into the 6-8 year old age group with her 7 year old sister, but they said absolutely not even though she would be turning 6 in just a few weeks. They did allow my 7 year old to go to the 2-5 year old group with her sister.

Ack...I am kind of bummed now. We sail on the Elation on June 5, 2005, and my Carnival Personal Vacation Planner told me that it was possible for our almost 6-year old son (entering 1st grade) to attend the 6-8 year group with his 7-year old brother. They are very close, and their being together would save work for the staff because they look after each other a lot. What sorts of things did they do in the 2-5 year old group? Our 7-year old will definitely want to be with the big kids.

[serene56]

DOnt be bummed, Here is the capers..check out the 2-5 year old program. If your son goes in there and the counselors find its too slow for him they will move himup to the older group.

http://community.webshots.com/album/299741566PLYKOu

[Cybele]

DOnt be bummed, Here is the capers..check out the 2-5 year old program. If your son goes in there and the counselors find its too slow for him they will move himup to the older group.

http://community.webshots.com/album/299741566PLYKOu

 

Thank you SO much for those links! I love data. I will request that he be considered for promotion to 6-8 year olds and keep my fingers crossed. I'd hope that if he were bored and depressed hanging with the little ones, the staff would notice. Although, he might just end up organizing all the 2-5 year olds into bands of pirates with cardboard swords.

 

Carnival Elation, 05 June 2005

[serene56]

No matter what he will have a great time. Just dont make promises to the kids that you might be able to fulfil.

[cali-croozer]

Just dont make promises to the kids that you might be able to fulfil.

 

Yes! That's the key. In front of your son, be very positive and excited about the 2-5 year old group. And remember, he won't be the only "almost 6" in that group. The older kids in the group will find each other and make friends. The counselors are very good at keeping everyone involved and happy. Have a great cruise!:)

[cruisinqt]

Cybele, my 7 year old was quite upset at having to step down to the 2-5 year old group to be with her little sister. But as soon as they got in there and started doing stuff, they forgot all about it. Being the oldest made her the teacher's pet so to speak. The counselor relied on her to help her organize the kids, fetch things for her, help little ones who didn't know what to do, pass things out, etc. She absolutely loved it!:) She felt needed and important. When I mentioned something about her going to the 6-8 yr. old group now that her sibling had made friends and didn't need her anymore she got very upset. She said: "Mom, what would Sheila ( the 2-5 yr. olds counselor) do without me to help her? She keeps telling me how important I am and how much she needs me. I can't leave her now."

 

Another thing you can do is have the older one go to the younger kids group and get the little one settled in and comfortable with his new friends. Then the older one can just slip out and go into the older kids group. The younger one will be so busy he'll never notice the older one is gone. This is what the counselor's suggested we do, but as mentioned above, my kids enjoyed it just the way it was.:D

 

As far as activities go, the 2-5 year old group painted pillow cases, made their own rubber balls, made paper mache' animals, and had ice-cream sundae parties. The stuff they did seemed fun to both of my kids, even the 7 year old.

[Cybele]

I am not too worried about my almost 6-year old. Being among the older in the 2-5 year old group, if he is kept there, I could see him enjoy being a helper. Plus, I am hoping there will be plenty of 5-year olds there. Both boys are pretty outgoing, so I don't expect he'll experience anxiety at being separated from his brother. I do think he'll be fine either way, but he and his brother are very close and they do enjoy sharing experiences together and have similar interests. I think that's my biggest concern--being separated from each other all day long and not having a shared experience on our vacation.

 

Our 7-year old, going into 3rd grade, has been very frustrated since school ended a week ago as the kids in the neighborhood are all younger than he is (3-5) or older than he is (9-10), and the "big kids" rarely ask him to join them. He'll be in heaven to be able to hang and meet other kids his own age!

[cruisinqt]

Cybele, if it's quality time together for the kids that you're worried about, don't worry. The kids center closes for a couple of hours for both lunch and dinner so the family can all eat together. At the lunch hour you can grab hot dogs or hamburgers off of the buffet and head straight to the pool. So your kids can enjoy lunch and pool time together every day. :) That's what we did. Also, we took them with us on port days so they got to spend the entire day together on port days too. With a little pool time together every day, plus several port days together, your kids will get plenty of quality time with both you and each other.;)

[Cybele]

I'll post an update to this thread after our cruise. We sail Sunday.:)

[Cybele]

We're back, and our almost 6-year old *was* upgraded to the 6-8 group after the first session, as were a few others about his age.

 

We all had a blast on our trip!

[serene56]

We're back, and our almost 6-year old *was* upgraded to the 6-8 group after the first session, as were a few others about his age.

 

We all had a blast on our trip!

 

 

Did he have to try the younger programfirst? whose suggestion to move him up?

[Cybele]

He had to do the younger program just for the first session, 9-12 a.m. on the first full day. I also had to sign up for a pager at the informational meeting at 7:30 (I think it was) in the Cole Porter Lounge on the first night of the cruise, as they are required for the parents of 2-5 year olds. At the beginning and at the end of the first session I mentioned to them that I'd like for them to consider him for promotion to the 6-8 group as he is almost 6. The person making the decision wasn't there when I returned, nor when I dropped him off the 2nd time, so the staff phoned her up and she gave her official OK. So, I'd say the important thing is to be polite (they are very busy), but firm, so your request is not forgotten. When I first mentioned it to them they told me that they had another little boy who was almost 6 whose mum had asked the same thing, and I'm pretty sure they were both "promoted." They scratched out his age (5) on his tag and changed it to 6, which thrilled him. At the end of the cruise I returned the pager, altho I probably could have returned it when he was promoted.

[Penguinjen]

do you think an almost 16 yr old ( 2 weeks before birthday) would be able to get into the gym or spa on the triumph?

[cruisinqt]

Cybele, I'm so glad that your little one got upgraded to the older kids group! I'm a little jealous though, because they adamantly refused to let mine go up to the next level even though she was just a few weeks shy of her birthday. And I really don't think it's because she's immature. Her sister and all of her cousins are older than her so everyone she plays with is more mature. I asked my 10 year old niece if my younger daughter was immature for her age and she said it was just the opposite, she was very grown up for her age.:)

 

I think the problem might have been that I only asked once and didn't push the issue. It sounds like you were firm in your resolve and it worked. I think I just assumed that no meant no and I didn't push the issue. Maybe I should have tried a little harder.:rolleyes:

 

Another thing that might have happened here was that the younger age group was overloaded and the older age group wasn't very full. They may have already been tossing around the idea of upgrading a few to the older group so the younger group would be more manageable. Who knows what the situation was. All I know is I was told that they NEVER promote kids to an older age group. Maybe I had a group of very strict counselors on my cruise or something. What cruise did you go on? Maybe I should try that particular cruise since my kids have gotten older now and are in two separate age groups again.:(

[Cybele]

I think the problem might have been that I only asked once and didn't push the issue. It sounds like you were firm in your resolve and it worked. I think I just assumed that no meant no and I didn't push the issue. Maybe I should have tried a little harder.

I did have to remind them several times. Maybe it was just the personal policy of the Camp Carnival supervisor of that cruise to be strict with promotions? I dunno. I'm sorry it didn't work out for you guys!

 

It'll be at 2 years before we can afford another cruise, so it won't be a big issue for us then.