Carnival Kids Club, Great but the hours were misleading

[rgh2928]

Are all of Carnivals kids clubs hours of operation as misleading as on the Carnival Pride?

WE recently took a cruise on the Carnival Pride out of Baltimore with our Nieces family which included a 2 yr. 2mo. old boy. We told them about the Kids Club and how it would enable them to enjoy some free time as well. We are experienced cruisers, Platinum members, but have never had an occasion to use the Kids Club. After doing a little online research, mostly on the Carnival website, and a few calls to answer specific questions, we felt we had a good handle on the Kids Club. Boy were we wrong and felt mislead. The Carnival website talks about the kids club being available from 10am to 10pm. No problem since our nephew is in bed by 9pm.

 

We felt the kids club would allow the parents to go to Serenity and relax for a few hours on sea days and maybe enjoy a dinner or two without the little one. Like most kids his age, the attention span is about 30 min at best. Once we got onboard we found out the reality of the Kids Club, at least on that ship. The kids club opens at 10 am but then closes down at 1pm so they can go to the lobby and sell "stuff your own teddy bears." So all kids must be picked up by 12:45. Then they close again at 5pm to "prepare for evening activities" They will provide dinner for you child but you must drop them off in the Lido deck at 6pm. And they tried to discourage this kids dinner by saying "they don't really eat very well." We checked up at the Lido deck one night and only saw 5 kids eating, out of the many onborad so I guess their discouraging attitude worked. We of course took our little nephew off the ship with us on port days but expected to use the kids club again on the last sea day headed back to Baltimore. Well this time they opened at 10 am but closed to sell "stuff your own teddy bears" in the kids club at 1pm. A parent had to be present. Then at 2 pm to 4pm the had family play time where a parent must be present again. That was 3 hours on the final afternoon that the kids club was not available for children without a parent. At 5pm they closed again to prepare for night time activities! Four hours out of 6 from noon to 6pm they were not available!! The staff was very nice and the limited time that Kids club schedule fit our nephews Nap and eating schedule, he had a wonderful time. The advertised 10 am to 10 pm schedule is very misleading and not a good representation of when you can actually drop off your child. I'm sure some of this is due to past abuses by parents wanting the kids club to take care of their kids for the whole cruise. This was not the case for us. We just wanted a few hours a day for the parents to relax and it just didn't happen. I think Carnival owes the pasengers a more realistic picture of the actual time your child will be watch. I hope this helps someone cruising with kids for the first time. We have learn now the hard way but will be prepared next time we take a cruise with a child. I could see how this could really disappoint some first time users of the kids club and sour them on cruising with their young kids althogether. Maybe this was unique to the Carnival Pride but I'm thinking it is company wide. Any one have the same experince on the other ships?

[Lerin]

:confused:

The Carnival website faq's state that the kid club isn't open all day.

There are many threads here on cc that mention that camp isn't open for lunch or an hour before dinner.

The Build a Bear workshops and family dance parties are also pretty standard. Other times they are open/closed vary by ship due to which ports are being visited and at what time.

There are copies of camp schedules for each ship and itinerary that can be found here on cc or via Google, we always print those off ahead of time so we have an idea of what our child will or won't be participating in. Carnival doesn't post these as there can be slight changes.

I'm sorry you weren't able to get all this information before you sailed. It was a good idea to start this thread so that others will know this information ahead of time, especially new posters/cruisers.

 

That is unusual that the counselors were trying to keep people from using their services, that is not the norm.

 

From Carnival.com

Sea Days: In Camp Carnival hours vary with activities starting at 10:00 am and finishing at 10:00 pm with breaks closing throughout the day which vary from ship to ship.

Check onboard for specific ship details.

 

Port Days: In Camp Carnival supervised day of play begins 15 minutes prior to the first scheduled ship tour. Depending on the ship’s itinerary lunch will be offered at 12:00 pm for those guests who are off exploring the port. Scheduled activities resume after lunch for the afternoon sessions. For ships that arrive in port later in the day supervised day of play will be offered in the afternoon. Check onboard for specific ship details.

 

Hope you still had a good cruise. :cool:

Edited January 7, 2014 by Lerin

[SadieN]

The counselors are right. The kids do not eat well with them.

The few times we have seen the kids (the 5-9yo) clubs eating in the buffet they were more interested in talking than eating. Also they are limited to the kid's buffet.

The kid's buffet is kid friendly meals like chicken nuggets and fries. They stopped serving veggies because none of the kids touched those.

[Kerry's Girls]

This is not only fleet-wide, but has been our experience on most every cruise line. Parents are expected to pick up their kids for meals, except for the special dinners (some lines have them most nights, others just on formal nights).

 

Best,

Mia

[luvsviola]

My frustration with Carnival's kids club was that the evening show is never over when Camp Carnival closes. We always missed the end of the show to get the kids picked up on time. They need to time this better.

[mmrudnick]

I'd suggest cruising Disney next time. Their kids club rarely closed.

 

 

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[Paumavista]

We liked the flexibility of having our kids eat with the club some nights & they loved it - it was NOT discouraged on our ship and everyone had a FUN time! We would pick them up at 5, take them back to the room, wash them up & get them dressed for dinner; and they had a great time.

 

I was never worried about what they ate or how much they ate during their club dinner......this is a cruise ship....there is food everywhere almost all the time......they won't go hungry.

 

As for club hours (although it would be convenient if they were actually opened 10-10) even on the schedule you posted mom and dad got close to 3 hours or "free time" in the morning 10-1245pm and then whatever hours the club operated in the afternoon......maybe 3-5pm (I realize this didn't happen on the last day).....and then 6-10pm on typical evenings. If you add this up and try to take full advantage of every opportunity you can have almost 9 hours of personal free time each day.......while your child is being cared for. That's honestly a lot of time for a 2 year old.

 

I understand it wasn't as convenient as they/you may have liked.....but most parents gave up convenience....when the pink line turned up on the tester.........

[rgh2928]

As I originally stated, the "Kids club was great, but the hours were misleading." I realize they can't be open all day every day and I wasn't trying to dump the kids. For first time Kids Club users, the hours of operation are not as good as stated on the Carnival Website and to be basically closed the last afternoon of the cruise except to kids supervised by their parents is very misleading. The last day is good for getting the cabin in order and packing the bags before dinner. What a great time to have your young child play at kids club. Instead, it is only open for kids with their parents. I just think Carnival could be a little more upfront about the hours of operation. From the responses, it appears that all the ships Kids Clubs close at 5 pm and for lunch on sea days. They also close up the whole shop to go sell bears!! The times above don't seem to vary by ship and port so why not put it on the website. You would have less upset people by being honest. We would still use the Kids Club and just be better informed to plan our vacation, that's all. Be up front and tell parents that. As people said, it is still a good operation and offers quite a bit of time for parents to relax. I figured, some who have poor reading and comprehension skills would jump to the conclusion that I was trying to dump the kids off all day to avoid caring for them. Not true. I don't mind the "inconvenience" but a little more sleep, that is a different story!!

[Prinycesa07]

Totally see what you are saying OP and agree with you. I dont bring my kids often but i felt the times were limiting. I also was under the impression that they were open more before going. But, now I know for next time. I agree that they should post the times online.

[giselleacttwo]

That would be irksome. Especially with the mandatory parent attendance there wouldn't be any decent chunks of time to relax without having to worry about picking the kids up right away. I like the kid's club schedule on Princess- 9-Noon, 1-5, 6-10 (with babysitting after 10). It's usually the same people working all three shifts, so it's understandable that they need to close at some point to give their staff meal breaks.

 

Only downside to Princess is they don't allow kids under 3 in their program without parental supervision.