Camp Carnival - Age Police ?

[Family Girl]

OK Jillian - You offered, so here goes...

-What is the counselor to child ratio for the age groups ?

-For the 9 year olds, can you request that they not be able to sign themselves out ?

 

Thanks.

[Colton's dad]

On the Miracle Dec 4-11 they would not mix, we had 2-7-10 yr olds. Only on one day in Belize while we took the 10 yr old ashore they did say if the 2 yr old became too upset they would let the 7 yr old sister come visit him. This was not aloud first day and they called us on cell phone, He could hear her taking on the other side of the room and was not aloud to cross imaginary line, tiking him off:mad: . rules, lots of them but we were ok with them. :)

[hightownCO]

As pointed out, lying won't solve this not to mention teaching our kids to lie is just plain wrong.

 

Our friend's solution is not to go much to our disappointment and theirs. We're locked into that timeframe due to our schedules. I don't expect Carnival to care about that or to throw their rules to the wind. But I do believe there has to be some consideration in certain situations. This isn't a federal or state law that's being discussed.

 

The 12 and 13 yr old girls would not want to go down to the younger group. My daughter was bored to tears on the DCL cruise when she was 11. They are high on being in the older group and who can blame them. Plus at least my daughter is very excited about the group and late night activities and definately wants to to that. So I wouldn't ask her to give that up. We don't cruise so much that all this is old hat to us as it may be to others.

 

Anyway, just stating my thoughts and opinions.

 

Happy Holidays to all.

[Cuizer2]

exactly. It's not going to make a difference. Then there would be 7 year olds wanting to be in the 8-10 group and 10 year olds wanting to be in the 11-14 group etc etc. (and then, you'd have 10 and 11 year olds in the disco with 16-18 year olds...) No matter how you slice it, you can't please everyone.

CC always considers changing age groups, mostly because of the issue of putting 2 year olds in the same group as 5 year olds..making groups 2-4, 5-7, 8-10, 11-13 and 14-16. BUT, still you're always going to have people who aren't happy with how it is. and that adds on an extra age group, which means a lot more staff. there's always going to be mature 5 year olds that should be in the 6-8 group and immature 6 year olds that should be in the 2-5 group etc etc etc., that's life.

 

and,like someone said, the legal driving age is 16...I'd like to see you in a court of law saying "well, he's 15 and 10 months, that should be good enough" :) there's always gotta be a cutoff and those cutoffs are in place for a reason and that's that :)

 

if you have any other CC questions, lemme know, now that I've "outed myself" :)

 

If you still work for Carnival, be careful about your posts. I know of some who worked for Carnival and was fired for posting on another board.

[JillianS1128]

If you still work for Carnival, be careful about your posts. I know of some who worked for Carnival and was fired for posting on another board.

 

thanks :) but nope, no longer work for Camp Carnival. As I said, my knowledge stems from 2003-2004 and therefor should be taken as a guideline rather than contractual guarantees :)

[lovetoread]

I was on the Miracle in November and they were very strict about keeping the kids in their proper age group. A girl had her 9th birthday on the ship and was moved to the 9-11 group on her birthday, which was the last sea day. After 10 they would sometimes have the 2-5 and 6-8 together, depending on what movie they were watching.

[Cuizer2]

I was on the Miracle in November and they were very strict about keeping the kids in their proper age group. A girl had her 9th birthday on the ship and was moved to the 9-11 group on her birthday, which was the last sea day. After 10 they would sometimes have the 2-5 and 6-8 together, depending on what movie they were watching.

 

Now that is taking the rule to the wrong extreme. The poor girl spent all week making friends in one group and just because she is a day older gets bumped into another group where she had no time to make any friends.

[momof4boys]

This works both ways! My newly turned 12yo son was in the 12-14 range--with mostly 13-14 yo girls in the group. They had way too many "boy-girl" activities for him. He was not into girls and did not care to dance with them, etc. He wanted games and sports activities. We solved the porblem (actually he did!!!) by finding another boy to hang out with and play basketball, ping pong, cards, and swim. He had a blast!

 

IMHO it would be good for the two kids to be separated--occassionally. Teaches each child that they can have fun without the other (helps establish those separate identities that is so important!)

 

Whatever, go and have fun!!! :)

[Cuizer2]

Okay, now this gets a lot easier. All the eleven year olds will be in the 11, 13 & 14 year old group, and all the twelve year olds will be in the 9, 10 & 12 year old group. Now everyone will be happy and no one will have to switch groups. :)

[cprofits]

I have to ask for your insight into two parts of Camp Carnival that I can't finalize in my plans.

 

First, the late night babysitting. We have a newly 2 year old (25 months at departure and a newly 5 year old (bday on the ship). I have no worries about the 5 year old b/c she is very social and begs to go to camp every minute that we allow her to. My 25 month old, I'm a bit concerned about. First, I know b/c his sister will be there, it will ease my mind and will definitely ease his, but I'm wondering how the after 10pm babysitting really works for these very young children. A) either I try to keep them up and take them up there and they exhaust themselves and fall over asleep, or B) I get them to sleep in the cabin and then try to carry them up there all the while hoping they don't wake up. How do most parents do this? Is it really a very calm and quiet atmosphere after 10pm? Could I possibly bring them in there already asleep and they'll stay sleeping? Any and all thoughts/advice/tips you have regarding very young children in the after 10 pm babysitting would be greatly appreciated.

 

Second, dinner. We have cruised often and when we've brought our children along, have always chosen early seating. This will be my 5 year old's 4th cruise and my 2 year old's 2nd cruise. These dinners have not gone well. We are thinking about trying something we've never done before and choose late seating and plan to not bring the children to dinner with us. Part of me is sad about this because dinner is a big part of the cruise and dressing them up, eating together, etc. has always been a highlight (theoretically it's been a highlight but it's realistically always been a lowlight). We've decided that it will not scar them emotionally to not go to the dining room with us and we're going to do it this time. We're *going* to have a reasonable adult dinner where we can sit and enjoy ourselves and not rush and put out fires and entertain and walk around. Our plan is to get ready a bit early, the four of us go to the buffet, the kids eat and we sit with them like a family, and then we take them to camp when it reopens and we go to late seating and have a relaxing dinner. I've just been looking at some camp carnival kid's capers and it looks like there is a 'kid's dinner' every night with the carnival staff. Can you elaborate on how this is handled? I'm not sure if they were doing this when you were there. I'm wondering if this will be an option on some nights because I'm not sure how my 2 year old will do with this. It seems to be an 'interesting concept' to take all of those young children to a different venue and try to feed them as a group.

 

Thanks for your insight. I hesitated to post this because I remember one time on another parenting board I belonged to, someone accidentally outed themselves as a pediatrician. You can imagine the amount of posts and questions they got after that! Thanks again for any help you can offer.

[serene56]

Camp on the non formal nights open about 7:30. at 10pm that is when it starts charging.

 

Will your kids be cranky at that time?

[cprofits]

In all my cruises with them, I've never taken them to camp for the late babysitting. It's because it doesn't start until 10 that we've never thought it would be a good idea to do it. They are always fast asleep by then and I thought I'd avail myself of the opportunity to ask someone 'in the know' how that really works for the very young children.

[BambiRumsey]

I have cruised several times with my now 6 year old daughter, Typically after the 1st or second day we ask her if she wants to eat in the fancy restaurant with mommy and daddy or if she wants to go to kids club and eat with them, she almost always choses kids club, regardless of which seating we have, early or late.....

 

You usually have to sign them up for the dinner program by a certain time each day and either meet the kids club at the buffet and deposit your child there or take them to kids club and they walk them to the buffet (just like they do for snacks and ice cream during the day)

 

As for the late night babysitting - late seating starts around 8 or 8:30...a nice leisurely, ADULT dinner can take around 2 hours - your kids will already BE at Camp Carnival while you are dining, no need to carry them any where.

 

Also, the experiences I have had after 10 pm is that a movie is popped in, the lights are dimmed and nap mats and blankets are distributed and "quiet time" commences - but that experience was on Celebrity in Septemebr when there were only 17 children TOTAL (age 3-17) on the ship! I am sure it is similar across various lines but will let Jillian tell us how it was on Carnival....

[lovetoread]

My children are 4 and 8 and we had late dinner. I usually took them to the Lido deck for something to eat around 6 and then took them to camp. They really enjoyed camp and I didn't feel guilty about it. I did take them to the dining room 2 times so they did get to experience it.

 

As for the dinner, it was at 5:45 pm Mon-Friday on the Miracle. They ate at Horatio's grill, and had a choice from the regular children's menu. It didn't seem like a lot of people participated in that. I think that there were about 20 max that I saw.

 

For late babysitting you can bring your kids in their pajamas. They have it set up slumber party style. A movie playing, lights dim and pillow and blankets on the floor. Many of the kids fall asleep.

 

If your kids are in camp already, you do not have to go back at 10 to change them or anything, you just start paying at 10.

[cprofits]

You know, it never occurred to me that we would be finishing dinner right about 10:00. I know this is true, but it's been so long since we had an 'adult dinner' on a ship that this didn't register. Well, I guess that sheds new light on taking them to the late night babysitting. We've always had early seating when we've cruised with them and had the few hours to fill before the late babysitting and never ended up taking them there because they fell asleep in the cabin and we just never did it. I guess it will all depend on how the 25 month old handles it. Either he will have wore himself out and will be happily snoozing by 10 pm or they will be anxious to give him back to us by then. I guess if it seems to be going well, we'll just go there directly after dinner each evening and ask how they're doing. If all is well, there they will stay. If not, I guess we know where we'll be staying. We do have two adjoining balcony cabins so all is not lost. I hope it all works out well so DH and I can spend the days with the kids and maybe have a few evenings of adult time after dinner. :D

[BambiRumsey]

Your 2 year old may be more of a challenge but each child is different. We didn't start cruising with Hannah until she was 4 and on every cruise, she wakes up in the morning asking to go to kids club and is sorry to see us when it is time to leave.

 

If you check on them after dinner, can I suggest maybe doing it from afar or just sticking your head in without them really seeing you? It may be they are just fine, having fun, resting whatever but if the younger one sees you and then you disappear, drama may ensue, especially given the late hour....

 

At age 4 we made her nap everyday after lunch (kids club on that ship was closed until 2 anyway) and that made her more able to be pleasant later into the evening.....

 

One tip about late seating and little kids - ask your waiter to bring their dinners when your appetizers arrive. The few times Hannah has joined us at the dining room for late seating, she lays her head on the table and goes to sleep somewhere around the soup course....

[Cuizer2]

Your 2 year old may be more of a challenge but each child is different. We didn't start cruising with Hannah until she was 4 and on every cruise, she wakes up in the morning asking to go to kids club and is sorry to see us when it is time to leave.

 

Nothing like a nice ego boost and a feeling of being wanted from your own kid. ;)

[BambiRumsey]

Nothing like a nice ego boost and a feeling of being wanted from your own kid. ;)

 

I am a stay at home parent so imagine she gets sick of me!

 

Even now that she is in first grade I am in her classroom volunteering at least once a week - it does not hurt my ego AT ALL to be able to sit and read a nice book in the sun with a beverage and no "Mommy, hey Mommy, Ma, Mommy, Mom,yoo hoo Mommy".

 

Daddy might feel differently but they log a lot of pool hours on the ship so I think he gets his fix, his main goal is that we ALL enjoy ourselves.....

[Ocham's Razor]

I don't think it will be too hard to make a few changes to make my 11 year old a 12 year old. We are a group with 5 boys...ages 11, 12, 13, 14 and 17. I know that the 17 yo could care less and actually will welcome his younger siblings to hang with others his age. I cannot see the 11 yo not hanging out with his 3 older brothers. I guess I will have to make some alterations and book the 11 yo as a 12 yo. (the 11 yo will be 12 in March)

 

This will not be hard...it has to be done. I am willing to roll the dice.

[GoinCruisin]

I don't think it will be too hard to make a few changes to make my 11 year old a 12 year old. We are a group with 5 boys...ages 11' date=' 12, 13, 14 and 17. I know that the 17 yo could care less and actually will welcome his younger siblings to hang with others his age. I cannot see the 11 yo not hanging out with his 3 older brothers. I guess I will have to make some alterations and book the 11 yo as a 12 yo. (the 11 yo will be 12 in March)

 

This will not be hard...it has to be done. I am willing to roll the dice.[/quote']

 

So you are going to forge your child's birth certificate??? :confused: Surely that has to be illegal... but you are willing to roll the dice with that? So when your children do the same... say, get a fake ID, it's okay right? I mean... you taught them how to do it... :rolleyes:

[Ocham's Razor]

Yeah...I'm going to take my 11 yo and tell him "this is a forged document, this is how you do it...when you turn 16 we will get you a fake I.D."

 

Please..save the holier than thou stuff for someone else.

[GoinCruisin]

Yeah...I'm going to take my 11 yo and tell him "this is a forged document' date=' this is how you do it...when you turn 16 we will get you a fake I.D."

 

Please..save the holier than thou stuff for someone else.[/quote']

 

Oh, okay, so you aren't giving your kid any credit for being smart and figuring things out? Like having to tell your child to PRETEND to be 12... it's okay, while most 11 year olds are smarter than most think, not all of them are.

 

Are you also going to give them all fake documents so they can stay in the same grade together at school and graduate together? God forbid they be separated during the day!!! What would they do if they actually had to meet new friends their own age!! :eek: Oh the HORROR!!!!!!!

[Ocham's Razor]

Oh, okay, so you aren't giving your kid any credit for being smart and figuring things out? Like having to tell your child to PRETEND to be 12... it's okay, while most 11 year olds are smarter than most think, not all of them are.

 

Are you also going to give them all fake documents so they can stay in the same grade together at school and graduate together? God forbid they be separated during the day!!! What would they do if they actually had to meet new friends their own age!! :eek: Oh the HORROR!!!!!!!

 

 

Actually, we just got back from skiing. Adult lift tickets (12 and older) were 52 dollars, under 12 was 29 dollars. I did the same thing that most would do...had the 12 yo's say they were 11.

I saved 46 dollars !!!

You would never do such a thing, right?

Anyway, enough bickering...have a safe holiday

[tef43]

Actually' date=' we just got back from skiing. Adult lift tickets (12 and older) were 52 dollars, under 12 was 29 dollars. I did the same thing that most would do...had the 12 yo's say they were 11.

I saved 46 dollars !!!

You would never do such a thing, right?

Anyway, enough bickering...have a safe holiday[/quote']You must be so very proud. :rolleyes: What a fine example you are setting.

[jakieemma]

Ocham's...you are not doing anything that anybody else hasn't done.

 

Don't worry about the criticism....love the name too.