Camp Carnival Questions

[danyelle]

1. Are they strict w/ age range allocations? (if i've got a mature ALMOST 12 year old??) I'm assuming they're stringent and won't allow age range jumping.

 

2. Are there hours during the sea days that the camp is not in session?

 

3. When is the orientation/registration and can registration be done pre-boarding?

 

4. Is there really a "sleepover"?!

 

5. For those who allowed their child to sign themself in/out... how did this work?

 

6. How much freedom is the 9-11 group given?

 

7. Does Camp Carnival take the kids to dinner? and if not...

 

8. What do u suggest for dining seating?

 

Thanks in advance for any answers, I'm SUPER nervous about letting my 11 year old brother loose on the poor camp carnival staff.

[sasha19]

1. Are they strict w/ age range allocations? (if i've got a mature ALMOST 12 year old??) I'm assuming they're stringent and won't allow age range jumping. I have heard from others on this board that they are strict

 

2. Are there hours during the sea days that the camp is not in session? yes, the last few times they have closed for a few hours for lunch and sometimes to set up for special parties

 

3. When is the orientation/registration and can registration be done pre-boarding? Orientation is on the first evening. I do not believe there is preregistration. They do not open the Camp until after this meeting which has always been after dinner (around 7 pm)

 

4. Is there really a "sleepover"?! Sleepover runs from 10 pm to 3 am and it is $6 an hour.

 

5. For those who allowed their child to sign themself in/out... how did this work? We have a younger one so I do not know

 

6. How much freedom is the 9-11 group given? I cannot answer since we are still in the 5 year old group

 

7. Does Camp Carnival take the kids to dinner? and if not... yes, they have dinner, usually at around 5 or 6 pm Camp Carnival opens or you meet them at the dinner.

 

8. What do u suggest for dining seating? We usually do the early seating

 

Thanks in advance for any answers, I'm SUPER nervous about letting my 11 year old brother loose on the poor camp carnival staff.

he will have a great time... so will you

[buddyjo143]

1. Are they strict w/ age range allocations? (if i've got a mature ALMOST 12 year old??) I'm assuming they're stringent and won't allow age range jumping.

 

2. Are there hours during the sea days that the camp is not in session?

 

3. When is the orientation/registration and can registration be done pre-boarding?

 

4. Is there really a "sleepover"?!

 

5. For those who allowed their child to sign themself in/out... how did this work?

 

6. How much freedom is the 9-11 group given?

 

7. Does Camp Carnival take the kids to dinner? and if not...

 

8. What do u suggest for dining seating?

 

Thanks in advance for any answers, I'm SUPER nervous about letting my 11 year old brother loose on the poor camp carnival staff.

 

I have experience with the age 5 to 8 group; they did let my niece who was 3 weeks from her birthday join the older group with her brother and cousin.

 

You say your daughter is mature but do you really want her jumping up to the age 12 to 14 group that has total freedom on the ship? Just wondering.

 

I don't know if they do dinner every night. On one night the 5 to 8 year olds in our family insisted on eating with their camp friends and counselors. Otherwise we had early seating and the kids had all their meals with us.

 

I hope someone will post the link to Camp Carnival activities so you can check them out.

[nybumpkin]

2. Are there hours during the sea days that the camp is not in session?

Usually they're closed two hours around lunch (either 12-2 or 1-3), then again before dinner.

 

3. When is the orientation/registration and can registration be done pre-boarding?

On our cruises it's been after the early dinner seating the first night in one of the lounges. There's no registration ahead of time, but if you miss the orientation meeting you can always register them afterward at Camp Carnival.

 

4. Is there really a "sleepover"?!

 

Depending on the cruise, they will often have a "super late night party" that can run (for the 9-11 YOs) until 3:30 in the morning. They will escort the kids back to the cabin, so you don't need to make the run to Camp Carnival to get them.

 

5. For those who allowed their child to sign themself in/out... how did this work?

When you register, you indicate on the form whether you give permission for the child to sign in/out. If you don't give permission, they will not be able to participate in some of the activities like scavenger hunts. We gave our 11 YO permission to sign in/out so he could do those activities, but usually we would meet him right at the Camp Carnival location when it finished so he wasn't wandering around to find us.

 

6. How much freedom is the 9-11 group given?

There are some unsupervised activities like the scavenger hunts, but aside from those activities they generally stay in one location with their counselor. The Capers will list their locations for each activity.

 

7. Does Camp Carnival take the kids to dinner?

 

On our cruises, they've generally had a Camp Carnival dinner every night except the first and last nights. The kids meet with their counselors in the buffet restaurant.

 

8. What do u suggest for dining seating?

 

Our preferred dining time is the 6:15 seating on the ships with two dining rooms. It's closest to when we eat regularly, and we're not as rushed getting ready as the 5:45 seating. We generally alternate having the kids with us in the dining room and having them dine with Camp Carnival.

[danyelle]

Thank you all so much for the information. My brother is going to love it.

[serene56]

1. Are they strict w/ age range allocations? (if i've got a mature ALMOST 12 year old??) I'm assuming they're stringent and won't allow age range jumping.

 

Your brother is better off in the 9-11 program. the kids in the older program tend to hang out instead of participating in the program

 

2. Are there hours during the sea days that the camp is not in session?

 

noon until 2pm and 5pm til 7pm (except of formal nights where the staff has a dinner for them at the buffet

 

3. When is the orientation/registration and can registration be done pre-boarding?

 

its done the first night after dinner. Check the capers when you board on where and when its done. Its very important the kids go to this meeting and meet the other kids onboard. Program is usually for families the first night-- a kind of get aquainted kind of deal.

 

4. Is there really a "sleepover"?!

 

Another reason your brother should stay in the 9-11 group. There is a sleepover and its 6 bucks an hour. and very fun. It usually runs from 10pm until 3am.

 

5. For those who allowed their child to sign themself in/out... how did this work?

for the kids to participate in the scavenger hunt its very important for those privileges. JKust let the kids know what you expect from them with that priviledge. Can he just leave whenever he wants?? youwill be given a sheet with all activities for the week== where and when. He can pick and chose what he wants and families will know where he is at all times.

 

6. How much freedom is the 9-11 group given?

given that they can sign themselves in and out the freedom is there.

For this age group--keep them busy or theywill get in trouble.

 

7. Does Camp Carnival take the kids to dinner? and if not...

2 times on a 7 night cruise=== actually will take the kids to the buffet where they meet up with the other diners. But I suggest letting the brother eat in the dining room. especially the first one where they serve lobster.

 

8. What do u suggest for dining seating?

I suggest early seating-- if not there will be alot of down time for him

Camps are closed from 5 until 7 (which early diners are getting ready and attending dinner.) and most activiites are between 8-10 which is at late seating.

Taking late seating your brother will not have "stuff" to do from 5pm until 10pm (long time)- and then meeting up with the other kids at 10--since camps then charge is kind of hard.

 

Thanks in advance for any answers, I'm SUPER nervous about letting my 11 year old brother loose on the poor camp carnival staff.

 

 

your brother will be fine-- youboth will have a great time.

[GaryWT]

Last week we tried to put our soon to be 12 yo in the older group and we were unable to. He will be 12 in 45 days. He went with the 9-11 yo group but they were combined with the 6-8 yo group so he left and did not go back. Also, 2 of the first 3 events that he went to, did not happen and no one had the details as to where people were. This was the onlt negative of the week , he hung with us and his brother so things were fine.

 

The only night that they advertised feeding them dinner was on formal night, not sure if it happened any other night. We have always allowed our kids to sign themselves in or out, they would just need to find us to let us know what they would be doing or they needed to leave a note in the cabin.

 

We have always had 1st seating for dinner.

[caribbean dreams]

No Carnival will not allow him to be out in the higher age group.

 

Yes, there are certain hours during sea days that Camp Carnival is not in session.

 

I would not let me DD sign herself out, i had her wait for me to get there and pick her up.

 

There is a night or few when the staff will take the kids to dinner.

 

The Carnival staff is really good but at the age where they can sign themselves out, you just have to let your brother know if you can or not and if so, have a meeting place.

 

Registration is on the first evening, the time and plce will be in the Capers (paper)

 

An earlier dining time would be better, most of the evening activites start right after that, if you have late dining, he may miss some of them.

[TennisLover]

4. Is there really a "sleepover"?! There is no sleeping at this activity. One year, I let my son stay almost to the end (I was out partying anyway) and I paid for it the next day -- he was a mess. Last year on Liberty, when he was 10, I let him stay until about 12 or 1 am -- I went and got him from the b-ball court. That was enough.

 

5. For those who allowed their child to sign themself in/out... how did this work? I love this option as I am glued to a lounge chair outside on sea days. When he leaves Camp Carnival, he comes to my spot and tell me what he is doing, where he is going, etc.

 

One of the first thing DS does when he gets on the ship is get the kids Capers and circle all the activities he wants to do for the week (nights and sea days). Then, he tries to remember to go!

 

I wonder how it will be on Destiny in February, when he will be 12. At the moment, he is more of a kid than a pre-teen, but that could change by then!

[rockwood84]

Let your 11 year old sign himself in and out. There will be some activities that he will want to do, and some that he won't (they'll be listed in the Kid Capers). Do you REALLY want to walk to/from the Camp Carnival site all day long?

 

Kids are better at memorizing the ships' layouts than most adults, so the chances of him getting lost are pretty slim. My 10yo daughter and 9yo niece were experts by the end of the first day. The only times they got "turned around" were on the cabin deck, because both hallways/directions look the same. However, they knew our cabin number, so it didn't take them long to get turned in the right direction.

 

I do suggest that you take walkie-talkies with you. That way, you can locate him pretty quickly and not spend your entire cruise searching for him. Also, if you like to sit by the pool, you should try to stay in a certain area each day so that he can find you.

 

I had two rules for my girls on our cruise - 1) I have to know where you are and who you are with at all times, and 2) NO RUNNING. The walkie-talkies helped tremendously with rule #1.

 

Have a great trip!

[TRIBE1959]

1. Are they strict w/ age range allocations? (if i've got a mature ALMOST 12 year old??) I'm assuming they're stringent and won't allow age range jumping. Depends on counselor on his ship and #of others in age groups.

 

2. Are there hours during the sea days that the camp is not in session?

lots, our camp (Imagination)had 7am-12pm video game play. 12-2 closed for lunch etc.

3. When is the orientation/registration and can registration be done pre-boarding? No pre-registration. It's a giant party all age groups mixed. You fill out forms there.

 

4. Is there really a "sleepover"?!Late night party. Ours was last night at sea.

 

5. For those who allowed their child to sign themself in/out... how did this work?Worked great for me as he hated Camp.

 

6. How much freedom is the 9-11 group given?Lots they have several roam the ship activities. Scavenger hunt, people bingo, free time at pool etc.

 

7. Does Camp Carnival take the kids to dinner? and if not...Depends on the day. In our case only twice on a 5 night.

 

8. What do u suggest for dining seating?I'd go with late but mostly because it's hard to get everyone ready after shore day in one bathroom.

 

Thanks in advance for any answers, I'm SUPER nervous about letting my 11 year old brother loose on the poor camp carnival staff.

P.S. We had roving gang of 11 yr olds laying in elevators, knocking on doors and running etc. Good Luck.