Camp Carnival 9 year olds signing themselves out?

[tw67]

I am looking for opinions here! Please let me know if any of you have let your 9 year old sign themselves out of Camp Carnival? I just don't know about this! If you did, how did it go? I don't want my 9 year old being one of those kids roaming the ship hitting all the buttons on the elevator, etc...!!! In reality, I doubt he would, and I think that he would be too afraid to be walking around without one of us with him! I would think that if we had plans to meet up somewhere, I might be ok with this, but if we had plans I would be coming to sign his younger brother out anyway! Ok, just looking to see if I am the "overprotective one" or the "realistic one"!!

 

Terry

[blkbrnfam]

I didn't know that Carnival let nine year olds do that. I have a 9 daughter and would probably be too afraid to let her sign herself out. Too many weirdos out there

[TennisLover]

I don't remember when your child is allowed to sign out of Camp Carnival (9 or 10?). Either way, we let our son sign out, but then he was to come right to where we were sitting out by the pool. He had also been on a couple of Carnival cruises before so he was familiar with the ship. I think that helped.

[seashell36]

We let our 9 yr old sign herself out last year on the Elation. She had a walkie talkie and if she wanted to leave Camp she would call us to see where we were. Now, she did only do this one time - when she could see us out by the pool and wanted to swim.

But something to think about - the 9 yr olds are not usually near the younger kids. Our 4 yr old was always in the Camp "room" and the older kids met in different lounges or clubs.

One thing the kids that participate in the scavenger hunts have to be able to sign themselves in and out. One of our DD's friends onboard couldn't sign out and she sat with the counselors while everyone else ran around doing the hunt.

[tw67]

We let our 9 yr old sign herself out last year on the Elation. She had a walkie talkie and if she wanted to leave Camp she would call us to see where we were. Now, she did only do this one time - when she could see us out by the pool and wanted to swim.

But something to think about - the 9 yr olds are not usually near the younger kids. Our 4 yr old was always in the Camp "room" and the older kids met in different lounges or clubs.

One thing the kids that participate in the scavenger hunts have to be able to sign themselves in and out. One of our DD's friends onboard couldn't sign out and she sat with the counselors while everyone else ran around doing the hunt.

 

I think that the walkie talkie idea might be a good one, and tell him that he can only sign himself out if he has our permission on the walkie talkie first. He isn't the type of child to take advantage of it, so this might work! Thanks!!

 

Terry

[Mysticks1]

On your first night when you go to the Camp Carnival meet and greet they will have you fill out all those forms. You have to check whether or not they can check themselves out or not. I have never given permission on the form but they did let my dd sign herself out which I wasn't happy with so I wouldn't depend upon the counselors enforcing that.

[born2bacruiser]

We've used walkie-talkies on our last 4 cruises and they really come in handy. Not only with the kiddos but also between my DH and I when we are doing separate activities. They work great!;)

[hubofhockey]

We didn't let our 9-year old daughter sign herself out this year and probably won't let her do it next year. We check on her every so often (60 to 90 minutes) in case she's board. But she had a great time and actually wanted to stay longer than we originally planned the couple days she went to the camp. She was not a big fan of the similar RCCL kids club and that weighs heavily on our decision of what line to choose. We like adult time too.

[lynnber]

My son will be 9 for our next cruise, and I'd be really uncomfortable letting him sign himself out. On this past cruise, they kept asking if I wanted to move him up to the next group (his birthday is next month) and I was much happier having him be the oldest in the group rather than the youngest.

 

We go over the Camp schedule and figure out what he's interested in. Then we pick him up when there's something he doesn't want to do, or when there's something outside camp that we think he'd like.

[thehittgirl]

I was not happy with their policy about the kids that age being able to sign themselves out. I think they should be 12 before they can be allowed to do this. I told the staff I did not want my son to sign himself out, but they did not reinforce it. I didn't expect they would though. Fortunately we were close to CC and I didn't worry too much.

[hubofhockey]

I was not happy with their policy about the kids that age being able to sign themselves out. I think they should be 12 before they can be allowed to do this. I told the staff I did not want my son to sign himself out, but they did not reinforce it. I didn't expect they would though. Fortunately we were close to CC and I didn't worry too much.

 

Well, that's their own rule - see below.

 

Parents that do not want their 9-11 to sign themselves in & out of our activities MUST sign their child in & out when attending Camp Carnival.

 

They enforced it on our cruise and they would be subjecting themselves to some liability if you did NOT give permission for your child to sign out and something happened. I would have complained to the CD or someone in the CD's office about this if they let one of my kids sign out without my permission.

[tw67]

We use walkie talkies on board all the time also. They do come in handy. My son has never had a problem on the RCCL kids club. He has always loved it. He wasn't thrilled with the last Carnival one, but in all honesty he was just turning 4 on it, and we had friends on the ship and he wanted to hang out with the older kids not the kids in his group. It didn't have anything to do with the activities. Since he will be nine, and one of the youngest in the group, I think he will enjoy his time there (he likes to be with older kids). He isn't the kind of child who wants to wander by himself, so I don't think he will give me a hard time about not being allowed to sign himself out.

 

Terry

[tretre]

I do not let my 10 year old daughter sign herself out. I believe that is too young to let a child wonder a strange place by themselves. Am I the only person that watches 20/20 or Dateline? There are sick people out there. These walkie talkies are a false sense of security. All it takes is one time for a person to lure your child to an unoccupied area. If your child uses the walkie talkie and yells "HELP" what do you do? It is terrible to have to think this way, but you can't be naive. How difficult is it to just sign your child out when you want them? They have family scavenger hunts, so the child will not miss out on this activity. Everyone is different and not everyone worries like I do, but I like knowing my child is safe where I can check on her.

[IamAlyce]

We have used walkie talkies to communicate with our children and eachother on our cruises but have insisted our children have a "buddy" if they're not in the camp. What we do is have our daughter or son call us and say what they want to do, whom they're going with, etc, and then we ok it or not. Our last cruise our daughter met 3 or 4 girls her age and they would go to the pool or the pizzaria. But she would check in with us (she is 13). Even our 15 yr old son had the same rule, he could call us, let us know he was coming to where we were or going to the cabin and that worked out well. And we did the same, we let them know where we were all the time, it works out great for us.

[crusinmama06]

Nope, Nope, Nope :D

 

My daughter is 7 right now but I KNOW that when she enters the 9-12 year old age at camp carnival I will not allow her to sign herself out. I like knowing where she is.

 

So put me in the overprotective camp too. :D

[madaamt]

I am taking my kids on their first cruise in Oct. I don't think I will be letting my 9 year old son come and go as he pleases. I am WAY to overprotective for that.

[turkeytoes75]

We have two daughters, ages 12 &11. We didn't let them sign themselves out when they were 9 & 10. We told them if they did they would be by our sides the rest of the cruise. They both listened pretty well. Carnival did not have anything for us to sign regarding them signing themselves out, they just left it as they could sign themselves In/out. And we have takin three different walkie talkies and they don't always work! We now just look at the camp carnival schedule and figure out what they want to do and then check in after that. And we check in on them at unknown times.

[tribbs1]

I had no problem letting my son (then 10) sign in and out on the Conquest 2 yrs ago. He knew where we were on the pool deck and he came and told us right away when he signed himself out and what his plans were. We looked at the Capers and planned his evening activities and once again let him know werhe we were headed so he could find us should he choose not to stay with the group. It worked out great, however, he is the youngest of 4 and is very responsible. He is 12 now and I will let him sign in and out next week when we sail the Valor. It all depends on your child's level of responsibility and your level of comfort.

[Ellanora]

On the Sensation last Sept, my son was 9. I was going to check the box for NOT signing himself out, but there was some activity that they said he would miss out on if I checked it; I can't remember what it was, but it was something I didn't want him to miss - maybe it was just that he couldn't leave the camp room even with the counselors when they had activities in other areas of the ship. Anyway, I checked to allow him to sign himself out. HOWEVER, I told my son that he was NOT to leave the camp counselors EVER, unless I was there to get him. He understood, and also had no interest in being alone on the ship anyway. We did not have any problems.

[nybumpkin]

My middle son's now 11. We allow him to sign himself in and out so he can participate in activities like the scavenger hunts - but one of us also meets him at the end of Camp Carnival activities so he's not wandering. I think it's a good "compromise."

[Calicruiser101]

On the Sensation last Sept, my son was 9. I was going to check the box for NOT signing himself out, but there was some activity that they said he would miss out on if I checked it; I can't remember what it was, but it was something I didn't want him to miss - maybe it was just that he couldn't leave the camp room even with the counselors when they had activities in other areas of the ship. Anyway, I checked to allow him to sign himself out. HOWEVER, I told my son that he was NOT to leave the camp counselors EVER, unless I was there to get him. He understood, and also had no interest in being alone on the ship anyway. We did not have any problems.

 

We plan on doing the same thing, let my DD and my nephew both 10, know that we are checking the box that says they can sign in/out but they are NOT to use it unless it is an activity w/CC. We also have walkie talkies and there are 2 of them aged 10 and one 12 year old and I still get nervous. I told my DD that if she wants to go get a coke w/ her two cousins that would be fine but they BETTER be where they said they were going. All three of them are very responsible, but sometimes you just don't know when they are going to have a brain f--t and doing something not very bright. I am very protective too so I understand the worry that we all go through as parents. I think if I told the two 10 year olds to meet me at a certain time that MIGHT be ok, still thinking on that one.:eek:

[Ok_Cruiser]

Wow, this is good info to know. DW and I will be taking our 10 and 9 year old sons this fall and we will be having a talk with them. We will probably check to allow them to sign in and out but that they are only to do it for activity purposes and together. If caught signing out for anything else they can sit by our sides.

 

Guess, we are in the overprotectice camp as well. I know our kids think we are as they have friends that are allowed to ride the bus home after school while there parents are at work, at 9 years old.

[Calicruiser101]

We also told the my 10 year old nephew that if he checked himself out, other than to do a CC activity we would hire one of the in-room babysitters to sit w/ him for the rest of the cruise in his room. Not sure if that is even possible but it sounded good and certainly not a lot of to him. I don't worry about my 10 year old DD, but if any of them were going to push the limit it would be him. So for now we have him pretty much believing that if he abuses the privlidge his cruisin good times are over.

[Ellanora]

Guess, we are in the overprotectice camp as well.

 

Nothing wrong with this! As long as you don't go overboard (meaning psycho, not over the ship rails, heh), better safe than sorry.

 

At first, I wondered if I were being too "overprotective" by telling my son not to leave the camp and walk around by himself when others his age were allowed to, but then I compared it to going to the mall. Would I drop him off at the mall to walk by himself at age 9 or 10? Nope, sure wouldn't. Even teenagers should at least have a "buddy" when walking in a mall. A cruise ship is pretty much just a huge mall in the middle of an ocean.

[truecruiser]

my DD moved into the 9-11 2 cruises ago (10 now; but 9 at the time of both of those cruises). 1st time, i was very leery of the "sign yourself out" procedure and did not want to grant it. the counselors indicated that while it was my decision, they wld not be permitted to let her go out on the scavenger hunts (something i knew she really wanted to participate in), if i did not allow her to sign herself out.

 

so, we did allow it w/ the following ground rules: the only time she was permitted to sign herself in and out was during an organized scavenger hunt activity when the kids left in teams. she was always dropped off at the meeting location by either myself, DH or both, and picked up at the p/u location (again by one or both of us) once the activities ended. she was never to leave the room or the counselors otherwise. she gladly followed these rules, and everything worked out great. same rules applied next cruise, and again, no problems at all.

 

if there was a problem, sign out privileges wld have been stripped. but, i never even had to tell her this.