Kids Program

[cruzfiend]

My daughter and her family are going on the Freedom in December. They have never cruised w/the kids, boys 9 & 5 yrs. Can anyone give advice for how the Carnival kids program works and if your kids liked it. Thanks

[LHP]

We started cruising as a family when our 2 boys were about that age. They have LOVED all the various age groups of Camp Carnival.

 

When you first arrive at the port, you will see in the Adult Caper left on your bed...what time Camp Carnival Orientation will be. This is where you fill out one sheet of paper with allergies etc to register your boys for Camp C.

This usually happens around 7pm "ish". Around 8:30- 9pm, there will be a family get together with the CC staff for fun and games so the kids can get to know their counselors. You will be given a Camp Carnival Caper for each age group that will list the activities for that group for the ENTIRE cruise. (unlike Adult Capers which you get daily) The Camp Carnival caper lists time, activity and location for the 9 year olds....and time and activity for the 5 year old. 5 year olds (for the most part) stay put! 9 year olds will move around the ship more....

 

The next morning at 9AM...Camp Carnival begins. Generally (depending on whether it is a Sea Day or Port Day) they close from noon - 2pm and then from 5pm - 7pm so that parents can feed the kids lunch and dinner. They are open until 10PM. All of this is included in your cruise. After 10pm they offer babysitting for $6 an hour for the 1st child and $4 an hour for additional children.

 

Remember that 9 year old can check themselves in and our of CC...so if you do not want them to do that (we never allowed ours to do that at this age) you need to have that understanding with your child. Also, beware that on some ships...children were allowed to charge $5 a day of tokens on their Sail and Sign cards at the Arcade. We did not allow ours to do this without first getting our permission. But again that was an "understanding" we had with our boys.

 

Port days are handled a little differently...but it will ALL be spelled out in your child's Caper. They can eat fornal dinner at Camp Carnival if you want them to. The boys always ate with us...but lots of kids don't.

 

The staff of CC have always taken excellent care of our boys.

[Wennfred]

These are from the Valor but they are pretty much the same on all ships:

 

Valor's Camp Carnival:

 

Ages 2-5 years http://members.cox.net/wennfred3/2-5.html

 

Ages 6-8 years http://members.cox.net/wennfred2/6-8.html

 

Ages 9-11 years http://members.cox.net/wennfred3/9-11.html

 

Ages 12-14 http://members.cox.net/wennfred4/12-14.html

 

Under 2 years old http://members.cox.net/wennfred2/Under2.html

 

 

 

Fred

[GAMOMOF2]

My 6 & 4 year olds have been on 2 cruises already and I just about have to drap them out of CC. It depends on the kids though. Both trips we went with friends and their kids did not want to go. My kids love to be in a class doing stuff like that. They wanted to go to CC instead of going on the island and so forth. They truly love it. If the kids like to go to school or church or camp they will like. If they would rather be with their parents they won't like.

 

Hopefully the kids will love like mine did. That is another reason I have come back to love cruising as much as I do.:)

[KatSt]

My daughter and her family are going on the Freedom in December. They have never cruised w/the kids, boys 9 & 5 yrs. Can anyone give advice for how the Carnival kids program works and if your kids liked it. Thanks

We just took my 4 year old granddaughter on the Carnival Pride. She loved Camp Carnival. They were always doind something. On the last day they had a talent show. It was adorable.

 

I'm not sure if all the ships have the same programs. On the Pride we could drop her off at camp from 9 am - 12 pm. Then there was a 2 hour break for lunch. After lunch she could be dropped off from 2 pm - 5 pm. If we wanted her to have dinner with Camp Carnival we could take her back at 5:45. They would take her to dinner on the Lido deck and then back to camp until 10 pm. At 10 pm the "baby sitting" began. This was $6 per hour at the Camp Carnival play room and was available until 3 am.

 

Hope this helps.

[qprrules]

Seven year old daughter absolutely LOVED it. Four year old son, not so much! I think my son was a victim of circumstance that was nobody's fault, except maybe a little girl who was screaming and crying when we first arrived at Camp Carnival. We were paged within 10-15 minutes because he was screaming and crying and wanting his daddy! The sad thing is that the parents of the screaming little girl had still not arrived. It had been almost an hour since their page!:rolleyes:

[cruzfiend]

Thanks for the replies. I'm hoping they will love it, they do like school and church so maybe.....:)

[TIMELMAN]

We have been on three diferent cruise lines and had to beg our kids to do things with us.They would rather go to cc than with us cause of all the other kids.I like disney the best cause they were open till 12 or 1 at no cost.I hope your kids will enjoy it half as much as mine and they would still be okay.

[LABecca]

I can never get my DD(now 10) out of CC. If it were open all day and night she would be in there. First thing in the morning first thing she asks "when does camp open?" she loves to go to the late night parties (extra cost) one night when DH and I were exhausted we went to CC at midnight to pick her up and she did not want to leave. She did not want to eat with us in the dining room, she wanted to eat with her friends at CC. Crazy! She is an only child and is very shy, I can not believe she likes it that much.

[GAMOMOF2]

I can never get my DD(now 10) out of CC. If it were open all day and night she would be in there. First thing in the morning first thing she asks "when does camp open?" she loves to go to the late night parties (extra cost) one night when DH and I were exhausted we went to CC at midnight to pick her up and she did not want to leave. She did not want to eat with us in the dining room, she wanted to eat with her friends at CC. Crazy! She is an only child and is very shy, I can not believe she likes it that much.

 

 

We had the same thing. At midnight we were both dog tired and went to pick up kids (6 and 4 mind you) and they wanted to stay. They were having to much fun. We drug them out kicking and screaming (not really) cause we were tired and ready for bed. They would have stayed all night I guess.

 

The only negitive is they are then grouchy the next day cause they were very tired. But they still LOVE camp carnival.

[Giggles2007]

My kids first cruise will be coming (2009) and I know that they are going to be crazy about cc. I just have two questions: First, I looked over Wennefred's post and saw the example of the cc capers. Will it be similar to the Glory's? Second, I have heard some posters talk about something similar to "Build a Bear". Does all carnival ships do that activity? I am actually interested in doing something like that with the kids. It will make a great souvenier!

[DqALEX]

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[DqALEX]

My daughter and her family are going on the Freedom in December. They have never cruised w/the kids, boys 9 & 5 yrs. Can anyone give advice for how the Carnival kids program works and if your kids liked it. Thanks

I have 3 kids and they are comming up on there 6th cruise. I can't say enough great things about Camp Carnival. Its the first place my kids want to go as soon as we get on the ship. My youngest daughter always builds a bear.

[seashell36]

The Build a Bear activity I think, is fleet wide now. They offer it several times during the cruise, at least one time as a Family Activity. I did this with both of my kids - they loved it! DS (5) takes his dog with him anyplace I will let him now. Both of my kids loved the CC activities- DD(9) especially enjoyed the late night parties (extra cost). The younger groups will stay in the actual camp room, but the older groups will meet in different lounges and rooms around the ship. It is all spelled out in the Camp Carnival Capers. I hope your grandkids love their cruise!

[cruzfiend]

Boy, nothing negative to say. That alone, says alot;)

[KCDA]

Do they allow siblings to stay together if they are in different age groups? My oldest daughter is 10 and the yougest is 8, but we will be sailing just 4 months before she turns 9. Will they allow my younger daughter to go with my older one?

[Leighpast]

Is the Build a Bear activity much like Build a Bear in the mall? or more towel demonstration?

[pe4all]

Build a Bear is pretty much the same - you get a choice of around 6-8 animals - can buy extra outfits. You have to hand stuff them - they give you a choice of a heart or angel to place inside. I think it cost $19.95, plus outfits it you want. They come with a Camp Carnival T-shirt - pretty cute. Also come with their own "birth certificate" and travel box. My niece and nephew did it 3x each on last cruise- do ya think their father indulges them a bit?

[prttygirlmss]

I see that the younger ones love camp Carnival. However, I have read the 12-14 year olds have not had the same luck. Can anyone tell me any experience this age group has had?

[crusinmama06]

Build A Buddy's price has gone up. It was $19.97 when we did it on Elation (first pic below) and by the next cruise on Sensation they had raised the price to $29.97 (2nd picture) BUT the animals now come with sailor suits as well as camp carnival t-shirts.

 

Also, to the OP, here are the camp carnival capers posted here. They are pretty much the same fleetwide...

 

http://s204.photobucket.com/albums/bb196/cruisinmama06/Camp%20Carnival%20Capers/