Ages for Circle "C"

[hockeymom97]

I'm hoping to hear from other parents that have cruised on Carnival and have been in a similar situation. My son will be 11 when we sail in Dec, however he's only 4 months away from turning 12. He has tried Camp Carnival on our last cruise and he HATED it. Most of his friends are a year or 2 older than him and he just felt Camp Carnival was too "babyish" as he puts it. I could probably talk him into trying Circle "C" which is for 12 - 14 yr olds because I think he'd fit in a lot better there and would have a much better time. However I don't know how strict Carnival is with the age cut offs?? :confused: Does anyone know if they will make any type of exceptions?

[G'ma]

They are very strict with the age groups. The reason is for the safety of all the kids.

 

That being said, you can try when you board. Go right to Camp Carnival and see what they say. Don't be surprised if they refuse.

 

They are not being mean.....they are protecting everyone's kids and, because of their insurance rules, they must abide by certain restrictions.

[hockeymom97]

I won't be surprised if they refuse and it's definitely not going to ruin our cruise if they do. I just see all these kids having such a great time with some of the youth activities and I'd love for him to be able to experience that as well.

[RatherBFishin]

I won't be surprised if they refuse and it's definitely not going to ruin our cruise if they do. I just see all these kids having such a great time with some of the youth activities and I'd love for him to be able to experience that as well.

 

Both my kids were in the 12-14 age group on our last cruise (they're brother & sister, 2 years apart). I have to say, I don't have any idea what cool youth activities you're talking about. Practically every activity for the Tweens is a "hang" of some sort. And the kids can come and go as they please (no check-in/check-out process). So alot of them just show up to see if it's going to be "lame" or not, and then take off once they see who else is there.

 

This was also during the summer, and the total number of kids on the ship was not the issue. The impression I got was that all the Tweens really want to do is:

 

1) Make friends.

2) Hang out.

3) Try to sneak into the Teen room (ie the forbidden fruit)

 

Don't get me wrong. Both my kids had a ball!

 

But I don't think either of them would have wanted to hang out with your 11 y/o son (my daughter because he is a boy, and my son because he was almost 15 at the time and it would have felt like baby sitting).

 

It doesn't matter if you think he's mature for his age. It does matter what the other kids think when it comes to establishing their cruise cliques.

 

Plus my experience was that Carnival does monitor the age boundaries.

[arpie05]

My son and I just did NCL and there kids club is broken out with ages 6-12 together and my son had a great time. He's 12 so he was the oldest in the group and there were two other boys 11-12 so they hung out together. One boy was from New Zealand so they enjoyed his accent. Some of the stuff was pretty silly but my son enjoyed winning all the games and being the oldest. I'm looking forward to our Carnvial trip where there is ages 12-14 together. I think it will just depend on your son. My son was always wanting to hang out in camp even though it was so much older than all the other kids but he enjoyed the activities - it was better than sitting around with me!

[arpie05]

He even did the t-shirt activity where they color a shirt and the largest was a kids XL which is a propriate for a kindergardener - but we've got the shirt.

[LHP]

The "rule" for Circle C is from 12-14. As noted earlier, generally Carnival is very strict about their age groups.

 

However, with every rule there are the exceptions.

 

Since you are sailing Dec 7th, I would not expect a lot of kids (since many schools are not out for Christmas break yet). That is a good thing. They can be more flexible when there are less kids.

 

I would simply talk with the counselor at Orientation. Bring your son, so they can meet him. Ask for him to please be moved up to the 12-14 age group.

 

These counselors want your cruise to be the best it can be, so IF the answer is no...please understand they have valid reasons.

 

Unfortunately not all children mature at the same rate. It is a shame that they have to have "age groups"...but just like school...sometimes it is just necessary.

 

I hope you have a great cruise!!

[hockeymom97]

But I don't think either of them would have wanted to hang out with your 11 y/o son (my daughter because he is a boy, and my son because he was almost 15 at the time and it would have felt like baby sitting).

 

It doesn't matter if you think he's mature for his age. It does matter what the other kids think when it comes to establishing their cruise cliques.

 

I completely understand that kids determine their own cliques and that's why I thought the older group would be a better fit for my son. And who said that your 14 yr old has to hang out with my son?? No one said anything about babysitting. If he didn't want to hang out with a younger kid then that's his choice - go hang out with someone else. But that doesn't mean my son wouldn't be able to make friends with some of the other 12 and 13 year olds. I'm just trying to find the best fit for my son and make it a positive experience.

[hockeymom97]

The "rule" for Circle C is from 12-14. As noted earlier, generally Carnival is very strict about their age groups.

 

However, with every rule there are the exceptions.

 

Since you are sailing Dec 7th, I would not expect a lot of kids (since many schools are not out for Christmas break yet). That is a good thing. They can be more flexible when there are less kids.

 

I would simply talk with the counselor at Orientation. Bring your son, so they can meet him. Ask for him to please be moved up to the 12-14 age group.

 

These counselors want your cruise to be the best it can be, so IF the answer is no...please understand they have valid reasons.

 

Unfortunately not all children mature at the same rate. It is a shame that they have to have "age groups"...but just like school...sometimes it is just necessary.

 

I hope you have a great cruise!!

 

Thanks for the advice and we will definitely have a wonderful cruise whether Circle C allows him in or not :D And we probably will do just what you said and talk to the counselors the first day - we'll never know what can/can't be done unless we ask right?

And if they do say no I'm sure he'll still meet lots of other kids as he has done in the past by just hanging out on the ship, in the arcade, pool, etc....

[newistcruiseaddict]

I'm in the same boat. My daughter will be 12 on Oct. 20th. We Cruise Aug 30th. All maturity issues aside, she started school at an early age. She will be starting 7th grade this year. All of her friends are 13.

 

She'll have fun either way...she did last year.

 

I seem to remember them telling us during camp carnival orientation that if your child's birthday was 3 months from the cutoff, you could go either way. May be it was just special arrangements for the number of children on board (which wasn't extremely high consdering it was early August).

 

Guess I'll just have to wait and see...only 15 days to go!