Camp Carnival Question

[ChristinaN]

Does Camp Carnival ever turn children away because they are too full? I'm concerned about not having some childcare on the cruise as well as too many children in the program without enough staff. Can anyone reassure me? I have three boys ages 2, 3 & 5 who will all be in the Toddler program.

[cascole]

I would sincerely doubt they have turned kids away for capacity; at least I've never heard of anything like that happening. They know how many kids are on each cruise pretty well ahead of time & staff according to winter/spring/summer breaks etc... when there are going to be more onboard. As far as space, they would probably move an older group to another public area if they needed the camp room for the 2-5s.

[Tampa Bay Irish]

Carnival knows how many kids (and their ages) will be on each cruise well in advance and I am sure they staff Camp Carnival accordingly. The only exception is if the people in question are Canadians. Then they shut the doors! Just kidding Christina. I am impressed by the tight age grouping of your children (2, 3 and 5). Been busy I see. :D In all seriousness, go to the introductory camp carnival meeting after dinner on the first night of your cruise. Check your Carnival Capers when you first get into your cabin. It will have listed the time and place (usually a lounge) of that introductory meeting. Bring a pen. You will have to fill out a few forms. Camp is great for the kids and even better for the parents. Mark my words, your kids will say (to the extent that they can at their young ages) that the best thing about the cruise was Camp Carnival.

[ChristinaN]

Thank you. LOL Tampa Bay Irish. As you can see, I picked Carnival for the fact that I can I have a few moments peace thanks to Camp Carnival. I'm sure the boys will all love it. :)

[kdr69]

My son who will be 7 in February and on his 4th cruise next December practically lives at the childrens program. It is not only Carnival that has a good program, almost all lines have an excellent kids program. He has had a great time at Camp Carnival on Carnival, Princess Pelicans on Princess, and Adventure Ocean on Royal Carribean. Have not experienced a bad kids club yet. If it werent for lunch and dinner during sea days we wouldnt see him until bedtime. The only time he comes ashore with us is if we are doing a beach day in port. They will have a blast i am sure. Have a great cruise.:D

[PhoenixDawgCruising]

I guess my 4 y.o. son is the oddball...he flat out refused to go to the children's progams on both cruises that he has been on so far (my 12 year old, going on his 8th cruise, has always gone in happliy and without issue.).

 

I didn't want to leave them with a crying kid, so I didn't force the issue with my little one. I am hoping that the thrid time is the charm, and that he will try it this time in April, but I'm not counting on it. Luckily gramma is willing to babysit a few times in our cabin during the cruise.:eek:

[cascole]

My oldest was that way until he was a teen - but my little one is Mr social! Too bad you're going on Splendor in April instead of Spirit... my 4yo (almost 5) son would have taken yours by the hand & gone off to play! He LOVES the fact that "mommy & big brother aren't allowed to do any of the fun stuff" :)

[Slimpickins]

Thank you. LOL Tampa Bay Irish. As you can see, I picked Carnival for the fact that I can I have a few moments peace thanks to Camp Carnival. I'm sure the boys will all love it. :)

 

Well, Disneys Kids club is to 1am before you have to get them at no charge. My DD7 loved it. She didnt want to leave. MY DD5 didnt really care for it. She wanted to spend the entire time at the Mickey pool and slide. However, the difference in price of the cruies itself could pay for 24hr Babysitting on Carnival:D.

[mt6631]

We did a Carnival cruise when my kids were 2 and 4 and they LOVED Camp Carnival. There was always room for them and rarely wanted to leave when we went to pick them up. They even had dinner with the group one night and we got to eat "quietly". Our adult time alone was wonderful :)

 

I'm from TO as well - enjoying the snow this morning? :)

[ChristinaN]

Well, Disneys Kids club is to 1am before you have to get them at no charge. My DD7 loved it. She didnt want to leave. MY DD5 didnt really care for it. She wanted to spend the entire time at the Mickey pool and slide. However, the difference in price of the cruies itself could pay for 24hr Babysitting on Carnival:D.

 

We would have looked at Disney (in fact we own Disney's Vacation Club) but they don't have childcare for the 2 year old yet. Once he is three, then we'll for sure be on Disney although like you said we'll need to save a lot more pennies for it! LOL

[ChristinaN]

 

I'm from TO as well - enjoying the snow this morning? :)

 

 

I haven't updated my location since my last cruise 4 years ago. We have since moved to Kingston but we do have snow here too. In fact, I'm home with all three boys since preschool was cancelled for my two youngest & buses were cancelled for my oldest. I'm totally loving it as once I heard the buses were cancelled I got to head back to bed for another hour. :) But I certainly can't wait until 30 days from now when I'll be basking in the sun on the Fascination.

[NCSunshine]

My kids loved Camp Carnival. at the time they were 2 and 4 and then again at 8 and 10. I had another younger one by that second sailing and he was 4 1/2 on that sailing, and did want to go the camp at all. Didn't push it, so we swam alot. We went on a P&O cruise between those two and they didn't want to have anything to do with the kids program. It seemed they watch a lot of movies on that ship in the camp program(keep the kids busy so the counselors can have a break?).

 

Sorry can't answer the question about the limited space but agree that the ship would know how many children so would make accommodation for those. If you are conserned you might want to chekc in on the first day and sign your kids up for all sorts of things at that point.

[prairiemom27]

One of the reasons we chose to sail with Carnival again was the age groups for the kids camp. Anyway, I hope the camp counsellors will do more than just put the kids in front of a t.v. to watch movies! I am hoping for lots of various activities for my boys to keep them busy.

[cascole]

Busy is an understatement... face painting, coloring, crafts, candy bingo, story time, hat making, parachute play were sme of my son's favorites. Of course there are the pirate & slumber parties, funship freddy parade day etc... They also had to freeplay & PS2 play time the 4-5 year olds could do once in a while. At night for babysitting, they do put on a movie for them. Whew, no wonder he was wiped out!

[Gizzy02]

Do you have to register your children right when you board or go do you register them at Camp Carnival? I heard there is a kid/parent party that night? Can anyone pass some info or advise my way on this subject?

 

THANKS!!

Linda :D

[cascole]

Look in your embarkation Caper & there will be a parent/kid party listed; I think usually around 7-8pm the first night. Afterward is sundae making (parent/kid) and then you can go into camp with your child & play with toys, meet other kids etc... They begin camp babysitting at about 10 the first night. You complete a registration paper during the family activities & are given the Camp Capers for the week then.

[prairiemom27]

thanks for your great input cascole. these activities sound awesome, and my four year old is sitting with me right now, and he says that he "can't wait!" this holiday can't come soon enough!!

[cascole]

Glad to be of help... and if yours knows how to use the computer, mine loved to click around on the virtual cruise ship... funshipisland.com is a Carnival site. There's a tour of a camp, the pools & a 'find funship freddy' game. :)

[trace1208]

Are they strict about the ages, I will be on board the Pride in APril with 23 month old twins and just wondered if they would be allowed to participate at all.....

[A&Jfamily]

VERY strict about the ages - I had to waited until my son was almost 3 to cruise in March - he would have been 2 in 2 weeks the first year I wanted to cruise and I was told that he would not be allowed in. So, we held off another year.

 

Good luck with the twins - I do think they have some "open play times" where kids of all ages are allowed - but it is with the parents...

[pwisehaddock]

My son is 7 years old, and will be going on his 3rd cruise in May. We've cruised on both Carnival & Royal Caribbean, both have excellent children programs. Camp Carnival has great daily activities for the kids, and we've never had a problem with getting him checked in.

As others have posted, if it wasn't for lunch and dinner during the sea days, we wouldn't even see him until it was time to go to bed, and even then, he trys to negotiate to stay longer.;)

 

Have a great time on your cruise.

[NCSunshine]

it was the P&O Cruise several years ago that they put the kids to watch movies more often than not. and they did a fancy dress thing (which if your British you would understand as a costume thing, but as American's we didn't understand it meant costumes.. Fancy dress is fancy dress.. anyway).

 

Carnival was fantastic with our kids.. really love ever thing they did. One daughter still has a t-shirt she painted on our last sailing. had a great time.

 

I would say, with regards to age, they are likely very strick, but.. it never hurts to ask.. are they potty trained?? (the twins that is) because that might make a huge difference.. and if the ship doesn't have too many children they may take them.. but.. don't fret if they dont.. they do have after hours baby sitting (or used to) for younger sailors..

[prairiemom27]

We are leaving our two year old at home because when I spoke to the Carnival rep about Camp Carnival, he told me that she would be allowed in the camp but with one parent with her at all times. We decided that we needed to take some time together while on the cruise, so we made the hard decision to only take our older boys. We will miss her for that week, but we will have some adult time together that we desperately need.

 

Hey A&JFamily....just noticed your previous cruise history with RCCL.....I've only had one experience with Carnival, but was always wondering about RCCL. Looks like you had a bad experience? I do know that cruising with RCCL is more expensive than with Carnival, so I was under the impression it was somewhat better quality. If you have a minute, and don't mind, I'd love to know a little more about your experience with RCCL. That was going to be our next choice after the Valor...

[NCSunshine]

PrairieMom.. I don't think what this guy told you is correct. They accept 2 year olds into the program and the only thing the parent has to do is make sure they are the ones that take them and they are the ones that pick them up. It means your older children couldn't do this for you if you are down in the bar having a drink and it's time to collect the child.

 

I don't know if it's too late, but I'd double check again. When I took my 2 and 4 year old on Carnival Facination about 8 years ago, my 2 year old went no problem (well only a slight problem as far as she was concerned, but got over it.. and we didn't have to stay with her or we wouldn't have put them in the program).

 

As a matter of fact, the sailing went to Martinique, and we actually let the girls stay in the Camp while we went ashore for a few hours in the morning.

 

They say they take them from 2 years and up, it doesn't say anything about having to stay with them on the website.

[A&Jfamily]

We are leaving our two year old at home because when I spoke to the Carnival rep about Camp Carnival, he told me that she would be allowed in the camp but with one parent with her at all times. We decided that we needed to take some time together while on the cruise, so we made the hard decision to only take our older boys. We will miss her for that week, but we will have some adult time together that we desperately need.

 

Hey A&JFamily....just noticed your previous cruise history with RCCL.....I've only had one experience with Carnival, but was always wondering about RCCL. Looks like you had a bad experience? I do know that cruising with RCCL is more expensive than with Carnival, so I was under the impression it was somewhat better quality. If you have a minute, and don't mind, I'd love to know a little more about your experience with RCCL. That was going to be our next choice after the Valor...

 

I didn't like RCCL for several reasons. Now mind you, I was on a 5 day from San Juan and it was my first cruise experience. It was a smaller ship, so it didn't have any of the amenities of the newest ones. We had an "ocean view" which I can only describe as a RIP OFF! It was a 2x3 window - directly above the bed - it was about 5' off the floor, recessed into the wall (all the way across the room). It gave almost no light into the room (and I am a big light person - we've only gotten balconies sicne) The room was so small that after you entered (bath on one side, closets on the other), the twin bed were pushed together and there was NO ROOM - just 2" on either side of the bed we were practically tripping over each other any time we tried to get dressed.. It did not have the vanity or any of the extra storage I have seen in the Carnival rooms on the Legend and the Glory. The food was OK, but Carnival was better. The service, from everyone, was just OK - Carnival wins on that front hands down. To sum it up, I can't think of a single thing that would have justified extra costs - at least on that ship. It was almost enough to put me off from cuising - but as you can see, I gave Carnival a shot, and now would go with them in a heartbeat. Hope that helps. Please keep in mind, though, it is JMHO.

 

As for your two year old, if she is two by the day of sailing, she is eligible for all of CC. I did not cruise in March 2006 b/c my son was 1 year and 11 months - and I knew they would not take him. In March 2007, he was two and went to CC all the time and loved it. Like the other poster, we left him there all day (they will feed them lunch if you are in port and on a shore excursion, as opposed to ship days when they close from 12-1 and 4-5) while we took my then 8 year old to see the ruins in Costa Maya. I would call Carnival back and tell them about this incorrect information and add your two year old if you want to take her. Who knows, you might even get something for the wrong information/inconvenience!