Royal Caribbean Vs. Carnival Kid's Programs?

[2CBEDDY]

We recently sailed on RC Adventure of the Seas and were totally impressed with their kid's program Ocean Adventures..our two kids cried the last night because they were going to miss their friends and counselors from the program. We are considering a carnival cruise but are concerned that their kid's programs might not be as good...I heard Carnival charges for their kids program on port days while Royal Caribbean does not...can you help?

[crusinmama06]

Carnival does not charge for their kids program on port days. :D

 

The charges on Carnival are generally the same as RCCL AO. You will be charged for after 10pm group sitting, as is on Royal Caribbean.

 

They are both good programs. In a way, we've have better success with the Carnival Program. It is just tailored more to the way my kids enjoy things.

 

The younger kids program on Carnival does alot of physical, move around activities (like bubble dance parties). There is less sitting like in Adventure Ocean.

 

The kids aren't forced to join the groups. If a child wants to play a board game or color, they aren't forced to move onto the next activity with the rest of the group (as in AO)

 

So you won't have to worry about Camp Carnival. Check out the link in my signature where it says Kid activity schedules. Then click on carnival. The pages are scanned there.

[Julienatul]

I think the programs on both are very similar. Camp carnival does not charge for port days, only after 10pm for babysitting. I have heard that Carnival has one of the best rated children's programs at sea so I think you would be fine to attempt a Carnival cruise.

[panama09]

We just returned from 14 nights on the Pride. For such a long cruise my 2 and 4 year olds were kept busy and amused all day. The variety of activities in Camp Carnival were fantastic and with only 17 kids on the ship all the activites were done regardless of numbers.

The standard of care was exceptional as well as the cleanliness of the camp. Carnival do not charge for port days and we left our children on the ship for all ports except Cayman because they were happier there and it was too hot for them off the ship. They had a ball!

[Quilcruisers]

We have only cruised Carnival but their kids club was the best!! I was really impressed with their security. They only allow the person who checked the child in to check them out, they required your sail and sign card and my son really enjoyed going there.

 

There was no charge during the day and camp was open for most of the day. They had some times that they were closed but just for a couple of hours then reopened.

 

We paid for babysitting at night about 4 nights out of the 7 just so that we could participate in some of the late night activities. My son thoroughly enjoyed it. IT was free up until 10pm. Then it was like 5.00 or 6.00 an hour up until 3am I think. We would usually pick my son up at about 1am or 2am if we let him stay at babysitting, we wanted to spend time with him too, even at night so we alternated and made sure we didnt take him to camp all the time.

 

The only complaint was that the lines were long to check in, especially if they were just opening back up after being closed.

 

We let our son eat dinner with us in the dining room the first few nights but then we would take him to camp after appetizers and let him play for a few hours. We also followed the schedule and sent him to activities that we thought he would enjoy. He especially enjoyed movie night, painting t-shirts and free play time.

 

I would definitely recommend Camp Carnival, it was really a great deal for my family to all enjoy the cruise and not have to worry about my son's entertainment. It was his vacation too!

 

Angela

[bluezee]

We found Carnival to be more parent friendly with their schedules. They offered a kid's dinner buffet so we could drop our kids off (6/8yo) and go to the dining room ourselves. The kid's buffet area was roped off and they were taken to the camp after dinner.

 

At RC they didn't offer any kids club until 7-10 so you ended up either dropping off or picking up the kids during your meal, or paying for extra care if you are dining late.

[newbiecruiser2009]

We found Carnival to be more parent friendly with their schedules. They offered a kid's dinner buffet so we could drop our kids off (6/8yo) and go to the dining room ourselves. The kid's buffet area was roped off and they were taken to the camp after dinner.

 

At RC they didn't offer any kids club until 7-10 so you ended up either dropping off or picking up the kids during your meal, or paying for extra care if you are dining late.

 

I didn't know about the kids buffet. Is it located in a main dining room? Or in Camp Carnival? Reading all the great reviews about Camp Carnival, I'm thinking that I might have to actually talk to my DH this trip :D Our kids are 7,8, we are sailing the Valor on June 14th.

[crusinmama06]

We found Carnival to be more parent friendly with their schedules. They offered a kid's dinner buffet so we could drop our kids off (6/8yo) and go to the dining room ourselves. The kid's buffet area was roped off and they were taken to the camp after dinner.

 

At RC they didn't offer any kids club until 7-10 so you ended up either dropping off or picking up the kids during your meal, or paying for extra care if you are dining late.

 

Actually, this isn't the case anymore with RCCL. They now have My Time Family Dining where they expidite the dining for the kids to 40 minutes and the Adventure Ocean counselors actually come to the dining room to pick up your kids for you. And that's on top of offering 3 specialty kid meals (per 7 day cruise) in places like Johnny Rockets so the kids can go eat without the parents on 3 nights.

 

But yes, Camp Carnival has kid buffet dinners. :) I am hoping they are at a better time when we go back in June. On one of my carnival cruises, the kid dinner was at 7pm. And they wouldn't take my daughter 1 minute sooner.

[aflynn3]

I so wish they had the family dining time when we cruised in April on IOS! We just missed it!!!

[SouthernBelle_N_Louisiana]

I didn't know about the kids buffet. Is it located in a main dining room? Or in Camp Carnival? Reading all the great reviews about Camp Carnival, I'm thinking that I might have to actually talk to my DH this trip :D Our kids are 7,8, we are sailing the Valor on June 14th.

 

We have done the dinner drop off a few times on Carnival. You take them to the buffet area and will be greeted by the Camp Carnival staff and sign them in. The counselors will have a special seating section in the buffet area just for the Camp Carnival kids. After dinner they will walk the kids back to the Camp Carnival area for their fun and games. On our last cruise in May 2008, the last night they has a kids bon voyage farewell disco party in the disco club on the ship.... kids only! Played good music that was kid friendly and had refreshments set up in there for them. I think it was from 7-9... at 10 it became the regular adult disco again... Then they walk them back to Camp Carnival about 9 pm where you pick them up when you are ready for them. Very easy and so much fun... you will have time with your DH!! Enjoy your cruise... we leave on Legend 6/7/9!!!

[newbiecruiser2009]

We have done the dinner drop off a few times on Carnival. You take them to the buffet area and will be greeted by the Camp Carnival staff and sign them in. The counselors will have a special seating section in the buffet area just for the Camp Carnival kids. After dinner they will walk the kids back to the Camp Carnival area for their fun and games. On our last cruise in May 2008, the last night they has a kids bon voyage farewell disco party in the disco club on the ship.... kids only! Played good music that was kid friendly and had refreshments set up in there for them. I think it was from 7-9... at 10 it became the regular adult disco again... Then they walk them back to Camp Carnival about 9 pm where you pick them up when you are ready for them. Very easy and so much fun... you will have time with your DH!! Enjoy your cruise... we leave on Legend 6/7/9!!!

 

Thank you SouthernBelle_N_Louisiana;19322715 I am getting very excited about this. I'm going to have to re-evaluate my expenses for DOD's as it looks like there will be more happy hours than originally planned. ;)

[bluezee]

Actually, this isn't the case anymore with RCCL. They now have My Time Family Dining where they expidite the dining for the kids to 40 minutes and the Adventure Ocean counselors actually come to the dining room to pick up your kids for you. And that's on top of offering 3 specialty kid meals (per 7 day cruise) in places like Johnny Rockets so the kids can go eat without the parents on 3 nights.

 

Great news! I'll have to see if they are doing this on the 4 night cruise too.

 

Beth

[crusinmama06]

Great news! I'll have to see if they are doing this on the 4 night cruise too.

 

Beth

 

It said "fleet wide" and "effective immediatly" :D

 

I posted the press release smewhere around here. ;)

[CapsR1]

Thank you board members for all of the information offered about Carnival's club for kids. We are off on our first Carnival cruise in early June out of Baltimore and our 6 year old son is looking forward to "kid's camp."

 

We've had excellent experiences twice in the past with RCCL Adventure Ocean and it sounds like Carnival will be just as good if not better.

 

Will post an update after we return.

[twoplus3]

Just to put my 2 cents in, if it helps... We sailed on the Carnival Valor last year (7 night cruise) with our 9 year old daughter, 12 year old son and 16 year old daughter. The 12 yr old and 16 yr old seemed to have things to do most of the time, even if it wasn't in the teen activity centers. But our 9 yr old didn't get as much flexibility. There were quite a few "bonus" times in her age group where you had to pay for the special activity (build-a-bear, for example). If you didn't want to pay for that activity, your child was not permitted in the camp to do something else.

 

Also, we found that the schedule was divided up by age. There were times the 9-10 yr olds couldn't be in the camp because it was time for the younger kids. This meant she had to tag along with Mom & Dad to the art auction and other things that weren't really her cup of tea.

 

Overall, my daughter was actually happy with the Carnival program and has some fun memories, but it may be because we paid for the build-a-bear workshop and for the night-time activities. It would have been nicer, though, if she could have played games, done some crafts, and hung out with her peers with more flexibility during the day.:( I must say, though, that the camp counselors were very friendly and we felt very safe allowing our daughter to participate in the activities.

 

Our next cruise is with Royal Caribbean. We'll have to see how it compares, but I've heard great things about it.:rolleyes:

 

One more note: our first cruise was on Disney. My children would never have left the play center if we didn't come to insist they join us on a few things. It's probably the most flexible of all of the children's programs at sea. A bit expensive, to say the least, but their kids' program is very impressive and a hard act to follow.

 

Whatever you choose, have a wonderful time! There are plenty of things to do on a cruise as a family without ever entering the kids' camps. Enjoy!:)