Camp Carnival on Valor - any feedback?

We've been on several Carnival Cruises and have found that Camp Carnival experiences can vary wildly. My son (10 now) had a fabulous time on Fantasy and Triumph, and a pretty good time on the Legend. He did not enjoy the Camp on Dream at all.

Just wondering how it is on the Valor for a 10 year old? We're thinking of doing the 8 day sailing on March 27.

I'm wondering this as well for my 10 yr old daughter... We leave in March! On formal nights does the camp do something for the kids so the parents can have time to themselves? : )

camps have dinner for 11 and under EVERY night at 5:45

you take them to the lido buffet and drop them there.

Its a set menu and they do not get to go to the buffet by themselves

What happens at camp today might not be what happens in March..Counselors switch out every 6 weeks.

(they just move around within the program

Camps are opened on sea days at 10 closed at 12:45

open at 2 and closes at 5 opens at 7 and becomes paid at 10

My 9 year old LOVES formal night in the main dining room-- then will go off to the camp after dinner

camps have dinner for 11 and under EVERY night at 5:45

you take them to the lido buffet and drop them there.

Its a set menu and they do not get to go to the buffet by themselves

 

What happens at camp today might not be what happens in March..Counselors switch out every 6 weeks.

 

(they just move around within the program

 

Camps are opened on sea days at 10 closed at 12:45

open at 2 and closes at 5 opens at 7 and becomes paid at 10

 

My 9 year old LOVES formal night in the main dining room-- then will go off to the camp after dinner

Wow! What age does it start?

Remind me in 2 weeks and I'll let you know. I sail the Valor with a 10 and a 9 year old on Sunday. :D

Thanks Nate 123!

Remind me in 2 weeks and I'll let you know. I sail the Valor with a 10 and a 9 year old on Sunday. :D

Are you taking your children out of school for the cruise or do you homeschool? I suspect there won't be many kids at camp the week you are there... Do you allow them to sign in and out?

We are cruising during spring break and I am expecting it to be packed. One thing about the older children is they can sign themselves in and out, and are usually old enough to watch a movie in the cabin or watch tv for a couple hours. Our children have not yet been authorized by us to sign themselves in and out but with the huge numbers expected on our cruise I am wondering if this would be a good time to let them try it out. They wear watches and are good about coming home from nearby friends' homes or the park at the designated time. Any advice or thoughts on the signing in and out option?

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We let our then 9 year old sign himself out last year on the Dream. Not every time - but mainly during the day and only when we were nearby and he'd be able to find us. We never let him do it at night. He's pretty good about following directions and knew that if he abused the privelage then he wouldn't get to do it at all.

We let our then 9 year old sign himself out last year on the Dream. Not every time - but mainly during the day and only when we were nearby and he'd be able to find us. We never let him do it at night. He's pretty good about following directions and knew that if he abused the privelage then he wouldn't get to do it at all.

Thanks for the reply. I noticed when we signed our boys up there was a place to mark online if we were doing the signing in and out option. We said no, but now I am reconsidering due to the high numbers of kids on board. Our boys cruise frequently, so I am leaning towards trying it at least- they need to have the opportunity to succeed eventually (and make mistakes, too, ugh).

I don't want them to swim without supervision and I have concerns about one child overeating (and then getting sick) but maybe they will just hang out in the sport square and surprise me. Did you make a list of what your son could and couldn't do when he signed himself out or was he always to go immediately to look for you? Last cruise we let our boys spend an hour or two in the cabin watching tv or on the ipads for down time when we went to the spa. Guess I better bring a note pad at least.

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Each day we discussed what he could and couldn't do. Like if we were by the pool which was near Camp he could come there. But if we were in the spa where he couldn't reach us he had to stay in camp. We did allow him to be in the cabin by himself several times but he couldn't leave without checking in with us. We had walkie talkies too and that helped.

Are you taking your children out of school for the cruise or do you homeschool? I suspect there won't be many kids at camp the week you are there... Do you allow them to sign in and out?

We are cruising during spring break and I am expecting it to be packed. One thing about the older children is they can sign themselves in and out, and are usually old enough to watch a movie in the cabin or watch tv for a couple hours. Our children have not yet been authorized by us to sign themselves in and out but with the huge numbers expected on our cruise I am wondering if this would be a good time to let them try it out. They wear watches and are good about coming home from nearby friends' homes or the park at the designated time. Any advice or thoughts on the signing in and out option?

 

 

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We are taking them out of school. I know that makes us bad parents, but quite frankly, I don't care. :) I think it's good for them as there are things they can learn here. As for signing out, when we did the dream 2 years ago, our son made it a point to remind us that once he was 9, he could sign out. It's something he wants to do. We've begun having this conversation with him. I'm a bit nervous about it to the extent that if he signs out, I want to know exactly where he's going to be as well as making sure he knows where we want him at certain times. I think our rules for them are that they have to stay together and decide in advance what they will do when they sign out and for how long. I'm not certain I'd be too thrilled if they show up at the stateroom when mommy and daddy are 'taking a nap'.

One other thing I am concerned about is that it was brought up here that minors can leave the ship on their own. I plan on making sure guest services knows that they are not allowed to leave, and I assume that can be a flag put on their sign and sail cards.

We are taking them out of school. I know that makes us bad parents, but quite frankly, I don't care. :) I think it's good for them as there are things they can learn here. As for signing out, when we did the dream 2 years ago, our son made it a point to remind us that once he was 9, he could sign out. It's something he wants to do. We've begun having this conversation with him. I'm a bit nervous about it to the extent that if he signs out, I want to know exactly where he's going to be as well as making sure he knows where we want him at certain times. I think our rules for them are that they have to stay together and decide in advance what they will do when they sign out and for how long. I'm not certain I'd be too thrilled if they show up at the stateroom when mommy and daddy are 'taking a nap'.

 

 

 

One other thing I am concerned about is that it was brought up here that minors can leave the ship on their own. I plan on making sure guest services knows that they are not allowed to leave, and I assume that can be a flag put on their sign and sail cards.

Well, I guess we are bad parents, too, then, because we have been taking our kids out of school for years for trips (Bill travels for work and misses summer break often, etc, so we feel it's best for our family). Sorry if I worded that wrong, should have stated it differently. The savings are enough to make most of us want to book off-season when the kids are in school. One of the first times we learned this- and took our first out of school- we saved $1,200 and went on a Disney cruise off-season in Jan.

I had no idea minors could sign themselves off the ship. That's interesting and good to know. TFS. My husband will be surprised to learn about this...we have only left them on board once for an excursion. I can just see them going ashore in La Romana!

We have twins and they historically have found more trouble together than alone, go figure, but one of them is trying harder than the other right now to show he is responsible. We had that awkward talk about the "Snoozin'" sign and one of them said, ok just put the "Cruisin''" sign out and we'll know it's ok to go inside, LOL.

I understand wanting to know exactly where they are...wish we could put trackers on them!

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My kids were kind of 'meh' to the whole thing. There were not a lot of kids on Camp Carnival for the cruise. Some of the things they really liked on the Dream weren't the same.

We're cruising on the Valor this Sunday with our girls who are 11, 10, and 4. This is cruise number 6 for all of them. So far they have loved Camp Carnival on all of our cruises (Fascination, Paradise, Dream, Breeze, Dream again). I'll let you know what we think of the Valor!

Our school system has sort of odd breaks, so we'll have next week off. This is pretty common in metro Atlanta. Usually when we cruise during this week (or the other odd break we get in September), we run into tons of kids from Atlanta!! Usually we sail out of Florida...I'm hoping some other families with kiddos travel down to San Juan for this one!

Hey Domergirl = any reviews of Camp Carnival on the Valor?

I had no idea minors could sign themselves off the ship. That's interesting and good to know. TFS. My husband will be surprised to learn about this...we have only left them on board once for an excursion. I can just see them going ashore in La Romana!

pp

we sailed with a 9 year old- and each time we got off the ship she was asked who are you with. she had to point to us before they dinged her card.

It might be different with older teens

Subscribing, we are sailing Valor 3/27 with our 5 and 7 year olds.

I'm sitting in the airport in San Juan...sad that my cruise is over. Well, my kids LOVED the cruise, and had a great time at Camp Carnival. My 9 and 11 year old girls had a great time, and for them it was pretty much comparable to other ships. The big difference this time was my 4 yr old daughter. She could not get enough of camp!!! In fact, she even skipped 2 ports and stayed at Camp all day instead - HER choice. In 6 cruises with the kids, we've never done that before. My kids also ate "kid dinner" with the camp carnival folks about 4 times.

A huge surprise for us this week was that they started the Seuss at Sea program on the Valor, so we got to do the FIRST EVER Green Eggs and Ham Breakfast on the Valor! It was a lot of fun. I highly recommend it!

Let me know if you guys have any questions!!!

One more thing...I think I have the camp schedules in my bag for the 2-5 and 9-11 age groups. I'll try to scan them and upload them to this thread, but you'll have to give me a few days. :) I'll also have to figure out how to do that!!!

Thanks Domergirl! Can you tell me how you reserved the Seuss at Sea breakfast? Did you go to the pursers desk?

They had a registration table out on the first and second days on the lido deck - inside near the glass elevators. Easy to find with all of the Seuss theming! It was $5 per person, and the breakfast was at 9 am on Tuesday (sea day). They also had some Seuss portrait opportunities throughout the week - those were a little tougher to find.

Very excited to be sailing in October with my 6year old.. We are attending a family wedding on the ship. My younger son and husband will be staying home because of his work schedule. I am excited to hear all the great reviews on camp, but I am conserned by daughter will want to spend more time there than with me. Glad I will have my mom and sister sailing too.