cruising w/a 5 yr old boy

Someone probably already asked this but... has anyone ever had a 5 yr old boy on a cruise? We are taking our son for 1st time on carnival cruise to Bahamas. Wondering what (if any) toys for in-room time we shd bring. Am thinking of early AM before bfast, or if it's raining/storming and we can't use pools, etc... when he's not in Camp Carnival.

At home, he's pretty active, plays outside a lot. Can look thru bks for short periods. Tks for advice!

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

In addition to this area, you may want to check the section on cruising with kids for ideas. Have a wonderful cruise. Here is the link:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=49

Just bring things your son likes to use/play at home. On our last cruise my son had just turned 5. He likes workbooks, playing cards, watching movies, so those are the things we brought. He was tired in the morning (I got up early at 5 am and took walks), so by the time he would get up we would immediately get dressed and go for breakfast.

We brought our children on cruises at that age and it will be a lot of fun.

I would post this on the Family Board and get some good ideas.

Keith

The first time we brought our kids on a cruise with us, daughter was 6 and son was 8 my wife packed all kinds of games and videos just in case we need to keep them from being bored. All the stuff my wife brought never got unpacked. From the first to the last night my kids both enjoyed Camp Carnival so much with the many new friends they had made, my wife and I usually only saw them at meals and at bed time.

What impressed me was that my kids are distinctly different and both had equally good times. My daughter is a social butterfly who makes friends instantly while my son is much more reserved and sits back and analyzes the program before he jumps in. On sail-away night they will have a Camp Carnival Mixer for parents and kids. This is important to attend. They do some games and some dancing and the staff is very good with the kids. It also looks like some of the friendships are made right here and am not sure if showing up to a camp activity later in the cruise would be easy to break in to the friends groups.

That was my kids experience. Now I have read through these boards over the years of children who have not had a good time with the camp but those appear to be quite a few of the total number of participants. The camp has movies, arts and crafts and other activities to keep kids interested. Enjoy

Tks, all for the replies--most helpful! I love this site. :- )

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

If you are driving, just bring a bag of his favorite toys -- not too many so as not to clutter up the cabin.

My kids have been cruising with us since they were just under a year old. We are leaving in 2 weeks for my 12 year old daughter's 13th cruise. For my 6 yr old boy we usually take a small bag of toys- for example plastic dinosaurs, cars, action figures along with his kindle for games and books. He really does not play with them very much. Spends much more time in the kids club, eating, and swimming.

Tks all!

An aside, how does everyone do dinner w/kids? We are hoping to take a night or 2 to dine w/o a 5 yr old and I thought I read somewhere that Camp C has dinner nights avail for kids. Has anyone taken advantage of this? and on nights he's with us, do you request a table on your own? I'd hate to put others thru dinner w/a 5 yr old if they are childless and expecting a quiet meal at the MDR. :- )

If you prefer traditional dining, you can request a table to yourself, but they won't put "couples" with families! So, don't worry about the other diners. If you are doing MTD, then no worries...they seat the group that shows up just like in a restaurant.

I believe the kid's club does dinner for the kids on Formal nights......that could be a great option, so you can really enjoy the ambiance!

Carnival has baby sitting from 10pm until 3am! There is a charge for this but if you want a night just by your selves this can be done. However there is a charge for this- don't know what it is, our kids are grown! This is actually a slumber party, it is not in your cabin. (And the counslers are not included in you daily tip fee so tip acordingly at end of the cruise.) You can check when you get on board for Camp Carnival dinners.

Carnival usually puts familys together at a table so you shouldn't have the only child at your table. If you let me know what ship you'll be on I may be able to give you the Maitre'd's email address. Then you can email him with your request for tablemates. We do this every Carnival cruise for table size, location & tablemates.

We would do most dinners with kids but by all means let your child enjoy the Camp Carnival dinners.

Keith

For the little ones the counselors make a chair-corral in the buffet area for the kids. There will be a special line just for them. The few times I've seen the buffet set up it had chicken tenders and fries. I've also seen them make their own pizzas.

Look on the Family and Carnival boards for more info.

Tks, Sadie!

My daughter was 5 on her fourth cruise so she already knew the routine by then. She absolutely loved "ship's school" and would wake up and ask if it was open. She was one of only three 5-year-olds on that cruise, though, as it was during mid-February when most kids were in school (we had taken her out of kindergarten for that week, but had requested her homework packet -- yes, homework in kindergarten:rolleyes:) so there were a less active program with fewer activities and more ages grouped together.

Carnival, unless it's changed, will have the kids' dinner in the buffet with an area cordoned off. You drop the kids off there and after dinner, they'll take the kids to the evening activities. You can reserve the group kidsitting if you feel like an evening by yourself for a small rate (they would pro-rate by the quarter hour when we took advantage of this). They usually will watch kid-friendly movies.

As for toys, you can take a few that will keep your kid happy just in case they're feeling iffy (you won't want to take the kid there if there's the possibility he's coming down with something) or if it's early morning before the kids' area opens. Make sure to label the toys with the your cabin number just in case it goes missing. I made a little tag for a small stuffed bear, with our name and cabin number on it -- it was like a "lanyard.

We've been cruising with our DS since he was 3.5 and he's now 12. At the younger ages, we brought his portable dvd player with an assortment of dvds in a folder and his leapster. Now, he brings his dvd player, DS, and ipad mini. This photo is from when he was 5 or 6, waiting on us to get ready for dinner. Some ships have game rooms with board games and puzzles - popular with young and old on rainy days.