Cruising with 4 year old...help please!

Getting ready to book a fall cruise. Would like to take our 4 year old grandson. DW is concern he may be a little young yet.

If any of you have cruised with a young child.....would you please give us some advise as to your experience. Also...was Camp Carnival ok and did the youngster enjoy?

Thanks in advance as I told the bride we both would read your responses.

Getting ready to book a fall cruise. Would like to take our 4 year old grandson. DW is concern he may be a little young yet.

 

If any of you have cruised with a young child.....would you please give us some advise as to your experience. Also...was Camp Carnival ok and did the youngster enjoy?

 

Thanks in advance as I told the bride we both would read your responses.

We took our son last year when he was 4. He was at the pool all day and camp carnival all night. He's 5 now and we are leaving on the Pride Sunday. All he talks about is going to camp carnival again.

I took my nephew on a cruise when he was 4 1/2. He LOVED it. It was back in 2002 when people still dressed on Elegant night (Formal night in the good old days). I bought him a little tux and he was adorable and got tons of attention on the ship. He adored Camp Carnival. In fact, he begged to stay every time we picked him up. He made good friends and adored the leaders. In fact, he convinced us to leave him on the ship while we did an excursion. That was hard for me, but the staff assured me he'd be fine and he was. He also loved the pool and waterslide, which was not nearly as good as the waterworks the ships now have. I'd never hesitate to take a young child again. In fact, I'm working on taking my 2 grand daughters in the near future. I hope you have as good a cruise as I did.:D

Getting ready to book a fall cruise. Would like to take our 4 year old grandson. DW is concern he may be a little young yet.

 

If any of you have cruised with a young child.....would you please give us some advise as to your experience. Also...was Camp Carnival ok and did the youngster enjoy?

 

Thanks in advance as I told the bride we both would read your responses.

I think 4 is a fine age to begin taking them cruising. We started taking our son when he was 1 and at that age it really limited what we could do. However, at 4, your grandson can do Camp Carnival and will be more self sufficient.

The main thing I tell people about taking a very young child is to remember that the cruise will be a different experience. You have to slow down and not push them too much. Let them have fun and be a kid.

We took our son when he was 2 1/2 and he wouldn't have anything to do with Camp Carnival. He is a daycare kid and I thought he would love it and he cried every time we tried to take him. The counselors will not try to help you (like daycare) to get them interested, you bring them happy or they don't stay. I am not telling you this to be a downer, I am telling you so you can be mentally prepared for the fact that your grandson will not want to go. Part of the reason I think ours didn't want to go is that we had both sets of Grandparents with us and he didn't see them often. A few times they watched our son so we could go to dinner or see a show by ourselves which was great for us.

My son is 4 now and we are trying an all inclusive in August and I am going in with the mindset that he will not go to camp and if he does I will be pleasantly surprised. I love spending time with my little one, but an hour or two each day to relax with my husband only would be really great. We will see what happens.

Again, I am just trying to give you my side as most will come on here and tell you how great it is and how their child loved it but there are some that do not.

We took our son when he was 2 1/2 and he wouldn't have anything to do with Camp Carnival. He is a daycare kid and I thought he would love it and he cried every time we tried to take him. The counselors will not try to help you (like daycare) to get them interested, you bring them happy or they don't stay. I am not telling you this to be a downer, I am telling you so you can be mentally prepared for the fact that your grandson will not want to go. Part of the reason I think ours didn't want to go is that we had both sets of Grandparents with us and he didn't see them often. A few times they watched our son so we could go to dinner or see a show by ourselves which was great for us.

 

My son is 4 now and we are trying an all inclusive in August and I am going in with the mindset that he will not go to camp and if he does I will be pleasantly surprised. I love spending time with my little one, but an hour or two each day to relax with my husband only would be really great. We will see what happens.

 

Again, I am just trying to give you my side as most will come on here and tell you how great it is and how their child loved it but there are some that do not.

Yeah, I mostly agree with this, but I have seen the counselors try to help. Our son would sometimes do Camp Carnival and other times he refused. I've seen exasperated parents with crying kids begging not to go. You have to be prepared for them not to do Camp Carnival.

Even now at age 7 we have to sometimes make deals with him before he will go. :rolleyes:

If your child has been in day care, he will do fine in camp carnival. If not it's hard to say.

Our daughter has always loved it, from her first cruise right after she turned 2. It helps to go through the camp carnival schedule on the first day and pick out things that he's excited about doing.

Also look on the Family board.

Getting ready to book a fall cruise. Would like to take our 4 year old grandson. DW is concern he may be a little young yet.

 

If any of you have cruised with a young child.....would you please give us some advise as to your experience. Also...was Camp Carnival ok and did the youngster enjoy?

 

Thanks in advance as I told the bride we both would read your responses.

we have taken our grand daughter on 4 cruises now-- she is 8. She first went at 18 months. and again when she was turning 5. She did not like the camp so she stayed with us the entire week. We looked at the program and she was rather excited I think it was because she was already in kindergarden and the camp program for that age group is 2 to 5 and was geared towards babies. She went the first hour for the first day and did not want to go back. She had a better time in the 6-8 program.

She did a lot of swimming on her cruises-- that and the slide. Ate a lot of ice cream.

BUT if you want to do adult only activities-- him not liking the camp may put a crimp in your cruising style. We had a ball with her - took her to the family friendly comedy show which most of the jokes were over her head but she laughed when every one else did so she thought it was fun.

Our four year old daughter has been cruising since she was 6 months old and now has 12 Carnival cruises under her belt. Cruising with her this most recent time was probably one of the best. Obviously I am okay with taking even wee ones but I must say that her being four this past time had some great advantages. She didn't spend a lot of time at Camp Carnival but when she did go she loved it. She loves getting dressed up for dinner and the wait staff are amazing with appropriately behaved kids. Every night they went above and beyond to make dinner with the kids outstanding, the kids menu is not the healthiest but the staff were great about making the regular menu into much smaller dishes for our wee one.

Our kids have always enjoyed the shows, etc as long as we did a good job in deciding what was appropriate for small humans.

Be prepared to encounter some folks who no matter what will never feel like kids should be on a cruise ship but for the most part, well behaved kids are welcomed and people are happy to see them.

We took card games and other small items for times when she needed to be patient, ie. waiting for a show to start, waiting for others to finish dinner, waiting in a line...you'll be amazed how much a four year old appreciates a small bag of lego or a game of Eye-Spy and how much your fellow passengers appreciate you keeping your child entertained.

Sorry, for the novel, bottom line- Take your 4 year old and have a blast :)

This was not the case for us; I assumed because my son was used to day care he would have no problem going to camp but didn't want to have anything to do with it.

If your child has been in day care, he will do fine in camp carnival. If not it's hard to say.

I am sure there are some that do, but on the Magic that wasn't the case. It was very much checking kids in and out and the counselors didn't do anything to engage our son to make him feel welcome or excited.

That was my problem is that I just knew he would go before we went and it had never crossed my mind that he might not go.

Yeah, I mostly agree with this, but I have seen the counselors try to help. Our son would sometimes do Camp Carnival and other times he refused. I've seen exasperated parents with crying kids begging not to go. You have to be prepared for them not to do Camp Carnival.

 

Even now at age 7 we have to sometimes make deals with him before he will go. :rolleyes:

Absolutely take your 4 year old. But as some others have said, don't automatically assume that he'll want to go to or even enjoy camp carnival. My kids were 8 and 5 last year for their first cruise and they had no interest in camp carnival. Part of it might have been because they go to camp at home and since this was vacation they didn't want to go to camp on vacation too. But the reality is camp carnival is really just like day care. That's great for some kids, and not great for others. Mine wanted to do the excursions, go to the beach , see the comedy shows, etc. All kids are different. But definitely take your grandson. He'll have a blast regardless of what he does. My kids still talk about the cruise from last summer and can't wait to go on their second cruise in a few weeks.

Every 4 year old is different!

My first question would be have you taken him on vacation without his parents before this time??

If not I'd try a short land trip before going out to sea where he can't go home easily if he gets upset.

Do be prepared to spend lots of time with him if he doesn't like the camp set up. Children may be fine at home with their normal day care or school but in a new setting may want to be with comforting adults closer to hand.

Getting ready to book a fall cruise. Would like to take our 4 year old grandson. DW is concern he may be a little young yet.

 

If any of you have cruised with a young child.....would you please give us some advise as to your experience. Also...was Camp Carnival ok and did the youngster enjoy?

 

Thanks in advance as I told the bride we both would read your responses.

My in laws have taken our DS on a cruise last year (3) and this year when he was 4 and he has loved it both times. The only thing my wife and I had a concern with was what cabin they would choose and becuae of that they did an ocean view. We both know it would be hard for him to go over a balcony railing but for peace of mind they didnt book that.

You should have a blast with your grandson!

We took our son when he was 2 1/2 and he wouldn't have anything to do with Camp Carnival. He is a daycare kid and I thought he would love it and he cried every time we tried to take him. The counselors will not try to help you (like daycare) to get them interested, you bring them happy or they don't stay.

Maybe it is because the staff on the ships are different, but the crews on the Fantasy and Fascination really worked hard to get our five year old granddaughter involved. She loved CC and couldn't wait to cruise again.

We just returned from the Baja cruise on the Imagination. It was our first time to bring the kids along on a cruise.

Our 6yo was very excited to go to Camp Carnival, but after the first day or two he got a little bored with it, and wanted to stay out and do waterslide, mini-golf, get ice cream, etc. That was great fun for him, but we didn't get some of the relax time we were hoping for.

It all had to do with the activities and the schedule. Every day we went over the schedule and there were some things he really wanted to do and some things he was not interested in at all. There were a few times when he didn't want to go, and we had to bribe him to go in. I will say he was not always happy going in, but he always seemed happy when we picked him up.

I'll also mention that on this ship the kids area is a little small, and I didn't get the idea they were super-flexible, since they did the scheduled activities or nothing. I'm sure that may be different on bigger nicer ships. But anyway, as much as I'd like to, I wouldn't leave my child there all day long. I'm sure any kid would feel a little cooped up in there. But I think it worked great for a few hours at a time here and there when they were doing something he was interested in.

Overall it worked out great for us. But as others have said, you can't assume your child will want to go whenever you want them to.

Every 4 year old is different!

My first question would be have you taken him on vacation without his parents before this time??

If not I'd try a short land trip before going out to sea where he can't go home easily if he gets upset.

Do be prepared to spend lots of time with him if he doesn't like the camp set up. Children may be fine at home with their normal day care or school but in a new setting may want to be with comforting adults closer to hand.

Best advice of them all. You know your grandson--we don't.

It really depends-my son (3.5) will sometimes go to Camp and sometimes will refuse (he is a daycare kid). The counselors don't really do anything to comfort the children or ease the transition. Our most recent experience on the Inspiration wasn't the greatest-the counselors were very surly and unwelcoming-they made a big stink about leaving our son on the ship over lunch time, when they advertise this service in the schedule. No warm fuzzy feelings from them at all, LOL!

I'm taking my then 4 year old over Thanksgiving. He is in daycare and likes playing with other kids (only child) but I'm already prepared to spend every moment with him. Since it will just be he and I, I'm actually ok with that as if he's in CC who will I talk to?:D

My 4 year old just completed cruise #5. Not too young. He LOVES it. He started at 12 months of age and I have to say that that one was a bit rough, but all the other ones have been awesome.

Feel free to click on any of my reviews below.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

This was a long time ago but on our first cruise my kids were 2 1/2 and 4. The 4 year old really liked Camp Carnival and still remembers parts of it today and she is almost 17. The 2 1/2 year old was really quiet and shy and got bitten by another kid the first day. She would only go if her sister was with her.

We are taking our 4 year old this October and think this cruise will be his best. He's been cruising since 11 months and while we enjoyed them all, the one at 2 years old we wouldn't have done in hindsight. The one when he was 3 was good. He was very excited to be on the ship, enjoyed the dining room, outdoor decks, mini golf, arcade and ports. He went to kids camp a couple of times but didn't really like it. Lots of fun things on the schedule so we're hoping this cruise he will like it more.

Suggest bringing a couple of small toys from home, books, portable DVD player or ipad pre-loaded with videos. Ipad was the biggest must for us. I think you will really enjoy the cruise.

Just back from the DREAM.

Our group had a 5 year old child with us (MY friend's GD) She is very social and loves daycare. Even though her family lives with the grand parents and she sees them daily, she only went to CC once........the first morning.

The rest of the time she wanted to stay with us. Part of the problem was every time we went to CC to drop her off there were only a couple of 2 year olds in there. (Group was 2-5 years old) The staff told us that sometimes it is hit or miss...sometimes they are crazy crowded and other times like this cruise there were not many kids/parents taking advantage of the camp.

She loved the pool, the water works play area, the nightly shows and loved hanging with us on our conjoined balcony. I do not think she was ever bored!!

Suggest bringing a couple of small toys from home, books, portable DVD player or ipad pre-loaded with videos. Ipad was the biggest must for us.

Small toys and books are always a good idea, but what's the point of going on a cruise if the kids are just watching videos on the Ipad? They could do that at home.