Carnival Miracle-kid question

Hello everyone. My husband, myself and my 2 kids (2 and 7) will be cruising to the Mexican Riviera on the miracle in May. I have read lots of reviews and questions, but haven't found much on the kids clubs, specifically for my children's ages. Anyone have experience using them for kids this young (especially the 2 year old)? Anything you can share about the experience, how the kids did, how often you used it, what they offered, etc. would be great. Also, how do people handle the car seat situation? We are flying in to Long Beach Airport. I am hoping we can take a shuttle which would not require a car seat (?), but will we have troubles getting around any of the ports? Any info you can share regarding cruising with littles would be appreciated. Thanks so much!

We will be cruising for this for the first time in 2 weeks time. I will hunt this for you:).

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Unless things have changed.

I don't think Carnival takes kids as young as 2 in their programs...

Yes they DO take children at 2 years old!

The youngest group is 2-5 and the child does not have to be potty trained!

Whether the child wants to stay or enjoys it will be up to the individual child. Not all 2 year olds are comfy in new situations.

I don't know about the transfer from Long Beach to the port. Technically in California children that young need car seats in vehicles that are not buses so a shuttle van still needs a car seat.

Not sure any of them provide that??

Thank you please do! Are you taking a car seat?

Yes they DO take children at 2 years old!

The youngest group is 2-5 and the child does not have to be potty trained!

Whether the child wants to stay or enjoys it will be up to the individual child. Not all 2 year olds are comfy in new situations.

I don't know about the transfer from Long Beach to the port. Technically in California children that young need car seats in vehicles that are not buses so a shuttle van still needs a car seat.

Not sure any of them provide that??

Thanks. I am sure this is a problem several people have, but I am not sure of the answer and I really don't want to lug around a car seat. On port I am guessing I will just have to take water taxis.

We will be cruising for this for the first time in 2 weeks time. I will hunt this for you:).

 

 

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We also are on board in 2 weeks time with our 7 year old. We have him signed up for the kids camp and as long as he wants to go and stays, I can report back as well. He has enjoyed the Carnival kids camp on past cruises, and I am sure it will be the same this time.

We will be on Miracle with our 7yo in March, and I will happily report back our experience with the club. :)

As far as car seats, I have found several of the airport shuttle companies offer car seat options when doing an online reservation. We haven't booked ours yet, but I've looked at quite a few websites and noticed this along the way. As far as in ports, I'm not sure the answer to that, as we don't have any plans in port that will involve needing one.

Can't speak for the car seat as we came locally. But kids program does start at age 2. Two year olds really dont have a lot of activities it is more of a daycare setting that they stayed in same room and played with the toys. I am sure they had story times, and arts and crafts but from what I could see it is mostly play. 7 year old will sometimes meet in different areas of ship for various activities. My 8 and 11 year old had a great time. As far as Camp Carnival it is a decent program and they have loving staff. It is not exceptional like Disney but they have enough to keep kids entertained so you can enjoy yourselves. I am a former preschool Director and I have never felt uneasy about dropping my kids off.

We also are on board in 2 weeks time with our 7 year old. We have him signed up for the kids camp and as long as he wants to go and stays, I can report back as well. He has enjoyed the Carnival kids camp on past cruises, and I am sure it will be the same this time.

Good to hear. Have a great time!

Can't speak for the car seat as we came locally. But kids program does start at age 2. Two year olds really dont have a lot of activities it is more of a daycare setting that they stayed in same room and played with the toys. I am sure they had story times, and arts and crafts but from what I could see it is mostly play. 7 year old will sometimes meet in different areas of ship for various activities. My 8 and 11 year old had a great time. As far as Camp Carnival it is a decent program and they have loving staff. It is not exceptional like Disney but they have enough to keep kids entertained so you can enjoy yourselves. I am a former preschool Director and I have never felt uneasy about dropping my kids off.

Wonderful! Thanks. Hoping for at least a few hours on sea days to relax by the pool with a book. I am hopefully optimistic the kids will like the kids program.

We haven't been on this particular ship, but have had my 2 year old grandson in Camp Carnival. He really enjoyed his time there - every session, they had a variety of activities - he loved winning medals for dance contests - also had several craft projects, decorated a T-shirt, had story time with Dr Seuss Characters, we participated in the Dr Seuss breakfast and the afternoon parade and story time.

Which airport and when are you flying in. If flying into LAX, could just take the Carnival shuttle. A cheaper option would be the Flyaway Bus to Long Beach then transfer to the free Passport bus.

Which itin are you doing? Just walk Cabo. If going to Medano beach could get a water taxi, know that they land on the beach and you'll have to jump a few feet down.

Camp program runs 2-5

6-8

9-11

12-14

15-17

2-5 program runs in increments of every 30 min.

Camp is NOT opened the first night of sailing but there is an orientation. Its important that you go to get your cell phone or beeper=first come first serve. This is used to contact you incase of emergency (like they can not get your child to stop cryin)

Camp opens at 10 Camps usually close at noon-2 and 5-7

you can take your child to the camp during the noon - 2 and let them play but you need to stay with your child.

You can not go into the room with the child. You drop him off at the gate-- sign him in. They take him into the room

You can not go into the room to pick him up. you go to the gate-- sign him out and they will bring him to you

Some ships have the interactive tv in the hall where you can watch him play.

We Just took the miracle in October with (at the time) our oldest son (11 years) and our youngest (1 Year B-Day was on the cruise).

Based on what is written on the Carnival Website we were expecting to not have much available to us for our youngest. Our oldest of course had a blast and we finally gave him the permissions to check in and out at will. However I will say Carnivals onboard Texting service thru thair app if you have kids is a must and at (if i recall) $2.95 per device it's worth every penny.

As far as our youngest when we went to register our oldest they said they would allow us to sign up our youngest son for Camp Carnival but on the restricted times.

We took him to one of the limited times (started at 8am and ended at 10am) and also to one of the few afternoon sessions (sea days) and when we went back to pick him up 2 hours later to prevent any penalities the ladies said he was so good and well behaved they said they would allow him to stay longer so we took a Camp Carnival potable phone with us and they said we could take our time. We checked back in every hour but they kept saying no rush and he was good so they weren't worrying about it.

Personally I think they have some discretion to it and typically at under two I am sure they have delt with some kids that do nothing but scream and cry for the entire time they are there so its the policy to limit that time.

play it by year but I would recommend going to Camp Carnival on day 1 and see about signing your young one up and getting them into one of small slots they have and who knows.

This was out 5th cruise on Carnival and we love Carnival simply for the kids program. It's not the most luxurious line but my kids love it and it keeps things simple for the family. The kids are well taken care of and even as my oldest gets older Camp Carnival (and the activities him and I do while ashore) is always one of the highlights of his trip to the point we have to restrict him on time so that we can have family time and events together.

We used it when our daughter was just over two and it was a bit of a bust for her. She would cry for us and they would call us to pick her up. They really did not make any effort to try to calm her down or engage her at all. (NOTE: I am not saying that it was their responsibility to do so, just stating this as a fact). My daughter had really only been in a small daycare (babysitter) setting, with few kids and really was not into it. And she is an only child, so she is kind of a loner. She did better at 3 1/2 but we did get a few calls and we did again when she was 4. I hope now that she is in school it gets better. But kids are unreliable, as I am sure you know. I would not plan your cruise around using the kids club, if you know what I mean.

My grand daughter at age 5 tried the camp the first day- being in with the 2-5 year olds

She has an old soul. and there was a baby in there about 2 who cried the entire time and the counselor would not let my GD go over to play with her.

she was very upset they let that baby cry like that but more upset that she wasnt able to go talk to her

Camp program runs 2-5

 

6-8

 

9-11

 

12-14

 

15-17

 

 

 

2-5 program runs in increments of every 30 min.

 

Camp is NOT opened the first night of sailing but there is an orientation. Its important that you go to get your cell phone or beeper=first come first serve. This is used to contact you incase of emergency (like they can not get your child to stop cryin)

 

Camp opens at 10 Camps usually close at noon-2 and 5-7

 

you can take your child to the camp during the noon - 2 and let them play but you need to stay with your child.

 

 

 

You can not go into the room with the child. You drop him off at the gate-- sign him in. They take him into the room

 

You can not go into the room to pick him up. you go to the gate-- sign him out and they will bring him to you

 

 

 

Some ships have the interactive tv in the hall where you can watch him play.

Lots of good information, thank you.

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Camp program runs 2-5

6-8

9-11

12-14

15-17

 

2-5 program runs in increments of every 30 min.

Camp is NOT opened the first night of sailing but there is an orientation. Its important that you go to get your cell phone or beeper=first come first serve. This is used to contact you incase of emergency (like they can not get your child to stop cryin)

Camp opens at 10 Camps usually close at noon-2 and 5-7

you can take your child to the camp during the noon - 2 and let them play but you need to stay with your child.

 

You can not go into the room with the child. You drop him off at the gate-- sign him in. They take him into the room

You can not go into the room to pick him up. you go to the gate-- sign him out and they will bring him to you

 

Some ships have the interactive tv in the hall where you can watch him play.

Thanks! Very helpful

Which airport and when are you flying in. If flying into LAX, could just take the Carnival shuttle. A cheaper option would be the Flyaway Bus to Long Beach then transfer to the free Passport bus.

 

Which itin are you doing? Just walk Cabo. If going to Medano beach could get a water taxi, know that they land on the beach and you'll have to jump a few feet down.

We are flying into Long Beach. We are thinking of the water taxi and the La Calleta (spelling?) excursion.

We Just took the miracle in October with (at the time) our oldest son (11 years) and our youngest (1 Year B-Day was on the cruise).

 

Based on what is written on the Carnival Website we were expecting to not have much available to us for our youngest. Our oldest of course had a blast and we finally gave him the permissions to check in and out at will. However I will say Carnivals onboard Texting service thru thair app if you have kids is a must and at (if i recall) $2.95 per device it's worth every penny.

 

As far as our youngest when we went to register our oldest they said they would allow us to sign up our youngest son for Camp Carnival but on the restricted times.

 

We took him to one of the limited times (started at 8am and ended at 10am) and also to one of the few afternoon sessions (sea days) and when we went back to pick him up 2 hours later to prevent any penalities the ladies said he was so good and well behaved they said they would allow him to stay longer so we took a Camp Carnival potable phone with us and they said we could take our time. We checked back in every hour but they kept saying no rush and he was good so they weren't worrying about it.

 

Personally I think they have some discretion to it and typically at under two I am sure they have delt with some kids that do nothing but scream and cry for the entire time they are there so its the policy to limit that time.

 

play it by year but I would recommend going to Camp Carnival on day 1 and see about signing your young one up and getting them into one of small slots they have and who knows.

 

This was out 5th cruise on Carnival and we love Carnival simply for the kids program. It's not the most luxurious line but my kids love it and it keeps things simple for the family. The kids are well taken care of and even as my oldest gets older Camp Carnival (and the activities him and I do while ashore) is always one of the highlights of his trip to the point we have to restrict him on time so that we can have family time and events together.

Thanks so much!

We are flying into Long Beach. We are thinking of the water taxi and the La Calleta (spelling?) excursion.

Use bug spray in Las Caletas. The mosquitos can be out in force.

Just off the Carnival Miracle from last weeks 6 day cruise, and our 7y/o son loved the camp. He met a bunch of new friends his age and always wanted to go back. Still had lots of time to enjoy the pools and the arcade in between his camp times. I kept calling it Camp Carnival, but it's been renamed as Camp Ocean. I have the complete 6 day itinerary is anyone is interested in seeing the daily activities and times. I am not sure I can post it here, but I have it scanned as a .pdf and can email it if you want. Send me a request to sparky dot sirk at gmail dot com, I'd be happy to send the information. Bottom line, it was a great time for the kids and a nice break for the parents to have some adult time and not worry about them.

Have you cruised before? You do not need a car seat. The bus from airport is full size no seat belts. The taxis in Mexico, no seat belts.

Not since way before kids. Thanks for the info.