Circle C-does your young teen like it?

Hello everyone! We usually cruise Royal and are trying Carnival for the first time. I have a son who just turned 12 and hasn’t been old enough to try the young teen program before. He is a sociable child, but often just wants to hang out with us...which is fine, I just don’t want him to miss out on something that sounds so fun. 2 questions—does your young teen go to the Circle C club and how did you get him/her to try it out? Thank you all-and oh, we are sailing the Dream for spring break.

My DS was 12 last year for our spring break cruise on the Pride. He LOVED Circle C. Previously, we'd tried to get him to go to the kids club- with sign out privileges- but he wouldn't stay long. We would set a time limit at the kids club- say 1 hour - that he had to stay and he would come right back and find us as soon as it was over.

Circle C was completely different from the kids club though. Go the first night to get signed in and grab a copy of the activities for the week. DS actually planned out what he wanted to do, when, and made plans with friends. He still spent a lot of time with us but it was nice for him to have other kids to hang out with. He's excited for our upcoming spring break cruise this year and has talked about going back to Circle C.

So, how do we make him stay? Same as before- pick one activity the first sea day and you must go to it. If it's terrible, you can leave after 1 hour.

Any time he signed out of Circle C he was required to go back to our cabin to check for our location and then meet back up with us. I think it may be easier to keep in touch if you do the HUB app, but we limit his access to electronics.

My stepson LOVED Circle C a few years ago. He went every night and closed it down. LOL. My daughter is now old enough to go and cannot wait, since she heard how fun it was from him. We are also going on the Dream for spring break (April 1-8) and we will have 2 in Circle C and 1 on Club O2. All are excited to go to meet new friends!

Hello everyone! We usually cruise Royal and are trying Carnival for the first time. I have a son who just turned 12 and hasn’t been old enough to try the young teen program before. He is a sociable child, but often just wants to hang out with us...which is fine, I just don’t want him to miss out on something that sounds so fun. 2 questions—does your young teen go to the Circle C club and how did you get him/her to try it out? Thank you all-and oh, we are sailing the Dream for spring break.

My little one is 24 yrs old...LoL. However, our first cruise he was 12 yrs of age and he loved Circle C or whatever they called it at that time. (seems to me it was a different name?) As for getting him to try it out, my DW and I were strict parents and my son was more then glad to get away from us...LoL In fact, we hardly saw him on sea days, but one day I was in the buffet line and saw my son (he did not see me) I walked up behind him and I was like "Wow are you going to eat all that food?, I love your shoes were did you buy them?, Do you want to be my friend?"....LoL One of the kids he was hanging out with was like "hey creepo leave him alone". My son was like :o "that's my dad":o:o....LoL One of the greatest pleasures in life embarrassing your kids if front of their friends. Back to my point, my son was away at the kids club for only about 1/2 hr (first day of cruise) him and about 8 other kids had quickly became friends, for the week. So in short he will love it they have their own dance club too, in which we could not go in (he loved that part).

Thank you for your replies! My DS has not wanted to go into the kids club since he was about 9, so I was hoping the young teen club would be of more interest to him...sounds like it will be. JSMomma- I like the idea of pick one activity and try it for an hour. If you don’t like it, pack it in. Great suggestion! At any rate, we are excited about trying out a different cruise line with different foods and experiences. Any suggestions from Carnival pros are greatly appreciated :D!

My kids LOVE the kids clubs!

Especially on a 7 day cruise, he will have a blast. My kids are still friends (on social media) with people they met on our first cruise in 2012!

Please encourage him to go the first night, I bet he’ll love it.

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one day I was in the buffet line and saw my son (he did not see me) I walked up behind him and I was like "Wow are you going to eat all that food?, I love your shoes were did you buy them?, Do you want to be my friend?"....LoL One of the kids he was hanging out with was like "hey creepo leave him alone". My son was like :o "that's my dad":o:o....LoL One of the greatest pleasures in life embarrassing your kids if front of their friends.

This cracked me up! Definitely something I or my husband would do to our child. LOL!

We’re cruising Spring Break too, in celebration of my girl’s 12th birthday. She’s been sailing Carnival since she was 3, and loved the kids clubs when she was on the low end of the age range for the group (3-4, 6 , 9-10); not so much when she fell just before the cutoff (5 and 8). She was 9 on our last Carnival cruise and loved being able to sign herself in or out. She didn’t spend much time in the club then, but having the freedom to go to the club and then return to our room on her own made it really special.

Now that she’s turning 12, she’s really looking forward to Circle C. This is the first time she’ll be in a club that does activities around the ship, and not just confines the kids to one area every day. I showed her a few of the fairly recent Circle C activity sheets for our sailing and she is thrilled. She’s also happy not to be tagged with the uncomfortable muster station bands anymore, and of course, there’s the [limited] independence she can’t wait to have.

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Same as above. Two boys. Very different personalities but both LOVE the clubs starting at 12. Before that it was mixed. We always said they had to go the first night to get a schedule and meet people. After that it was up to them. Now we hardly ever see them except port days and dinner. And they have both stayed in contact with friends they made in cruises several years ago from all over the country.

When my oldest was 12, he checked it out and was like 'meh' and decided to not go to it. He had more fun going off on his own meeting kids around the ship and doing their own thing. He stayed either at the water slides, the ice cream machine or the arcade. We'd pass by on occasion throughout the ship. Literally the only time we saw him was in the morning when he got up to go out, and at night when he had enough and came back to the stateroom to go to bed. I know a lot of kids love it but it wasn't for him.

this is a hard age group. Too cool for group activities they feel are babyfied.

Its veryimportant that they attend the orientation that first night and stay for ice breakers.

Make it mandatory if you have to

Kids this age tend to hang out together.. eating pizza sitting in the hot tubs playing cards. swimming

Last year, we had all 3 in Circle C (one asked for an upgrade to be with his brothers because he didn't want to be with the little kids and the ship was able to accommodate us). The older two made friends, and at one point, ditched us when we were on board. We received reports from our dining staff that they would hit up the late night buffet for pizza and ice cream with groups of friends. The little one would hang out with his Circle C friends after dinner, but typically liked sticking with us after port excursions and during Sea Days when he found us about the ship.

We're cruising, again, soon and the oldest will be in O2 with the younger two staying behind in Circle C. We'll be on a bigger ship this time during a holiday, so there will probably more kids on board than they were used to. I have no idea how they'll handle the difference, but I know we'll have a good time together.

My boys both loved it on our cruise last Jan. They pretty much closed it down each night. We were in bed sleeping before they finally strolled in.

Mine went the first night and stayed for the ice breakers but he found the kids to be very "young" for the age range. The stuff they were doing just didn't interest him. The kids were super nice and sort of roamed the ship in a little "pack." But they were not obnoxious or inappropriate. When we would run into them they would all scatter towards my son and ask him to come hang out with them but he just wasn't interested. That age is the age some kids are still kids and some are more like teens. The make up of the club on our cruise was the kids stage. Not a bad thing, just not right for my kiddo. That said, he had a ball on the cruise. He either hung out with me or went and did his own thing. He actually went to shows by himself! He just really loved the independence of the experience. Circle C was a nice fall back but he didn't use it after that first night.

Last year, we had all 3 in Circle C (one asked for an upgrade to be with his brothers because he didn't want to be with the little kids and the ship was able to accommodate us).

How old was he when you did this and how do you go about it? I am in this situation on my next cruise.

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Thank you all for your thoughtful and honest responses. My DS will be especially happy to know that he doesn’t have to wear the kid’s muster station wristband! I hope he’ll give Circle C a try, but if not I’m sure everyone will still have a great time. I just remember when I was that age, I’d much rather hang out with a group of kids than my parents~and he does, too, it’s just taking that initial step that seems so tough for him.

Thank you all for your thoughtful and honest responses. My DS will be especially happy to know that he doesn’t have to wear the kid’s muster station wristband!

I could be wrong, but I remember all three of mine wearing the muster wristbands during our trip last year. They were all in Circle C.

My kids have loved it. We make them go the first night. That is where they will get to know everyone and everyone is new and nervous so I think it's easier to make friends. Then we make them pick one activity each day, they usually want to attend way more

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For the muster wristbands - everyone 12 or under must wear them. So only when they become 13 will they be able not to wear wrist bands.

For the muster wristbands - everyone 12 or under must wear them. So only when they become 13 will they be able not to wear wrist bands.

It’s 11 and under.

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1070/~/camp-carnival-%282-5-years%29%3A-things-to-know-and-activities

“Safety Information

All children 11 and under must wear a muster station wristband throughout the cruise. Wristbands are available from the Youth Staff or the Guest Services Desk. In the event of an emergency, any children participating in Camp Carnival activities will be taken to the kids assembly area. There, they will be divided into the appropriate groups according to their muster station and taken to their station by the Youth Staff. During an emergency situation, parents should collect their child’s lifejacket from the cabin when they pick up their own. A Safety briefing will be held onboard when all regulations will be explained.”

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My daughter is a mature 14 years old and my son is a very immature 12 year old. :D My daughter loves to go to Circle C the first night to make friends and then the first morning to meet any new friends that did not show up the first night. After that, she just uses the camp as a meet up place and likes to hang with friends. My son, however, LOVES the camp and spends every second in the there that it is open. I think it is mainly because he loves video games and playing with other kids.

Does anyone ever get nervous about letting their kids roam the ship by themselves? Or once they leave the camp to come and meet you? My daughter is 12 and turning 13 in March. Mature in some ways but still immature too, lol. I just can't get comfortable with her being by herself on that big ship. How do others feel about this?

iluvcruises, I'm not sure how I would feel if I only had one child roaming the ship. As it stands, I have two girls, one is 11.5 and one will be 15 in March. They have cruise rules: 1. Stick together AT ALL TIMES if not with one of the adults they are travelling with. 2. NO going into anyone elses' cabin that we are not travelling with, at any time, for any reason, period. 3. If they say they are going someplace and then change their mind, they have to check in, either using our magnetic dry erase board we bring, or the Hub app, or our walkies. If they ever were to break these rules it would be the end of their freedom on the ship. We are travelling just on our own for the first time in a month (we've gone on another cruise with a large group of friends), so we will see what they end up doing. Who knows, they might actually end up wanting to spend more time with us!!

Does anyone ever get nervous about letting their kids roam the ship by themselves? Or once they leave the camp to come and meet you? My daughter is 12 and turning 13 in March. Mature in some ways but still immature too, lol. I just can't get comfortable with her being by herself on that big ship. How do others feel about this?

Yes, I struggle with this as well. My son turned 12 on our last cruise and he definitely was wanting to be more independent. We have rules, too, but I still get nervous. He is pretty mature and I trust him to follow the rules, It’s just hard letting my baby spread his wings! I would prefer that some kind of buddy system be in place, but we haven’t had a buddy before...another reason I would like for him to go to the club and make some friends to hang out with. We usually unplug on cruises and don’t use our devices, but I think we’re gonna have to break that rule this time so we can use our phones to stay in touch. Does the Carnival Hub app work well for this purpose?

Does anyone ever get nervous about letting their kids roam the ship by themselves? Or once they leave the camp to come and meet you? My daughter is 12 and turning 13 in March. Mature in some ways but still immature too, lol. I just can't get comfortable with her being by herself on that big ship. How do others feel about this?

My daughter is turning 12 in March and will be in Circle C when we cruise in April. Similar to when she was 9 and could sign herself in/out of camp, I drew up a contract for her so that she knows what is expected for her to be safe and have roaming privileges.

The contract this time is 2 pages and has a list of about 20 or so safety and courtesy points that include:

- Do not go to any cabin-only decks, even as a cut-through. Our cabin is close to the elevators, so she should not need to pass other staterooms.

- She must prove to us on the first day that she knows the way to Circle C and back to our cabin. I show her the path she needs to take, then she leads me there and back without a word from me.

- She must check in with us before she goes anywhere on the ship without us. If she is using the chat app, she must receive confirmation from us that we received the message before she goes. She must then check in again (chat app) to let us know she reached her destination.

- Don’t leave the ship without us. Period.

- Travel from one side of the ship to the other must be done on deck 9 or higher (public decks.)

- Don’t enter anyone else’s cabin, even friends’ cabins. Do not allow anyone else into our cabin.

- If she returns to the cabin alone, hang the Do Not Disturb sign on the door.

- Keep the TV volume to a reasonable level. It should not be heard outside the cabin.

- If room service is ordered, take the tray and tip the server. In the unusual circumstance that the tray is too cumbersome to take, keep the cabin door open while the server sets the tray down and until the server leaves.

- Don’t accept drinks from anyone other than from us or a drink server on the ship.

- Don’t sip any drink not in your constant possession/eyesight. If you set your drink down somewhere and take your eyes off it, don’t go back to it. Get a new one.

- Be respectful. Say please and thank you, wait for people to get off the elevator before getting on, don’t throw things overboard, etc.

- Keep your S&S card with you at all times. If you lose it, notify us immediately.

- Curfew is set by us each day, depending on the next day’s activities. She must be *in* the cabin by curfew.

- If there is a ship emergency and the muster alarm sounds, do *not* go looking for us and do not return to the cabin. We will meet her at the muster station.

There are some more items on the contract, but I don’t recall what they are at the moment. I did note that the contract can be modified by her parents and only by her parents. Then all three of us signed it to indicate that the terms were read, understood, and accepted.

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It’s 11 and under. https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1070/~/camp-carnival-%282-5-years%29%3A-things-to-know-and-activities

“Safety Information

All children 11 and under must wear a muster station wristband throughout the cruise.

..." (rest of quote removed)

Thank you for the reference, that's very interesting.

Interesting, because our recent experience was that the rule they enforced was "12 and under" when we were on the Sunshine last month over the holidays. This was a B2B, and the same rule was applied on both cruises. We paid particular attention to this, because we also have a 12 year old, and she was not too thrilled that she had to wear the band again, so we clarified the rule to make sure.

I'm not sure if different ships have slightly different rules, if some staff have the rule wrong, or if they have changed recently and the website isn't up to date? All I know is that on our two cruises a few weeks ago, the kids had to wear the bands if they were "12 or under".