Are kids clubs open on port days?

[Dengail]

We are going on some excursions and have some older kids and wondered if our 5 yr. old would be better in the club on the ship for a few hours? We are sailing Carnival Dream. Just wondered about your opinions are:) Thanks.

[Naomi John]

We are going on some excursions and have some older kids and wondered if our 5 yr. old would be better in the club on the ship for a few hours? We are sailing Carnival Dream. Just wondered about your opinions are:) Thanks.

 

Yes, they are open on port days, and I think if the child is 5 or under you get a pager or phone. I'm wish I could say for sure, mine started cruising when she was six. Another age group.

[chipmaster]

YMMV, but every time I've wanted to use one I've found them open.

Just call the cruiseline to make sure!

 

 

We are going on some excursions and have some older kids and wondered if our 5 yr. old would be better in the club on the ship for a few hours? We are sailing Carnival Dream. Just wondered about your opinions are:) Thanks.

[hooked-on-travel]

5 and under get pagers, but they don't work off the ship.

 

Yes, the kid club should be open and if you don't make it back for lunch they should feed your child. At least that's been my experience.

[camorelli]

Yep, we just got off Carnival Liberty. Camp Carnival was open during ports. But if you are on the ship, you must pick them up for lunch with you. If you're off the ship, they will feed the kids. They gave us a cell phone because we had a 4 year old going to camp. The cell phone only works on the ship though.

[hooked-on-travel]

I should mention my experience is RC, not Carnival. Yes, the program doesn't run through lunch. You should pick up children as usual if you're on the ship.

[jam82]

We've used the port care on Carnival several times and have always been happy with the care. I believe somewhere in the fine print that it says you must be on a Carnival excursion if you're getting off the ship. We have been asked to show our excursion tickets before we were allowed to drop off our son, but they haven't asked every time.

[camorelli]

When we went to San Juan, our kids got off with us (4 and 6) and after just a 15 minute walk along the water right off the ship, they turned to us and begged to go back to the ship for Camp Carnival. While I was nervous, we decided it was the best thing for them as we weren't going to be far from the ship. They were hot and bored already, so we took them back. We weren't asked to show any excursion documentation. We just planned to take the trolley around the sites and do a little shopping. That was just our experience on the Liberty last week. Other Carnival ships may be different though. :)

[seashell36]

We've used the camp on port days and haven't been asked to show an excursion ticket. Most of the time we've already had the kids in port and they've gotten tired (or hungry or hot) and wanted to come back to camp. I know that they request you pick them up if you are on the ship at lunch time.

 

Traci

[Julienatul]

yes, they are open. It is free for age 2 and up and $6/hr for age 2 and under for babysitting.

[A&Jfamily]

We are going on some excursions and have some older kids and wondered if our 5 yr. old would be better in the club on the ship for a few hours? We are sailing Carnival Dream. Just wondered about your opinions are:) Thanks.

 

I think it all depends on your excursion and your kids. We mostly took my son, even when he was just shy of 3 (first cruise). We did things like beaches, sting rays, parks/zoos/gardens. He even did a dolphin encounter when he was just shy of 4. But he is an easy going, go with the flow kinda kid.

 

We did leave him on board twice (once, on our 1st and 2nd cruises when he was that young). The first was in Costa Maya because we wanted to take my oldest, then 8, to the Mayan ruins. I didn't think @ 3, he would want the one hour bus ride or the heat. It was a 1/2 day trip, so we were back just after lunch and took him ashore to the pool. The following year, we wanted to snorkel and kayak with the oldest, so he again stayed on board. Both times had a great time, and didn't even miss us.

 

I know many on these boards hesitate to leave their child for fear that something would happen, I am just not one of those people. I do book carnival excursions though, so I don't have to worry about delays etc.

[USnoozUCruise]

I think it all depends on your excursion and your kids. We mostly took my son, even when he was just shy of 3 (first cruise). We did things like beaches, sting rays, parks/zoos/gardens. He even did a dolphin encounter when he was just shy of 4. But he is an easy going, go with the flow kinda kid.

 

We did leave him on board twice (once, on our 1st and 2nd cruises when he was that young). The first was in Costa Maya because we wanted to take my oldest, then 8, to the Mayan ruins. I didn't think @ 3, he would want the one hour bus ride or the heat. It was a 1/2 day trip, so we were back just after lunch and took him ashore to the pool. The following year, we wanted to snorkel and kayak with the oldest, so he again stayed on board. Both times had a great time, and didn't even miss us.

 

I know many on these boards hesitate to leave their child for fear that something would happen, I am just not one of those people. I do book carnival excursions though, so I don't have to worry about delays etc.

 

A&JFamily: So you CAN leave your children onboard for the full day??? We are considering the same thing (want to take our oldest but would prefer not to take our 19 month old), but from I read one, Camp Carnival and Babysitting closes from 12-2 so how does that work? I actually posted a question about this earlier but haven't receive any feedback:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1308300&highlight=

 

Unrelated Side Note: We are an A&SFamily with J kids. ;)