Circle C on Carnival Magic

[jmatdoc1021]

I have an 11 yo daughter that will be 12 in October. She is very mature and very responsible. (Only Child)..

I am wondering if she will be too old for Camp Ocean and if I needed to see if she can bump to Circle C..

Also I read a few reviews about Circle C not being as organized as Camp Ocean and that alot of kids ran around the ship unsupervised. She is a social butterfly and gets bored easy so she could use entertainment. She likes the idea of the late night parties like 11pm to 1 am she is a night owl, but I wasn't sure if those are hosted by Camp Ocean or Circle C . First time cruising with kids so lots of questions. Thank so much for your insight. Cruising in 24 days ;p;p;p;p;p;p

 

PS not sure this makes a difference but she is 5 foot and weighs 120 pounds. She fits in with 13 and 14 yo at school and camp easily

Edited May 18, 2017 by jmatdoc1021

[A&Jfamily]

If she is not 12, they will not move her up to Circle C. Keep in mind that Circle C is for 12-14 year olds - so there is a HUGE maturity change, both physical and mental in this age group and Carnival is NOT going to want to be liable by putting an 11 year old with kids that are pushing 15.

 

Also, in Circle C, they generally do not start morning activities until 10 am or later on a sea day and will run well into the evening. They are MUCH less structured than Camp and yes, the kids tend to meet the first night and form groups. My son is now 13 (March) and is also mature (has had sign in/out privileges since he was 9 - as opposed to his brother who was older before I let him have that freedom). At 12, when he was in Circle C, really didn't do much that he considered fun. It was a Christmas cruise and they were doing a lot of crafty things or rehearsal for the Santa show and he is an athlete and just not into that stuff. He hung out on sports square, played basketball, putt-putt and the various games.

 

Late night has never been a big thing for my son. Since he was small (like 5 or 6) he has set his own bedtime which he has finally pushed back to 9:30 on a school night. At 9 he is upstairs in his room packing up his sports gear and bookbag and getting his shower. He never has to be told. So on a ship, he tends to stick with his routine, maybe a little later. I think the mature ones adapt just fine and can find plenty to do no matter what age group. But even in Camp they offer late night parties til 1 am or later - bringing the kids back to their room at the end. You just have to pay the nominal fee.

 

So my advice is to give her sign in/out privileges. There will be other 11 year olds on the ship that she should be able to meet on the first night. You can provide rules and structure for her and let her decide what to participate in and what not to.

[jmatdoc1021]

Thank you so much for that quick response. I have set her up with sign in and sign out privileges and we are planning to hit the meet and greet first night. I told her if she loses interest in an activity she can always choose to leave and come back to us. Just wanted to check with someone that had past experience. Thanks again.

Edited May 18, 2017 by jmatdoc1021

[kctwinmommy]

It's not true that they "won't move her up..." We've been on 3 cruises within the past 18 months with our 12/13 year old son. During the summer, when the ship is full of kids, the change of kids was more rare. But on the November cruises, it happened more often. I would go to the camp she's technically supposed to be in and see what kind of kids are there. Depending on the capacity, it MAY be a possibility to move up. We have seen it done, so when people say it never happens or it's against Carnivals policy, that's not 100% true.

 

However, you are correct that Circle C isn't as strictly organized as the younger camp. Our son would go check-in in the morning, find his friends that he had made and often play video games with them. Sometimes they would walk around, they would go to the Lido deck for lunch, etc... Our son knew the rules (from Carnival and us), so he also knew the consequences. He stayed out of trouble, stayed out of where he wasn't supposed to go, etc... He knew when he had to be back in the room, we knew the schedule and talked about the plans before we started each day.

 

Everybody can tell you different stories and ideas, but you need to do what's best for you, your daughter, and what you're comfortable with.

[micheecruise]

I have an 11 yo daughter that will be 12 in October. She is very mature and very responsible. (Only Child)..

I am wondering if she will be too old for Camp Ocean and if I needed to see if she can bump to Circle C

 

I have read on these boards that they will bump her if she is close to the cut off age. The last cruise we went in 2013, my youngest was 10 1/2, they would not allow her to be with the older kids (her sister is 2 yrs older). They told us that if she was a year older they would have allowed it. It may depend on the staff that is running the camp on your ship.

 

Regarding the structure of Circle C, it is definitely less so than for the younger kids. They do have activities, but it was my experience that they kids would meet up at the Circle C spot, hang out a bit, do the planned activity, then sorta go on their own. We talked to our daughter before we went on the cruise regarding our "rules", etc. and never had any problems.

[jmatdoc1021]

I have read on these boards that they will bump her if she is close to the cut off age. The last cruise we went in 2013, my youngest was 10 1/2, they would not allow her to be with the older kids (her sister is 2 yrs older). They told us that if she was a year older they would have allowed it. It may depend on the staff that is running the camp on your ship.

 

Regarding the structure of Circle C, it is definitely less so than for the younger kids. They do have activities, but it was my experience that they kids would meet up at the Circle C spot, hang out a bit, do the planned activity, then sorta go on their own. We talked to our daughter before we went on the cruise regarding our "rules", etc. and never had any problems.

Thanks for the additional info

[estillcrew]

It has never worked for me, and we have tried on six different cruises. One time my youngest daughter's friend was a week from turning 15 and they wouldn't let her move up to club 02. Another time my oldest daughter's friend was two weeks from having turned 18 (she was a senior in high school) and they would not let her go to Club 02. Other times, I have tried to move my daughters up or down to be with each other and on each of these occasions, they were either a year older than the age cutoff or a year younger. No matter how much begging and pleading, they would not allow it. We were on a spring break cruise every time, so that might have made the difference.

[kctwinmommy]

IAnother time my oldest daughter's friend was two weeks from having turned 18 (she was a senior in high school) and they would not let her go to Club 02.

 

We were on a spring break cruise every time, so that might have made the difference.

 

I've never heard of them allowing an 18 year old into Club O2. Legally, that person is an adult, there's no way they would allow it. And yes, the summer cruise we were on was much more strict. I believe the kid they moved up to Club O2 was traveling with the large group of school kids who were all in O2. He's the only one they allowed to move up, and they didn't allow any of the younger kids moved in to Circle C on that one. The times we saw it happen were during our November cruises, way fewer kids.

[A&Jfamily]

I've never heard of them allowing an 18 year old into Club O2. Legally, that person is an adult, there's no way they would allow it. And yes, the summer cruise we were on was much more strict. I believe the kid they moved up to Club O2 was traveling with the large group of school kids who were all in O2. He's the only one they allowed to move up, and they didn't allow any of the younger kids moved in to Circle C on that one. The times we saw it happen were during our November cruises, way fewer kids.

 

 

Typically if they are still in high school they allow 18 year olds - many are still seniors so they are normally with 15-18 year olds.

 

 

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[Racegirl6]

We cruised last September on the Ecstasy, not many kids were onboard that cruise. Our daughter had just turned 12 in July, she LOVED Circle C. If your cruise doesn't have many kids onboard they may make an exception. Our daughter hung out with kids ages 12-14 all week. I met a lot of them and one boy was right down the hall from us as was another girl, they all walked our daughter back to our cabin first and were very polite. She can't wait to cruise again and see if she can make new friends. I'm looking at the Magic, September 2018.

[kctwinmommy]

Typically if they are still in high school they allow 18 year olds - many are still seniors so they are normally with 15-18 year olds.

 

 

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I've never heard of them allowing an 18 year old. It has nothing to do with being in school, it's the fact that they're legally an adult. I understand that in school they are, but this is a business. I should clarify that at least in the recent times when I've read posts about this question, it seems they've all said their 18 year old wasn't allowed into O2.

[A&Jfamily]

I've never heard of them allowing an 18 year old. It has nothing to do with being in school, it's the fact that they're legally an adult. I understand that in school they are, but this is a business. I should clarify that at least in the recent times when I've read posts about this question, it seems they've all said their 18 year old wasn't allowed into O2.

 

I stand corrected.

[estillcrew]

I've never heard of them allowing an 18 year old. It has nothing to do with being in school, it's the fact that they're legally an adult. I understand that in school they are, but this is a business. I should clarify that at least in the recent times when I've read posts about this question, it seems they've all said their 18 year old wasn't allowed into O2.

 

They did not allow my daughter's friend who was a senior in high school and had just turned 18 into Club 02. We met many 18 year old high school seniors on that cruise who were not allowed to go into Club 02.

[kctwinmommy]

They did not allow my daughter's friend who was a senior in high school and had just turned 18 into Club 02. We met many 18 year old high school seniors on that cruise who were not allowed to go into Club 02.

 

I'm wondering if they used to be more lenient on this. I did search and found some older threads that say a few times people said they saw/had it happen. But it just seems that in the more recent times I've seen this question posed, everyone says they weren't allowed.

[vacationmom0103]

What about moving down? My nephew just turned 15 last week and we are sailing on July 15. He would LOVE to stay with my boys who are 12 and 13 in the Circle C club! Any thoughts?

 

 

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