Kids programs competing with ship activities

[Dorothy]

We sailed on Carnival's Fantasy in January and loved it! My son turned 13 while we were on the ship, but wasn't too interested in the kids program, Camp Carnival. There weren't that many kids his age on board and after peeking his head in "Spirals" (the 12-18 year old club) a few times, he decided to just hang with me and engage in the regular shipboard activities.

There were several he wasn't allowed to participate in, however. We got pretty friendly with the social directors and when I asked *why* he couldn't participate she informed me that it was really Camp Carnival's call. They were afraid that if kids were allowed to participate (even older kids) in the regular ship activities, they wouldn't want to come to Camp Carnival! She was right!

Luckily, both directors kind of bent the rules a bit and let my son participate since he showed up (enthusiastically I might add) at almost ALL events!

Anyone else have an older kid or teen that didn't want to do the kids program?

dorothy

[pg.]

As the mother of a teenage boy I can certainly see the problem with expecting kids that age to go to " camp". I think they are better served by having a cool hang out with their own pop ( soda) dispenser, lots of pin ball machines, a pool table or table tennis, a juke box and some privacy! Kids over 13 or 14 don't want to be baby sat. They don't want to be made to play games, or sing songs or do crafts. They want to hang out and talk with other teens.
I think they should be allowed to particpate in the adult activities as long they aren't rated R, .