Lifeguards

100-150 years ago swimming/bathing went hand in hand, cool off(pre-air conditioning) and get clean. More families went to city pools and ocean. But agree then and now Life Guards are needed and help, though parents should watch their own kids also...

Good picture. Thanks... Combat Lifesaver, CPR trained for 40yrs and used an AED to save a life...

Trying to remember if over the years I've witnessed "Whoppy Sessions" in the pool as you call them. Know it's been at least 2nd/3rd base action, but have seen going all the way in cruise ship Hot Tubs and in the water on Labadee...Yuck.

I seem to have missed that.

Probably better off. :D

though parents should watch their own kids also...

What a novel, but seemingly out of date, concept.

While on Serenade last month I had to ask at the lifeguard desk by the pool deck how long they had been using lifeguards as I had not recalled this on previous cruises. His response to me was this was a new maritime law that all cruise ships with pools must have lifeguards by a certain date or they had to fill their pools in. Whether this is true or not I have no idea, just passing along what I was told.

When did Royal start with having all these lifeguards by the pools? Poor people standing there all day even when no one is even close to go into the water. This is ridiculous. And why one per pool? The pools are only 30 feet away from each other. They would just have to turn around to be there in 2 seconds if something happens. Because of costs I trust 5 lifeguards on a ship means 5 waiters less on the pool decks..

 

 

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On Majesty in 2017 they had one lifeguard watching both pools, but primarily his attention was on the kid pool.

While on Serenade last month I had to ask at the lifeguard desk by the pool deck how long they had been using lifeguards as I had not recalled this on previous cruises. His response to me was this was a new maritime law that all cruise ships with pools must have lifeguards by a certain date or they had to fill their pools in. Whether this is true or not I have no idea, just passing along what I was told.

I don't know if it's true, but it's probably the standard response they were told to provide to the guests if asked.

Many, many years ago the resorts at Walt Disney World were not gated and anyone could drive in and park. After they installed gates for security purposes, people who asked about them were told it was to keep people from other off-property hotels out of the pools. This may have been a half-truth at best, but Disney was never going to admit that they were plugging a security hole. I have to believe that the cruise line would never want to admit that the lifeguards were added because of accidents.

So what are the number of needless deaths that need to occur to justify having lifeguards on board.

 

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It started about 3 years ago when a boy drown on the oasis in the little pool with a current. Do I think we should have life guards? No I think parents should have to watch their kids and be responsible instead of drinking all day. Everyone wants to sue and blame others when things go wrong. Own up.

 

 

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Don't think the lifeguards are waiters at other times - rather employed because of their qualifications. As for parents watching children sometimes they are distracted and a child or anyone can drown very quickly. My daughter was at an all inclusive resort and a children drown because of inattention.

Yes, but many parents feel that the lifeguard or owner/operator of the pool should be fully responsible for their children.

IMO, the lifeguard is a secondary defense, first being attention by the PARENTS.

We have noticed that since having lifeguards the parents seems to watch their children less. They go to the bar etc. because there is a lifeguard

That's part of the problem. They leave their responsibility up to others and when something goes wrong they blame them. Seems like when some people go on vacation they also let their brain go on vacation.

As for the kids running around and jumping in the pool when others are in there, where are their parents? The parents need to stop this behavior.

That's part of the problem. They leave their responsibility up to others and when something goes wrong they blame them. Seems like when some people go on vacation they also let their brain go on vacation.

 

As for the kids running around and jumping in the pool when others are in there, where are their parents? The parents need to stop this behavior.

Our biggest gripe about cruising is the kids running around and jumping in the pool and/or just being a general nuisance in the pool.

With three pools on the Allure, for example, we often wondered why one pool wasn't designated adults only. So we've basically switched to Princess as we have found not as many kids on Princess sailings. We also try to pick times of the year when the odds of kids being on a sailing are much lower - such as just after a holiday when schools are back.

That being said, we're on the Anthem beginning May 31 and we're not sure what to expect; but we really wanted to try this ship.

Originally posted by PAcruiser19372 While on Serenade last month I had to ask at the lifeguard desk by the pool deck how long they had been using lifeguards as I had not recalled this on previous cruises. His response to me was this was a new maritime law that all cruise ships with pools must have lifeguards by a certain date or they had to fill their pools in. Whether this is true or not I have no idea, just passing along what I was told.

Pretty sure this is false. The vast majority of cruise ships sailing the world do not have lifeguards and yet I have not heard of any line outside of Royal adding them.

Pretty sure this is false. The vast majority of cruise ships sailing the world do not have lifeguards and yet I have not heard of any line outside of Royal adding them.

At least Disney and NCL also.

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=3023

And about how much they make:

The contract will vary depending on the cruise line, so will the salary. Disney Cruise Line lifeguards generally work 4.5 months on and six weeks off. Norwegian Cruise Line contracts are 6 months on and two months off. Salaries are typically $1600-$1800 a month.

So what are the number of needless deaths that need to occur to justify having lifeguards on board.

 

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I think there's a parental responsibility component here. If you have a kid on board, you should know where that kid is, and if that kid is somewhere doing something that could kill him, you should probably keep an eye on him. If you fail to do that, and your kid gets hurt or killed, then while blaming Royal might be cathartic, it's also not justified.

There have been a number of needless deaths on cruise ships where people went overboard because they got drunk and tumbled off of their balcony. I somehow doubt you are suggesting that Royal place a guard on every balcony to catch people who are about to fall, yet the same sentiment can be voiced - how many needless balcony-falling deaths need to occur to justify putting guards on every balcony?

I don't have a particular *problem* with lifeguards, except that when they aren't there, the pools close. We used to enjoy moving from hot tub to pool at night. Now we can't do that anymore, because the pools are all closed.

And that brings me to another oddity: People drown in pools because they're filled with water. Hot tubs are filled with water. Why is there not a life guard posted at every hot tub? Why are the hot tubs open when no life guards are on duty? I suspect the answer is because Royal does not want to infuriate passengers, and they think they can get away with closing the pools, but not the hot tubs.

At the end of the day, the lifeguards are unnecessary 99% of the time and not having them on duty 24/7 reduces the value of a cruise because amenities that were previously available late into the night now close as early as 7pm. Will it stop me from cruising Royal? No, of course not. But it's a negative, and if too many negatives accrue, then customers might be willing to explore other lines.

I think there's a parental responsibility component here. If you have a kid on board, you should know where that kid is, and if that kid is somewhere doing something that could kill him, you should probably keep an eye on him. If you fail to do that, and your kid gets hurt or killed, then while blaming Royal might be cathartic, it's also not justified.

 

 

There have been a number of needless deaths on cruise ships where people went overboard because they got drunk and tumbled off of their balcony. I somehow doubt you are suggesting that Royal place a guard on every balcony to catch people who are about to fall, yet the same sentiment can be voiced - how many needless balcony-falling deaths need to occur to justify putting guards on every balcony?

 

 

I don't have a particular *problem* with lifeguards, except that when they aren't there, the pools close. We used to enjoy moving from hot tub to pool at night. Now we can't do that anymore, because the pools are all closed.

 

And that brings me to another oddity: People drown in pools because they're filled with water. Hot tubs are filled with water. Why is there not a life guard posted at every hot tub? Why are the hot tubs open when no life guards are on duty? I suspect the answer is because Royal does not want to infuriate passengers, and they think they can get away with closing the pools, but not the hot tubs.

 

At the end of the day, the lifeguards are unnecessary 99% of the time and not having them on duty 24/7 reduces the value of a cruise because amenities that were previously available late into the night now close as early as 7pm. Will it stop me from cruising Royal? No, of course not. But it's a negative, and if too many negatives accrue, then customers might be willing to explore other lines.

Wasn't that long ago all Royal Pools & Hot Tubs were always shut down after dark, drained and had netting on them all nite...

I think there's a parental responsibility component here. If you have a kid on board, you should know where that kid is, and if that kid is somewhere doing something that could kill him, you should probably keep an eye on him. If you fail to do that, and your kid gets hurt or killed, then while blaming Royal might be cathartic, it's also not justified.

 

 

There have been a number of needless deaths on cruise ships where people went overboard because they got drunk and tumbled off of their balcony. I somehow doubt you are suggesting that Royal place a guard on every balcony to catch people who are about to fall, yet the same sentiment can be voiced - how many needless balcony-falling deaths need to occur to justify putting guards on every balcony?

 

 

I don't have a particular *problem* with lifeguards, except that when they aren't there, the pools close. We used to enjoy moving from hot tub to pool at night. Now we can't do that anymore, because the pools are all closed.

 

And that brings me to another oddity: People drown in pools because they're filled with water. Hot tubs are filled with water. Why is there not a life guard posted at every hot tub? Why are the hot tubs open when no life guards are on duty? I suspect the answer is because Royal does not want to infuriate passengers, and they think they can get away with closing the pools, but not the hot tubs.

 

At the end of the day, the lifeguards are unnecessary 99% of the time and not having them on duty 24/7 reduces the value of a cruise because amenities that were previously available late into the night now close as early as 7pm. Will it stop me from cruising Royal? No, of course not. But it's a negative, and if too many negatives accrue, then customers might be willing to explore other lines.

Really?

Nobody “falls” off a balcony. To equate putting lifeguards by the pools to putting someone to watch over the balconies is ludicrous.

While I don’t disagree that the parents need to be present and watching an extra trained set of eyes and someone trained in rescue and resuscitation can only be seen as a positive.

I'm a 1%er.

They give us giant sized cakes & pies.

They built us slides.

They put ice rinks on the ships.

They hung mega HD screens.

Why is anyone questioning the addition of LGs?

I'm so glad to hear about this. I was on the Anthem cruise when the little boy drowned. It was a terrible tragedy.

Really?

 

Nobody “falls” off a balcony. To equate putting lifeguards by the pools to putting someone to watch over the balconies is ludicrous.

 

While I don’t disagree that the parents need to be present and watching an extra trained set of eyes and someone trained in rescue and resuscitation can only be seen as a positive.

Yes, really. People do fall off balconies. Unless they've found him, they're looking for someone right now who went overboard on a Carnival ship. Why is it OK for those people to fall off the ship and die? What's ludicrous is the idea that *only* pool drownings are tragic enough to do something about it. If we're going to eliminate the requirement that cruisers be responsible for themselves and their children, then we should be consistent about it and post crew anywhere someone could get hurt or killed, which includes all outward-facing areas of the ship.

Obviously, I'm not advocating that - I'm advocating a rational lifeguard policy. Lifeguards in the kid pools? Absolutely. Lifeguards watching people walk around in the solarium pool, never swimming because they have drinks in their hands? Well now that's kind of silly isn't it?

Yes, really. People do fall off balconies. Unless they've found him, they're looking for someone right now who went overboard on a Carnival ship. Why is it OK for those people to fall off the ship and die? What's ludicrous is the idea that *only* pool drownings are tragic enough to do something about it. If we're going to eliminate the requirement that cruisers be responsible for themselves and their children, then we should be consistent about it and post crew anywhere someone could get hurt or killed, which includes all outward-facing areas of the ship.

 

 

Obviously, I'm not advocating that - I'm advocating a rational lifeguard policy. Lifeguards in the kid pools? Absolutely. Lifeguards watching people walk around in the solarium pool, never swimming because they have drinks in their hands? Well now that's kind of silly isn't it?

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When did Royal start with having all these lifeguards by the pools? Poor people standing there all day even when no one is even close to go into the water. This is ridiculous. And why one per pool? The pools are only 30 feet away from each other. They would just have to turn around to be there in 2 seconds if something happens. Because of costs I trust 5 lifeguards on a ship means 5 waiters less on the pool decks..

 

 

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You need trained pros watching a pool not turning around. Drowning is silent and people have drowned in pools full of other people. You’re seriously comparing RCI falling level of service to lifeguards being added???

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Yes, really. People do fall off balconies. Unless they've found him, they're looking for someone right now who went overboard on a Carnival ship. Why is it OK for those people to fall off the ship and die? What's ludicrous is the idea that *only* pool drownings are tragic enough to do something about it. If we're going to eliminate the requirement that cruisers be responsible for themselves and their children, then we should be consistent about it and post crew anywhere someone could get hurt or killed, which includes all outward-facing areas of the ship.

 

 

Obviously, I'm not advocating that - I'm advocating a rational lifeguard policy. Lifeguards in the kid pools? Absolutely. Lifeguards watching people walk around in the solarium pool, never swimming because they have drinks in their hands? Well now that's kind of silly isn't it?

I will write this again: adults can drown too. Even with drinks in their hands.

I legit don't understand why you would complain about the presence of lifeguards. Would you rather drown after having your fru-fru drinks and stumbling into the pool? The waiters aren't trained to save you.

Lifeguards are good things, and their absence always struck me as a huge liability.

Um lifeguards are a very good thing. Not poor lifeguards, they are getting paid to do that job. It was very comforting to see them at each and every pool on Anthem last year. Nice touch and great idea RCCL.

Right?! It sounds like a pretty nice cruise ship job where you don't have to break your back working hard.

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