Teens Thrown Off Ship -- Proper Penalty?

[paul929207]

I think the punishment was a bit harsh - although the boys were definitely old enough to know better, maybe a very stern warning should've been given. I think too the ship may incur hefty penalties for anything being thrown overboard. Just my opinion - it's not like they started a fist-fight or anything - not technically saying what they did was right either; it was definitely wrong and they should've known better.

The problem is we only have Grandma's version of the story. It may be accurate or their may be more involved. I tend to trust the captain. He is not in business to throw families off the ship. I suspect that either this incident was more than reported or there were other incidents earlier in the cruise.

[sail7seas]

Ring the doorbell (or bang on the door) and run.....

 

 

Ahhh, :) Thanks. :D

 

I should have been able to figure that one out for myself. :o

[lovetogosailing]

I think the punishment was appropriate. And the parent's are responsible. Their teenagers obviously should not have been left unsupervised. They made the decision to do so and the consequences of that decision do reflect on them. It doesn't mean they are bad people, but it doesn't get them off the hook.

I have never had anyone tell me that you can not throw food overboard[ or anything else]maybe the kids had no idea. I have been on more than 300 cruises and only once was someone kicked off-- there were Spring breakers who threw deck chairs and the rope that ties the ship to dock. BIG fine also.

I recall days I saw crew throwing electrical wires etc over at night.

Parents learned a hard lesson watch your kids.

[grandmato4]

Proper penalty given. Understandably difficult for the family but sadder still if the family blames the Captain and allows the young men to think they did nothing wrong.

[Aquahound]

I have never had anyone tell me that you can not throw food overboard[ or anything else]maybe the kids had no idea.

 

I have heard instruction to not throw anything overboard on every single one of my cruises. I always hear it at the lifeboat drill.

 

Obviously the whole story is not told here. I think more than just sandwiches and a fork were thrown over.

[spongerob]

Based on the information available here, the punishment is far to harsh.

 

Tell them, make them understand, that is was wrong but do not treat them as if they were major criminals.

They are children. The probably did not even now that severe consequences might follow. A goofy game maybe. Nobody was hurt, they did not run around to destroy the ship or to disturb anybody.

 

To destroy the family vaction was IMHO a total overreaction. The point of time, christmas, makes it just worse. Wasn't there something about love, forgiveness, families united, weapons silent even during war?

Totally disagree. How can we on the one hand praise children for their wisdom when they want to be sexually active at a young age, or when they parrot political speech of either stripe, then turn around and claim that they're "just children" when they're caught doing something wrong?

 

The captain made a proper decision, and should be supported.

[Skywench]

I think the captain did the right thing. These things should not be tolerated and I have no sympathy for them. I guess since they were on vacation, the parents must have thought they were on vacation from being parents. It's dangerous to throw things overboard and it's also wrong to litter. These kids need to learn some respect for property and the environment. Maybe this whole family needs to learn these things.

[jetwet1]

I grew up on cruise ships, starting with Cunard then RCCL, I made the mistake as a 12 year old of not thinking and throwing a coke can over the side.

 

My father and the Captain came up with a suitable punishment for me, I got to sweep decks, trust me, the thought of throwing anything over the side again will never enter my head.

 

While I think there is more to this than we are being told (let's face facts, people are not put off ships for throwing food over the side one time, sad but true) something went on before and the Captain had had enough.

 

Now if this was a first time thing then a warning would be given, there must of been other issues with the family before and of course we are only getting one side. Kids will be kids for sure, but I will say it again, no cruiseline put a family off one of it's ships for one small incident.

[paul929207]

I think the captain did the right thing. I just think they should publisize it. Not the people's names, but that they threw off the family because of the kids misbehavior.

[matj2000]

When you say "scarred the kids" - am I to understand that you feel that they should have been given sufficient thrashing as to leave permanent marks, or simplythat youdo not kow how to spell?

 

Don't act like you cannot understand my post. Its called a typo "youdo" know what that is don't you?

[luddite]

Putting them off the ship was a little too harsh. There was no damage done or a crime commited. They should have just scarred the kids and give the parents a warning.

Also I do not believe the story is real...

 

Wow! Even I wasn't advocating scarring the little hooligans.

FWIW, a crime WAS committed.

On the Princess board, the query was made as to whether this was the same extended family that disrupts/annoys/ruins a cruise every year at Christmas.

Kudos to the Cap'n. He did the right thing, albeit maybe not soon enough.

[junglejane]

Well, if the worst thing my kids do by the time they reach adulthood is throw a muffin off the railing of a cruise ship, then I will consider myself a successful parent.

 

I do tend to think there must be more to it than that, though. When we were on the Crown Princess this past July, the Captain kicked off two adult males who threw glasses at the pilot boat, aiming to hit it and apprently the pilot. To me there's a vast difference between that and some young teens dropping food over the balcony (maybe they thought it wasn't too different from feeding the fishes -- stupid but that's how kids think).

 

Let's face it. We'll never know the full story, but if it really even happened, I'll bet they were throwing more than a little food and a fork.

[BIG_Steve]

Speaking from 11 years of experience as a juvenile probation officer, it's not up to perpetrators and/or their parents/significant others to question the penalty of an offense. You may recall the old slogan "If you can't do the time, don't do the crime." The captain has the ultimate responsibility for his ship...if in his view the appropriate disciplinary action was removal from the ship, so be it. I've seen too many kids over the years whose main problem is that they were allowed to get away with too many little things, then the little things escalate and they can't understand why they are punished. Hard lesson, but effective.

 

Really, and what about drivers who speed? Let's give them the electric chair.

[MrsPete]

I'll tell you what: If my kids did ANYTHING to attract negative attention from ship's security, what the captain could do to them would be NOTHING compared to facing my wrath back at home.

 

In this case, the captain was 100% right, and the parents should've done a better job of 1) talking to the kids about appropriate behavior and 2) supervising their children.

[luddite]

Really, and what about drivers who speed? Let's give them the electric chair.

 

That would make tha AlGore happy. It would ease global warming and the population explosion!:)

[Gathina]

Harsh? WHY? Because he stood up for the rights of other passengers instead of the nose pickers and their parents who don't know how to supervise them?

 

Found this post on another site, couldn't find it on CC. Just wondering what others think of this. The right penalty?

 

 

My own experience: I love kids, but I think one of the reasons RCCL started charging for Johnny Rockets was the amount of waste. On our 1st cruise with a JR I witnessed whole sandwiches being thrown overboard by teens and younger ones numerous times.

 

 

My thoughts: the penalty (especially considering the season) was a bit harsh. Your thoughts?

 

 

" For Christmas, my husband and I gave our two grown sons and their families a cruise to Mexico on the Sapphire Princess departing and returning to Los Angeles. We were spending Christmas on the ship. It would have been the first time I had managed to get both families together in 20 years for the holiday. On Dec. 23, at sea between Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas, my two grandsons, age 13 ands 15, were in a cabin of another boy they had met on the ship and they had thrown some articles of food overboard including a fork. Apparently, they were spotted on camera by security. The next day in Cabo San Lucas (Christmas Eve day), my son, his wife and the two boys were ordered off the ship by Captain Tony Herriott and had to pay their own way back to Los Angeles. Three other families whose sons were also involved were ordered off the ship. The Captain's actions devastated us all. Needless to say, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were very depressing days for the seven of us that remained on board. There is now a new Christmas Grinch out there and he is the Captain of a Princess cruise ship!

[PhoenixCruiser]

I agree that Grandma is leaving out a few things....This may have been the second offense, or perhaps the parents had some not so nice things to say to the staff when confronted.

 

I'm sure the Captain had his reasons, in any case. His ship, his rules!

 

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[DonMar]

I too agree that there is more to this story if expulsion indeed took place. I also agree - his ship, his rule.

[deevmo]

The reason you will not hear from the family is that they have their own set of worries just at the moment and probably do not want to come here to get flamed. I have three boys, thankfully now young adults. Boys do unbelievably stupid things. My boys did their share. Ours have been difficult enough that we have develped a long standing relationship with a psycologist. Her comment after a very difficult family meeting years ago was "Boys - they are hopeless till they are 25!". As a three boy mother, she was only half kidding.

 

I can wait till my boys are 25. I don't know how long I can wait for strangers to stop rushing to judgement! There sure are a collection of exemplary parents on these boards.

 

I believe that could have happend to us, and lacking any more information I would say the penalty was harsh.

 

I totally agree! I also have 3 boys, and when they were 13 I definitely let them play unsupervised for periods of time. Did they get in trouble - yes sometimes because they are curious and don't always think first. Doesn't make them or the parents bad.

I cringe when I read some of the self righteous things people are writing. If only we all could be so perfect!

[luddite]

I must believe that the decision to toss people off of the ship is not made lightly and probably has some guidelines established by corporate headquarters.

 

Sure would've enjoyed watching as they were told of their fate!:D

[paul929207]

I totally agree! I also have 3 boys, and when they were 13 I definitely let them play unsupervised for periods of time. Did they get in trouble - yes sometimes because they are curious and don't always think first. Doesn't make them or the parents bad.

I cringe when I read some of the self righteous things people are writing. If only we all could be so perfect!

We have onlyheard one side of the story - the Grandmothers. I tend to believe that the captain is not looking for an excuse to throw several families off the ship in a foriegn country. Therefore, I suspect there is more to this tale than Grandma is telling us.

[luddite]

We have onlyheard one side of the story - the Grandmothers. I tend to believe that the captain is not looking for an excuse to throw several families off the ship in a foriegn country. Therefore, I suspect there is more to this tale than Grandma is telling us.

 

I'd make that bet!

[Glaciers]

I think this is akin to all of the adults, myself included, who smuggle alcohol onboard. I continue doing it as they only confiscate it but still allow you onboard. If I saw that passengers were actually being denied boarding or thrown off at any port, I’d reconsider doing it.

 

There needs to be a tangible penalty, not just a sit down discussion about it. Throwing the family off seems a bit harsh but what other alternatives are there to really make an impact? I do like the idea of having them sweep the decks but that would certainly open up another can of worms.

[sail7seas]

While the Captain (probably) has the last word, I think it likely he did not take that action without consultation with Home Office. These days of easy communication have taken lots of autonomy from the 'on the spot' people.... not to mention the need to consult with 'legal'. :)

 

I'd be surprised (though we'll never know), if the Captain's decision was spontaneous and without prior consult with headquarters.

 

He has my full support. They are not in the business of upsetting their guests for no good reason. Their goal is to provide the best possible cruise for all their guests.

[deban42]

I think this is akin to all of the adults, myself included, who smuggle alcohol onboard. I continue doing it as they only confiscate it but still allow you onboard. If I saw that passengers were actually being denied boarding or thrown off at any port, I’d reconsider doing it.

 

There needs to be a tangible penalty, not just a sit down discussion about it. Throwing the family off seems a bit harsh but what other alternatives are there to really make an impact? I do like the idea of having them sweep the decks but that would certainly open up another can of worms.

 

 

Now you know that none of these posters smuggle alcohol on board :eek::eek::eek:

It's against the rules. And I know they all act like perfect angels. So they have the right to pass jubgement on a 13 year old, when they don't know the whole story. If the story is as is, the punishment was to much. If there was more to the story, that's different. Since we don't know the whole story, I have no opinion. :D