Children Staying in AO while parents do an excursion??

[hydro1570]

Hi all,

 

I am so nervous about taking the kids on their first cruise in November. I am one to always worry about them when I am not around. I also had a bad experience on a Carnival ship as a teenager myself that scares me. How do you parents feel about possibly leaving the children in the camps while doing an excursion??

 

We have 3 children 5,12,&14. The age limits on a lot of the excursions are 8 & up or more, so my youngest one holdS us back from doing it as a family. If we pick one ADULT excursion & leave them in the camps how safe is that??

Has anyome done this before?? Please tell me your feelings and thoughts regarding this. Also will the camp make my 12 & 14 yr ols stay put until we return?? I have read that they are allowed to sign theirselves out...and that scares me too. TIA!:confused:

[sprockie]

Lots of people do it, but I never would myself. There's several threads here on people missing the ship. We missed it ourselves once in St. Thomas. I don't know what they'd do if you had kids in camp, it depends on the captain. If you were on a ship's excursion, they would more likely make sure you're back. You just never know what can happen. IMHO

[boulders]

The 12 and 14 year olds would not be in "camp". Adventure Ocean only goes up to age 11. For the older kids, there is a drop in club that they can come and go from. Often, they don't even schedule activities for this age group until later in the day.

 

For the 5 year old though, no one, other than the staff and kids in the program, are allowed in Adventure Ocean. Adults must stay behind the gate while the counsellors take or return the children. It's very secure.

 

I have kids the same age. I'm a widow and we only travel by ourselves. We just did a cruise 3 months ago where I did leave 2 out of 3 children onboard while I did excursions with the 3rd. I only did shorter ship organized excursions. My thinking as well was that if anything happened to me, the older of the 2 left on board could look after the little one while things were sorted out.

 

Another possibility you could look into would be a babysitter that could be responsible for all 3 kids while you are on shore.

[rachel_f99]

I have done it, and I plan on doing it again. The kids were fine (they are now 6 and 7, but were as young as 4 when we did this). They love AO and I can hardly drag them away!

 

However, my caveat would be that I would always do a ship sponsored excursion while doing this. In that, I guarantee that the ship will wait for me if there is a problem and also could get a hold of me in an emergency since they know who I will be with.

 

On our cruise in a couple of weeks, we are taking our boys on two excursions and leaving them on the ship for one.

[bluesharpie]

I have mixed feelings about the subject but my personal experience was that my 4 and 6 YO didn't want anything to do with AO (well, my ODS did do the pirate night). If we had booked an adult excursion, we would have been SOL b/c my kids (who love daycare/summer camp) didn't want any part of AO. From my experience, I can only relate the sentiment that you might want to wait to book the excursion until you are onboard and know whether your kids will like AO/kids programs. We just got back and even though it was a summer cruise with lots of kids around, there weren't a ton of kids using AO. I'm not sure why my kids wouldn't attend but we left it up to them and they wanted to stay with us :-)

[Kerry's Girls]

I travel alone with my kids and have left them on board while I went into port. I feel secure that if something horrible happens to me, they will be well cared for on the ship. When we do a foriegn land vacation, if something happens to me, my girls would be in the hands of the local child authority and placed somewhere where they don't speak the language until one of my family members could arrive - so in comparison, the idea of them being in the hands of the ship staff is a comfort in the unlikely event an accident of something prevents me from returning to the ship.

 

Best,

Mia

[gerif]

However, my caveat would be that I would always do a ship sponsored excursion while doing this. In that, I guarantee that the ship will wait for me if there is a problem and also could get a hold of me in an emergency since they know who I will be with.

 

Not true - they MAY wait a bit, but often cannot, no guarantees at all. What they will do if you are on a ship sponsored excursion is be responsible for putting you up and getting you to the next port. They also will not necessarily be able to reach you in case of emergency as the excursions are not actually run by ship personnel but rather local vendors that they contract. They know who you will be with, but likely will not be able to contact you. Just so you are aware of the actual facts.

[luvtravelbug]

My kids were 2 and 4 when we took them on their first cruise in April. Of the 4 ports, we left our kids on the ship for two of them since the excursions had age minimums (snorkeling and cave tubing). All of the tours were ship excursions. I was nervous leaving the kids behind, but we have never had a problem with excursions from other cruises. The kids liked the camp and we enjoyed ourselves so it worked well for us. If you don't feel comfortable leaving them behind, don't do it because you won't be able to enjoy the excursion anyway. Good luck.

[jtm22372]

we left our then 18month old onboard in nassau . we were nervous about it but it was fine. one thing to remember you have to be back on the ship by noon. at least we did the camp closes from 12-2 on port days

[chrystine]

we left our then 18month old onboard in nassau . we were nervous about it but it was fine. one thing to remember you have to be back on the ship by noon. at least we did the camp closes from 12-2 on port days

 

All of the ships I have been on do not close camp during port hours. We have left our son at camp a couple of times when we went on tours not suitable for his age and there was never an issue. The counselors will take the kids to lunch when you are not on board. However, Carnival (and several other lines) do close camp for lunch break when not at port between the hours of 12-2pm or some variation thereof.

[kassimer1]

I have done it, and I plan on doing it again. The kids were fine (they are now 6 and 7, but were as young as 4 when we did this). They love AO and I can hardly drag them away!

 

However, my caveat would be that I would always do a ship sponsored excursion while doing this. In that, I guarantee that the ship will wait for me if there is a problem and also could get a hold of me in an emergency since they know who I will be with.

 

On our cruise in a couple of weeks, we are taking our boys on two excursions and leaving them on the ship for one.

 

you are not gaurenteed to have the ship wait for you if you miss the boat even with a ship sponcered excursion. we left 2 people in mexico that did not come back to the bus on our ship sponcered excursion.

[kitty9]

Personally, I can see a problem leaving the older two on board as they won't be in the camp and will be able to come and go---and do anything they please---- while you're off the ship. Just too tempting for kids that age.

[tiff123]

Hmmm... we did this once in Antigua - two ship booked excursions. The kids did not enjoy the camp that particular cruise and I felt guilty about leaving them. Out of our two cruises that is the only time we've left them onboard. If we missed the ship they would have been terrified. I'll never do it again. The memories we have at each port (even if they don't remember) and the things and places they've seen are worth compromising on the excursion we do. :)

 

I understand it is harder when you have a younger child as they can't do many of the excursions. Fortunately we are beach lovers and they a great for children! We also taught our little ones to snorkle and swim at a very early age. :cool: One thing we've found is if the cruise line doesn't allow a particular age on a tour, a private tour may offer it. The cavetubing tour in Belize had a min age of 8 I think and we booked privately so our 5 & 7 year old could go. It worked out great. Just do the research to make sure its safe.