General Dislike for Children?

[Johnsmomma]

Hello Family board,

My husband and I love to cruise and we want to bring our kids with us because we enjoy being with them and can afford to bring them. We are looking at future cruises and often when I get on the roll calls or message boards for certain cruise lines people seem to make comments about how they hope there are no kids and how they don't understand why people would bring them.

 

Have people been rude to you before when you have sailed with children in tow? Even on an upcoming cruise I am on that is Carnival (family-friendly in my opinion) everyone is talking about how they hope there aren't many kids. We want to book an itinerary next year that is Celebrity but we are afraid everyone will be less than welcoming to our family.

 

Thoughts?

[A&Jfamily]

Hello Family board,

My husband and I love to cruise and we want to bring our kids with us because we enjoy being with them and can afford to bring them. We are looking at future cruises and often when I get on the roll calls or message boards for certain cruise lines people seem to make comments about how they hope there are no kids and how they don't understand why people would bring them.

 

Have people been rude to you before when you have sailed with children in tow? Even on an upcoming cruise I am on that is Carnival (family-friendly in my opinion) everyone is talking about how they hope there aren't many kids. We want to book an itinerary next year that is Celebrity but we are afraid everyone will be less than welcoming to our family.

 

Thoughts?

 

I can't comment on Celebrity, but I have done 5 cruises now with my kids and never had an issue. In fact, the staff love to have them. But we don't pull them out of school and generally travel in early March or summer, so children are the norm. If people want to cruise and avoid children, then I think most are smart enough to book when school is in session.

[brazilgirl]

We have cruised with Celebrity several times with our 3 children in tow. We had a wonderful cruise on each occasion and had no problem whatsoever with "child haters". The crew is always very friendly and extremely kind to the children.

 

Peolpe love to "talk" on the boards (Cruise Citic) and some people love to bash kids. Let´s just say that in real life they tone it down....Unless your kids are total banshees , I doubt you´ll get any dirty looks at all.

 

We love traveling with Celebrity so much that we´ve booked a cruise on the Expedition , which goes to the Galapagos. There is no Kid´s Club on board and everyone has been very nice on the Roll Call. Just ignore the bullies and book the cruise that most appeals to YOUR family.

 

Kim

[Johnsmomma]

I think generally the crew is very family friendly, and on our last cruise through the Mediterranean we learned that a lot really liked being around kids because they had to be away from their children to work on the boat.

 

Maybe you're right that people just seem less than friendly when they are on a message board- I have always thought of cruise ships as so big that children won't get in your way :confused:

[jdl71115]

I would not worry about it at all. Especially because you are looking for family friendly cruises. We are booked on the Epic in Nov. w/ our 4 year old daughter. It cracks me up how many people complain about the kids that are on board that ship....but common' that ship has Nickelodeon characters on it! If people are opposed to cruising w/ children then they probably should not be booking a cruise that promotes Dora and Spongebob!!

 

I say take your children, and have a fantastic time!

[mymollysue]

We did get some looks and snide remarks on our NCL Jewel Cruise last week. My 1 year old DD is very vocal and likes to screech. Most people found her to be cute and funny but there were some who made it very clear that they were annoyed. I took it in stride. You can't please everyone. If I noticed she was bothering people, I took her out of the dining room or show.

I think more people were bothered by the teenagers running and screaming unsupervised down the halls. My theory is for those that want a cruise with less kids, go during the school year and on boats that cater to adults.

[Keith1010]

Hello Family board,

My husband and I love to cruise and we want to bring our kids with us because we enjoy being with them and can afford to bring them. We are looking at future cruises and often when I get on the roll calls or message boards for certain cruise lines people seem to make comments about how they hope there are no kids and how they don't understand why people would bring them.

 

Have people been rude to you before when you have sailed with children in tow? Even on an upcoming cruise I am on that is Carnival (family-friendly in my opinion) everyone is talking about how they hope there aren't many kids. We want to book an itinerary next year that is Celebrity but we are afraid everyone will be less than welcoming to our family.

 

Thoughts?

 

You are always going to meet some people who don't care for kids. That is life. When our kids were young we did try to be considerate of others so there were some cruise lines we did avoid (Luxury lines) as we didn't take them to a formal restaurant.

 

With that said many of the cruise lines are great for kids and Celebrity is one of them. We took our children on six Celebrity Cruises and we had a wonderful time. We also took them on many other cruises on other cruise lines.

 

Don't worry. It will be great.

 

Keith

[Baxter]

We did a Princess cruise in mid-December one year with our daughter. She was probably 15 months at the time. While the staff were awesome with her, some of our fellow passengers were obviously not child-lovers. Many times people would close elevator doors on us before we could get the stroller in -- and they were very obvious about the fact that it was because they didn't want a child in there. People made comments about how awful it must be for us to travel with her. How it was so pointless because she would never remember it. How children shouldn't be allowed in the dining room. And on it went.

 

What amazed me is that they were this way toward a child that rarely made a peep -- always laughing and smiling. Always quiet in the dining room because we gave her all sorts of attention (as did the wait staff) and brought dining-room appropriate toys. I would have hated to see what happened if she actually got fussy!

[snorkelman]

I have children but I also understand that people go on cruises to relax. I personally would be annoyed if parents allowed their children to be in areas of the ship where they are not permitted (solarium pool area and adult hot tubs come to mind). I also get annoyed if kids are accompanying their parents on the ship and if the kids are screaming their heads off and the parents do nothing, and are either immune to it or think it is cute.

 

Well behaved kids, or even kids that are not well behaved, but who are disciplined when they act up, are enjoyed even by the grouchiest person. It is another story when the parents allow the kids to disrupt others vacations without concern for the other guests.

 

I agree that if you really hate children, then you should probably avoid disney, RCL and Carnival ships, all of which cater and advertise for children.

[Johnsmomma]

We did a princess when our son was 17mo and we brought my mother to help so any time he was fussy she would take him back to the stateroom. That definitely helped, most people were nice but we did get a lot of comments from fellow guests on how they couldn't believe we brought him. No one was as outright anti kids on a cruise as they have been on the message boards.

 

My children are younger than school age so we can go during the school year- maybe this is why I am seeing more anti-kid remarks because people are booking during this time to avoid children.

[chipmaster]

Where are people talking about not liking kids? Here on the boards, LOL.

You find all sorts of extreme views on the internet boards! Just look here at any question about formal wear and then go ask someone that dresses less than formal on the ship if they met any of those "people" :D

 

On the cruise you'll find crew and most passengers enjoy and / or accept that children are part of the equation. Anyone sailing Disney, RCCL, or Carnival or for that matter any of the mainstream lines during holiday and expect not to find kids in the pool, running in the halways or just having fun well, they are clueless.

 

Don't worry plan that cruise and bring the kids you'll find a crew and majority of passengers understand!

 

 

Hello Family board,

My husband and I love to cruise and we want to bring our kids with us because we enjoy being with them and can afford to bring them. We are looking at future cruises and often when I get on the roll calls or message boards for certain cruise lines people seem to make comments about how they hope there are no kids and how they don't understand why people would bring them.

 

Have people been rude to you before when you have sailed with children in tow? Even on an upcoming cruise I am on that is Carnival (family-friendly in my opinion) everyone is talking about how they hope there aren't many kids. We want to book an itinerary next year that is Celebrity but we are afraid everyone will be less than welcoming to our family.

 

Thoughts?

[boulders]

The ONLY times I've experienced rudeness directed at my children has been on cruises. It's always been towards ds. He was 2 (RCCL) and 3(Carnival). On rccl, he was run over by an older child running in the mdr and threatened to be run over by a middle aged woman. On Carnival he was tripped by a man with a cane. In all instances, he was perfectly behaving himself. The other pax were not.

[cb at sea]

As long as they aren't MY kids that have to be taken care of...I don't care if they're there or not!

[snydermann]

I am one of those oldsters intolerant of children and people who have children. I dislike kids so much I knew as an early teen I didn't want any. I even married a woman who didn't want kids and so far, so good (32 years together). I don't know how, when or why the dislike started, it just is what it is. I do know my intolerance of the little darlings has been increasing over the years, I do think kids are behaving worse and are more spoiled than ever. Although, maybe it's just me getting older.

 

That said, coming from the worst of the worst child bashers, I respect parents who do the job well and have well behaved mini-people. I'm impressed with the folks who are obviously attentive parents and their well behaved children. I've even made it a point sometimes to complement those parents on their children.

 

If you are good parents with good kids there is a 99.9% chance no one will make you feel bad for being on the ship. Just remember, what you think is "cute" behavior, others may find annoying and not every venue on the ship is a playground.

 

[cosmolulu1]

I think if people hate children then perhaps one of the cruise lines that don't cater to families or children would be more suitable. We're going on Carnival with our 3 young children, 2 will do the Camp Carnival and the other will be with our nanny or with us. My kids are not allowed to run wild anywhere and will be doing age appropriate activities and in bed by 7 every night.

From the complaints that I see, it's usually older kids that run around unsupervised.

I my husband and I ever wanted a kid free trip, I'd opt for a cruise line without a kids camp, less activities for kids or a resort that was adults only.

[bigque]

Like myself I don't think that it is that so many people hate kids as I have 2 of my own (Now grown)! But I choose to cruise during months when there will be less kids on board, because that is just my preference, not having to deal with a lot of rambunctious kids running around. There will always be some kids on the cruise and that's cool with me, but the less is better for me!

[gerif]

We did get some looks and snide remarks on our NCL Jewel Cruise last week. My 1 year old DD is very vocal and likes to screech. Most people found her to be cute and funny but there were some who made it very clear that they were annoyed. I took it in stride. You can't please everyone. If I noticed she was bothering people, I took her out of the dining room or show.

 

Trust me, even if you don't "notice" she is bothering people in the dining room or show, she is. It is not cute and funny by any stretch.

 

Also not appreciated was the woman seated next to me at the pool on one cruise - her three 7-10 year olds, after consuming three frozen drinks each, complained that they were bored and wanted to use the hot tub but it had too many people in it. "Well, just jump in and start splashing around and they'll get out" was her advice - sure, anything as long as "she" didn't need to move from her lounge - so that's what they did. Nice.

 

Oh, and the group who were happily conversing near the frozen yogurt machine on the pool deck while their little ones proceeded to let a little yogurt out, grab it in their hands, lick it off and the proceed to do it all over again - they never missed a beat in their conversation.

 

So, you see, it's not really the kids that most people object to, it's the sad lack of parenting and regard for others that often accompanies them.

[harryfat1]

As other posters have pointed out, it’s very easy for people to sit in the comfort of your computer at home and type in inflammatory remarks that they would likely tone down in person. Every week, on some cruise line boards, there will be a heated discussion on what is the proper attire on main dining room with hundreds of opinions going back and forth. What I like to know is how many people actually stand next to the maitre de at beginning of every dinner and help them identify the people who don’t meet the dress code and assist tin escorting them out of the MDR?

 

We started taking our oldest son to Alaska cruise back when he was 15 months old and he just completed his fifth cruise on Celebrity last summer. The second son completed four cruises by age of six. On all the cruises, especially on formal nights where we dress the boys up, we receive a lot of complements when they are together and some people said they wished their kids were with them.

 

That’s not to say there weren’t some evil eyes here and there, but those are way in the minority. On our December 2008 Carnival pre holiday cruise, they had over 500 kids on board that sailing. So if someone wanted to give each kid the Medusa stare, by day 3 of the cruise, they would need some serious dosage of Vaseline to relieve their tiring eyes.

[bluesharpie]

We have only completed one family cruise but I did experience the big hairy eyeball from an older woman in an elevator. But, it was only after I drew attention to myself and didn't allow my kids to be squashed as 3 other people tried to jam in after it was full. You couldn't see my kids so the elevator didn't look completely jammed from the outside:rolleyes:

[sillysailor 1955]

Trust me, even if you don't "notice" she is bothering people in the dining room or show, she is. It is not cute and funny by any stretch.

 

Also not appreciated was the woman seated next to me at the pool on one cruise - her three 7-10 year olds, after consuming three frozen drinks each, complained that they were bored and wanted to use the hot tub but it had too many people in it. "Well, just jump in and start splashing around and they'll get out" was her advice - sure, anything as long as "she" didn't need to move from her lounge - so that's what they did. Nice.

 

Oh, and the group who were happily conversing near the frozen yogurt machine on the pool deck while their little ones proceeded to let a little yogurt out, grab it in their hands, lick it off and the proceed to do it all over again - they never missed a beat in their conversation.

 

So, you see, it's not really the kids that most people object to, it's the sad lack of parenting and regard for others that often accompanies them.

 

Very well put indeed.

[akcruz]

Trust me, even if you don't "notice" she is bothering people in the dining room or show, she is. It is not cute and funny by any stretch.

 

Also not appreciated was the woman seated next to me at the pool on one cruise - her three 7-10 year olds, after consuming three frozen drinks each, complained that they were bored and wanted to use the hot tub but it had too many people in it. "Well, just jump in and start splashing around and they'll get out" was her advice - sure, anything as long as "she" didn't need to move from her lounge - so that's what they did. Nice.

 

Oh, and the group who were happily conversing near the frozen yogurt machine on the pool deck while their little ones proceeded to let a little yogurt out, grab it in their hands, lick it off and the proceed to do it all over again - they never missed a beat in their conversation.

 

So, you see, it's not really the kids that most people object to, it's the sad lack of parenting and regard for others that often accompanies them.

 

Very well put indeed.

 

Agreed, very nicely stated.

 

Remember being on vacation does not relieve you of your parenting duties. I can say that as I have 2 myself and believe me they know the rules and if they were to participate in a lot of the stuff I hear about on these boards, DH & I would be sailing alone and they would be home!

[WeatherGeek]

I think the kids who bother others are the kids who have parents that go on vacation to take a vacation from parenting along with work, school, family obligations, etc.

 

Personally, I am VERY lenient with babies and toddlers. They're little. They don't understand a lot of things, like cause and effect or consequences (thus it's hard to effectively discipline them for bad behavior (key word: effective)), and are prone to making noise by default. I used to wonder why people took small kids on vacation, but now I have one of my own and I can't imagine vacationing without her - actually we did once last year and while we enjoyed it, we would have rather had her with us.

 

All you can do is book your trip and remember that while you're vacationing from everything back home, you're not vacationing from being a parent. But keep in mind that some people are NEVER happy no matter how well behaved your child is being. I was at McAlister's once eating dinner, just my daughter and I, and while we were waiting for our food to come, I was keeping her occupied by playing peekaboo. When I hid behind my soda cup instead of my hands and popped up and said PEEKABOO! she thought that was hilarious and she giggled. The lady at the next booth over turned around glared at us. She glared at a happy baby - I couldn't believe it. She wasn't being exceedingly loud, she simply giggled. In a noisy restaurant. The alternative was that I didn't entertain her and let her wail until the food came...

[mymollysue]

Very well put indeed.

 

Which is why, when she was vocal, I took her out of the room. Believe me, there were plenty of people who laughed or commented on how cute she was. However, I wasn't going to let her continue to do it in public, especially if she was bothering others. I also took her to dinners at the buffet on some nights, which catered to families.

[mom2two2]

I don't think OP needs any reminders that this is not a vacation from parenting.

 

We will find out the same thing when we sail in Jan. Last Jan we went just DH and I - not that we did not want to spend time with our kids, we had been about 10 years without a vacation "just the two of us" and we went with the knowledge that this would be a nice break for us. We knew there would be kids on board and I was worried it would upset me (I had a lot of guilt travelling without the kids...lol.) but to be honest, the kids that are on board are either doing family-oriented activities or in the kids clubs. They were not in the solarium hot tub or at the over 18 party on deck at midnight. We did see some kids (in Johnny Rockets for example) but it was my experience that the vast vast majority were polite and well behaved and their parents were attentive. I heard a lot more complaining out of pax of another "generation" than the kids we came across. Take the kid bashing with a grain of salt.

 

I am hoping my kids will be welcome on board even though we are taking them out of school to cruise, I am sure we will be no problem on the rock wall, mini golf course and so on. And your kids will not be either.

[Mack2]

We did a Princess cruise in mid-December one year with our daughter. She was probably 15 months at the time. While the staff were awesome with her, some of our fellow passengers were obviously not child-lovers. Many times people would close elevator doors on us before we could get the stroller in -- and they were very obvious about the fact that it was because they didn't want a child in there. People made comments about how awful it must be for us to travel with her. How it was so pointless because she would never remember it. How children shouldn't be allowed in the dining room. And on it went.

 

I had an experience aboard the Grand Princess with a nasty individual.

 

Background: My eldest son has a congenital retinal disorder. Stargardt's Disease, a form of juvenile macular degeneration. He's legally blind... has lost his central vision but retains some peripheral vision. Visual acuity at the time of the cruise was 20/200 (the 2 letters under the E on an eye chart). He was around 9 years old at the time of the cruise.

 

The third night at the main theater, we sat down in the first row. An unpleasant older man decided to take it upon himself to complain to us that Princess has signs asking children under the age of 12 not sit in the first 6 rows. My wife explained to the man that my son suffered from macular degeneration, and we had gotten an OKAY from the Princess staff to sit in the front to accommodate his vision problem.

 

At that point, the guy loudly exclaimed to my wife something to the effec of: "I have macular degeneration and you should teach him to DEAL WITH IT, NOT teach him to BREAK THE RULES!!!" and stormed off.

 

So, my wife was flabbergasted and in tears, I was in shock that a fellow passenger could be so rude. I wanted to remind him of the Americans with Disabilities Act, but I didn't want to start an angry, loud, epithet filled argument with him.

 

 

It soured my impression of Princess. Too many crabby seniors for my taste.