zship Posted September 17, 2011 #1 Share Posted September 17, 2011 Our family (which includes a 9 and 12 yr old) has gone on many cruises and had a great time. We were hoping to try one of Oceana's larger new ships over the holidays but a rep for Oceana told our travel agent that Oceana strongly discourages all children. Does anyone know if this is true and all Oceana ships are totally childless even during the summer and holidays ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted September 17, 2011 #2 Share Posted September 17, 2011 They do allow children but they have no programs for them maybe that is what the TA was getting at If they can entertain themselves it is fine We have had very few children onboard any of the O ships .. they have been well behaved & you hardly notice them We have not done a Holiday cruise but I did read they had presents for the children that were onboard Lyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orchestrapal Posted September 17, 2011 #3 Share Posted September 17, 2011 If you try the search function at the top of the page you will find several threads on this topic. Most Oceania cruisers choose this line because it is casual dress, open seating almost smoke free and no children. Our experience on 10 cruises has been to only have seen 2 children and one was the child of a ships officer. There is really nothing to keep your children amused on the O ships. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benita Posted September 17, 2011 #4 Share Posted September 17, 2011 We were on the Marina in July. There was a family from Miami with three kids - one was a baby. The older two were well behaved, but said they were bored when I asked. They were the only kids on the ship.They would play pingpong with their parents and went on private shore excursions, but there were no other activities geared to kids. As dinners in the dining venues take at least two hours on a fast night, they wound up eating in the buffet almost every night. If your children like to read and prefer the company of adults and a game of chess to a video game, they will enjoy themselves. I find that if kids are happy, their parents will have a good time, but a bored kid can certainly ruin the vacation. When we travel with people with kids, we stick to the more mainstream lines like Royal Caribbean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimandStan Posted September 17, 2011 #5 Share Posted September 17, 2011 It's true, the children are VERY few and far between on Oceania. When the deck-plans for the Marina class were introduced, one of the things that I found surprising was that there were no dedicated areas for children or for teens at all. Judging from the children that we have met on past Oceania cruises, the kids that do the best are the ones whose parents have saturated them with the history and culture of the ports being visited beforehand, and then organize age appropriate shore activities during the cruise. If the adults aren't willing to put that level of effort into it, then chances are the kids will be bored out of their heads on Oceania. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacheco18 Posted September 17, 2011 #6 Share Posted September 17, 2011 With all the choices out there and the many new ships offered by other lines, I would not advise anyone to choose Oceania for cruising with kids. Among the many reasons most of us choose O is because there are no kids (or hardly a kid) and no kids programs to attract kids. There will not be any children for your children to spend time with and no special activities for them. O is not a family oriented cruise line. It is really geared towards adults and an adult experience. I think most kids would be bored and disappointed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjrcm Posted September 18, 2011 #7 Share Posted September 18, 2011 On our recent 16 day European Marina cruise this past August, there were some kids of various ages. I'd guess less than a dozen if that. The few teens mostly hung out around the pool. It probably helped that it was a very port intensive cruse, so most of their time was spent off ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esther e Posted September 18, 2011 #8 Share Posted September 18, 2011 If we were taking our grandchildren on a cruise, holiday or whenever, we would choose a ship with activities for them, not a ship geared to adults with no venues for children. It wouldn't be much of a vacation for anyone, us, the kids or fellow passengers, if the kids were bored. JMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mura Posted September 18, 2011 #9 Share Posted September 18, 2011 It's clear from the comments that Oceania permits children, but doesn't plan for those who happen to be on board. It's not a question of whether those of us who aren't used to having children around will be bothered by their presence. It's a question of what trip will they enjoy taking? We haven't seen that many children on our Oceania cruises, and those that we have seen have been older -- at least teenagers. They've all been beautifully behaved and seemed to be having a good time ... but I have to wonder. They may well enjoy touring the ports ... but once they are back on board, they will have to be self starters. When we've been on ships like the QE2 and NCL (not often but we've done a few cruises with them) we were impressed by the really excellent childrens' programs they have in place. And while I hadn't thought about this question before it was posed here, when Oceania decided to build two larger ships they clearly could have put some childrens' programs in place had they wanted to. Either they deliberately decided not to, or it didn't occur to them to change their policies. With the "R" ships, there just isn't the space. With Marina and Riviera I should think there COULD have been some space allocated. But it wasn't. (And yes, there will be more children on board at holiday times... but still not many.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wripro Posted September 18, 2011 #10 Share Posted September 18, 2011 Parents who bring children on Oceania or any of the luxury lines are, imo. more interested in their own good time than their childrens'. There is a reason God invented Disney, RCCL and Carnival. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OzAbroad Posted September 20, 2011 #11 Share Posted September 20, 2011 Simple answer is that it depends on the children and also the itinerary and the effort parents put into it. The children do need to be self starters. If your kids love kids clubs and like to be constantly entertained then Oceania is wrong for them. If on the other hand they can entertain themselves or have an aversion to childrens entertainment activities then it is for them. We have travelled with our children on a number of O cruises and they have always found other like minded kids on board, but mostly just enjoyed the journey. Heavens knows they have enough technological support and reading material and port tours to keep themselves entertained for more hours than are available on the cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtamchay Posted September 20, 2011 #12 Share Posted September 20, 2011 We happened to be on the Insignia this July and much to my surprise there were quite a few young perople. This was a 14 day, port intensive, cruise and the young people were extremely well behaved. We had a cabin between two sets of kids and never heard one peep from either side when in our cabin. We had an opportunity to speak with several of them and they are well travelled kids. It was interesting that the CD, Leslie Jon, kept them in mind on many occasions with activities announced and obvioulsy well attended as he kept reminding the kids to attend. My best guess is that they were all 10-20 years old and very much used to cruising and land vacations that covered Europe. I certainly was misled by the information I had gleaned from these forums about "no kids" on Oceania cruises. What I was happy about was no toddlers or babies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted September 20, 2011 #13 Share Posted September 20, 2011 I certainly was misled by the information I had gleaned from these forums about "no kids" on Oceania cruises. What I was happy about was no toddlers or babies. Maybe those that mislead you have never sailed on Oceania or were just lucky;) We have always had at least 1 child on our cruises most were over age 5 but always well behaved It is like on the other forums when people ask about adult cruises & people will tell them to travel when school is in session.... different parts of the world have their school breaks at different times of the year so no set time frame there Then there are the under school age children whose parents will take them cruising & of course the "home school crowd" they will book when rate are cheaper We got stuck on a cruise with a group of Home school families...it was a big ship with programs to keep them busy though Oceania still has a smaller number of children that I have seen on any other line Lyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RetiredFL Posted September 20, 2011 #14 Share Posted September 20, 2011 During school vacation we have always found a few kids/teens on Oceania cruises although not to the extent of the "hordes" on the mass market lines. As notes, they seem to be well behaved and experienced travelers and maybe that is the reason their parents felt comfortable bringing them. The one exception was our holiday cruise to South America and it was obvious the some parents chose to ignore the guidelines. Trying to force a 7 or 8 year old child to sit through a 2 hour dinner in Toscana was a disaster. We noticed after a couple of days the parents started showing up alone for dinner, presumably one stayed in the cabin with room service and the children while the other enjoyed the dining room. What a shame they didn't read Cruise critic or the brochures. To the credit of the staff, especially Willie Aames, the cruise director, they tried to come up with things for the kids to do but with few tools at their disposal it wasn't a great success. We try to avoid July and August for cruising, even on Oceania. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bornfreenowexpensive Posted September 21, 2011 #15 Share Posted September 21, 2011 If my kids had been on the ship, folks would have been in line to throw them overboard. There's a reason for adults only vacations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ms Understood Posted September 21, 2011 #16 Share Posted September 21, 2011 I sailed on Insignia with 3 nieces and a nephew, ages 12,13,14 and 21. They enjoyed the pool, room service, ping pong, watching movies, going to tea and of course all the ports. I guess they were well-behaved since Lyn doesnt even remember them being there!:D ------------------ Helen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mura Posted September 21, 2011 #17 Share Posted September 21, 2011 But those children, especially the older ones, are exactly the age range that usually does well -- even on Oceania that has no special plans for them. Well, a 21-year old shouldn't need special plans anyway. We haven't seen many children on our Oceania cruises, but the few we've seen have generally been at least 14 or 15. I think it's the younger ones (pre-adolescence) that really are generally not prepared for such an adult experience. (Not that there aren't some who are.) Mura Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted September 21, 2011 #18 Share Posted September 21, 2011 I sailed on Insignia with 3 nieces and a nephew, ages 12,13,14 and 21. They enjoyed the pool, room service, ping pong, watching movies, going to tea and of course all the ports. I guess they were well-behaved since Lyn doesnt even remember them being there!:D------------------ Helen But they were so good even on the tour they were good tourists ;) Lyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted September 21, 2011 #19 Share Posted September 21, 2011 I think it's the younger ones (pre-adolescence) that really are generally not prepared for such an adult experience. (Not that there aren't some who are.) Mura You may be right There was a little girl maybe 9yrs on one of our cruises & no other children she played with her game at dinner in Polo while the parents enjoyed the evening She truly looked bored People have to know how much their children can tolerate being on their own Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimandStan Posted September 21, 2011 #20 Share Posted September 21, 2011 You may be rightThere was a little girl maybe 9yrs on one of our cruises & no other children she played with her game at dinner in Polo while the parents enjoyed the evening She truly looked bored People have to know how much their children can tolerate being on their own John Maxton Graham, in his magnificent tome to the glory days of the Ocean liner, "The Only Way to Cross", tells of a little girl (not more than 8) on the Normandie who made an appearance each evening in the ornate dining salon wearing "a custom made miniature mink coat", yet looked perpetually bored. That is either the most glamorous, or the saddest, story that I have ever heard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillPizzaiolo Posted September 21, 2011 #21 Share Posted September 21, 2011 Our family (which includes a 9 and 12 yr old) has gone on many cruises and had a great time. We were hoping to try one of Oceana's larger new ships over the holidays but a rep for Oceana told our travel agent that Oceanastrongly discourages all children. Does anyone know if this is true and all Oceana ships are totally childless even during the summer and holidays ? I tend to agree with most all the posters so far. But I must let you know that Chef Kelly does organize a cooking class for kids. On the two Marina cruises we took we saw that they were fully subscribed and the kids really enjoyed them. So there is ONE activity on board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddmel Posted September 21, 2011 #22 Share Posted September 21, 2011 I hope that O continues the objective of providing an a superb adult vacation experience. If they try to broaden the market to children, teens, etc. there would be a significant drop off in it's loyal base of those like us who enjoy an almost all adult environment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orchestrapal Posted September 21, 2011 #23 Share Posted September 21, 2011 I hope that O continues the objective of providing an a superb adult vacation experience. If they try to broaden the market to children, teens, etc. there would be a significant drop off in it's loyal base of those like us who enjoy an almost all adult environment. Well put and so true!!!:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillPizzaiolo Posted September 21, 2011 #24 Share Posted September 21, 2011 I hope that O continues the objective of providing an a superb adult vacation experience. If they try to broaden the market to children, teens, etc. there would be a significant drop off in it's loyal base of those like us who enjoy an almost all adult environment. Well behaved children are not the problem. The learning experience for them would be worth the potential drop off. I doubt that there would be a significant drop off anyway. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddmel Posted September 21, 2011 #25 Share Posted September 21, 2011 I am not suggesting that well behaved children are a problem. When a cruise line targets a market including children, there is no way to vet the potential cruisers so that only well behaved children are ticketed. Further, on board resuorces (paid for by all) will be devoted to non-adult activities. I wanted to avoid giving examples from our experience but here goes. On one O trip there was a teen who was very disruptive. For example, intefering with the pilot of the tender. His parents were usually nowhere to be found. I also will speak of our experience on Celebrity where the loud din from a table with children made it very hard to have a normal conversation with our table mates. The bottom line is that I can't depend that parents of any children on board will properly supervise them so they do not disrupt their fellow travelers. PS We love our grand children. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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