Can I comment on kids/toddlers/babies on cruises?

[malsha]

I didn't realize this topic was such a hot topic until recently. I am curious to hear opinions on this. I know some have said cruising is not for children; that kids should stay at home, etc etc. I assume this is for poor behavior not just the site of children on board?

 

I go to all kinds of publich places with horribly behaved children; grocery stores, malls, the playground, dentist offices. Should children not be allowed there either? Poor behavior is unacceptable anywhere.

 

I am taking my 23 mth old son on his first cruise this May. I am very worried about the reaction that my family will receive to having a child on board. Yes, he is 90% of the time well behaved and fun loving...sure he is a squealer of delight and is curious to explore. As long is is isn't disruptive to other passengers, will we be "accepted" and not given dirty looks? I am also concerned about dining in the dining room. What if we have tablemates? I am sure they won't be thrilled to have a highchair and a messy eater pulled up every night.

[superjerryw]

The sentiments against children stem from the fact that many parents let their children run wild on the ship with no superivison. These are the kids that press all the buttons in the elevator, bang on peoples doors in the middle of the night, try to get in the adult only areas, etc. Everyone seems to agree that this is due to bad parenting. Sadly, some parents feel that once they get on the ship, they ae no longer responsible for supervising thier children and the ship is supposed to act like a babysitter for them so they can enjoy their vacation. There are also parents that flaunt rules against bringing babies in diapers in to the hot tub and this angers everyone as well.

 

As far as poor behavior being unacceptable anywhere, this is true, but most people don't really care about bad behavior they see at a mall or a playground. When you're on a cruise that you have paid a lot of money for you want to enjoy yourself and not have to experience that bad behavior.

 

If you supervise your child properly, no one is going to be concerned or give you any dirty looks. As far as tablemates, if you would prefer, just ask the Maitre'd to be seated at a small table by yourselves.

[springtxbill]

As Superjerryw said as long as he isn't disruptive he will be well received. At dinner they may seat you with another similar aged child and possibly back in a somewhat out of the way place to minimize any distraction to others.

 

He will be well attended to by the staff as a lot of them have their own young children at home that they may not have seen for over six months. They have to use substitute kids.

 

My 23 month grand son will be on his 2nd cruise in June, his first being at just under 6 months.

[stefboyardee]

I, myself, do not mind any child, baby or toddler who is behaving. I personally would rather have a baby that cries then teenagers that are loud, drunk and rude.

[bug18]

I started cruising with my sisters family a few years ago when her youngest was 5. We never had a problem with other passengers or the crew. On our last cruise there was a baby (under one year old) at the next table and he was just adorable. We never even knew he was there, he was so good. I think one night he acted up a bit and at that point they took him out of the dining room for a bit to calm him down. We were amazed at how good he was the whole week.

[3redheads]

Since they haven't developed the "Adults Only" cruise, it's to be expected that there will be children. I've never gone on vacation without my children.

 

We went on our first family cruise in March. My daughter is 11 and my son is 7. It was a Disney cruise and is a family friendly ship.

 

One alarming trend I did see was that people do let their children run around without supervision. They figure they can only go so far. Well, there was a heated debate on the Disney boards.

 

I will not allow my children to go anywhere without us, except the kid's clubs. I'm not worried about them getting in trouble because they're well-behaved, but I'm worried about someone pulling them into their stateroom. Call me paranoid, but it's how I feel.

 

I'm sure you'll get a multitude of responses, but you are paying for your cruise and you're paying for your child's cruise. Since your child is so young, you don't have to worry about making sure your child behaves. I think it's once they get older that they get mischievous :D

[herbnjod]

while I prefer not to take my kids, we did last thanksgiving. It was a totally different cruise experience for us. I was glad to give them the experience and we had fun, but doubt if we'll do that any time soon--maybe when theyre college age(11 & 14 now).

 

Now, I know ppl have their issues with kids, but they have a right to be there unless you book an 'adults-only' cruise. It doesn't bother me anymore to see misbehaved kids as there are just as many rude and obnoxious adults onboard(ie: buffet time--ppl can be so rude*ugh*)the ship!

 

Kids will be kids and if I have a problem I either report it to a security officer, or go somewhere where I'm not bothered---tho dont xpect me to leave my perma-seat by the pool!! :)

[Arizona Cruz Chic]

It s not the babies or the toddlers...its the older ones 10-17 that cause most of the trouble. :eek:

 

 

***

[boatbunny]

Hi Malsha,

 

I totally understand how you feel, I get really tired of hearing how children shouldn't be on cruises. Yet, I can tell you that all of "bad" experience issues revolve around adults. From the people who don't know when to stop drinking and become obnoxious jerks, to the inconsiderate ones who either have late night parties in their room or keep their tv blasting on high volume all night so nobody else can get any sleep. We are going on our third cruise, and we have taken countless land vacations, and honestly, I cannot recall one single time when a child or children has affected our enjoyment. This past weekend I was in NYC and our hotel had over 300 HS students staying there. Who woke us up at 3 AM with their yelling down the hall? Four fortyish women who were so drunk they couldn't get their door open.

 

It's all about parental control, and hopefully parents who have taught their children to be respectful and considerate to others. Do I agree that teens should be able to roam the boat alone in the wee hours, absolutely not! The rules that apply at home should apply on vacation, even more so. A cruise ship is still like a small city, there are ways for kids to get into trouble, it's not a sterile environment. On our last cruise, we stumbled upon 2 teenage boys enjoying a joint, unfortunately they were in a public area right next to the Adventure Ocean area. We reported them to one of the crew, a few minutes later they were escorted away. One of the boys and his family just happened to be sitting near us in the dining room, believe me, there was not a lot of conversation at their dinner table that night, and I saw the boy at his parent's side for the rest of the trip. At least these parent's knew how to take control.

 

You should not experience any poor treatment on your cruise, we never have. If anything, you will find the staff and crew go out of their way to be accomodating to families. As for other passengers, most will be very nice and compliment you on how well behaved, well dressed, how much they remind them of their own kids, grandkids, etc. For the ones who have the nerve to say anything negative, ignore them and walk away, but honestly, they usually don't say anything to you, they just complain amongst themselves. I laugh at the posts who say they leave their kids at home so they can have some "alone" time and get away from "taking care of their kids". Can't tell you how many couples have come up to us at the pool, hot tub, etc. and said they were taking a trip without their kids but they would never do it again because they missed them so much!

 

Kids usually act out because they are looking for attention, and mostly attention from their parents. If families don't spend quality time together, which equates to less attention to the kids, where do you think the root of half of this country's problems with kids start?

 

Okay, I am going to throw on my protective gear now, but I just want to say that both my husband and I work full time, we have extensive commutes to our jobs, we spend as much time as possible with our kids during the week and on weekends, but still try to find some time for ourselves. Our family vacations is the time we have to totally reconnect without having to run off to gymnastics, school, work, and countless other obligations.

 

Take your kids, relax, to heck with the rest of them, and have an unbelievable time! And when you all look back on your vacation and pictures, everyone is there, not just "see what mommy and daddy did?"

[DrD]

I've seen it from both sides.

 

 

We brought our toddler on a cruise, and regreted it. He's a very good boy but everyone made such a fuss over him that he was all jazzed up the whole cruise and wouldn't sleep, he kept wanting to go back out of the cabin.

 

He's also a climber, so I got several more grey hairs pulling him off railings!!!!

 

OTOH, he was treated like a little prince by crew and passengers alike. We ordered room service alot (gee, wonder why?) and the lady always brought him a treat we didn't order, like ice cream etc. We used the baby sitting service which was great.

 

However, all in all, it wound up not being much fun for mom and dad. We went again a year later and sent him to camp grandma. Considering he has to pay as much as an adult, including all taxes etc, it was hardly worth it to bring him.

 

I don't think I'll bring him again until he's at least old enough for the daycare.

 

Besides, spending a week with grandparents is good for him and for grandparents and for us, so it's a win-win-win.

 

Personally, other people's kids don't bother me, sure they can be annoying but at least they're cute!

 

Once we had a crying baby in the cabin next door, but I found with a little help from the friendly bartenders I could sleep fine.

[lrovnan]

I think it's a hot topic because of the lack of parental supervision more than anything. Bringing a baby on board is a different situation because you will be tending to his needs. Plus since it's a new place and people he's experiencing I'm sure he'll be on his best behavior. I know my very outgoing 2 year old turns into a mouse and a perfect "angel" when she's in a new place or meeting new people. What I've read about the seating arrangements you can check your seat when you enter the ship and change it if need be (if you would like it in a corner or so on). I don't see a problem with requesting to sit with another family in the same situation.

[Onessa]

Take your child! We've been cruising and other vacations with our daughter since she was 5 months old.

 

While you may get the occassional rude person, I never let them bother me - I was traveling once with my daughter alone when she was about 7mo, and had her buckled into her car seat into the plane seat (for which I paid the same amount as mine BTW!) when two businessmen seated themselves in their seats behind us. DD was blistfully asleep, but the one guy made a loud comment about getting stuck by another screaming baby. Immediately upon our ascent to cruising altitude, he loudly requested another seat (DD still was asleep) and left his seatmate behind. DD awoke about 20 minutes later with bearly a peep, I went to the restroom, changed her, nursed her, we went back to the seat and played quietly - just your normal happy baby sounds! I gave her a bottle with some water in it to suck on as we landed - happy baby no crying. The seatmate not only apologized for his cohort's poor behavior, but also "made" him catch up to me and apologize in the terminal.

 

So there is always the chance that, no matter what you do, someone will object. But I've found that the "anti-kid" faction are some the same folks on these boards who are always complaining about something - chair hogs, dress code, spa charges, beverage choices, tablemates, noise - they are looking for a reason to be unhappy.

 

Enjoy the cruise with your son! If he's having a hard time somewhere, try to remove him from the situation. You may need to restructure your pre-baby ideas of what makes a great vacation, but just because you cannot party all night long or cram as much into each day, doesn't mean you won't have a great time.

[Richro]

Take your son on that cruise and enjoy! :)

[Nothin' But Sun]

while I prefer not to take my kids, we did last thanksgiving. It was a totally different cruise experience for us. I was glad to give them the experience and we had fun, but doubt if we'll do that any time soon--maybe when theyre college age(11 & 14 now).

 

Now, I know ppl have their issues with kids, but they have a right to be there unless you book an 'adults-only' cruise. It doesn't bother me anymore to see misbehaved kids as there are just as many rude and obnoxious adults onboard(ie: buffet time--ppl can be so rude*ugh*)the ship!

 

Kids will be kids and if I have a problem I either report it to a security officer, or go somewhere where I'm not bothered---tho dont xpect me to leave my perma-seat by the pool!! :)

I agree, we have two, a 6 month and a 21 month old. No I would not take them anytime soon. We plan on trying it when they are 4 and 5 as I think they may have much more fun as opposed to being any younger. My reasons are for the sheer fact that I am a Stay at home mom and a Day Care Provider and I LOVE all my kids but just want to get away and take care of myself too. Daddies staying home for the next few cruises because even he says I deserve some ME time.

I however do not care that small ones are on the cruise and they have never bothered me in the past. Lucky little kids.

[dc-snoopy]

I am taking my 23 mth old son on his first cruise this May. I am very worried about the reaction that my family will receive to having a child on board. Yes, he is 90% of the time well behaved and fun loving...sure he is a squealer of delight and is curious to explore. As long is is isn't disruptive to other passengers, will we be "accepted" and not given dirty looks? I am also concerned about dining in the dining room. What if we have tablemates? I am sure they won't be thrilled to have a highchair and a messy eater pulled up every night.

 

I'll reply as a DINK (one of the people that you are afraid will give you a hard time). As long as you are attentive to your child, you will be fine. Everyone, even those of us childless, understands that kids will be kids. Kids will have bad moments (even kids over the age of 20). Bad kids are not the problem...bad parenting usually is. If your child causes a commotion, be sure to address it. If you can't get them to stop, then take them out of the public eye (out on deck, in the hallway, to the restroom, somewhere that it will not disturb other guests). If they cause a mess, clean it up or get someone to clean it up. Keep an eye on them to keep them out of trouble (don't let them take the decorations down or play with things that kids are not supposedly to play with). As long as you and your child are respectful, other pax are tolerant of child-like behaviour.

 

Re: dining, take your son to the first night which is casual and very tolerant. Take a look at your table-mates and if you don't think they are a good fit for you and your son, contact the DR manager and make arrangements to move to a different table that has either other children or fewer pax. You'll probably find that you're already seated with someone else travelling with children as they frequently do try to match up like "types".

 

So take your son, watch your son, and enjoy your vacation together!

[ckrobyn]

Our first cruise was this past February and we chose to take our 8 year old DD with us. Every parent has their own reasons for taking/not taking their children on vacation with them. I believe there is no right or wrong reason here, it's simply a matter of personal preference. My DH and I have very busy careers and when you think about it, we really only see our daughter for about 4 hours out of a 24 hour weekday! :( Talia is our only child, and I think that is part of the reason we choose to basically take her "everywhere" with us. She is in school from 8:30am - 4:00pm so we really only have the early evening hours with her. Time with our rapidly growing daughter is precious to us :)

Every time I see a new thread about kids on cruises......I cringe. I have said it on here before, and I will say it again.....my child is not perfect, she has moods and a personality of her own, but we do NOT allow her to exhibit behavior that is inappropriate in public areas of the ship. Parents DO need to take responsibility for their kids, but they cannot "personally" control the child's mood or personality. Kids will be kids, it doesn't matter where they are, that's just geography.

As far as babies under the age of about 2, there is NO way a parent can control when this baby cries ( mine cried for 18 months straight! uuugh!) Obviously if the baby is inconsolable, then a trip back to the cabin may be in order. Otherwise, babies cry....they are babies and that's just what they do.

Until Royal Caribbean decides to ban kids from their ships......I think everyone just has to get used to the fact there are going to be extremely well behaved kids, and there are going to be unruly ones, the best we can do is ask those parents to watch their children closely and make sure they are not interfering with other guests enjoyment of their cruise experience. With leisure time so limited for busy parents, more and more of us are choosing to include our children on our vacations.

[Shar27]

Re: dining, take your son to the first night which is casual and very tolerant. Take a look at your table-mates and if you don't think they are a good fit for you and your son, contact the DR manager and make arrangements to move to a different table that has either other children or fewer pax.

 

You know, sometimes it is just not worth reading these threads.

 

I'm starting to think that a lot of people on these boards are intolerant of anything but absolute perfection. Because they must be absolutely perfect themselves. Noone here is ever late for dinner, never wears anything that might be considered inappropriate, never drinks too much, never says the wrong thing, never, heaven forbid, holds a chair for more than five seconds and of course have all of the parenting skills of Dr. Spock and the most precious of children.

 

Beware, my wonderful family, including three children under 12, will be travelling on the Explorer this Dec. We are not perfect, my children do have the nerve to act like children and once in a while may even (gasp) fight amongst themselves, causing huge discomfort to those around them.

 

I will have to punish them immediately and remove them from their surroundings. Send them to their cabin for the week. Bar them from the Dining Room or any other location where there might be an adult present who is trying to enjoy their vacation without children.

 

Oh, and lest we forget, I will have to check out the people at our Dining Room table, perhaps conduct a poll, to assure myself that we are not inconveniencing them by sitting at "their" table.

 

Flame away if you must, but people, please, lets face facts, children will be children. They will have their moments and no matter how good my or my DH's parenting skills may or may not be, not everyone will always be happy! From the sound of things around here, I would still rather be with them then a lot of the "adults" on these threads. They are a lot less judgemental.

 

As for our original poster, enjoy your cruise with your son. Have a fabulous time. When we were on our first cruise, we didn't have our children with us and we spent a lot of time admiring other peoples babies. (And so did a lot of other people.)

 

Sharonna

[dc-snoopy]

As far as babies under the age of about 2, there is NO way a parent can control when this baby cries ( mine cried for 18 months straight! uuugh!) Obviously if the baby is inconsolable, then a trip back to the cabin may be in order. Otherwise, babies cry....they are babies and that's just what they do.

 

I agree with most of what you said; I just want to qualify my response. If the baby is upset, out of common courtesy, no one should say anything. However, if your toddler cries, then, out of common courtesy, you should do something about it. If you cannot control or quiet the toddler, then you should take the child out of the DR. If a brief trip/walk out to the hallway or deck will suffice, then bring your child back to the DR when (s)he is quiet. If not, then you may have to excuse yourself to take your child back to your cabin where you can tend to his/her needs better in privacy. Yes, it is your vacation, but you do not have the right to disrupt other peoples' vacation. You'll find that as long as you are courteous to others, most of them will be tolerant and courteous to you.

 

I know you said "...Obviously if the baby is inconsolable, then a trip back to the cabin may be in order..." but I don't want people to misinterpret your last line to "other people just have to learn to accept it because babies do cry"

[Tromler]

I agree with Shar, to add to the discomfort, my wife and 5 year old son and 10 month old twin daughters will be on the Navigator on Nov 26th. We will try not to inconvenience anyone with our family vacation on "family oriented" Royal Caribbean Cruises.

 

A quote from Royal "Every year, more and more families are sailing with Royal Caribbean. One of the biggest reasons is our Adventure Ocean® Youth Program. The idea behind this award-winning program is to teach kids about new, interesting things, like the ports they visit, the science of sailing, even exciting new sports like gagaball. But most of all, it's about having fun. After all, it's their vacation too. "

To further my point, Royal has even started the new Aqua Babies program, catering to 6-18 month olds, to me this implies that Royal is encouraging my patronage with my children.

 

With that said, I wouldnt allow my children to be disrepectful to any guests, but again, they are children, as we all were.

[Shanafan]

I don't have any problem with kids on cruises. I will be honest and say that on our last cruise we ran into a rather rude family. They had a little guy---I would guess 18 month old that they brought to the 9 pm comedy show. They sat next to us and the entire time the baby babbled Dadadada squealing, ect ( which is what babies do ) and they had probably 8 adults in their group. Do you think one would take the baby out so as not to disturb the rest of the people around them........NO.

 

The other thing is the full size stollers.......they block the aisles going to the pool, take up most of the elevator and are just not as practical as an umbrella stroller.

[dc-snoopy]

You know, sometimes it is just not worth reading these threads.

 

I'm starting to think that a lot of people on these boards are intolerant of anything but absolute perfection. Because they must be absolutely perfect themselves. Noone here is ever late for dinner, never wears anything that might be considered inappropriate, never drinks too much, never says the wrong thing, never, heaven forbid, holds a chair for more than five seconds and of course have all of the parenting skills of Dr. Spock and the most precious of children.

 

Beware, my wonderful family, including three children under 12, will be travelling on the Explorer this Dec. We are not perfect, my children do have the nerve to act like children and once in a while may even (gasp) fight amongst themselves, causing huge discomfort to those around them.

 

I will have to punish them immediately and remove them from their surroundings. Send them to their cabin for the week. Bar them from the Dining Room or any other location where there might be an adult present who is trying to enjoy their vacation without children.

 

Oh, and lest we forget, I will have to check out the people at our Dining Room table, perhaps conduct a poll, to assure myself that we are not inconveniencing them by sitting at "their" table.

 

Flame away if you must, but people, please, lets face facts, children will be children. They will have their moments and no matter how good my or my DH's parenting skills may or may not be, not everyone will always be happy! From the sound of things around here, I would still rather be with them then a lot of the "adults" on these threads. They are a lot less judgemental.

 

As for our original poster, enjoy your cruise with your son. Have a fabulous time. When we were on our first cruise, we didn't have our children with us and we spent a lot of time admiring other peoples babies. (And so did a lot of other people.)

 

Sharonna

 

Talk about judgemental. You seem to read more into what I wrote that I said. I said "if you do not think they are a good fit for you and your son...make arrangements to move to a different table" ... I didn't say that if you didn't think they would accept you and your son. I didn't expect her to "take a poll to see if she was inconveniencing her tablemates". I DIDN'T say if she felt she and her son were not a good fit for their tablemates they should move; I said that if she felt that they (the tablemates) were not a good fit for her and her son. I was responding to the OP's concern that she would get disapproving looks or rude behaviour to her son. If that happens, she moves so she doesn't have to deal with rude and condescending behaviour. If they get along with the other pax, then fine. If the other pax are upset (and don't say or show anything) then it is their option to leave the table or make other arrangements. I'm not saying she has to excuse herself to avoid upsetting them. I've said before that everyone understands children will be children. I'm trying to convey to her that she should bring her son along, and provided she is courteous to other pax then beyond that, it is not her problem.

 

Regarding your own children whether they have kid issues or not, as long as you deal with them, I don't have a problem with kids fighting...as long as the parents deal with it instead of ignoring it. On my last cruise on the Jewel, the children were very pleasant to have around, kids issues and all. There was only one unpleasant incident and that was a "parenting" problem not a kid problem, where the parent wasn't dealing with the incident,

[yarlenna]

....

I know you said "...Obviously if the baby is inconsolable, then a trip back to the cabin may be in order..." but I don't want people to misinterpret your last line to "other people just have to learn to accept it because babies do cry"

OK. If you are the person in the next cabin and you need a nap - then what can you do. It can be very hard. Just have seasick problems ONCE with a crying baby - - -

[dc-snoopy]

OK. If you are the person in the next cabin and you need a nap - then what can you do. It can be very hard. Just have seasick problems ONCE with a crying baby - - -

 

Hmmm...I can understand this...but from my perspective, I would prefer that a parent deal with a crying child in private including the cabin next door than in public. Just the way that I was raised (my mother was always adamant that we not behave poorly in public...if we had to cry or have a problem, we should take it somewhere out of sight).

 

For issues of noise in our cabin, we do carry headphones with our CD portable and I would probably put headphones and music on...

[ckrobyn]

OK. If you are the person in the next cabin and you need a nap - then what can you do. It can be very hard. Just have seasick problems ONCE with a crying baby - - -

 

Yarlenna;

Unfortunately, if a baby is crying in the cabin next to you, your options for quiet are limited.

I think we all agree that if there is a tantrum or a prolonged uncontrollable crying spell, then the child/baby needs to be removed from the public area. Obviously the child/baby will be taken back to the privacy of their cabin.....

We can't have it both ways.......either the kids carry on with their "unacceptable" behavior in public, or they are taken back to the cabin and the person(s) next door just have to deal with it......or........pull up a lounger on the pool deck? :confused: I don't have the answer......

[New2RCCI]

Malsha please take your son on the cruise and have fun.

 

 

My DW and I have taken our DD on two Disney cruises. We have discussed these posts about “children gone wild” and cannot remember one instance of it on the cruises. Maybe Disney just did it better than RCCL. While some people have valid reasons for not wanting to spend time near children, IMHO quiet a few are just repeating things they have read on other posts. One of the first things you learn on these boards is to not let a little thing ruin your cruise. On one thread about RCCL losing someone’s luggage there were countless post about how they wouldn’t have let this ruin there vacation. They would have just bought a new wardrobe and smiled (sure). But god forbid a child presses the buttons on an elevator and you think the ship was sinking. We are taking our DD and DS on the Explorer in a few weeks and will not let these threads get to us.