Rambunctious kids on Oceania

[Mura]

Couldn't quite recall where this subject was brought up before so I thought I'd start a specific thread. Proviso: I'm not saying ALL children are rambunctious!

 

The July issue of International Travel News has some interesting letters on the subject. A regular cruiser commented on the Dec. 22, 2010-Jan 2, 2011 cruise on Regatta where a number of children had run wild. (This was her fifth time on this itinerary so it would appear things were not always thus.) From the posts I've seen here I'd been under the impression that the problem started with this winter's sailing, but apparently not.

 

She did comment that she didn't notice much of a difference in the number of children on this itinerary, just that their behavior was very different. She wrote to Oceania twice and received one generic answer. The second said that because it was the holidays there were more children than usual, and O would "at its discretion" schedule childrens' programs.

 

The writer had a similar problem on Marina this winter (Dec 2011-Jan 2012) -- this may be the cruise which prompted the earlier comments I saw.

 

Oceania commented "Going forward, we will be making it more explicit in our contract that Oceania Cruises reserves the right to disembark any child, and accompanying parent or guardian, who is detrimental to the comfort, enjoyment or safety of other guests."

 

Let's hope so!

 

By the way, the next letter in the series was a passenger complimenting Azamar on the way they handled the fire on the QUEST in March.

 

Mura

 

P.S. ITN does post much of the issues at their webpage but as of now only the June 2012 article is available. I don't know if this sequence of correspondence will be available once they post the July issue.

[Paulchili]

There is precedent to disembarking unruly passengers - we witnessed it on Cunard.

[Mura]

I have a vague recollection of such an incident some years ago. It may have been Renaissance, but I don't think so. Perhaps it was the Celebrity ship (I think it was Celebrity) that once upon a time was completely non-smoking.

 

As I recall it, two 14 year olds were caught smoking in the cabin and the families were escorted off the ship at the next port.

 

So I know it can happen!

 

Just like the Seabourn passengers recently kicked off when the wife was ill and didn't attend the boat drill on the second leg of a B2B.

 

Mura

[spook1]

Several years ago Pacfic Princess was Honolulu bound from Sydney and prior tp Papeete two women had harsh words in the laundry. This soon involved the husbands and they came to blows. Upon reaching port a police wagaon was pier side and the four were hauled off to the poky.

In my opinion the Seabourn incedent was on the harsh side to say the least. The woman had attended the boat drill on the first leg of a BTB and illness kept her from retracing her steps to a lifeboat station of which she was familier. A bit much. I expect it will keep them off Seabourn in future.:cool:

[esther e]

Back in the '70's we witnessed a man on RCCL being "escorted" off. He arrived at the Captain's cocktail party drunk and without shoes and socks. At the next port he was put off.

[Mura]

In my opinion the Seabourn incident was on the harsh side to say the least. The woman had attended the boat drill on the first leg of a BTB and illness kept her from retracing her steps to a lifeboat station of which she was familiar. A bit much. I expect it will keep them off Seabourn in future.:cool:

 

 

My husband and I were discussing this just last night. Why couldn't the staff have come around and urged her to attend?

 

In March 2009 we boarded Regatta in Miami for a TA to Barcelona VERY late because we'd spent the day at the Passport Bureau getting a last minute replacement passport (don't ask). We boarded very shortly before the drill, and when the guys came around I said I wasn't going because I knew the ship very well and we had literally just boarded. They said fine. (Of course, this was before Costa.) But if they had have insisted, I'd have gone. And I assume this elderly Seabourne lady would also.

 

Considering that this couple had already gone through the drill probably only a week earlier, it does seem to me that Seabourn could have given them some leeway -- or insist. But not throw them off the ship afterwards.

 

I don't doubt Seabourn has lost good customers ...

[Love.II.Cruise]

Couldn't quite recall where this subject was brought up before so I thought I'd start a specific thread. Proviso: I'm not saying ALL children are rambunctious!

 

The July issue of International Travel News has some interesting letters on the subject. A regular cruiser commented on the Dec. 22, 2010-Jan 2, 2011 cruise on Regatta where a number of children had run wild. (This was her fifth time on this itinerary so it would appear things were not always thus.) From the posts I've seen here I'd been under the impression that the problem started with this winter's sailing, but apparently not.

 

She did comment that she didn't notice much of a difference in the number of children on this itinerary, just that their behavior was very different. She wrote to Oceania twice and received one generic answer. The second said that because it was the holidays there were more children than usual, and O would "at its discretion" schedule childrens' programs.

 

The writer had a similar problem on Marina this winter (Dec 2011-Jan 2012) -- this may be the cruise which prompted the earlier comments I saw.

 

Oceania commented "Going forward, we will be making it more explicit in our contract that Oceania Cruises reserves the right to disembark any child, and accompanying parent or guardian, who is detrimental to the comfort, enjoyment or safety of other guests."

 

Let's hope so!

 

By the way, the next letter in the series was a passenger complimenting Azamar on the way they handled the fire on the QUEST in March.

 

Mura

 

P.S. ITN does post much of the issues at their webpage but as of now only the June 2012 article is available. I don't know if this sequence of correspondence will be available once they post the July issue.

 

We've taken many Christmas/New Year's cruises and have found that many of these cruises had unruly children (cruise lines we've experienced this on are Princess, RCI, and Celebrity).

 

We are traveling on O for the first time this November on a Transatlantic and do not anticipate many children. Last Christmas/New Year's we were on Princess and booked the Sanctuary for the entire cruise since it is an adult only area and it is well enforced. It was the first Christmas/New Year's cruise where I can say we didn't have to deal with unruly children. We are trying Windstar for the first time this Christmas and New Year's and hope that the children are under control.

 

On a South American Christmas/New Year's cruise on Celebrity we saw the worst we had ever seen. These kids started out by riding the elevators for hours playing cards in them, and then eventually broke elevators, they jumped all over furniture in the theaters and thought it would be funny to take their ice cream cones and rub them up and down all the railings in the stair wells. We hid on our balcony for last several days of that cruise. There happened to be many large south american families on board. Many brought nannies, but they were off during their own thing instead of watching the children.

 

Many parents bring children on Christmas/New Year cruises and unfortunately some parents stop parenting since they are on vacation and want to do what they want to do to. Sometimes these kids form little "clicks" and influence each other negatively. I think the situation can get out of hand quickly on any ship. Sometimes the crew is not comfortable dealing with the situation or isn't properly trained on how to handle it. We've witnessed kids doing outrageous things, but sometimes watching the crew not react ... or try to react can be just as bad. It's like watching a train wreck and you can't stop watching all the while being in shock.

[Mura]

It strikes me that many cruisers have encountered difficulties with children ESPECIALLY at holiday times. Maybe DH and I have been spoiled on O because it really hasn't been a problem on the cruises we have taken.

 

Of course, I can say that because we do NOT travel at holiday times and the few children we have seen on O cruises have been beautifully behaved. I guess we were lucky.

 

All the more reason to hope that O is going to do what they said in the letter to ITN and enforce regulations about childrens' behavior. And more to the point: making sure parents act as parents. Just because they are on vacation does NOT mean they are no longer parents.

 

Mura

[ksps cruise fan]

I have a vague recollection of such an incident some years ago. It may have been Renaissance, but I don't think so. Perhaps it was the Celebrity ship (I think it was Celebrity) that once upon a time was completely non-smoking.

 

As I recall it, two 14 year olds were caught smoking in the cabin and the families were escorted off the ship at the next port.

 

It was a Carnival ship. The 14-year olds was one well-publicized incident. The remaining cruisers who got kicked off were folks trying to quit smoking and decided the smoke-free cruise was the way to accomplish this. Apparently, many cruisers in this group found quitting to be more than they could handle and ended up getting kicked off.

[Mura]

MOST interesting!! I'd only heard about the 14 year olds, not the others.

 

I don't think I would recommend "forced deprivation" as a great way of kicking a habit, especially if you're paying a lot of money for the privilege!

 

Mura

[wripro]

Mura,

 

In fact, the staff captain tried knocking on her door many times but she wouldn't let him in and absolutely refused to attend. They said the husband did attend but there was no record of his being there. Even if they had attended the drill on the first leg of the b2b it is now a rule of the sea that you have to attend each segment. Claiming you are sick does not exempt you unless you are under the care of the ship's doctor. imo the captain was absolutely right to put them off. Age is not a disqualifier. And Seabourn even refunded the unused portion of the cruise.

[Mura]

Thanks for filling in the story. I hadn't heard that part!

 

Mura

[Sail2?]

And more to the point: making sure parents act as parents. Just because they are on vacation does NOT mean they are no longer parents.

 

Mura

 

Mura - you hit the "nail on the head". Parents should remember that they are responsible for their children at all times. If they truly want a "vacation" - they should not bring the kids. I think bringing kids and traveling as a family is great, but parents should be "parenting" and ensure their kids are kept in line. I can't believe the behavior I read in the above posts such as playing cards in the elevators or smearing ice cream on the seats. Would the parents tolorate this type of behavior at home? If not, they it should even be less so in public spaces.

 

I agree with the Oceania policy and they should empower the employees to enforce it when they behavior is observed.

[esther e]

A few years ago we were on Celebrity in Europe and ran into a group of kids that were so bad that officers had to station themselves in front of the stage every night and close the first 2 rows off. The kids (and of course they were parent-less) would jump on the stage and throw themselves off onto the seats. And they would also sit in the aisle and make it difficult for anyone to walk. They were so cute NOT. As they were running up the aisle, I was so tempted to extend my leg and "stretch" and oopps, trip one of them. No, I did not!

[wripro]

I have said this many times before....parents who bring their kids on to Oceania, silversea, Seabourn etc. are more interested in their own needs than those of their kids.

[ruppert18]

Agreed! My grandchildren love RCCL as there are other kids their ages and lots of activities WITH SUPERVISION.

[wassup4565]

I have dogs and live in an apartment building. I don't believe my neighbours should suffer the slightest inconvenience because I have dogs. It's my job to eliminate any barking, sniffing, dashing about or defecation my dogs create, because the dogs are mine, not theirs. Period.

 

Years ago I had a child. I took it on that it was my responsibility to eliminate any inconvenience my child created for other people - the child was mine, not theirs. Screaming, racing around, whining, kicking seatbacks and behaving badly at table are the problems parents own, and are responsible for. Vacation is not an excuse for allowing children to interrupt other people's enjoyment.

 

And anytime I see children behaving well, also, I take the opportunity to congratulate their parents on what a credit to them their children are. It's a hard job being a good parent, and there's not much praise forthcoming.

 

My grandson is a dachshund. And he's the best-behaved dog in his apartment building. I guess I passed something on, right?

[Wendy The Wanderer]

All this has surprised me, since in the past I've heard and understood that few children ever sailed on Oceania, that in fact they were discouraged, mostly by the lack of any kind of program for them. Now that I know the contrary I will avoid holiday cruises for sure!

[Mura]

Wendy, personally I think that was true in the past ... but the restrictions have been relaxed.

 

On our various cruises (which are not taken at holiday times) we've only seen a few children on O -- always (in our experience) very well mannered teens. We've never been on an O cruise where young children (other than one or two toddlers) were on board ... and given the reports, we'll also continue to avoid holiday cruises!

 

Mura

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Wendy, personally I think that was true in the past ... but the restrictions have been relaxed.

 

Mura, what restrictions have been relaxed exactly?

[Mura]

Wendy, this history blends into fog for me in many respects!

 

On Renaissance, I believe the age limit was 19. Shortly before its demise it was announced that the age limit would be reduced, I think to 13 or 14. But Ren went bankrupt before that change was due to take place.

 

As I recall, when Oceania started up it kept in place the Renaissance rules as they would have been in effect had Renaissance survived long enough -- the age limit, the change from absolutely no smoking to very limited smoking, and so on.

 

I was under the impression that these were STILL the rules but a few months ago I was corrected on that fact. I never noticed any claim that there was a further age reduction, and since we never noticed children younger than 13-14 on our cruises, I probably just assumed all was still the same.

 

But certainly there were not children's PROGRAMS in effect. Obviously there really isn't room on the "R" ships (at least it's obvious to me) for such programs, although there is more opportunity on Marina/Riviera ... but even there it seems to be that most space has already been dedicated to other programs. It's not at all like larger ships we've been on (QE2, NCL) that had specific areas intended for childrens' programs.

 

Now we hear that in Alaska, for example, there WILL be programs on some limited cruises. Where they put the kids, I don't know. Polo? The Library?

 

That's what I mean by "relaxed restrictions".

 

Mura

[pacheco18]

Unless you are traveling during a holiday period (or on one of those Alaska cruises with a Kids Program) I would not be concerned about seeing kids on O. We just got off a 16 night European cruise -- not a kid in sight. Nor were there kids on my Marina Transatlantic or my Asia cruise. There was one infant on my first O cruise. The infant was great. The parents and grandparents were obnoxious.

 

It is still not the cruise line of choice for families. Let's hope it stays that way.

[pacmom]

On our first O cruise in 2004, there was a 3yr old sailing with his parents. They were good travelers. They had booked a suite. Since we never saw them at dinner time, they must have used that perk. They did have breakfast or lunch at waves or Tapas. Our Marina trip last year had children of all ages on board--all well behaved. only seemed to mess about in the pool if they were the only ones in it. My only hang up has been a large Latin American group on our Panama Canal trip. Those kids paid attention to NO ONE. Large groups of any age can be very disruptive on a trip, especially on the R class ships. Pat

[Paulchili]

Those kids paid attention to NO ONE. Large groups of any age can be very disruptive on a trip, especially on the R class ships. Pat

 

Throwing one of them overboard might get their attention :D

Just kidding - no flaming please :)

[wripro]

None from me, Paul. In fact, during the next dry dock I think they should install a plank for those unruly kids. AND THEIR PARENTS!!!!!