Solarium Zoo on Enchantment of the Seas 7/7/05

[negc]

On our last several RCI cruises we have not encountered this problem. In fact on our transatlantic a few years ago, children were allowed in the solarium for specific and limited hours. I was there when the time came for them to vacate the pool and was pleasantly surprised to see the kids pack up their things and leave without any prompting from anyone. If I did not any of the misbehavior that has been recounted here, I would make sure to complain to the pool attendants and if that did not result in a satisfactory resolution of the problem, I would have brought it to the attention of higher authorities and would have noted it in my comment card as well. Kids are kids and a little rambunctiousness can be expected and, at times, be overlooked, but it should never be allowed to get out of hand.

[davelly1]

Perhaps some ships are better at enforcing posted rules than others. We were on Monarch and they refused to enforce the "no smoking" sections. Basically there was no place to go on the ship where others were not smoking. On the Vision the solarium is also overrun with little children. Adults can never enjoy it. However, in May we were on the Mariner and we were by the pool in a clearly marked "no smoking" section. A couple sat next to us and lit up. Not 5 minutes later a pool attendant asked them to move to the other side of the deck where smoking was permitted. Also, we observed very few children in the solarium. Even at night when we used the jacuzzis. No kids. It was nice.

[lsb]

I just got off the Navigator and I agree children in the Solarium area was a major problem. Day after day parents let their kids run wild in both the hot tub and the pool. I have two daughters who I left at home hoping to enjoy an adult vacation with my husband. One day a father laid his toddler on a lounge chair at the Solarium pool and took the child's diaper off and put him in the adult pool with no swim diaper. This was not sanitary. The pool attendants did nothing! I also had the experience of not being able to use the hot tub because it was overrun with kids.Another mom put swimmies on her toddler and let him go in the adult pool without any supervision. I don't blame the children, I blame the parents. I do feel that RCCL has a responsibility to enforce its' own rules. Although I enjoyed my cruise I would not recommend RCCL to adults traveling without children. There are so many areas of the ship which cater to children I don't understand why some people refuse to follow the rules regarding children in the adult pool area.

[jcanino]

Joe, sorry but now you're starting to sound like a TA defending their business.

 

All I am saying is that if you want a cruise line or any other company for that matter to enforce rules, they should enforce ALL the rules not just the ones that affect you (or any other person) personally.

 

I for one do not like young kids hanging out where they shouldn't be and I don't like the idea of skirting rules about bringing alcohol on board. Enforce them both!

[Cruising89143]

I agree. I love children and have no problem with seeing lots of them on cruises. But the one thing that would cause a line to lose my business would be something like this. There are just too many other choices out there. If they feel it is impractical to enforce an adults-only area, then they should just eliminate it completely so that the expectation of a quiet adult area would not exist. I wouldn't want to cruise with a line that had a military type atmosphere as it relates to rules enforcement, but there could definitely be a happy medium. Doesn't sound like RCI has found that, at least on the OP's cruise.

 

I have no problem with Children on a cruise. Let's face it RCI markets to the family sector with the Voyager class ships so I do expect kids to be on them. Last week on the Soveriegn we had about 200 kids on board. During the muster drill everyone was reminded of the Rules of conduct by the person preforming the muster drill. The Captain came on before we were finished and reminded everyone again. Needless to say the cruise was great.

[PhoenixCruiser]

Kewlguy, that just stinks! SHEESH ANOTHER example of parents using the ship as a babysitter :mad: :mad: VERY frustrating.

 

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[wastin' away]

I am cruising on Explorer in LATE Jan. We intentionally chose that time of year in hopes of a limited number of children on board. I think it is pretty sad that parents don't follow rules. However, I do feel that it is up to the cruise line and its employees to enforce its own rules. I hope this is not a problem that we face on our cruise.

[1corona4u]

I am cruising on Explorer in LATE Jan. We intentionally chose that time of year in hopes of a limited number of children on board. I think it is pretty sad that parents don't follow rules. However' date=' I do feel that it is up to the cruise line and its employees to enforce its own rules. I hope this is not a problem that we face on our cruise.[/quote']

 

I think you picked a good time to go. I am somewhat skeptical about the cruise I changed to, from a May cruise, but I don't have any other options, so we'll have to wait and see. And I will say something if it's an issue.

 

When I was on the Navigator, I intentionally avoided all of the hot tubs, pool, and in fact the entire solarium. BUt it would have been nice not to have to. We did go to the hot tub in the spa. There were only adults in there.

 

I was thinking that the ONLY reason kids would be allowed in the solarium on the Enchantment, would be if the weather is bad. Seems I read somewhere if the weather is bad even kids are allowed in there?

[FinelyCruising]

You know as more and more time passes and all the bad kids/bad parent dialog, the fact of the matter is that the cruiseline just really doesn't give a damn about their guests. They do know this board exists, they do read these threads and nothing has changed after all the talk and all the obvious dissatisfaction by the guests. This cruiseline is completely not concerned with rule breakers.

 

The big picture, and this thread is a detail of the issue, is the majority of the guests have been very unhappy for a very long time about chair hogs, about shorts in the dining room, about kids in adult areas.

 

I still do not agree that there is an unequivocal rule about liquor, and I think it should be rewritten so it makes more sense to all. I do also think they manage to take care of those who clearly need to be put off the ships.

 

However, this cruiseline does NOTHING to enfore the rules of courtesy and decency and rests content in this hands-off management style.

 

The parents don't run this cruiseline, the kids don't run this cruisline, the guests don't run this cruiseline, but to hear everyone talk you would think they do. Sadly the cruiseline, who should be managing these ships, don't.

 

And that is the real picture.

[madforcruising]

The big picture, and this thread is a detail of the issue, is the majority of the guests have been very unhappy for a very long time about chair hogs, about shorts in the dining room, about kids in adult areas.

 

 

However, this cruiseline does NOTHING to enfore the rules of courtesy and decency and rests content in this hands-off management style.

 

The parents don't run this cruiseline, the kids don't run this cruisline, the guests don't run this cruiseline, but to hear everyone talk you would think they do. Sadly the cruiseline, who should be managing these ships, don't.

 

And that is the real picture.

 

Sorry but playing a little devils advocate I have to disagree with you on a few points.

 

You say "the majority of guests is unhappy about ....."

I´m unhappy about that too, but who tells me it´s the majority. It maybe the majority here on CC but although CC has a huge amount of members it´s still a very small percentage of the cruisers overall. I think we (myself included) tend to forget that. If really the majority would be unhappy about chair hogs there wouldn´t be so many chair hogs as they would be in the minority and just a couple of chair hogs can´t hog all chairs. ;)

 

You say " Sadly the cruiseline, who should be managing these ships, don't."

I again disagree here. They are indeed managing their ships, just maybe not in the way we would like them to.

It is their management NOT to enforce some rules up to a point and let it look to us that they do nothing. I´m sure they know exactly how far they let it go.

 

As I said earlier in this thread I´m all for enforcing the rules, however I do think the cruiselines know exactly what they do and reading the boards tend (at least me) to let one think this is the majority of cruisers but I doubt we are. JMHO

[FinelyCruising]

MFC - These boards make up a huge segment of repeat cruisers. I don't really care if this is a scientific segment, but to carve it out and not dilute the situation, the majority of the cruisers on this board and other boards, find the lack of responsible management on these topics an issue. Do you really think they took the Ranch Steak off the menu because of the silent majority...the ones who don't post on message boards? Call me crazy, but I don't.

 

Clearly there are rule breakers, we see it we know it. The cruise line has many many obvious offenders on each and every cruise.

 

Still, nothing is done about it. Here's my guess why. Some loudmouth when confronted will say its my cruise I paid for it and I'll do anything I want. And you know what I think? I think that will get the cruiseline staff to back down instantly.

 

So back to my point of who is really running the ship?

[madforcruising]

So back to my point of who is really running the ship?

 

Money !!!

[Host Kewlguy]

Joe (and others) - I am all in favor of rules being enforced. The problem with many, maybe most, cruise lines is their desire to enforce the rules in a manner that does the least harm to the business.

 

It really appears to me that they would prefer to lose a small amount of guests that obey the rules (be it solarium use, chair hogging, smuggeling, whatever) in order to keep a larger number of those who ignore the rules.

 

Personally, if they have rules, enforce them regardless (as Carnival's Paradise apparently did with smokers).

 

kewlguy - Keep us posted. EOS is just coming out of dry dock, right? Some of the problem may be with the "shakedown" period. Hope your cruise is great :)

 

Charlie

 

We are sitting at an internet cafe in Halifax. We are leaving in less than two hours. We think that my comment has caused some action. The Solarium jacuzzi's and pool were child free at 3-3:25 pm today. Tonight will be the test. We have decided to eat in Chops the final two nights as the dining room service was unacceptable last night. Three tables including ours were not even given their second course. The ship itself is very nice. I will give a full and fair review of everything on Monday.

[Host Kewlguy]

I would be at the pursers desk making them miserable if they did not resolve it.

 

That and in the Solarium if a kid got in my jacuzzi, I would tell them "this is an adults only area" and ask them politely to go to the other pool.

 

I'm sure it's partly a problem with ignorance of the fact that it is an adults only area.

 

I'm brining my 9 year old on Enchantment next summer and she will NOT go to the Solarium...she can enjoy many other areas of the ship, including the main pool. Also, I for one would not let her run off without me or a person from the kid's program. I don't know how parents let their young ones run wild.

 

We called the pursers desk Friday afternoon from right outside the Solarium doorways and nothing happened. Children remained in the pool all afternoon. We gave up trying to use it. We will make another attempt tonight and if the situation is the same as yesteray I will report back here as well as complain to the hotel manager if needed.

[madforcruising]

Do you really think they took the Ranch Steak off the menu because of the silent majority...the ones who don't post on message boards? Call me crazy, but I don't.

 

No I don´t but I don´t think that they took it off only because of posts on a message board. I´m sure there have been comments on the comment cards as well that did their purpose.

They are for sure monitoring these boards. I just think, and again only my opinion, that the board members are not the majority of cruisers.

[Host Kewlguy]

Is it only me? The primary thing that comes to my mind is the SAFETY of these children!!! I would go nuts seeing all these unattended children in the pool or the hot tubs, because they are kids and unattended kids can DROWN!! I'd be hammering on the staff for that reason more than the inconvenience.

 

Where the heck are the parents?

 

I agree that politely asking for a comment card and noting the staff member's name is a great way to get some action, especially at the pursur's desk. Also, a phone call isn't going to get action; face-to-face "can I have a comment card, please, Mr./Miss So-and-so (reading their name tag) helps a LOT.

 

 

On Thursday night after 11pm we witnessed a child about age 8-10 running up one of the Solaruim jacuzzi stairs to test the water. On the way down she tripped and fell and was crying afterwards. She could have easily broken her ankle.

[Cruising89143]

The parents don't run this cruiseline, the kids don't run this cruisline, the guests don't run this cruiseline, but to hear everyone talk you would think they do. Sadly the cruiseline, who should be managing these ships, don't.

 

And that is the real picture.

 

I agree with most of your statement but the blame has to start with the individuals and in this case it is the parents letting their kids be in areas that they should not. Second comes the cruise line for not doing their job in making sure that the rules are followed. Unfortunately the cruise lines like RCI, Carnival and Princess are marketing and building their ships geared more for the family business and I think that they could really care less if others like it or not.

 

I usually cruise when most kids are in school. Last December on the Navigator we had around 200-300 kids on board and they were great. No problems at all.

 

Someone asked yesterday about the new bungee trampolines that were installed on the Enchantment. I stated that they were going to be used by the crew to line up the non tipping passengers and catapult those passengers overboard one by one to find their own way home. Maybe we should use those for those ignorant parents.:eek: :)

[Host Kewlguy]

My fiancee made this comment: Can Royal's Ocean Adventure be that bad that these children need to be in the Solarium. Personally if I was running a cruise line, children would not be allowed in any part of the solarium and access could only be granted by swiping your sign and sail card.

[FinelyCruising]

Money !!!

 

Good. Now you have leveled the playing field.

 

And management knows that one cruiser does not have any more 'rights' than another, yet the cruise line fails to keep the playing field level in many signifigant instances.

[Cruising89143]

We are sitting at an internet cafe in Halifax. We are leaving in less than two hours. We think that my comment has caused some action. The Solarium jacuzzi's and pool were child free at 3-3:25 pm today. Tonight will be the test. We have decided to eat in Chops the final two nights as the dining room service was unacceptable last night. Three tables including ours were not even given their second course. The ship itself is very nice. I will give a full and fair review of everything on Monday.

 

I will be interested to see how the reviews are about two to three weeks from now. As I stated in an above post, RCI does not have a good track record for getting the dry docked ships back together in time. I think that your posts are proof of that.

[Cruising89143]

My fiancee made this comment: Can Royal's Ocean Adventure be that bad that these children need to be in the Solarium. Personally if I was running a cruise line, children would not be allowed in any part of the solarium and access could only be granted by swiping your sign and sail card.

 

Good idea!

[FinelyCruising]

cruisingator2 - Some people will always need to be reigned back in. That is why there is a need for management. I am looking at this from the top down.

[PVDCruiser]

I'm thinking....wouldn't it just be a good idea if we teens got our own private hot tub? It would make this a whole lot easier...

[Cruising89143]

I'm thinking....wouldn't it just be a good idea if we teens got our own private hot tub? It would make this a whole lot easier...

 

Actually around the regular pools there are hot tubs for everyone to use. I don't think that the problem comes from the teenage crowd as much as it does from the small kids that use the hot tubs as their own pools. Most people climb into the hot tubs to sit and relax. Kids want to jump around and splash.

[FinelyCruising]

Ask your parents to get you a suite, then it's ALL yours. :D