Children at the bar / bar stools

[KiwiFunCruiser]

Perhaps the OP is just wondering if there are lots of kids sitting around in the bar area. I don't think this will happen even on a holiday cruise. Celebrity does not attract the large amounts of children like Carnival or Royal Caribbean( One of the reasons I love Celebrity). I have never in 3 cruises seen any children at any bar, even the Sunset bar. I am sure that they will go there to get a drink and then leave to go do something else, kids don't just sit around and talk,etc.

 

I agree, on other ships I have seen families in the bar lounges but never seen kids at the bar. I wonder if the OP could elaborate a little bit on their question as to what they were actually referring to, as this may help everyone be more specific in their answers. Just a thought!

[davekathy]

I agree, on other ships I have seen families in the bar lounges but never seen kids at the bar. I wonder if the OP could elaborate a little bit on their question as to what they were actually referring to, as this may help everyone be more specific in their answers. Just a thought!

 

Read post #50.

[4cats4me]

Delete

Edited November 23, 2013 by 4cats4me

[KiwiFunCruiser]

Read post #50.

 

Thanks, I was still writing when that post jumped in.

[simon stingray]

On our past cruises I cannot recall ever seeing young children in any of the bars in the evenings. I guess most parents ensure that they are in their stateroom after dinner.

 

Older kids (teens) always seem to congregate in large groups in either the Ocean View Cafe (near the pizza counter) or on the pool deck (near the smoking area).

 

I get why they congregate near the pizza but don't understand why they always seem to be near the smoking area:confused::rolleyes::D

 

In our experience even the large groups of teens are never any trouble hanging out with their friends.

[herbanrenewal]

This topic brought up a old, funny memory - not cruise related.

 

On a hot summer afternoon my Mom and next door neighbor got tired of dealing with my 6 siblings and the nextdoor 5 kids while the dads were at the neighborhood taproom. They walked us all down the street, sat us on barstools, ordered a round of cokes. That was the day we learned how to play shuffleboard, the "big" kids got to shoot pool or darts.

 

For some reason it only happened once but it is a strong, happy memory from growing up in a blue collar neighborhood in the 50s.

 

My overall impression of this thread is that kids will behave appropriately when the grow-ups do to.

 

And in certain environments there is nothing wrong with a kid in a bar, especially during the daytime.

[celle]

As far as I am concerned it is inappropriate on a whole lot of levels. In my opinion, children should not be exposed to the bar scene day or night until they are of legal age. Quite frankly, as someone who has paid thousands of dollars to take a cruise I do not want to walk into a bar on a ship and not be able to find a stool or table because children are sitting there. We leave in just a few hours for Barcelona to pick up the Equinox for their trans atlantic cruise on Monday.

 

Would you care to explain the words I have bolded in red? Because, as I already said, I just don't get it. It's not as if the evil alcohol is going to leap out and grab the children. Or do you mean that, for you, bars equal Men Behaving Badly? If having children in a bar would mean that drunken, swearing adults had to behave better, then I'm all for it!

 

And, maybe you could consider that families with children have paid "thousands of dollars" for their cruise, too. I don't think your expenditure trumps theirs.

[sevenseasnomad]

I just don't get it! Most bars in a cruise ship are actually in the lounges. Lounges are for everyone, including families with children. There is nothing morally wrong with children being in a location where drinks are served.

 

Perhaps that's the problem with people who think children should not be allowed in a bar? They may feel inhibited by the presence of children, because they have to watch their language and generally behave better. Next thing you know, they'll be calling for women to be banned, too. ;)

 

Not having sailed on an X ship since 2001, I perhaps should not offer an opinion. I am booked on Reflection in April 2014. The bad experience in 2001, though, has left a sour impression.

 

In that year, we cruised on Millie. Lovely ship, wonderful service. The cruise was ruined by the hundreds of children under 18 who were on winter break. I won't go into the level of rudeness many of these children (and their parents) displayed toward the staff and fellow passengers.

 

I will point out that many 15 to 16 year-olds would congregate in one of the lounges before 11 p.m. That was okay, since those lounges were open to all age groups before 11. After 11, however, anyone under 21 was asked to leave. Several evenings, we saw security officers who were trying to enforce this rule being treated with total disrespect and rudeness not only by the teens but by their parents as well.

 

In one case, the father of a teen was called to the lounge at 1:30 a.m. to pick up his son who was only 15 and was trying to order an adult beverage. This father cursed the officers for waking him, shouting above the band, and trying to strike an officer.

 

We are not inhibited by children; however, when children, encouraged by their parents, disregard rules and common courtesy, yes, I have a problem.

[Lsimon]

Not having sailed on an X ship since 2001, I perhaps should not offer an opinion. I am booked on Reflection in April 2014. The bad experience in 2001, though, has left a sour impression.

 

In that year, we cruised on Millie. Lovely ship, wonderful service. The cruise was ruined by the hundreds of children under 18 who were on winter break. I won't go into the level of rudeness many of these children (and their parents) displayed toward the staff and fellow passengers.

 

I will point out that many 15 to 16 year-olds would congregate in one of the lounges before 11 p.m. That was okay, since those lounges were open to all age groups before 11. After 11, however, anyone under 21 was asked to leave. Several evenings, we saw security officers who were trying to enforce this rule being treated with total disrespect and rudeness not only by the teens but by their parents as well.

 

In one case, the father of a teen was called to the lounge at 1:30 a.m. to pick up his son who was only 15 and was trying to order an adult beverage. This father cursed the officers for waking him, shouting above the band, and trying to strike an officer.

 

We are not inhibited by children; however, when children, encouraged by their parents, disregard rules and common courtesy, yes, I have a problem.

 

I've never seen any behavior nor situation like this on any of our Celebrity sailings. We do frequently sail during the spring break period but have always done so on longer cruises (10 nights or more) which tend to have fewer families than the 7 night cruises.

 

At the same time it seems to me that if you were so turned off by the experience you had during a 7 night sailing during a school break period that you might consider a cruise of a longer duration or at a time other than spring break. I would expect to find an above average number of children on the cruise you have booked if it is one of the Reflections Caribbean sailings that month. No such worries if it is the Transatlantic at the end of April.

[Jane2357]

In MHO I would never let a child sit at the bar - period - lounge area with adults would be o.k. If I take a place at the Martini bar I would find it a real ambiance killer to have a 8 yr old seated next to me. Kids have their area and adults should have theirs - the world has gone crazy and people think their little darlings are welcome everywhere. I'm not drinking at Disney World so they need to stay out of bar.:cool:

Edited November 24, 2013 by Jane2357

[kitty9]

Thank you! That is a better question...what bars on Celebrity are adult only?

 

The casino bar and the bar where they designate as the adults only dance venue at night.

[kitty9]

I've never seen any behavior nor situation like this on any of our Celebrity sailings. We do frequently sail during the spring break period but have always done so on longer cruises (10 nights or more) which tend to have fewer families than the 7 night cruises.

 

At the same time it seems to me that if you were so turned off by the experience you had during a 7 night sailing during a school break period that you might consider a cruise of a longer duration or at a time other than spring break. I would expect to find an above average number of children on the cruise you have booked if it is one of the Reflections Caribbean sailings that month. No such worries if it is the Transatlantic at the end of April.

 

Well, I have, and the the behavior by the kids in what was a huge extended family cruise was horrible. I'm talking food fights in the buffet and MDR, kids in the casino refusing to leave, kids using the most foul language to the entertainment staff---even kids under age 10, and throwing feces into the pool. This same group took their kids into the bars at all hours of the night, so things like that can happen.

[celle]

I admit that there are some horror experiences, such as the two examples given here, about children and families. In both these examples, I have every sympathy with the people who posted their experience. In both instances, it sounds as though there was also a breakdown in security and the enforcement of rules.

 

However, these experiences are the exception. On the whole, most parents do a good job of looking after and controlling their children. We don't notice the quiet, well-behaved children, just the noisy, disruptive ones.

[urbantravelguy]

It seemed like a very open, friendly environment for all ages on the millennium, Thats what I liked, as you felt welcome to sit anywhere on the ship drinking or not. I think also the staff seemed to use commonsense with rules, no-one threw their authority around which was a nice change from bars in Australia where security are often very rude just because they can be.

 

The ship was full of Australians which at first I was disappointed about because being Australian I know the average Australian can exhibit really bad behavior especially when mixed with alcohol but everyone behaved well!

 

Only bad behavior was a bit of pushing and rudeness in the buffet lines, which was to be expected. :D

[Denny01]

Why is it every time we have a thread that mentions kids for any reason, we get the same very isolated stories about unruly teens and their terrible parents.

 

I've seen the almost verbatim posts about out of control kids on thread after thread. Yup, I guess it happened somewhere on some ship. But this thread has nothing to do with those aberrations.

 

Are we so frightened of leaving our gated retirement communities that we have to keep bringing up these tired old stories to justify not wanting kids around?

 

I told my kids that if I turn into one of those old geezers sitting around complaining about how terrible kids are nowadays, and how much better my generation was than the younger generations, they are to stake me out in the back yard and let me slowly expire.

 

Den

[mellygrant]

My two 16 year olds loved the Martini bar! The staff welcomed and actually encouraged them to come visit. Lots of tricks with pouring drinks, throwing a cherry onto a toothpick trick and cool music etc. Of course they were not served alcohol and I didn't see a problem with them sitting with us at the Martini Bar. At the same time though, we didn't allow our 9 year old to sit there. A big difference I think between older teens and young/small children sitting at the bar. There was also no rule that children could not be in this area and by the age of 16 they were old enough to be in the solarium and gym areas too.

[celle]

Well, I have, and the the behavior by the kids in what was a huge extended family cruise was horrible. I'm talking food fights in the buffet and MDR, kids in the casino refusing to leave, kids using the most foul language to the entertainment staff---even kids under age 10, and throwing feces into the pool. This same group took their kids into the bars at all hours of the night, so things like that can happen.

 

Sounds dreadful! Throwing faeces into the pool? Never heard of that before! That's a public health risk which would have necessitated emptying and cleaning of the pool. As I said before, a breakdown in the enforcement of rules. This should have been escalated to the Captain and that family should have been put off the ship in the next port.

 

To use a common Australian and New Zealand description of such a family's behaviour - Bogans, the lot of them! UK passengers might call them chavs.

[spookwife]

Why?

 

because that is my opinion. I do not need to justify it to you or anyone else.. and for the other poster who asked about their non drinking wife.. if she doesn't drink then find a table near the bar to sit and enjoy your drinks together. and yes I can honestly say I practice what I preach.

[davekathy]

Why is it every time we have a thread that mentions kids for any reason, we get the same very isolated stories about unruly teens and their terrible parents.

 

I've seen the almost verbatim posts about out of control kids on thread after thread. Yup, I guess it happened somewhere on some ship. But this thread has nothing to do with those aberrations.

 

Are we so frightened of leaving our gated retirement communities that we have to keep bringing up these tired old stories to justify not wanting kids around?

 

I told my kids that if I turn into one of those old geezers sitting around complaining about how terrible kids are nowadays, and how much better my generation was than the younger generations, they are to stake me out in the back yard and let me slowly expire.

 

Den

 

…and then there’s those that post, not my kid, or my kid is well behaved or my kid is a mature whatever year old! Every time I read one of those posts all I can think of is Eddie Haskell from the old “Leave it to Beaver" TV show. There are always two sides to every pancake.

Edited November 24, 2013 by davekathy

[6502programmer]

I get why they congregate near the pizza but don't understand why they always seem to be near the smoking area:confused::rolleyes::D

 

Easy. On our last cruise, my son wanted to play ping pong. On the summit, that meant pool deck port side aft, which was also where the smoking area was.

 

 

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[6502programmer]

I have no problem bringing my son to the martini bar. It is one of his favorite places on the ship. He would ALWAYS want to stop there on our way from the kids club to the cabin for bed. He loved sitting there, drinking root beer or ginger ale with grenadine, playing with the ice and his ipad. There are adult venues--the casino bar and the dance club--if that's what you want. The martini bar servers have always gone above and beyond in making sure he has enjoyed himself, stocking the normally non-stocked root beer and talking and telling jokes.

 

 

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[VK3DQ]

In MHO I would never let a child sit at the bar - period - lounge area with adults would be o.k. If I take a place at the Martini bar I would find it a real ambiance killer to have a 8 yr old seated next to me. Kids have their area and adults should have theirs - the world has gone crazy and people think their little darlings are welcome everywhere. I'm not drinking at Disney World so they need to stay out of bar.:cool:

 

Well said !! there is a time and a place for children and its not on a barstool in the evening , it not in the front row of an adult show , and its not on the dance floor when adults are trying to have a "romantic" traipse around the floor.

 

It used to be that children were not seen in public before they "Came Out" perhaps we could revert to that very sensible practice

 

 

Best Regards

John

[dmk]

Are children allowed in bars where you live? Not where I live. I can't see the difference.

[Tiggertastic]

Last 3 cruises all had kids sat at the martini bar

 

some came to order a drink and go

 

some were with their parents for the evening and keeping themselves occupied drawing in the ice top

 

others with their parents were particularly bored, had no drink but were using a stool

 

others were on their own sat drinking soda - the bar staff asked them to leave after a while when adults were queuing to find seats

 

I have to say that whilst the bar was empty the staff let them stay and never asked them to move if they were with parents

[VK3DQ]

…and then there’s those that post, not my kid, or my kid is well behaved or my kid is a mature whatever year old! Every time I read one of those posts all I can think of is Eddie Haskell from the old “Leave it to Beaver" TV show. There are always two sides to every pancake.

 

Hi Folks

 

I dont think of the TV I just wonder when those parents will distribute the rose tinted glasses that they see their children through.

They dont seem to be able to grasp the concept that not everyone thinks their children are so wonderful. Of course all children are wonderful , but NOT in adult venues , its the parents who should ensure that their children do not impinge on the enjoyment of other adults.

 

The place for children in the evenings is NOT in adult venues

 

Best regards

 

john