What age to get off ship on own?

[Pomperaugrr]

My wife and I were wondering at what age a cruiseline will allow a child or teen to get on and off at a port alone. We have absolutely no intention of permitting our teenaged daughters to do this. We do want to know though what the cut off age is where the crew will not let a teen get off in a port without an adult, just for peace of mind.

 

Our ground rules are strict and we have good kids, but sometimes good kids in a group make poor decisions.

 

Any experience with this would be appreciated.

 

Eric

[mjkacmom]

My 15 and 17 year old got off with a bunch of teens without being questioned (they take public transportation to NYC frequently here at home).

[boulders]

My wife and I were wondering at what age a cruiseline will allow a child or teen to get on and off at a port alone. We have absolutely no intention of permitting our teenaged daughters to do this. We do want to know though what the cut off age is where the crew will not let a teen get off in a port without an adult, just for peace of mind.

 

Our ground rules are strict and we have good kids, but sometimes good kids in a group make poor decisions.

 

Any experience with this would be appreciated.

 

Eric

 

Holland America will flag 15 year olds but not 16 year olds. An alarm goes off when the card is scanned. They did allow my dd15 to get off the ship with non-parental adults, however. Her 16 year old brother was allowed to get on and off at will.

[cb at sea]

You could always hold their seapass....can't leave the ship without it!!!

[rebeccalouiseagain]

I would never allow my kids before the age of 18 to disembark the ship without me or an adult family member. You are responsible for your child and it isn't their familiar surroundings. No way I would permit this. Frankly, I can't see teens disembarking the ship without telling the parents. Most teens are far more interested in the ship than land anyway. But if you suspect your teen might get off- make it clear they can't without an adult.

[#1TravelMom]

I would say the age would be the age that you would feel comfortable leaving them at that port and continuing the cruise without them. In many ports, it would be very easy for young adults to make a series of poor decisions, many of which could inhibit their ability to return to the ship in a timely manner. Although many islands have a minimum drinking age, it is very loosely enforced. Marijuana is readily available with little consideration of age.

 

All that being said, I think there are lots of safe options for 16 year olds and older. There are areas in several ports that some may feel comfortable leaving a 16 year old unsupervised for a period of time. Mahogany Bay in Roatan is a contained area of shops and Cruiseline-owned beach area. If a teen did not leave this area - they would be just fine. Costa Maya has a shopping area and "pool" area. A few hours here would be fine in my opinion. Many of the ports - St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Cozumel, etc have shopping areas that are in close proximity.

 

I personally have never found an occasion when my older daughter needed to be away from us.

[OCruisers]

Once they were in high school, we would let ours sleep late and meet us when we were at a cruise ship private island. They had been cruising since around six years old and knew where we always sat on these islands.

This was ONLY in cruise ship private islands -- never in other ports of call.

LuLu

[Carnival_Brides]

The OP isn't looking for advice about whether to let her teen off the ship. (Correct me if I'm wrong OP), The OP is looking for valid information about what age the ship will let a teen off the ship so they can make proactive decisions.

 

Carnival will let minors off the ship if they are with an adult since they have ship-sponsored excursions for teens. I'm not sure what the actual minimum age is for other lines.

Edited May 2, 2014 by Carnival_Brides

[rebeccalouiseagain]

Carnival Brides- Obviously you are an avid Carnival cruiser. I have never heard about excursions where teens are taken off the ship by a crew member. Have your teens participated in this? I am sort of amazed that the cruise line would take on the responsibility of teens off the ship.

Edited May 2, 2014 by rebeccalouiseagain

[Carnival_Brides]

Carnival Brides- Obviously you are an avid Carnival cruiser. I have never heard about excursions where teens are taken off the ship by a crew member. Have your teens participated in this? I am sort of amazed that the cruise line would take on the responsibility of teens off the ship.

 

My younger sister was invited to participate in such an excursion when we went to Cozumel a few years ago. There was a handful of teens on that cruise (less than seven), so the Teen Club offered to organize a supervised beach day. We had other plans so she did not participate. It was her only cruise as a teen, so I'm not sure if other ships have offered it.

 

FWIW--I've been a Carnival cruiser in the past, but we're exploring other cruise lines now that our niece is older.

Edited May 2, 2014 by Carnival_Brides

[rebeccalouiseagain]

Thanks for the information.

[aussielozzie18]

OP, if you don't get answer here on CC but get your answer through some other means, can you come back to this thread and let us know please. I would be very interested to hear the ship's policy on this.

 

I noticed that when I was disembarking and re-boarding at ports with my teens last year, the security guys checked that we were all together.

Edited May 2, 2014 by aussielozzie18

[Pomperaugrr]

I would never allow my kids before the age of 18 to disembark the ship without me or an adult family member. You are responsible for your child and it isn't their familiar surroundings. No way I would permit this. Frankly, I can't see teens disembarking the ship without telling the parents. Most teens are far more interested in the ship than land anyway. But if you suspect your teen might get off- make it clear they can't without an adult.

 

Please reread my original post. We would not permit it. We, along with our daughters are seasoned cruisers. I was simply asking about what age they will still be stopped on their own. They will always be with us normally in port. At Labadee, they may want to return to the ship earlier than we will. I have seen RCI crew stop teens without an adult accompanying them. I was simply asking what the age cut off is. I trust my girls to make the right decision and not get off without us. There are other families travelling with us and we wanted to share the information with them.

 

I am an attorney and have managed a criminal courthouse for over 24 years so far, so I am well aware of the need to be a responsible parent and of the dangers that are present in the world.

 

If anyone does know the age cutoff, especially for RCI, I would appreciate that information. If not I will call the cruise line directly and post the info here.

 

Eric

Edited May 2, 2014 by Pomperaugrr

[akcruz]

For RCI it is 18 I am fairly sure. When my son was 17 he was a few people in front of me getting off the ship in port. They asked who he was with. When he pointed at me I did wave. Not sure what would have happened if I had not though. Guess we have all been close enough together other times that they did not ask?

 

Now getting back on is a different story. My kids usually get back onboard before we do. When younger we would walk them back almost to the ship and they would board on their own.

[Pomperaugrr]

For RCI it is 18 I am fairly sure. When my son was 17 he was a few people in front of me getting off the ship in port. They asked who he was with. When he pointed at me I did wave. Not sure what would have happened if I had not though. Guess we have all been close enough together other times that they did not ask?

 

Now getting back on is a different story. My kids usually get back onboard before we do. When younger we would walk them back almost to the ship and they would board on their own.

 

Thank you very much for that info. We appreciate it.

 

Eric

[vavasmom]

Rccl is 18 to get off; they have let teens back on without adult (my daughter did this in Labadee and Bermuda (I watched her get back on)

 

Carnival did offer teen excursions 3 years ago when we last cruised carnival

 

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[Pomperaugrr]

Rccl is 18 to get off; they have let teens back on without adult (my daughter did this in Labadee and Bermuda (I watched her get back on)

 

Carnival did offer teen excursions 3 years ago when we last cruised carnival

 

Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk

 

Thanks! That was my recollection, but we wanted to be sure. Our friends are bringing a teen that is not related. We wanted to give them peace of mind.

 

Eric

[griffy116]

RCCL is 18 to get off the ship without an adult. They can get back on the ship without an adult, but not off the ship. We saw a group of teens who had come back to the dining room to get a parent to go off the gangway with them because when the SeaPass card was swiped, they were under 18...so that's how they get past that rule...the adult doesn't mean that a parent with each teen has to be with them, but this adult is taking that responsibility. We had two 17 year olds with us, who swiped first and were asked who was going off the ship with them. I think it's a good idea for safety, but of course there are ways around it, just like anything else.