Just got back From Caribbean Princess, see if you agree with me!

[geofg]

I will post a full report later, as I had an amazing time on the CB. I really only had 2 concerns, and I wanted to see if others agreed with me. Later on at night the amount of underage drinking on deck was absolutely shocking. Kids were just sitting at tables with full bottles of booze, and soda. I mean these kids were not even close to being anywhere hear 21 much less 18. My problem was these kids were acting like young drunk fools, no one(security) seemed to be around, and no parents to be found. I would think Princess would not want something like this going on, they would have someone on deck looking for this stuff, and the parents might want to check on there kids every once in a while. Wouldn't it make sense for Princess to put some sort of identification across their room card that says "Minor Under 21". I just thought it was pretty inappropriate when my girlfriend and I are eating pizza on deck and some drunk kid stumbles into my table.

 

My other concern was with the adults only pool. Several times I mentioned to parents that the aft and forward pool were adults only, and I got some crooked looks. Why should I get the crooked look. These pools say specifically "Adults Only" One of the reasons I chose Princess was I did not want to be around a lot of kids. Am I an a-hole for saying something? There are plenty of pools on the ship where children are allowed.

[14A04]

I agree with you, there should not be people under age 18 sitting at tables with bottles of booze. To some extent you can ignore the people who don't dress properly in the dining room, but when drunk kids are running into your table it does ruin the cruise experience.

 

As for the adults-only pool it should be enforced. The larger Princess ships have two full size pools that are open to everyone, keep the kids out of the adults-only section.

[L2J]

no one(security) seemed to be around

 

Several times I mentioned to parents that the aft and forward pool were adults only, and I got some crooked looks. Why should I get the crooked look. These pools say specifically "Adults Only" One of the reasons I chose Princess was I did not want to be around a lot of kids. Am I an a-hole for saying something? There are plenty of pools on the ship where children are allowed.

 

They never are when you need them.

 

You shouldn't get any sort of look. I believe the ones that don't follow the rules are the ones with the "it's my vacation, I'll do what I want" mentality.

 

I sailed her in February and there were only around 300 kids onboard. Only one time did I see 2 kids in the aft pool. I mentioned it to to crewmember who took my drink order and she gave a look as if she couldn't do anything. Asked her if she would like to remind the parents that it was an adults only pool or if she'd like me to call security. The parents (sitting within earshot) and the kids left the aft pool area within a couple of minutes.

[eroller]

Wow, Princess is sounding more and more like Carnival these days ... maybe worse as Carnival has pretty good security. You just never heard these kind of stories about Princess 6-7 years ago. Times have changed, and Princess has truly become "mass-market".

 

Ernie

[Julia & David]

We were on the July 23-30 sailing and did not see any under age drinking, however, last year on the Caribbean Princess in July, we did. Security was right there trying to take care of the situation. The kids were rude and out of hand. Not a parent in sight. I feel this is more of a parenting situation. Where are they and do they let their kids behave like this at home? Our drinking age is 19 but if our children were under the legal age onboard, then we would respect it.

 

We have never seen any kids in the adult only pools and agree they have no right to be there. There are other pools to accomodate them. I don't mind kids at all but respect the rules.

 

None of this would ever spoil our cruise.

[14A04]

I have no problem with parents taking their children on cruises but I will say I have a problem when the parents have the attitude "we are on a cruise, we don't want to be bothered with parenting" If you want to get away from it all then maybe you need to leave the kids home, otherwise you need to continue on and take responsibility for your children.

[kevinsac]

Wow, Princess is sounding more and more like Carnival these days ... maybe worse

 

:eek: :eek: :eek: My gosh, that sounds scary.....and I've never been on Carnival.....just heard about it, read about it, and have seen the commercials on TV. That's enough for me.

 

I agree with the suggestion about bold writing on the cruise card "MINOR" or even "Minor Under 21." California's driver's licenses have something similar.

 

That behaviour, from the minors, from the parents, and from Princess staff (security and/or bartenders) is unacceptable.

[Wicked]

I have to disagree, I've been on many Carnival cruises, yes mostly during the Schoolyear (Hey I"m not stupid!), but have never had an issue with this type of behavior. We went on the Legend for Xmas, tons of kids. All for the most part were well behaved. Carnival is NOT the get drunk til you throwup thing that so many people make it out to be. Of course there's going to be one in crowd, but you'll get that on any ship! Don't give Carnival a bad name, especially if you haven't tried her! Some of my most fondest memories are onboard her ships!

 

And I agree that you (the OP) should absolutely said something on both counts! This is YOUR vacation as well and you deserve to enjoy it as you wish and as the rules state!!

[kevinsac]

Don't give Carnival a bad name, especially if you haven't tried her!

 

You are correct....I have not tried Carnival. So, sorry to cast aspersions.

 

However, I can name my friends David, Kathi, Dave, Bill, Ginny, Justin, Michelle, Michelle, Brian, Susan, and many others......none of these people have ever sailed together (!).....but each has told me what the Carnival Carib and Mexico itineraries are like. (I forgot--I left out Judy and Julie, too). They have told me about passengers rolling entire coolers on board. They have told me their personal experiences about their bar bills being more than the cruise fares. They have told me about having to carry each other back to the ship after a night at Carlos Murphy's or Senor Frogs. :eek: And they have told me stories of other passengers' behaviour. These stories all happened on Carnival ships.

 

Again, I admit that I have not been on Carnival. These stories have been told to me by others. But they are people whom I believe.

 

My Mother was right....be careful whom you choose as friends! :o

 

(Mom....I love them all. Would never give up their friendship. However, I'll never take vacation with them until they grow up!)

[eroller]

Carnival is NOT the get drunk til you throwup thing that so many people make it out to be. Of course there's going to be one in crowd, but you'll get that on any ship! Don't give Carnival a bad name, especially if you haven't tried her! Some of my most fondest memories are onboard her ships!

 

 

 

You are absolutely right, and to be fair to Carnival they have changed dramatically over the years. I've sailed on them about 10 times from the FESTIVALE way back when (old party style Carnival) to the CARNIVAL SPIRIT (new, refined Carnival) a year or so ago. I've always liked Carnival, but they do have the party reputation (which they are trying desperately to shake). In fact I find the food, service, and entertainment to be superior on Carnival over Princess. I will say Carnival has security in force to handle unruly passengers (based on lots of experience!) and maybe Princess needs more of this as they become more mass-market?

 

So let me restate my earlier post:

 

"Princess is sounding more and more like the *image* people have of Carnival".

 

Is that better?? ;)

 

Ernie

[stones902]

We did the CB at the end of June. While there were LOTS of kids (14 - 20) on board, I can't say that I noticed obvious drinking. Princess had many staff with "Youth Security" shirts around in the evening. I am sure that many of these kids were drinking but it was not so obvious (and annoying to me).

 

We also used the adult pool on the fantail a couple of days. Never noticed any youth there either.

 

The one thing I will say is that the ship was very crowded. The CB holds about 500 people more than the Grand or Golden and it does make a difference.

[bethcollins]

Actually there is a coding on the cards to alert servers to underage passengers. I was on the 8/6 sailing and I think there were definitely some obnoxious 18-20 year olds. The younger teens seemed to be under the very watchful eye of the yellow-shirted "youth security" patrol.

 

As far as the pools, I would have done the same thing. In fact, there was a toddler in the Neptune pool wearing a swim diaper, and when I mentioned this to the deck attendant I was told if I didn't like it to go to the adult pool. He refused to say anything to the parents and actually told me that the parents were there to stop the child from going to the bathroom!(gosh, had we parents known this was possible, think of the hours we could have saved potty-training our kids, lol) I went promptly to the phone and called passenger services and within minutes an officer was at the pool telling the parents that the child could not go in. Another passenger sitting near my chair told me that the toddler had been there for several hours without once having the diaper changed--gross!

[ghgeckos]

We just returned from the Regal and the kids cards had a big "M" for minor on thier cards.

[bdjam]

Actually there is a coding on the cards to alert servers to underage passengers. I was on the 8/6 sailing and I think there were definitely some obnoxious 18-20 year olds. The younger teens seemed to be under the very watchful eye of the yellow-shirted "youth security" patrol.

From some pictures that I’ve seen, and some stories that have been told, there’s a good deal of underage drinking due to parents being enablers. Alcohol smuggled on board is not under the control of the cruise line and therefore can’t be regulated.

 

As for Princess moving toward what the old image of Carnival was – it must have something to do with pricing and markets… :rolleyes:

[2theship]

We were on the Caribbean Princess the last week of June with teenage girls. We did not experience underage drinking at all. Last year on the Voyager of the Seas it was a HUGE problem but we didn't see any this year. There were youth security staff all over the place in the evenings on our sailing.

 

I think that one of the issues is the teen program. My girls were amazed at how bad the program was. They went to events a couple of times but the staff did not make any effort to get the kids engaged at all. They scheduled a room and a time then stood around, expecting the kids to get the ball rolling. My girls made some friends but it was mostly because they are reasonably outgoing. Fortunately, the friends they made were "nice" kids like them and didn't go looking for trouble. I think its telling that the parents of their new-found friends were interested in meeting me and knowing who their kids were hanging out with.

[NormanW]

With all these camcorders floating around (oh pun not intended! :p)...

 

How come nobody has gotten any footage? Upload it on the net, send it to HQ, etc.?

 

Yes video is very convincing indeed. This is why police cruisers are equipped with cams and they are turned on along with the GPS to show where infraction/incidents occur.

 

Cheers,

 

Norman

[Cruising_K]

Wow. I not sure if I should feel lucky or surprised. In the last four years I have sailed on the Carnival Glory (November), Carnival Victory (August), and The Holiday (February). I am a night person so I am usually up and out on deck until 2:00-3:00am every night. I do not recall any underage drinking.

 

The only time I saw children in any adult pool or hot tub was when a young man of about 16 asked if I minded if he sat with his Grandmother in the hot tub that I was in.

 

Did I ever see drunken adults? You bet… but that is something that you will see anywhere alcohol is served. It was never, what I would consider, out of control. I am getting on the Caribbean Princess with 14 friends and family members in a few weeks and sure hope it is not a serious problem on Princess. I expect a certain amount of “I’m on vacation attitude” but hope it is not too bad.

[kevinsac]

It is certainly not just the fault of the kids. Too often, whether on board, or beach, or Disneyland, the parents clearly have taken a "we are on a cruise, we don't want to be bothered with parenting" attitude. They ought to be smacked into reality. :p Just as bad are the adults (whether parents or not) who set a bad example by drinking too much, using foul language, being overtly flirtatous. :rolleyes:

 

I admit....I used to be a hellion. I was one of the guys who carried our friends back to the ship when they were too drunk to walk and I was carried back to ship once or twice or three or four times, too. And even when I'd had one (or two or three) beers too many, I understood that I'd be less likely to get caught if I was discreet.

 

But, I also grew up quickly. Even in my early 20s, I was the adult who tried to control other friends....and I developed friendships with people more in touch with my standards.

 

Life as an old fart (now 44) is more quiet, a bit more staid, but I'd never want to go back to those party days.

[kryos]

Later on at night the amount of underage drinking on deck was absolutely shocking. Kids were just sitting at tables with full bottles of booze, and soda. I mean these kids were not even close to being anywhere hear 21 much less 18. My problem was these kids were acting like young drunk fools, no one(security) seemed to be around, and no parents to be found. I would think Princess would not want something like this going on, they would have someone on deck looking for this stuff, and the parents might want to check on there kids every once in a while. Wouldn't it make sense for Princess to put some sort of identification across their room card that says "Minor Under 21".

LOL ... their parents could have been the ones who bought the booze for them to begin with. :(

 

I think most cruise lines' key cards do reflect if a passenger is under the legal drinking age, and if so the bartenders will not sell them liquor. But if an adult procures it for them, there is little the bartenders can do.

 

Of course, a bit more security would be nice ... but that would only force the kids to take their drinking down to one of their cabins. There really is very little the line can do to actually stop it. The cruise line can not take over the role of parent. If the parents are unwilling or unable to control their kids, you're gonna have these problems. Also, were the parents even onboard? Could this have been a school-sponsored cruise where perhaps the chaperones were over 21 and thus could procure liquor for their groups?

 

As for the adults only pool ... that's been a long source of debate on these boards ... and it just doesn't seem like most cruise lines enforce the rules. Frankly, I wonder why they even bother to have them in that case?

 

All I can suggest for your future is to make sure you don't schedule cruises during school breaks. That will cut down on the sort of experience you had on your recent cruise.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Colo Cruiser]

Where is this supposed teen security patrol that is now in force????

[mollyanne]

geofg-

 

i agree with you that many parents do not monitor their kids actions and have seen them running wild on both Carnival and Celebrity - more so on Carnival during Easter week 2004. our son was 18 on our last cruise on Celebrity. he was entitled to have beer or wine as we agreed to it and his sign and sail pass was stamped accordingly. proud to say he never took one drink the entire week.

 

as for the adults only pools - i agree that the kids should be kept away and the cruise lines need to enforce this. i will say that there were no kids at the aqua spa on Millennium this past April - even our 18 year old didn't feel like he should be in there. i never saw the pool staff ask anyone to leave as they just weren't there in the first place.

 

mollyanne

[AliceS]

We were on Caribbean Princess in March of last year. God help us, we were near a door on the top deck and the noise was so bad! Some of the Spring Breakers were left behind in St. Martin and, by God, they caught up in Princess Cay and gave us one more night of no sleep. It was really bad. I would never take that cabin again and would think twice about going on a cruise during spring break. Sorry, but I already decided ont to go on Carnival. Love Princess and Celebrity and would think about RCL, but no Carnival or NCL. We have done NCL, YUK!!!

[Cindy]

"Youth Security" was very visible on my Spring Break cruise last March on the Grand. I was never aware of any incidents concerning underage drinking or out-of-control children/teenagers.

[Knuklehead]

Oh jeezz ,now I have to tell my story . We went on the Sun , out o L. A. in April 2003 to Mexico, 10 days over Easter .First of all I would say to just avoid school vacation periods alltogether . We got a smoking deal on short notice ,inside cabins for us and another couple . Something like $700.00 PP or a little less . There were maybe 60 or 70 teenage kids under 16 . It was a first time cruise for my freinds . Weather was a little cool first few days , not much pressure at the pools . But once we got south things were a little warmer . Now , in any public pool situation it's always a " No Running " " No Jumping " rule . On a ship the pools are never large and Princess had clear postings of such . These kids were somewhat understandably rowdy . I know because I was one , at one time . But things just kept getting worse as days went on . There was one adult male who went so far as to throw a ball the length of the pool so the kids could jump and catch it in the air . Now , this is just good fun on the one hand and as far as rules go I am the BYOB king , so it is somewhat hypercritical of me to insist on the letter of the law . But this made it unsafe and very uncomfortable for older adults to use the pool in a more normal fashion . The kids were pushing each other in and coming real close to the kids already in the pool . We did see one kid get clipped in the head , no great damage done , but certainly over the line , and time for some adult supervision . Things came to a head when we left Mexico for about a two and half day stretch at sea . It was a hot afternoon and there is really only one large pool on the Sun . It was mahem , I could not use the pool the way things were going and I WOULD NOT HAVE IT . I got in the pool looking like just some overweight , middle aged , unsuspecting fool .But I kept an eye out for any little bastards jumping near me and made sure my elbow came out unexpectedly when they came close . I did intend to get them . Nothing serious , but a few good pokes worked wonders . But it got worse . There were some even younger kids who were completely unsupervised .One boy , I'd say about two years old had a life vest on and was going between the hot tub and the pool as he pleased . Where the real problem started was when he started yelling at some of the other younger kids in the pool which included his 7 year old sister . He decided it would be hillarious to pull down his TRUNKS AND PEE IN THE POOL . We could see the whole thing go down from across the pool where we were in lounge chairs .I can be pretty loud when I have to , and this sort of thing really grosses my wife out . I explained to her later , as she can be a bit naive ,that young kids probably take an ocassional leak in the pool and nobody ever knows . But this got me off my ass yelling at the top of my lungs for somebody to get this little demon away from there . Now as I recall there were early dinners being served on the deck above outdoors at the extra charge steakhouse . These people were treated to a bit of a floor show as my wife was beside me screaming at the kid " WHERE ARE YOUR PARENTS " ? His sister grabbed a hold of him and that should have been the end of it . BUT...........NOOOOOOOOOO. My wife went to a bartender and asked what could be done . He said to call the purser to complain . They said they would notify security . Now I thought the thing was a bit funny .My wife strongly disagreed . 20 mins. and here comes the security guy . My wife gives him an earfull .Well, he kind of grins and sez they will be draining the pool that night and BLAH BLAH BLAH. I'm willing to let it go at that . The security guy , to his credit , hangs around for at least 20 mins. and the kids really toned it down because we were making such a scene . Nothing was really going on . The security guy no sooner heads around the corner and , I sh**t you not , the little bastard appears I think from the hot tub and marches over to the side of the pool and PULLS DOWN HIS TRUNKS AGAIN , TO PEE IN THE POOL . NOW I'M REALLY GETTING PISSED . In more ways than one . I jump out of my chair and yell real loud , " NOW THAT'S TWICE " with two fingers pointing right at the kid . I don't give a damn what some passengers think of me ,I'll probably never see them again . My wife is screaming at the kid about the location of his parents , the sister and her freind are in the pool and telling my wife she should calm down . Well that's all it took for Patti to look straight at them and ask loudly , ( again , I quote ,) " I suppose you LIKE swimming in URINE " ? Well, that remark completly cleared the entire pool . What the steak house diners thought of all this I'd like to know . The security guy returned at this point and did speak to the girl and the culprit about getting one of the crew to help him to the men's room and did warn them that they could be banned from the pool .There was an appearence of an adult woman at this point , but I gathered it was not the boys mother . Of course the following day the weather got cooler and remained that way all the way back so there was no further fireworks . Not much demand for the pool . But a number of passengers did approach Patti and said they wished they had had our guts to do the same . So folks , the moral of the tale is probably , if anarchy prevails , throw some elbows and yell like hell . :eek: :eek: :eek:

[taxatty]

We were on the Caribbean last spring break and there was definitely underage drinking (we knew some of the kids)--youth security was all over the top decks and MUTS, but not where the kids were in Explorers Lounge and elsewhere on Decks 6 and 7. There were also kids once in awhile in the aft adult pool and the Lotus Spa Pool, but they quickly left when anyone asked.

 

Didn't see anyone pee in the pools, however!:eek:

 

Les