Anyone ever add an observer on a shore excursion on the ship?

[mylifecompleted]

We are doing a shore ex in labadee and it says you need to be 4 to participate, because of the water park portion. We aren't doing that part since we are not interested and the little can't swim. I was told we could add her on the ship and worst case we could carry her and get her goodie bag. This was 3 weeks ago. I just asked a clarifying question and a rather rude person replied and said you can't do this unless you are four. Didn't even answer my question. the actual reply was "no on under 4 allowed" end of email. I replied back and said that wasn't what i was told and that we could add her on the ship. She said "policies change. you can ask because you inquired before the policy change but no guarantees". This has me EXTREMELY upset as this whole excursion is what swayed us to booking a cruise for our vacations (no negative comments on that please).

 

Has anyone added someone on the ship or been in a similar situation. I really didn't want to start vacation off with an argument on the boat :(

[rukkian]

I have not done that (have never cruised with small kids). No idea what you excursion you are looking at, but many times, there are variations that maybe only have part of the excursion that would be missing the part you don't care about, but not sure on that. Depending on the port, you could also look at booking on your own as well, and get more of what you want.

[dd likes to cruise]

Explain a little more about the excursion and maybe folks can help better. What else is with the excursion besides the water park?

[NatsFanOnBoard]

Just book the activity that you WILL be doing. I've never seen combo excursions with activities that couldn't be booked individually (if not through the ship, certainly you could just hire a local guide). Please respect the rules. The water park is a floating attraction, so they can't really let you observe or hold your child since there is no place to do this without being on the attraction itself; the only way to ensure a safe environment is to prohibit certain ages altogether.

 

As for booking an "observer" in general, we were able to book a senior citizen companion on a snorkel tour even though she wasn't interested in getting in the water. She just stayed on the boat and watched, but she did have to pay the full excursion price. That's a little different from your situation though.

[Grandma Dazzles]

Seeing as the excursion is in Labadee it has to be a RC excursion. There are no local guides selling their tours.

 

I also think you may need to ask on the ship. They are usually pretty strict about ages because of insurance requirements - just like age/weight type requirements for activities on board. They may allow you to take the child along, but not participate; however, you will probably have to pay full price.

 

Not defending poor customer service answer, but they probably truly don't know. If the excursion says 4, you probably have to be 4. Unfortunately there have to be rules. Too many people would say they won't do that part and then change their mind once they see how much fun something is and many people do try to fudge the requirements for kids.

[gerif]

So, you consider the person rude because she gave you an answer you didn't want to hear? Have you considered maybe the first person (who told you the three year old could go even if the minimum age was four) might have been wrong - or maybe just wanted to shut you up if you were being persistent. Age rules are in place for insurance reasons and must be respected. Maybe leave the child with Adventure Ocean while you enjoy the excursion.

[mylifecompleted]

So, you consider the person rude because she gave you an answer you didn't want to hear? Have you considered maybe the first person (who told you the three year old could go even if the minimum age was four) might have been wrong - or maybe just wanted to shut you up if you were being persistent. Age rules are in place for insurance reasons and must be respected. Maybe leave the child with Adventure Ocean while you enjoy the excursion.

 

No, I consider someone rude when I ask a question and not only does someone not answer my question, they give me a 4 or 5 word sentence and no other explanation.

 

I do, however, consider your response to be very rude. The 1st person I talked to answered my question right away and told me to inquire as we have no interest doing the water portion, (the portion of the excursion that requires a waiver) they should be able to figure out a solution for us. I cannot see why you would suggest that she was "trying to shut me up because I was being persistent" as this was my 1st response with her. The 2nd agent is the one who gave me a rude response when I was asking a question completely different than the one I asked the original agent. As this specific excursion is listed as a "family excursion", leaving her in AO is not an option. Thank you for the suggestion though.

 

I was just asking my question to see if anyone else has done this before since I have never heard of them doing this

 

For all of you who kindly asked, the excursion is a photo safari on Labadee. Cannot be booked by someone else. It includes walking the beach for pictures, a trip to the water park, and a party on the ship. Since we are not doing the water park as again, we don't want to do it nor can the 3 year old swim, the only part of the excursion that we would be doing would be walking through the beach to take pictures, and then the party on the boat for the kiddos. I cannot see how you need to be 4 years old to walk the beach or there would be a lot of disappointed families on the island.

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

Just a bit of advice... You are going on a ship. You are going to places where there is water. Please get your child into swimming lessons before going. Even if you don't "plan" to get in the water, it would be nice to have the option - and for the child to have basic skills just in case.

[mylifecompleted]

Just a bit of advice... You are going on a ship. You are going to places where there is water. Please get your child into swimming lessons before going. Even if you don't "plan" to get in the water, it would be nice to have the option - and for the child to have basic skills just in case.

 

 

She can swim, just not to the point where we want her doing the water park, jumping into the water and all that stuff :) I am sure we will be in the pool more than our cabin on this trip lol!

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

She can swim, just not to the point where we want her doing the water park, jumping into the water and all that stuff :) I am sure we will be in the pool more than our cabin on this trip lol!

 

Ok, that's good. :) Given the way you were saying that she couldn't swim it made it seem like she couldn't at all.

[NatsFanOnBoard]

For all of you who kindly asked, the excursion is a photo safari on Labadee. Cannot be booked by someone else. It includes walking the beach for pictures, a trip to the water park, and a party on the ship. Since we are not doing the water park as again, we don't want to do it nor can the 3 year old swim, the only part of the excursion that we would be doing would be walking through the beach to take pictures, and then the party on the boat for the kiddos. I cannot see how you need to be 4 years old to walk the beach or there would be a lot of disappointed families on the island.

Okay, I looked up the excursion and your post now makes a little more sense to me (link). A couple of thoughts...Do you have other children, or is this just for the toddler? I have older and younger children, so I've been in plenty of situations where the older kids can go on an activity, theme park ride, etc., and the younger kids can't. You just have to divide and conquer. Find another activity for the younger child - go to the beach, spend the day at the pool, etc. - and let another adult go with the older kid(s). It sucks, but remember that the toddler isn't going to remember this anyway, and this won't be the last time your kid isn't going to be old enough, tall enough, big enough, etc., to do everything they want to do. Life's tough.

[mylifecompleted]

Ok, that's good. :) Given the way you were saying that she couldn't swim it made it seem like she couldn't at all.

 

 

LOL yea, sorry! We live in FL so she is around water, but just isn't too great with the whole, hold your breath/keep your mouth out of the water part yet lol. she gets too excited. Hubby sinks like a rock and i have a shoulder injury so i wouldnt be a good option for her to be jumping at in the water so we said no way to that. She can kiddie pool/main pool with me and that is it. We did get her a really neat full face snorkle that we are gonna try out before the trip to see how that goes as a TOTAL topic change hehe

[mylifecompleted]

Okay, I looked up the excursion and your post now makes a little more sense to me (link). A couple of thoughts...Do you have other children, or is this just for the toddler? I have older and younger children, so I've been in plenty of situations where the older kids can go on an activity, theme park ride, etc., and the younger kids can't. You just have to divide and conquer. Find another activity for the younger child - go to the beach, spend the day at the pool, etc. - and let another adult go with the older kid(s). It sucks, but remember that the toddler isn't going to remember this anyway, and this won't be the last time your kid isn't going to be old enough, tall enough, big enough, etc., to do everything they want to do. Life's tough.

 

it is just her :) yea i know she isn't going to be able to do everything, and she knows that too. My issue was that I was told one thing, that is what caused us to book this rather than a different trip for our family vaca, then was told no, but maybe. So nothing is clear. Just wondering if anyone has ever booked on the ship like that or rather, added someone :)

[rukkian]

Okay, I looked up the excursion and your post now makes a little more sense to me (link). A couple of thoughts...Do you have other children, or is this just for the toddler? I have older and younger children, so I've been in plenty of situations where the older kids can go on an activity, theme park ride, etc., and the younger kids can't. You just have to divide and conquer. Find another activity for the younger child - go to the beach, spend the day at the pool, etc. - and let another adult go with the older kid(s). It sucks, but remember that the toddler isn't going to remember this anyway, and this won't be the last time your kid isn't going to be old enough, tall enough, big enough, etc., to do everything they want to do. Life's tough.

 

That makes more sense. Have never looked into that type of excursion myself. I would think they would some smaller portion of it, or some way to get let you spend the money, but you may not be able to guarantee it ahead of time. You could call back and get another rep to try again.

[mylifecompleted]

That makes more sense. Have never looked into that type of excursion myself. I would think they would some smaller portion of it, or some way to get let you spend the money, but you may not be able to guarantee it ahead of time. You could call back and get another rep to try again.

 

Yea I am just going to inquire when we get on the ship because they have the final say anyway. If i remember from the last time we did the aqua park, they gave us a ticket to get into that part of our shore excursion so I would assume they could just NOT give us that so we had to way to get in. Fingers crossed. We will find out in a few weeks lol :) thanks for all your answers guys.